Yours truly, Buck Stevens, was on my annual hunting trip to Buckeye Creek Outfitters in Pittsfield, Pike County, IL. at the end of last week and during the weekend. It was second shotgun season for deer hunting in Illinois.
Things were going pretty well Thursday (11/29) and Friday (11/30). I was enjoying being with friends and fellow outdoor enthusiasts like myself. I was enjoying the time in the woods as I hunted. Seeing the wildlife and enjoying the beauty of nature.
Saturday morning (12/1) was pretty uneventful other than being unseasonably warm. After the morning hunt, I went back to the cabin to have lunch and figure out the afternoon plan. We checked the weather forecast to find there would likely be rain and possibly thunderstorms. We made the decision that everybody would be either in or near a covered ground blind in case of rain.
I got dropped off at a spot where there was a ladder tree stand about 100 yards from a tent-style ground blind. It began lightly raining as I got there so I decided to get in the ground blind to see if the rain would stop or continue. Once in the blind the rain increased to a downpour. I was happy with my decision to start out inside it.
The rain began letting up and as it did one single clap of thunder hit. When it did two small deer came shooting out from someplace behind me and took shelter in the timber line that was between the two fields in front of me. The rain completely let up and it even got a little sunny. The two deer came out in front of me and began feeding. I was contemplating taking out my phone to snap a picture of them since they were too small for me to harvest one.
That’s when I began hearing a strange sound. The deer heard it too. Their heads popped up and they looked off to the southwest. I listened and though “that sounds like a freight train.” Knowing there were railroad tracks about ten miles or more away I also though that sounded much closer than it should be.
The sound began getting louder as if it were coming toward me. That’s when it hit me that was the sound of a TORNADO!
I stuck my head out of the front window of the blind to see if I could spot it. I had been camping when I was younger and my uncle told me when we heard that same noise. He told me to locate the tornado before taking shelter to make sure you don’t run into the path of it. The two deer kept looking off in the same direction and were oblivious to my head and shoulders sticking out of the blind.
I couldn’t see anything so I pulled my head back in to get out of the blind through the door in the back to see better. When I did the two deer ran off to the east and suddenly the tent blind was lifted straight up and off of me!
I instantly remembered that I was on the one spot on the property when many decades ago stood a farmhouse. Just five yards behind me there was an old concrete storm cellar. I spun around with gun in hand. For some reason scooped up my backpack, gun case and even the small folding hunting chair I had been sitting in and ran into the storm cellar!
Once inside I looked back out and saw the tent blind attached to an anchor rope blowing around in the massive winds. A tree that was just 20 yards from where I had been sitting was pulled out of the ground at the roots and fell into the field where the two deer had been standing.
The winds continued for a few more minutes and then all calmed down. I came out of the shelter to survey the area. Besides the tree that had fallen (pictured just above), there were several big limbs down with smaller limbs littering the area all around.
While things had calmed down, I will admit I was a little rattled by the event. I decided my hunt for the afternoon was over and went back to the cabin.
When everybody got back to the cabin one of the other hunters there named Tim Doyle shared the picture he took of the tornado with me. He was about a quarter of a mile way from me and had the tent blind he was in blown off of him as well. When you look at the picture at the top of the page I am located right about where you see the tornado. It either passed right by me or right over me!
By now you know that same storm system caused major damage in Griggsville and Valley City (both near where I was hunting), Taylorville, LeRoy and other cities and towns throughout west central and central Illinois. Several people were injured during the storms. Of course my thoughts and prayers go out to those people that were more seriously affected by the storms than I was.
I will say that my 2018 hunting trip to Buckeye Creek Outfitters will not be one I forget. Not because I got the biggest buck of my life, in fact I did not get a buck at all. The reason I will remember it is that it will always be the year that Buck (me) was hunting for a buck in a TORNADO!
By: Buck Stevens
