Steverino
11-15-2005, 01:11 PM
Lamont Outdoors- Illinois Whitetail Rut Hunt
As Reviewed By Steverino
A whitetail deer hunt during the rutting phase is something that a bowhunter looks forward to with great anticipation each hunting season. I was especially eager to bowhunt this period after making arrangements with Lamont Outdoors, one of HuntChat’s new sponsors.
What made this hunt something additionally special was the fact that the owners and pro-staff of In-Scents (another of HC’s sponsors) was out hunting at Lamont during the same period. In-Scents produces a full line of buck and doe lures that are designed and produced by hunters for hunters. You may not have heard of this company or it’s products before but I can assure you-you will! I’ll digress a little more on this in a short while as In-Scents played a key role in my first archery buck harvest.
Lamont Outdoors is located in South-Eastern Illinois in White County and borders the state of Indiana. Lamont owns over 4,000 acres of private land in Illinois and a few large tracts of land as well in Indiana. The property is a mixed bag of heavy woods with dense trees and vegetation along with swampy river bottoms, marshland, and farm tracts that run along the Little Wabash River. Additionally, Lamont has numerous food plots spread out amongst the various hunting properties containing a varied mixture of clover, winter turnips, and other hybrid mixtures.
I arrived into the lodge on Friday and was warmly greeted by Mark Lamont and his top guide, Bill Earl. Bill resembles a cross between the befuddled “Ernest” movie character and “Jedd Clampett” from the “Beverly Hillbillies” (If you don’t believe me, take a look through the HC archives and dig up one of Petey’s pics of Bill during this past Spring’s turkey hunt) Some of the hunters in our camp casually dismissed Bill as a regular good ol’ boy but after taking the time, (and admittedly, this took some even measured time on my part) I soon learned that Bill was not only a treasure trove of information regarding the Lamont property but on deer hunting in general.
The first afternoon out, Bill guided me to where I would be hunting on the Illinois section of the Lamont property that followed the Wabash River and we busted an enormous buck and two does that quickly ambled through the tall marsh grass. I almost wet myself having never actually seen a deer this large and this close to me on the hoof. I could not count all the points on the rack but did see that the mass on the main beams looked more like PVC pipe than buck antlers. I was excited!
The plan was to set-up early on stand as Indiana’s shotgun season began Saturday morning and as the shooting starts, Bill maintained that often times, the deer rambled on down the river back unto the Illinois property. Sounded like a good plan.
On Saturday morning, I was up early and on stand a good hour before daybreak and although I saw does moving into different areas throughout the day, was not able to locate any bucks. The temps were in the mid sixties with high winds that kept a lot of the deer bedded down throughout the day. Nobody in our party was successful bowhunting in Illinois or slugging it out in Indiana after a full day of hunting. The weather forecast called for thunderstorms and higher temps for the following day.
In the evening, I was treated to a wonderful meal of marinated venison tenderloins, homemade meatballs-courtesy of “Tiny” (of course, this man is not small but rather a monster of a man who is a gentleman) and sauce along with some ziti and salad. (For some reason that is a great mystery to many wives across our great land, men who cannot make toast can and do, in the presence of buddies at deer camp, prepare gourmet game meals that would make Emeril salivate with envy.)
Over dinner, I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with the owners of In-Scents, Mitch Serlin and Mike Gallop. Both of these fellas first and foremost are hunters. They both grew up enjoying the hunting traditions from each of their respective families in the Eastern US and desired to create a line of products that hunters could rely and depend upon when afield. I learned that not all deer scent manufacturers actually utilize deer urine in their products and collection efforts varied greatly as well. I received some additional information as well on the proper use and techniques of their company’s lures and was offered a sample of “Doe In Heat” buck attractant lure. To be completely honest, when I drew back the cap and got a good whiff, it smelled the same as every other brand of Tom, Dick, and Harry’s magic doe whiz parfume. I was told that theirs was not the same with a wink.
Our hunting group was then treated to an especially entertaining round of stories at the lodge about both Mitch and Mike’s ‘informative” years growing up in New York City as ‘Yoots’ (youths) along with some of their other friends and pro staff members. Some of the other Lamont guides joined in the good natured ribbing back and forth throughout that made the transition to hunting tales all the more enjoyable.
The Lamont Lodge features a main “Great” room styled den with all the essentials-(large,flat screen television with DirectTV, a pool and game table for cards, surrounded by appropriately appointed deer mounts from past hunts on the Lamont property) There is an adjoining kitchen area that spans the width of the den which includes two side by side refrigerators, a chest styled freezer, microwave, standard four burner stove and oven, a long counter area with barstools and a round corner dining table. There is cabinet storage galore for those that might bring their own groceries and a nice back deck area that features a picnic table and gas grill. Stairs lead down to the bedrooms that featured four bedrooms with multiple bunk beds and nightstands. (Reminded me of college dorms with camo bedding) There are two shower stalls and two bathrooms with sinks- (if you have a good group that does not mind alternating the shower shifts, it works out okay. If everyone tries taking a shower in the morning, it’s chaos. More bathrooms are needed along with someone that helps clean the rooms. Men by nature are abject slobs. After two days left to our devices, the place was roached. Fifteen guys left alone to unwind in a lodge can trash a joint pretty quickly.)
A nice touch was a laundry area to launder your hunting garb and a dryer provided for those that wished to reactivate their carbon hunting clothes.
In general, the lodge was nice but was really too small for the number of hunters that we had. Mark Lamont said that they were considering either expansion or better controlling smaller group numbers to help the situation. All in all, it worked fine and the location is close to all of the hunting properties.
I was able to corner Bill Earl later in the evening and asked him about the game plan for Sunday morning’s hunt. He said that he had a spot in mind in some ‘hollers’(hollows) and that we’d make tracks at 3:00am the following morning.
As Reviewed By Steverino
A whitetail deer hunt during the rutting phase is something that a bowhunter looks forward to with great anticipation each hunting season. I was especially eager to bowhunt this period after making arrangements with Lamont Outdoors, one of HuntChat’s new sponsors.
What made this hunt something additionally special was the fact that the owners and pro-staff of In-Scents (another of HC’s sponsors) was out hunting at Lamont during the same period. In-Scents produces a full line of buck and doe lures that are designed and produced by hunters for hunters. You may not have heard of this company or it’s products before but I can assure you-you will! I’ll digress a little more on this in a short while as In-Scents played a key role in my first archery buck harvest.
Lamont Outdoors is located in South-Eastern Illinois in White County and borders the state of Indiana. Lamont owns over 4,000 acres of private land in Illinois and a few large tracts of land as well in Indiana. The property is a mixed bag of heavy woods with dense trees and vegetation along with swampy river bottoms, marshland, and farm tracts that run along the Little Wabash River. Additionally, Lamont has numerous food plots spread out amongst the various hunting properties containing a varied mixture of clover, winter turnips, and other hybrid mixtures.
I arrived into the lodge on Friday and was warmly greeted by Mark Lamont and his top guide, Bill Earl. Bill resembles a cross between the befuddled “Ernest” movie character and “Jedd Clampett” from the “Beverly Hillbillies” (If you don’t believe me, take a look through the HC archives and dig up one of Petey’s pics of Bill during this past Spring’s turkey hunt) Some of the hunters in our camp casually dismissed Bill as a regular good ol’ boy but after taking the time, (and admittedly, this took some even measured time on my part) I soon learned that Bill was not only a treasure trove of information regarding the Lamont property but on deer hunting in general.
The first afternoon out, Bill guided me to where I would be hunting on the Illinois section of the Lamont property that followed the Wabash River and we busted an enormous buck and two does that quickly ambled through the tall marsh grass. I almost wet myself having never actually seen a deer this large and this close to me on the hoof. I could not count all the points on the rack but did see that the mass on the main beams looked more like PVC pipe than buck antlers. I was excited!
The plan was to set-up early on stand as Indiana’s shotgun season began Saturday morning and as the shooting starts, Bill maintained that often times, the deer rambled on down the river back unto the Illinois property. Sounded like a good plan.
On Saturday morning, I was up early and on stand a good hour before daybreak and although I saw does moving into different areas throughout the day, was not able to locate any bucks. The temps were in the mid sixties with high winds that kept a lot of the deer bedded down throughout the day. Nobody in our party was successful bowhunting in Illinois or slugging it out in Indiana after a full day of hunting. The weather forecast called for thunderstorms and higher temps for the following day.
In the evening, I was treated to a wonderful meal of marinated venison tenderloins, homemade meatballs-courtesy of “Tiny” (of course, this man is not small but rather a monster of a man who is a gentleman) and sauce along with some ziti and salad. (For some reason that is a great mystery to many wives across our great land, men who cannot make toast can and do, in the presence of buddies at deer camp, prepare gourmet game meals that would make Emeril salivate with envy.)
Over dinner, I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with the owners of In-Scents, Mitch Serlin and Mike Gallop. Both of these fellas first and foremost are hunters. They both grew up enjoying the hunting traditions from each of their respective families in the Eastern US and desired to create a line of products that hunters could rely and depend upon when afield. I learned that not all deer scent manufacturers actually utilize deer urine in their products and collection efforts varied greatly as well. I received some additional information as well on the proper use and techniques of their company’s lures and was offered a sample of “Doe In Heat” buck attractant lure. To be completely honest, when I drew back the cap and got a good whiff, it smelled the same as every other brand of Tom, Dick, and Harry’s magic doe whiz parfume. I was told that theirs was not the same with a wink.
Our hunting group was then treated to an especially entertaining round of stories at the lodge about both Mitch and Mike’s ‘informative” years growing up in New York City as ‘Yoots’ (youths) along with some of their other friends and pro staff members. Some of the other Lamont guides joined in the good natured ribbing back and forth throughout that made the transition to hunting tales all the more enjoyable.
The Lamont Lodge features a main “Great” room styled den with all the essentials-(large,flat screen television with DirectTV, a pool and game table for cards, surrounded by appropriately appointed deer mounts from past hunts on the Lamont property) There is an adjoining kitchen area that spans the width of the den which includes two side by side refrigerators, a chest styled freezer, microwave, standard four burner stove and oven, a long counter area with barstools and a round corner dining table. There is cabinet storage galore for those that might bring their own groceries and a nice back deck area that features a picnic table and gas grill. Stairs lead down to the bedrooms that featured four bedrooms with multiple bunk beds and nightstands. (Reminded me of college dorms with camo bedding) There are two shower stalls and two bathrooms with sinks- (if you have a good group that does not mind alternating the shower shifts, it works out okay. If everyone tries taking a shower in the morning, it’s chaos. More bathrooms are needed along with someone that helps clean the rooms. Men by nature are abject slobs. After two days left to our devices, the place was roached. Fifteen guys left alone to unwind in a lodge can trash a joint pretty quickly.)
A nice touch was a laundry area to launder your hunting garb and a dryer provided for those that wished to reactivate their carbon hunting clothes.
In general, the lodge was nice but was really too small for the number of hunters that we had. Mark Lamont said that they were considering either expansion or better controlling smaller group numbers to help the situation. All in all, it worked fine and the location is close to all of the hunting properties.
I was able to corner Bill Earl later in the evening and asked him about the game plan for Sunday morning’s hunt. He said that he had a spot in mind in some ‘hollers’(hollows) and that we’d make tracks at 3:00am the following morning.