I get to hunt family owned land in north Marengo that’s give or take 1000 acres that doesn’t have a hunting club in close proximity just large land owners with farming and cattle operations on all sides. Yes, some of the land owners hunt, but you don’t hear a lot of rifle shots close by. One piece is a major thicket that has large farming operations in two sides mostly corn and beans. This piece is usually loaded with deer and good numbers of bucks. It also has a duck pond that we hunt about three times a year. This year the drought hurt bad and there is no water in the pond or the creeks on this piece. It’s like a wasteland over there this year. We have three giant green feeds with feeders with minimal pressure and the deer aren’t there. The other piece has a 5 acre lake on it and a neighboring lake across the line. It’s nothing to see 20-30 deer in plots and bean fields over there and great buck numbers.. lots of cover, water and crops all around with minimal hunting pressure. Not unusual to have a buck over 140” and several 130”s running around. This year one mature deer that might push 130” on the whole place. Multiple 160’s and 150’s have come off this property as well.
