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14 December 2007

Iowa Deer - Day 3 - I Got A Buck

Posted by Darrell under: Hunting Stories .

The day started for Dana, Mike, Chris and I at a crisp 13 degrees Fahrenheit with 20+ MPH winds. For anyone that doesn’t know, this translates into “COLD”. We headed over to the South field and set up for a drive. Chris and I both took up spots on the terraces to the North of the wooded ditch and Dana and Mike headed around to the Northeast to begin the drive.

At around 7:30 an Iowa whitetail buck busted out of the ditch and headed towards the west. It was on a dead run, of course. All the Iowa deer I’ve seen so far have been on a dead run. I shot at it three times as in ran across the bottom about 100 yards below me. It never even staggered and I was dumbfounded by my seemingly sorry shooting. It got to the West fence and instead of jumping it turned to the North and started right towards me. A few seconds later it was barreling by me at about 30 yards. I let go another round and saw the hole punch into it’s side. It still didn’t miss a step and continued running like nothing was amiss.

I watched in wonder as it galloped across a field. Then it start to stagger. Shortly thereafter it sat down and never got back up. There was no blood trail to speak of and it had ran at least 300 yards since my last shot. I was flabbergasted to see that I had hit it three times and two of the shots were great kill shots. In fact, one shot had smashed directly through it’s front shoulder.

It wasn’t the monster Iowa buck of my dreams (hopefully I’ll be able to get a good night’s sleep now) but it was a beautiful animal. It turned out to be a mature 7 point with a mismatched, albeit tall, rack. I was thrilled. I’d taken a mature Iowa buck! What more could I ask for?

I’ve seen at least a dozen larger bucks so far during my Iowa hunt. I’ve had decent shot opportunities at bigger bucks and passed them. Why? What inspired me to shoot this particular buck? Why am I satisfied with it?

I wish I had some kind of wise answer. But, I don’t. I’m a guest. A guest of Dana, a guest of Mike and Chris, and a guest of the state of Iowa. Dana invited me along to share the experience of an Iowa hunt. I wouldn’t have complained about a giant Iowa trophy, but I didn’t necessarily deserve one. I didn’t pay for a trophy hunt. Heck, I’m not even paying for room and board. Dana’s parents accepted me into their home as a guest. Remarkable, huh?

I hunt primarily for the experience and the meat. A big trophy is a bonus. I didn’t get ‘a bonus’ on this hunt. However, I had a great experience and I’m taking back tons of meat.  This deer is huge. It fills up the back of my pickup. I’m guessing it at way over 200 lbs! A great experience and lots of meat translates into a successful hunt!

I’ve talked about seeing all these monster Iowa bucks. But, I don’t want to mislead anyone. There are indeed monster bucks here in Iowa. Just because they are here, though, doesn’t mean they are easy. They are not easy. The only way you are going to get one of these monster bucks is either through lots of hard work and perseverance or a whole lot of luck. There are lots of locals who hunt hard for years before taking a monster buck and some who never have.

Trying to take one of these monsters, though, is lots of fun. There hasn’t been any sitting in treestands or blinds and waiting. Hunting in Iowa is all action. You can see for miles. The deer can see you for miles. So instead of waiting for a deer to stumble by, you go find the deer. Then you herd them towards your hunting buddies and wait expectantly for the boom of a slug gun. Its lots of exercise, lots of work, and a ton of fun!

I shot the first buck I saw today. After the one I shot, I saw fourteen more. That is a whopping fifteen bucks in one day. Several were big shooters with tall and wide racks.

Here are a few of the highlights of the day:

Dana walked up a giant buck and took a couple shots towards it as it busted its way through the brush and headed towards Chris, who couldn’t get his gun situated in time to take a shot while the buck stood looking at him from about 30 feet. By the time Chris got his gun situated and started shooting, that buck was headed for the next county. Chris missed an opportunity at a buck of a lifetime. He was sick. I’m confident, though, that he will have plenty more opportunities. He hunts hard and has fun while he hunts. Definitely, my kind of hunting partner.

During another drive, I found myself sitting in my camouflage folding chair beside a deep brushy ditch and creek on the edge of a corn field. Mike and Dana were doing the drive and Chris and I were blocking. Two beautiful bucks ran across the field right towards me. I thought they might actually run over me. They passed within a few feet of me and never saw me. One was an eight point and the other a six. It was cool and I watched them run by.

Later, during yet another drive, a coyote busted out of the brush less than 50 yards from me and headed across the corn field and into the terraces. Just moments later a small doe followed and headed up toward the terraces where Chris was posted. We still have doe tags, but I decided not to shoot her. I thought a big buck might be following her and didn’t want to spook him before Chris could get a shot. Nothing else materialized and we moved on to the next drive.

At the ranch timber where Dana got his buck, Chris and I decided to do the drive while Mike and Dana blocked. Dana sat in the same spot he was in when he got his buck yesterday. Chris and I walked a nice 8 point right to him. It walked within 8 feet and never saw him. Dana watched as it made its way into the next section. The doe that was with him split off and headed south before she got to Dana. It was probably a good decision on her part, as Dana wouldn’t have let her walk.

All told we did 10 different drives during the day. I’m tired. We’ve probably done close to 30 drives in 3 days. We have not yet done a drive when we didn’t see deer. Today we saw 42 deer of which 15 were bucks. The total for 3 days is 115 deer and 39 bucks. Awesome.

You’ll notice that Dana does not appear in the pictures with OUR deer today. I didn’t invite him to appear in the picture. Afterall, someone has to work the camera!

By the way, for anyone wondering, in Iowa you can party hunt, filling your hunting partners tags. This is why there is a decision to be made when you see a buck – even though you may have already filled your own tag. Iowa hunters have a party mentality as I’ve been joking about for the past couple days. They will gladly fill your tag for you and then let you take pictures of them with your deer.

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