This past 2014 season I did some spring scouting in the NE Iowa to get the feel for a couple new public areas. Due to time restrictions though I decided I was going to go cyber scout or bust for my season. After scouring all maps of all the public areas in NE Iowa I had a bunch of "hot spots" picked out. I made my first trip the second weekend of October for a 3 day early season doe hunt. I hunted a few new areas completely blind and strictly of my maps. On the second evening, after having action all 3 previous sits, we set up on a leeward ridge between thick cover on the end of the ridge and crops a few hundred yards the other direction. There were alot of acorns dropping but not much sign. Forty five minutes before dark two does eased our way along the ridge eating acorns. Eventually the younger one stopped broadside for about a 12yd shot and did not make it far. The biggest problem was that we didn't know the best way to get the deer out because we had not been there before but with a little help we got her loaded up.
I didn't make another trip to hunt until the Halloween. I changed my list of "map spots" to more "rut areas". Halloween night I made a quick set at the head of a large drainage. I saw a few deer and one real nice buck but due some horseback riders the deer weren't moving real "naturally". Following morning I set up in the dark in a new area on a header, between thick cover, with acorns and downwind from a cut corn field. I figured I had to see something because I had all the bases covered, and I ended up seeing about three dozen deer 6 being bucks. I self-filmed this buck come in to about 17yds at about 5pm when I stopped him and made the shot. The retrieval got pushed to the next morning due to the buck going about a 100yds into the thick cover and the blood not being real great. There was no need to worry though because when we returned the following morning he was only about 15yds further than where we had marked last blood. The long drag was welcomed as my dad was there to help and had shot a nice public buck the day before as well.
While I was very happy with my season on public in Iowa I wasn't ready to hang it up on Nov 2nd. So, my friend and I went to western WI for an out of state hunt Nov 7th -11th. I hunted a small farm I had permission for but had hunted only a couple of times and my buddy hunted a large piece of public. I saw some does early on the 7th but passed and saw no cruising action where I was set between to leeward side bedding points. The 8th brought alot of wind and I saw one fawn early. I made a move midday to a new spot right off a great looking header with good cover and food near by. Towards last light I was ready to get back to talk to my buddies about the day when I caught movement, grabbed the bow, swung to the right of the tree and stopped the buck for a 8yd shot. It happened in seconds and besides having 5 on his left side I was unsure how good he was actually. The shot was perfect but when we recovered him a couple hours later the coyotes had ate his whole front quarter. My WI buddy had also shot a great buck that night as well that we got before mine. It was another long drag that I was thankful to have some help with.
The two of us spent sunday and monday butchering deer and generally BS'ing while my fellow Iowan buddy (beast ID:crab claw 12) continued to pound the public piece with no luck or sightings even. It snowed overnight and into tuesday morning. My buddy was not very excited to get back in the woods after the long days he'd been having but I gave him a nudge and offered to keep him company with the camera all day. We sat downwind from a cut corn field between a couple of likely looking bedding areas. Unfortunately there was squat for tracks in the fresh snow on the 2mile walk in. We sat deerless all day wet from the snow and getting blown on when I spotted a bruiser closing in. My buddy made a 25yd shot on the buck. We hauled gear out, returned for the deer and found him in a pile but not dead! We walked out again and back in the early morning to find him barely hanging on the edge of a STEEP hill. We had to call in sick as it took most of the day to get the buck all the way out. Long drags seem to be a trend here??
Ok, last hunt....Nov 21st I "guided"/filmed my neighbor kid over NE Iowa to hopefully crack his dry spell from the past few years. We made a quick blind set friday night again downwind from food and could see 8 or so beds in the snow. We saw some anterless deer but he wanted some horns. We returned to the spot I had killed my Iowa after a long night camping in the truck. We bumped the set over a bit to take advantage of the buck movement I had previously saw a few weeks ago. By 9 am we'd seen half a dozen does, he missed a coyote and we had a buck SLOWLY heading our way. After rubbing a tree for 10 min and wandering around he finally made it to 15yds and took a perfect heart shot, he crashed in sight. He was dubbed S.S. Tine-less due to his freighter size body but 3 inch tines. And you guessed it, it was another long drag through the hills and across the river.
Well if you've made it this far I hope you enjoyed the long read and hopefully the pics worked. I really wanted to thank everybody and share my season with you guys after all the info I've learned here. I wouldn't have believed hunting just off a map could be so successful and maybe I got lucky. Either way I had a blast hunting blind in new spots ("hang-em and bang-em") and gained alot of confidence hunting hill country. Thanks again!
