I am from Iowa and I am a Whitetail Deer hunter and my friends and family take Whitetail Deer hunting seriously. Seriously enough that we manage our property for trophy bucks year round and do everything in our control to put the odds in our favor to harvest trophy bucks during deer season. We pass 165 class 3.5 yr old bucks because we know they aren’t mature and put our tags on 150 class 6.5 yr old bucks, which takes serious discipline. Whitetail Deer are special, regardless of where you hunt them, and the big ones speak for themselves. Iowa has become the “Land of the Giants”, and I wouldn’t trade deer season there for anywhere else.
There are big Whitetails coming out of multiple states right now. No more than in Iowa. Look at The Book and it speaks for itself. The “Albia Buck” is front and center. A potential new World Record Typical this year featured on Trophyroom.com’s Facebook page harvested by Iowa State Undergrad and A+ deer hunter Ryan Hobart is another example. As Iowans, we are blessed with a fantastic resource in Whitetail Deer that we need to continue to manage properly.
Trophyroom.com’s group made the decision to hunt second season shotgun (there are two main firearm seasons in Iowa and they start and end during the first three weeks in December). We can’t hunt with rifles in Iowa for bucks. In some Southern Iowa counties rifles are legal for does, but that’s it, and it’s usually in January. If you are a gun hunter in Iowa, you most likely shoot slugs from a shotgun. I have a hate/hate relationship with shotgun slugs. I don’t care what anybody says or what any of the slug manufacturers preach – slugs are a crap shoot. If you can get 1.5-2 inch groups at 75 yards you are doing well. Period. I’ve been fighting the slug accuracy game for 15 years and I’m still not winning it.
Our hunt this year started with high expectations: 1.5 feet of snow on the ground and a group of hunters who knew what they were doing hunting promising Whitetail Deer properties. The snow turned into a logistical nightmare. Stuck trucks and ATVs, unforeseen extra time getting into and out of deer stands, food plots snowed over, etc… all screwed up the program. On opening day one of our group put a slug into a 175+ 10 point buck that came out at last light. He hit it in the guts, (obviously not his goal) and it went 800 yards across a picked corn field to the nearest piece of timber. They trailed it to the timber that night and decided to wait to continue the follow-up until the next morning. Long story short, we lost the buck, even in 1.5 ft of snow with 5 experienced hunters on the follow-up the next day. The only person in the world who was having a worse day that week after we couldn’t find that buck than my buddy Matt was Tiger Woods. The Grinch was doing his Christmas Season thing to our group and it wasn’t cool.
It didn’t get better after that. It snowed again with a 1/4 inch of ice for good measure – which made our logistical nightmare even worse. We spent 2 days sitting on stand until 9:00 AM (in -15 degree wind chill temperatures), conducting deer drives (which took 4 Xs as long as they should have because of the snow and ice conditions) on alternative properties during mid-day, and sitting on stand again every afternoon until sundown. We scratched two deer in two days between 7 hunters on 4 properties. Both deer were 3.5 year old 140 class bucks that were mistakes to harvest. Not good by our standards. And, now the clock was ticking. We were struggling, frustrated, and making mistakes.
Then, it got better. We lost energy conducting deer drives and started to concentrate on food sources for afternoon sets. It was cold and we knew it was a matter of time before some of the big bucks we had on trail cameras would start to make mistakes. They did. In fact, two big bucks presented themselves within 5 minutes of one another on day #5 of hunting. I heard a shot about a 3/4s of a mile away from my ground blind and then got a quick call from my Dad saying he thought he made a good shot and his buck wouldn’t go far. Finally, it was coming together. I had to hang-up on my Dad because what would be my buck slipped out of a brushy fence row following 3 does into a picked bean field. I let him come an additional 20 yards and made my shot -150 yards with a slug gun. His front left leg wasn’t working after I hit him and he took off as fast as I’ve ever seen a Whitetail move after being shot. I waited 25 minutes and looked for blood with my flash light and found nothing. I decided to back out and look for him in the morning with better light. Dad made the same decision with his buck.
The next morning went well. Dad found his buck within 60 yards from where he shot it. Part skill, mostly luck, the buck I shot was hit in the heart and partially in both lungs. He went 50 yards (maybe slugs aren’t so bad after all). Dad’s deer ended up grossing 168 and my deer grossed 162. It was a memorable night for this Father and Son team – one I hope to repeat ASAP in the great state of Iowa in 2010.
And, Grinch, just to remind you – Dad and I kicked some ass in the 9th hour in 2009 – we will be ready for you next year.
A side note – one of the best outdoorsmen I’ve ever had the honor of spending time in the field with gave me a piece of advice three days into my hunt that is and remains enduring to me: “Remain Vigilant”.
KD – I did. Thank you. See you on the Island.
Straight Shots,
Trophy Room
Posted in Hunting on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
