The Illinois deer Adam Crumrin shot last October might’ve had a full belly and more than its share of antlers, but it was running on empty, anatomically speaking.
When the bowhunter from Martinsville examined his buck two hours after turning out its lights, he discovered why its rack was still in velvet, long after the neighborhood whitetails normally shed it. Its otherwise unscathed scrotum was empty, indicative of the testosterone deficiency likely responsible.
He has no idea if the deer had even shed its antlers at any point because he’d never seen it before it stepped in front of a trail camera in mid-September.
Adam, a land broker for Whitetail Properties, keeps tabs on the deer roaming the tract that has yielded him three great trophies. Prior to 2020, however, this one had managed to avoid being photographed or seen.
Adam collected more photos of the unusual buck three days into the archery season. Upon seeing them, he hurried home to shower and retrieve his gear. The misting rain was no deterrent; he was in his tree by 1:00.
“As soon as I got into the stand, I saw one buck walking through the CRP,” he told Josh Honeycutt, who’s writing the story for Rack magazine. “After that, a doe and fawn appeared and traveled through the CRP, on into the (nearby) standing corn.”
Three hours later, the giant whitetail he was hunting followed an adolescent buck into view. They, too, were heading for the unpicked corn.
Before vanishing into the rows, however, the big one turned around and ran back into the woods. The bowhunter was surprised when it reappeared and came to within 21 yards of his tree, offering him a textbook broadside shot.
Adam and a friend recovered the deer a couple of hours later.
“To get a 200-inch (rough score), non-typical deer in full velvet just checks off so many boxes,” he grinned.
If measured for the BTR, Adam’s buck would likely be the state record for velvet compound bow harvests from Illinois.
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