This deer was shot by Shawn Williams on the property of Dan DeSmet in Illinois City, IL using his 20 guage shot gun in 2006.  It was about 11:30am and his first shot grazed the back of the deer, but the second shot took him down right where he stood.

This is Eric Pysar from NY with his Illinois monster. 

Time for a change. I was going to "river bottom" and I was going to stick it out all day. I saw two does at dawn and then nothing untill 11:30 when I glimpsed a doe. I saw a deer at 12 and 12:30pm. At about 3:30 deer started to emerge. First a group of does with fawns, then a small buck. Then there were a couple more. Deer were coming in and out of my sight, none really to close. The wind was perfect. After seeing a couple of small bucks and several does, out comes a racked buck. A real nice one which would have been a shooter but his left main beam was broken off at the G2. What a shame but he didn't come close enough anyway. Then I look over to my left and here he comes. OMG! He's a shooter and I can see a big 5 point side. And his other side looks real funky. Too bad he took the path the busted buck took and out of range at 60 yards. I tried grunting but he didn't bite, he was gone....I hung my bow back on the hook, thinking about the monster. Ten minutes later I hear uurrrrppp!!! and I just about come out of my skin! A doe goes flying out of the bushes on my right and there he is right behind her! He circled around and was back! This time I see the big double beam and I can't believe it. The doe cut away and he comes walking right across the front of me. I pray I'm going to get the shot. He's in the thick stuff and on the fringe of my maximum 40 yard range. He goes through an opening and I draw. I mouth grunted but he took too many steps back into thick stuff. Oh no, I have to let off as he continues walking. I got one more chance, so I drew and mouth grunted when he hit the next opening. He stopped and looked at me right when the 40 yard pin settled on his chest. I hit the release and the arrow seemed to fly in slow motion. Whack! Right in the shoulder! I smoked him! I watched him run off with the arrow hanging right out of his chest. I climbed down, it was 4:30, my 10th hour on stand. I went and got help.

We (Jeff and Rich and myself) went right back as I was certain the deer only lived for a few seconds after being struck. We found blood and Rich found the deer before me and Jeff were done blood trailing. I was STUNNED. The body on the thing was HUGE! 285lbs we later found out. And what an awesome rack! To say I was pumped would be an understatement. I couldn't believe my eyes.

This deer was shot on October 3rd, 2008 by Brian Carpentier in Rock Island County Illinois.  This is Brian's very first buck as he just started hunting last year - not bad for your first buck.