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12 December 2007

Opening Day of Iowa Whitetail Deer Season

Posted by Darrell under: Hunting Stories .

The weather man wasn’t too far off. We awoke to hard freezing rain, a good coating of ice on the ground, trees, and vegetation, and heavy winds out of the south east. It was about 25 degrees farenheit and felt like zero. What a fine day for deer hunting.

We drove out to the spot where we’d spotted the 8 pt the previous night. After a long, wet walk we topped out over the last terrace to glass the area below. Nothing! No deer. So off we went, back to the truck to drive to another area. As we drove by one of the old home places, I saw five big deer bust out of a little brush and head up one of the terraced fields.

Out of nowhere a massive buck busted up out of the field directly in front of us. He was HUGE with at least a 24” wide rack. It was barely 7:30 in the morning. Dana told me he knew where that buck was going and that he’d cut him off and push him back to me. He pointed to a lone tree on a fence line about 1/3 of a mile away. “Go stand by that tree and get ready” he told me. “Yeah, right” I was thinking. Like that deer is going to run by that tree when I’d already watched him run a good ½ mile in the opposite direction!

About 30 seconds after I arrived at the tree (which turned out to be several small trees instead of one big one) two does jumped the fence not 70 yards from me. As I watched, a nice 8 point stepped out behind them. He offered me a beautiful broadside shot at 70 yards. He was a beautiful deer with tall brow tines and a nice tall rack (although different from the 8 pt the previous night). I decided to let him walk.

When Dana arrived he asked me why I hadn’t shot. After explaining that I couldn’t bring myself to shoot the 8 pt (even though he was probably bigger than any deer I’ve ever taken) when I’d already seen 2 bucks bigger, he said “if not the buck, why didn’t you shoot the does?” Funny, it never even crossed my mind! I was focused on the buck and waiting for his big brother to follow him across the fence. Dana told me that he had watched my big wide buck split off from the 8 point. Both took 2 does and went in different directions. He kindly reminded me that we were on a meat hunting trip - not a trophy hunt.I was happy. I’d already seen some nice bucks. Yes, it was cold and I was wet, but hey, I’d seen bucks. Life is good!

We decided to walk a draw on yet another part of the farm. On our way there we saw 5 more does. We followed them down a fence row for a ways and then turned back towards our brushy draw. About ½ way through the draw we jumped 2 does. They ran across a field and into some more brush.Dana and I split up and began slowly working our way up opposite sides of the brushy draw the does went to. It didn’t take long before I saw Dana waving to get my attention. He held his hands up to his head in the classic “buck” sign. I crawled my way to him. I was shocked to see two nice bucks bedded on top of one of the terraces, not quite 200 yards from us. He whispered that the one on the right was a shooter.

He was right. It was a beautiful deer. A big 8 point with long brow tines and decent mass. As I was trying to decide whether to attempt a shot at it, another buck walked up the terrace. He was smaller than the big guy that I was watching and he seemed to have a purpose. Shortly thereafter, the 8 point stood up and all 3 bucks were standing on the terrace about 200 yards away. Dana and I watched them for several minutes. Two of them started fighting or at least banging their racks together which was really awesome.

Then, yet another buck raised up his head. This one was a monster! He had been laying next to the others and his body was on the other side of the terrace. Even at 200 yards his rack looked massive. It had huge mass and I counted 6 points on just one side. He was the buck I wanted. We estimated him to weigh at least 300 pounds! Dana loaned me his shotgun (which had a scope) and I began preparing to take a 200 yard shot.

I never got the opportunity. The first 3 bucks came down off the terrace and walked across the field and into the draw we had been walking down. They slowly began working their way towards us. I waited, with the gun ready, for the 12 point to follow. When he finally did, I pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. I had failed to take the gun off of safety. My window of opportunity had passed.

We started crawling towards where he had crossed and we could still see him on the edge of the brush. That’s when the smallest buck, a pretty 6 point, started walking right towards us. He walked by us at 10 yards and gave us a good look. We knew he would scent us but hoped that he would keep going on past us.

Our luck didn’t hold out. When he finally caught our scent, he ran right back towards the other deer, alarmed them and off they all went out the end of the draw. I saw them again at about 200 yards standing on a terrace close to a fence. Dana and I discussed it and decided to wait and see if they’d come back into the draw. They didn’t. We decided to walk up over the hillside in the direction they’d come from. Dana said he knew where they’d be. By this time, I realized, not to doubt him. So off we went.

Sure enough, there were deer right where Dana had said they would be. It wasn’t our bucks, but two smaller bucks and a doe. I took 2 shots with Dana’s gun which I was still carrying. I missed both shots. I just wasn’t having much success with the scope since it was iced over and I couldn’t see through it very well. Regardless, I missed. So Dana traded me back guns and I shot  the doe with my gun. It was about 140 yards and I was shooting my Remington 870 with open sights.

We both new I’d hit it as we saw hair blow out its opposite side. There was a nice blood trail leading down hill. We followed it for at least 500 yards down into a brushy creek bottom. The blood trail eventually just stopped. We looked for that deer for about 3 hours to no avail. We never found any more sign of it and we walked the entire bottom looking for it, for blood, or for tracks going out into the field. Nothing!

We did jump yet another nice buck, though. It was an 8 point and he jumped up at about 40 yards. We both let him go. Afterall, there are some massive deer around and I’ve already wounded and not recovered a doe! We saw 21 deer before lunch, nine of which were bucks and several of those were shooters! I love Iowa. 

We didn’t make it back out until about 3pm. A heavy fog had rolled in and it was still raining and cold. We headed back to the dry basin we’d started the morning at. We jumped 3 nice bucks in a 25’ x 50’ corner of brush and trees. They headed out across the fields and we soon lost them in the terraces and fog.We decided to head back to the area where we’d seen the four bucks this morning. On the way, we saw yet another buck. He was standing on a terrace about 200 yards away just looking at us. His antlers were inside his ears so we let him go on his way.

After a long hike to the brushy draw, Dana and I both set up. I layed down in a small ditch looking out over the corn fields and terraces and Dana crawled into some brush about 100 yards from me. Dana saw a doe several hundred yards away, but nothing he could shoot at. I didn’t see anything. It was the opposite of hunting back home. At home we set up sometimes on field edges at evening, but always waiting for the deer to come out of the woods into the field to feed. Here we were watching the fields for the deer to come out of the field and into the woods. Strange.

As we were walking out, a beautiful big shooter buck jumped up from the base of one of the terraces and bounded over it with a doe in toe. They were only about 75 yards out, but it was after legal shooting hours.

Summary of day 1:

We saw 28 deer

Including 14 bucks, of which at least 10 were 8 point or bigger

I shot and never recovered one doe – which makes me sick

I learned that these Iowa deer will run for miles!!!

Picture 1: Some Bucks on a Terrace

Postscript:

After dinner we went to Dana’s cousin’s house. Mike was my kind of guy. Dana and I spent the remainder of the season hunting alongside Mike and his son Chris. I thought I’d include a couple pictures of Mike’s deer from previous years!

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