Obsession
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Obsession
This is a story of obsession.
This summer and fall I noticed deer passing through a small piece of land I had access to from bedding on one side to feed in ag fields on the other. The property was basically all CRP…there was nothing bigger than a bush or two on the entire property. No one else deer hunted it because of this, although they could have, although some bird hunters did. What made me want to check it out was the fact that the land bordered a large property on two sides where I knew no one hunted. Basically a sanctuary.
I put a camera there through November, not sure what to expect. I had to bring in a post to hang it on. When I checked it at the end of the month there were lots of pictures of does and just one of a big buck. A really, really big buck.
A giant, white racked, non-typical buck with a long double main beam on his left side.
I even posted that pic on here because I figured it was a one and done sighting. He was on camera in daylight, amazingly enough, on Thanksgiving morning. He seemed to be following a doe in heat because there was a stream of other bucks one after another as well.
I looked at the deer in that picture in awe. It was the biggest buck I had seen or gotten on camera all year. Heck, it is probably one of the five biggest bucks I have ever seen…and in such a spot!
I figured I would never see him again given how I did detect him. He was only on camera one time and seemed to be after a doe in heat which can draw bucks a very long way particularly late in the rut. I was still indifferent about hunting the place.
Still, since I have learned long ago it is always worth following up a lead on a big buck, I left a camera there through December.
Iowa’s shotgun seasons passed and late muzzleloader season opened…my season of choice.
I checked the camera after muzzleloader season began and my world was rocked. There he was.
The obsession then took hold of me. I had been focusing my hunting on some other spots, but suddenly this giant non-typical filled my mind.
I have single mindedly chased one buck a couple times before and been burned by it each time. However, I could not keep this buck from filling my mind day and night.
I lost sleep thinking about him, which was a pretty big deal because I don’t get near enough sleep the way it is right now with two young kids. I caught myself daydreaming at work, driving, everything I did.
As the new year came I could think of nothing else. I knew this obsession might burn me again but I could not shake the sight of that huge non-typical buck. It was this deer or bust.
A buck like that has always been my dream trophy. Where I hunt true non-typicals are very rare – we get forked tines and a few stickers and that’s about it. I had never hunted a double main beam buck before.
Seeing him let alone tagging the giant deer seemed to be a long shot, which was the frustrating part. The only place I could get him was in that exposed CRP field. I am used to diving into the thick stuff after big bucks. This was the most frustrating part of the situation to me…I had to wait for the big buck to come to me.
I ran a thousand scenarios through my mind but came up with little good.
The weather in late December was warm and mild however with the new year temperatures plunged and I hoped the cold would lure the buck out across the CRP to the picked corn fields on the other side during hunting hours.
This was not some exclusive access food plot situation where I could sit in comfort waiting for a buck to stroll out. If anyone realized what I was doing, I would have company.
When the temperature began plummeting I decided to hunt the buck every chance I got for the rest of the season. There was only about a week left.
I sat along the edge of that field for the first time the evening of January 2nd and saw only a few does at last light. The temperature was in the 20s – not really cold yet but getting there. I had to set up at a distance and prepare for a long shot opportunity because deer seemed to zig-zag widely across the CRP field and spooking just a few deer would probably ruin everything.
The next night I could get out was January 5th, a storm was approaching and the barometer was falling.
I saw the huge buck appear at last light…400 yards away but I could tell it was him. I hardly slept that night! This obsession just went from long shot to a definite chance!
The next day, January 6th, I returned. It was windy, zero degrees with a wicked wind chill. I saw a few deer, no giant double main beam. In hindsight most deer were probably sticking close cover.
Slowly going insane, I hunted there again the next evening, the 7th. Every day I changed my set-up slightly to try to keep the wind as much in my favor as possible. My hunts were pretty low impact as I continued to keep about 200 yards between most of the deer movement and myself.
Leading up to the evening of the 7th a strong wind raged for about 24 hours…then moderated as the sun set. A major storm was forecast to roll through the next day, and the barometer was plunging. I remember thinking the conditions were as good as they were going to get.
It was minus 5 degrees and the wind chill from the still brisk wind made it feel much colder. I wore a fleece balaclava over a thick facemask and a heavy hood on my head. Thick wool trigger finger mittens over light gloves were on my hands and there were five layers on my torso. I looked like the incredible hulk walking to my spot on the open hillside.
The wind subsided…and the sun sank. The hills darkened, and a few does appeared. A few minutes of hunting time remained.
Then there he was. Time went from frozen to a blur. The giant buck had approached behind a small hill undetected to within 100 yards of me and was crossing in front of me at a trot heading toward the picked corn fields.
I raised my muzzleloader slowly, not wanting him to see my movement, the crosshairs caught the shoulder of the walking buck now only 70 yards away, and the trigger broke cleanly. The shot seemed almost quiet in the deep-frozen air.
The big buck broke and ran hard but stopped after covering only about 60 yards. All I could see was that giant white rack and his back over the grass at that point….seconds passed, an eternity.
All I could do was stare at that giant rack swiveling back and forth. Then I saw the massive antlers sway sideways and tip over into the grass. I sat slack jawed. Thirty seconds ago there had been no deer, now the buck was in front of me, dead.
A flood of emotions left me numb and in shock. I staggered across the frozen grass and snow to look at my obsession of the past several weeks, this magnificent animal. Chances of success had seemed so remote. I still cannot put the feelings of achieving it into words.
The shot had hit him perfectly blowing a 2-inch hole through both lungs.
The buck had no ground shrinkage. He weighed in at 225 lbs on the hoof with a run down, rutted out body and a completely empty stomach. Interestingly his tarsals still smelled strongly and he still had a very swollen neck; a doe fawn or two coming into estrus late might have been keeping him stirred up.
The antlers are the most massive I have ever held personally with the first 3 circumference measurements on each side close to or above 6 inches. His antlers make every other rack on my wall look thin including a couple I HAD thought were very massive. The main frame 8 point, aided by the mass and 8+ inch brow tines and 12-inch G2s, looks like it will gross over 160 typical inches plus a lot of non-typical antler. A 160 class 8 point typical is a once in a lifetime deer. A double main beam buck is a once in a lifetime deer too. I do not know why the hunting gods were so kind, but I will be forever grateful.
This year has humbled me…such limited hunting time, always too many things going on to savor that inner peace hunting brings for long, yet I have been blessed beyond belief while hunting this year.
There will come years where I struggle to find success and serenity while hunting, but I will always remember this season, where everything just kept working out.
Its been three days and still doesn't seem real.
This summer and fall I noticed deer passing through a small piece of land I had access to from bedding on one side to feed in ag fields on the other. The property was basically all CRP…there was nothing bigger than a bush or two on the entire property. No one else deer hunted it because of this, although they could have, although some bird hunters did. What made me want to check it out was the fact that the land bordered a large property on two sides where I knew no one hunted. Basically a sanctuary.
I put a camera there through November, not sure what to expect. I had to bring in a post to hang it on. When I checked it at the end of the month there were lots of pictures of does and just one of a big buck. A really, really big buck.
A giant, white racked, non-typical buck with a long double main beam on his left side.
I even posted that pic on here because I figured it was a one and done sighting. He was on camera in daylight, amazingly enough, on Thanksgiving morning. He seemed to be following a doe in heat because there was a stream of other bucks one after another as well.
I looked at the deer in that picture in awe. It was the biggest buck I had seen or gotten on camera all year. Heck, it is probably one of the five biggest bucks I have ever seen…and in such a spot!
I figured I would never see him again given how I did detect him. He was only on camera one time and seemed to be after a doe in heat which can draw bucks a very long way particularly late in the rut. I was still indifferent about hunting the place.
Still, since I have learned long ago it is always worth following up a lead on a big buck, I left a camera there through December.
Iowa’s shotgun seasons passed and late muzzleloader season opened…my season of choice.
I checked the camera after muzzleloader season began and my world was rocked. There he was.
The obsession then took hold of me. I had been focusing my hunting on some other spots, but suddenly this giant non-typical filled my mind.
I have single mindedly chased one buck a couple times before and been burned by it each time. However, I could not keep this buck from filling my mind day and night.
I lost sleep thinking about him, which was a pretty big deal because I don’t get near enough sleep the way it is right now with two young kids. I caught myself daydreaming at work, driving, everything I did.
As the new year came I could think of nothing else. I knew this obsession might burn me again but I could not shake the sight of that huge non-typical buck. It was this deer or bust.
A buck like that has always been my dream trophy. Where I hunt true non-typicals are very rare – we get forked tines and a few stickers and that’s about it. I had never hunted a double main beam buck before.
Seeing him let alone tagging the giant deer seemed to be a long shot, which was the frustrating part. The only place I could get him was in that exposed CRP field. I am used to diving into the thick stuff after big bucks. This was the most frustrating part of the situation to me…I had to wait for the big buck to come to me.
I ran a thousand scenarios through my mind but came up with little good.
The weather in late December was warm and mild however with the new year temperatures plunged and I hoped the cold would lure the buck out across the CRP to the picked corn fields on the other side during hunting hours.
This was not some exclusive access food plot situation where I could sit in comfort waiting for a buck to stroll out. If anyone realized what I was doing, I would have company.
When the temperature began plummeting I decided to hunt the buck every chance I got for the rest of the season. There was only about a week left.
I sat along the edge of that field for the first time the evening of January 2nd and saw only a few does at last light. The temperature was in the 20s – not really cold yet but getting there. I had to set up at a distance and prepare for a long shot opportunity because deer seemed to zig-zag widely across the CRP field and spooking just a few deer would probably ruin everything.
The next night I could get out was January 5th, a storm was approaching and the barometer was falling.
I saw the huge buck appear at last light…400 yards away but I could tell it was him. I hardly slept that night! This obsession just went from long shot to a definite chance!
The next day, January 6th, I returned. It was windy, zero degrees with a wicked wind chill. I saw a few deer, no giant double main beam. In hindsight most deer were probably sticking close cover.
Slowly going insane, I hunted there again the next evening, the 7th. Every day I changed my set-up slightly to try to keep the wind as much in my favor as possible. My hunts were pretty low impact as I continued to keep about 200 yards between most of the deer movement and myself.
Leading up to the evening of the 7th a strong wind raged for about 24 hours…then moderated as the sun set. A major storm was forecast to roll through the next day, and the barometer was plunging. I remember thinking the conditions were as good as they were going to get.
It was minus 5 degrees and the wind chill from the still brisk wind made it feel much colder. I wore a fleece balaclava over a thick facemask and a heavy hood on my head. Thick wool trigger finger mittens over light gloves were on my hands and there were five layers on my torso. I looked like the incredible hulk walking to my spot on the open hillside.
The wind subsided…and the sun sank. The hills darkened, and a few does appeared. A few minutes of hunting time remained.
Then there he was. Time went from frozen to a blur. The giant buck had approached behind a small hill undetected to within 100 yards of me and was crossing in front of me at a trot heading toward the picked corn fields.
I raised my muzzleloader slowly, not wanting him to see my movement, the crosshairs caught the shoulder of the walking buck now only 70 yards away, and the trigger broke cleanly. The shot seemed almost quiet in the deep-frozen air.
The big buck broke and ran hard but stopped after covering only about 60 yards. All I could see was that giant white rack and his back over the grass at that point….seconds passed, an eternity.
All I could do was stare at that giant rack swiveling back and forth. Then I saw the massive antlers sway sideways and tip over into the grass. I sat slack jawed. Thirty seconds ago there had been no deer, now the buck was in front of me, dead.
A flood of emotions left me numb and in shock. I staggered across the frozen grass and snow to look at my obsession of the past several weeks, this magnificent animal. Chances of success had seemed so remote. I still cannot put the feelings of achieving it into words.
The shot had hit him perfectly blowing a 2-inch hole through both lungs.
The buck had no ground shrinkage. He weighed in at 225 lbs on the hoof with a run down, rutted out body and a completely empty stomach. Interestingly his tarsals still smelled strongly and he still had a very swollen neck; a doe fawn or two coming into estrus late might have been keeping him stirred up.
The antlers are the most massive I have ever held personally with the first 3 circumference measurements on each side close to or above 6 inches. His antlers make every other rack on my wall look thin including a couple I HAD thought were very massive. The main frame 8 point, aided by the mass and 8+ inch brow tines and 12-inch G2s, looks like it will gross over 160 typical inches plus a lot of non-typical antler. A 160 class 8 point typical is a once in a lifetime deer. A double main beam buck is a once in a lifetime deer too. I do not know why the hunting gods were so kind, but I will be forever grateful.
This year has humbled me…such limited hunting time, always too many things going on to savor that inner peace hunting brings for long, yet I have been blessed beyond belief while hunting this year.
There will come years where I struggle to find success and serenity while hunting, but I will always remember this season, where everything just kept working out.
Its been three days and still doesn't seem real.
- Jackson Marsh
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Re: Obsession
Outstanding Joe!
Great buck and great story
You had an awesome year, a bull and two great bucks! Certainly a year you will never forget. Well done.
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Great buck and great story
You had an awesome year, a bull and two great bucks! Certainly a year you will never forget. Well done.
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- olivertractor
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Re: Obsession
Jackson Marsh wrote:Outstanding Joe!
Great buck and great story
You had an awesome year, a bull and two great bucks! Certainly a year you will never forget. Well done.
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X2 congrats on a great buck!
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"Sad state of affairs when I'm voting for who's gonna hurt us less, than who's gonna help us more"
- Arrowbender
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Re: Obsession
Heck Yea!
Friggin' Awesome!
Way to get it done!!
Lovin the big 8's.
Congrats Man!!
Great Buck
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Friggin' Awesome!
Way to get it done!!
Lovin the big 8's.
Congrats Man!!
Great Buck
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- Spysar
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Re: Obsession
A buck will see you three times, and hear you twice, but he's only gonna smell you once.
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Re: Obsession
Impressive determination!
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Re: Obsession
Wow!
What a buck!
What a story!
What a season!
Congrats!
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What a buck!
What a story!
What a season!
Congrats!
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- PK_
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Re: Obsession
Out of nowhere…
Weren't you already posting something earlier this year about the incredible season for you and your brothers? Talk about the cherry on top!
Congrats man, amazing.
Better pics if you can would be great!
Weren't you already posting something earlier this year about the incredible season for you and your brothers? Talk about the cherry on top!
Congrats man, amazing.
Better pics if you can would be great!
No Shortcuts. No Excuses. No Regrets.
Everybody's selling dreams. I'm too cheap to buy one.
Everybody's selling dreams. I'm too cheap to buy one.
Rich M wrote:Typically, hunting FL has been like getting a root canal
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Re: Obsession
What an amazing year for you Joe ! That deer is a beauty! Congrats on an outstanding season!
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- wibowhntr
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Re: Obsession
Congrats...awesome looking buck!
- checkerfred
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Re: Obsession
Awesome buck and story! I've had a run in twice with a beast on my property this year. Once I got a shot off but missed. Last time he was bedded right next to a permanent setup I have but haven't hunted one time. He's the biggest buck I've seen around this area and I can't stop thinking of him.
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- justdirtyfun
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Re: Obsession
Persistence paid off! And you made something work where nothing really seemed possible, congrats.
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You don't have to be the best, just do your best.
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Re: Obsession
Wow...and WOW!
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- john1984
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Re: Obsession
Man he's huge ! Congrats!
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Re: Obsession
Congrats and awesome story! Way to work outta the box!
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"One of the chief attractions of the life of the wilderness is its rugged and stalwart democracy; there every man stands for what he actually is and can show himself to be." — Theodore Roosevelt, 1893
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