An Illinois Halloween Treat
By Mark Melotik
South Louisiana’s Janie Milioto bagged her first deer at the tender age of 6 and has been getting after it ever since. The latest example of her drive, dedication and whitetail savvy is her jaw-dropping 2023 Illinois bow buck — a long-tined main-frame 10-pointer the hard-hunting 26-year-old called into bow range last Halloween.
Encountering the buck that day had been an unexpected Halloween treat for Janie. She’d last glimpsed the big deer a full 24 days prior during two brief Oct. 7 encounters while on stand. But after that day the monarch seemed to vanish. She’d seen no sign of it while hunting a handful of days since, but even more concerning, was that her cell cameras on the 150-acre private parcel were also striking out. She believed the buck might have fallen to another hunter.
“I’ve had some good history with him,” she said. “Two seasons ago I started getting photos of him. He was a young deer with a lot of potential, but one of those deer that would be really hard to pass. Luckily I never had to make that decision.”
From the start in 2023, the buck became on a regular on Janie’s cell cams. That year she made six or seven trips to the Illinois parcel to set up cameras and four treestands. The parcel where she has exclusive permission is owned by a family friend; it’s comprised of mostly wide-open ag fields with a thin strip of cover along a river.
Refusing to give up on her dream buck despite its disappearance, Janie once again packed up her bow and made the long drive north from, arriving late in the evening of Oct. 25.
“I kind of figured if someone killed him around the area, I would have heard, but I never did,” she said. “Something told me to keep hunting him.”
Janie hunted the next four days in fairly constant, steady rain, but despite the deer moving relatively well, the top-end bucks were nowhere to be seen. Then on that following day, a cold front blew in with high winds.
The next day, Oct. 31, saw a 15-degree drop in temperature with a favorable west wind. Janie made her way to her stand with the thermometer right at 17 degrees.
“Before daylight, I had actually been texting my dad,” she said. “I was trying to be back home to make the hunt we go on annually in Missouri, and I wanted to ride with him. I’m thinking, “I want to fill my tag but I don’t want to shoot just anything.”
At first light, a spike and a fork buck came through, followed by a small 8-pointer. Then at 7:11 a.m., a doe ran through at 80 yards, and Janie knowingly grabbed her bow. Right behind her was a big wide 9-pointer she knew well, another trophy-class deer she’d seen several times on the hoof but had never captured on trail camera.
Excitement soon turned to bitter disappointment when the buck — which hung around for at least 10 minutes — never got closer than 54 yards. Janie watched the brute chase the doe out of sight.
After everything calmed down, she glimpsed more movement from the last spot she’d seen the rutting pair, about 85 yards away. When she threw up her binos, she knew instantly she was looking at a different buck — her long-lost giant.
“I immediately texted my dad that the buck was back, and then it started making a scrape at 85 yards. As soon as I grunted he threw up his head and looked my way.”
The buck then slowly walked 10 yards closer to Janie and paused. She figured he could use a bit more coercing.
“At that point I snort-wheezed, and he pinned those ears back and walked straight to me,” she said. “He was using that sideways walk that bucks make when they’re about to fight.”
Despite the excitement of the moment, Janie kept her cool when the buck was soon quartering hard away at 34 yards. She passed that shot and was rewarded seconds later with a broadside shot at 25 yards.
“I hit him perfect — it was a double lung. He ran probably 25 or 30 yards and stopped I watched him go down about 20 yards from my tree.”
You can likely guess the recipient of Janie’s first victory call.
“I texted my dad that the big deer was still alive at 7:37 a.m.,” she said. “I called him at 7:42 crying, and he knew what that meant. Then we’re both crying, I said, ‘He’s down,’ and then we switched to FaceTime.”
The mainframe 10-pointer with some stickers and kickers would later score 175 5/8.
“After looking at the trail camera photos, I was thinking he would score in the upper 160s or so. My dad and grandpa were saying 180. Obviously I was wrong there, and I’m not too mad I was wrong.”