Greg Wilson holds his buck’s massive rack. Photo courtesy of Greg Wilson.

Everyone in Greg Wilson's family had harvested a deer except Greg. Almost in desperation, he agreed to go with his teenage nephew on the last day of the Illinois gun season.

When the firearms season rolled around in 2007, this Illinois hunter had no idea what was in store for him.

I live in Litchfield, Illinois, and I come from a long line of deer hunters. I have been hunting for some 28 years, and I have taken some nice bucks in my time. These days I hunt with my son, Rob, who has been hunting since he was 12 and has taken a few nice bucks with bow and shotgun. Many of our bucks have scored in the 140 class and 170 class.

In 2005, my youngest daughter, Nicole, started hunting. She enjoys the sport as much as we do. She has taken a few does with bow and shotgun but has yet to take an antlered deer. My daughter, Jamie, doesn't enjoy the sport as we do, but she and my wife always enjoy the good venison we bring home every year.

On Nov. 16, the first morning of the firearms season, we all packed our gear and headed out before first light. We hunted on public ground all day with no luck.

On Nov. 17, we went out to the same area and again had no luck. We returned home for lunch and decided to come up with another plan. On the evening of the 17th, Nicole had other arrangements and didn't go with us. My son harvested a good doe that evening, but I came home empty-handed.

ALL IN THE FAMILY
On Nov. 18, the third and final day of the first firearms season, I hunted a different spot owned by my nephew, Randy. He and his father had already filled their tags with several good deer, including a nice 10-pointer and a 7-pointer. That morning, I hunted one of my nephew's ladder stands and only saw a small spike. Again, I went home empty-handed.

In our family, after the morning's hunt is over, we usually head back to town and gather at my parents' house to see who in the family had filled their tags.

My father, Chuck, harvested a really nice 10-pointer, and my brother in-law also filled his tags with a doe and a nice 7-pointer. While we were sitting around talking about our hunts and drinking coffee, my nephew, David, was telling me about several bucks that he had been seeing. He had already harvested two nice bucks with his bow before firearms season started.

A doe raced from the creek bottom. I drew my gun to shoot when I spotted antlers in the weeds. Needless to say I turned my sights on what was about to appear. Finally, he came from around a big oak tree and I noticed a very huge rack . . . I put my sights on his right shoulder. He quartered toward me and I fired.

David bugged me to go with him to his "honeyhole" so that maybe I could get a chance to tag one of these nice deer. This area was familiar to me because it's public ground and I used to hunt it with my father and brother when I was younger. We stopped hunting there because it was becoming overpopulated with hunters.