HALLOWEEN DECOY

Aaron Skrzypczak - Illinois - October 31, 2022

By: Brennen Nading (@nadingbr)

Halloween has always been one of my favorite days of the year to be in the whitetail woods in the midwest. You just never know what might happen that day before the calendar turns to November. After spending the last several days hunting the Illinois lease, JP and I decided to bust out the decoy for the afternoon hunt on October 31st. With perfect conditions, we slipped down a creek system, crawled up the bank and hung a stand with our wind blowing perfectly back over the creek. JP set the decoy at 15 yards overlooking a CRP field and crawled into the tree for the afternoon. About an hour before dark, JP hit the antlers together and not 10 seconds into the rattling sequence this buck appeared at the top of the hill a couple hundred yards away, coming on a string. The buck put on an absolute show as he closed the gap to 12 yards where JP put a perfect shot on him and we watched him pile up 70 yards from the tree. Another special hunt on Halloween!