My DIY Public Land Iowa hunt this past fall started out much earlier than the actual hunt itself. I started my serious cyber-scouting in February and by the time it was time to head out to Iowa in early November I had narrowed down the areas that I wanted to try out to a handful. When we arrived in Iowa on November 2nd it would be the first time I had ever stepped foot in the state! Needless to say I was excited to be there but also a little nervous to find out if all of my time on the computer prior to the trip would pay off.
The trip started off great as I was into some great bucks right away! Every location that I had picked out on my maps turned out to be right on the money. The only problem was I wasn't the only one that thought these spots were good too. On two different mornings I had was set up and ready to go at least an hour before daylight(each location was over a mile back in), only to have other hunters come in and set up within a hundred yards of my location. One hunter actually walked directly under my tree and set up right on top of me. Despite the pressure I was still seeing some great deer. I had even let a couple of golden opportunities slip right thru my fingers. The weather wasn't really cooperating with us either so we we waiting for a good cold snap to come thru. Finally we were going to catch our break with the weather and the cold snap we wanted was on its way. We hunted the evening of November 7th with great deer movement! As I walked out that night I could not wait to get in the tree the following morning! When my hunting partner came to pick me up the trouble began. He asked me to check his tire and sure enough it was losing air quickly. He told me how he had another hunter come in on his hunting location that evening and was mad that somebody was in that spot. Upon closer inspection we found a screw driver had been punched thru the tire! Luckily he had made it to me. So with our headlamps we set out to change this tire. It ended up being quite an ordeal and there was no way to get that tire changed. We were fortunate to get a ride back to the cabin that evening. With that we had to scratch our hunt off for the morning of the 8th. Needless to say we were both really disappointed. We got the tire situation fixed and decided that it would be best to hunt the last couple of days in the same area to try avoid any type of problem for the rest of the trip. My buddy had been hunting an area that I had initially wanted to hunt. Since I had been seeing great deer in a couple other spots I hadn't went in to try it yet. We both went in and hunted it on the evening of the 8th. I saw a few deer but I just had that feeling that the ridge I was set up on was going to be good the following morning. I set up my climber in the dark that evening in what I thought would be the perfect spot the following morning. Little did I know what I had in store for me!
The alarm clock woke us up at 4AM on the morning of the 9th. We wanted to get an early head start since we knew we had the 30+ minute walk into our hunting area. We left the truck at 4:40AM. I found my stand without any difficulty and was set up and ready go by 5:30AM. It was pretty cool out, probably in the mid 30's with that barely noticeable wind out off the north. As the timber started to lighten up it just felt like it was going to be a good morning. The tree I had picked had me set up on the southern side of the ridge. I had about 20 yards to my south before it started to drop off. And to my north it was about 40 yards, but it dropped off quickly into a very deep ditch. I checked my phone at 6:38 and we were well into legal shooting time. I threw out some milkweed to see where I stood with the wind but I didn't like what I was seeing. The wind was so calm that my scent was dropping at about 15 yards to the south of my tree. I could only hope that if something came by it would be to the north. Just a few minutes later I caught movement coming up the ridge from my west. I saw a tall white rack so I grabbed my bow. Within seconds the buck was within 30 yards on a constant walk, of course going to the south side of my tree. I came to full draw before I even had a good look at his headgear just in case he was a shooter. When he walked thru a big opening at 20 yards I decided he was a shooter. He needed to take three more steps and he would be within 15 yards in the open but he hit my scent and hit the brakes. I tried desperately to find a hole thru the brush but I didn't want to force the shot. He was nervous and I knew he was about to leave. For some reason he took three steps directly backwards and gave me a slightly quartering to shot at 15 yards. I put the pin tight to the shoulder to try and catch both lungs. When I released the arrow it hit him hard but I did catch his shoulder. The arrow buried well into him though and he turned and ran back the way he came. He stopped at 50 yards just long enough for me to see the arrow was till firmly in place and plenty far enough in to get the job done. He turned and ran down the steep bank to my north and within seconds all was quiet on the ridge. Everything happened so fast I didn't even have time to get nervous. It was probably 10 seconds from the time I first saw him until I released the arrow. It's funny how looking back I can remember all of the details but it was quick. I looked at my phone and it was 6:44AM. I texted my hunting partner and told him the news. I figured since he was a few hundred yards away I would just wait until about 8:30 or 9AM to take up the trail. I really felt good about the shot but I was second guessing myself about penetration with not getting a pass thru.
I sat down to catch my breath a little and then the show started. First a four point came up the ridge just like the previous buck had done. Then a couple of doe popped out and were followed by a 1.5 old 8 point. Around 7:30AM a really good buck cruised thru to my east. He was a gnarly beast being a main frame 8 point with a big split G2 on his left and an extra dagger like brow on his right side. He was much bigger than the buck I just shot at. He got down in the valley to my sought and he started bumping a few doe around. Then I had an unknown buck chase a doe up out of the deep ditch to my north. And at the same time another smaller 1.5 yr old buck started chasing a doe to my west. I was pretty much surrounded by deer! Around 8:30AM I lowered my bow down and then the next parade started. First a doe popped out from my east. She was followed by a spike, and then the buck that I had driven 12 hours to see stepped out. He was a true Iowa giant! He was a massive, heavy, tall tined buck. He looked like a big 8 point but he may have been a big 10. This buck was easily a 160 class buck! they didn't stick around long but i had more deer come up the ridge from the south. They of course caught my wind and wouldn't leave trying to figure out what I was. Finally around 9:30AM the coast was clear and I climbed down. I had a feeling the buck was sown but again I was still a little nervous. I didn't have much blood right away but I did finally get good blood about 30 yards from the shot. I found where he had stopped and headed down the steep bank. He had actually angled back towards me a little but then I suddenly lost blood. I stopped and used my bino's to check everything out as I could see for quite a long ways across the ridge in front of my and the way he was running. But right in front of my was a big old creek bottom ditch. I was hoping he wasn't in there but I just went ahead up to the edge to peek over. This is what I saw:
What a relief!! I had finally got my Iowa buck!! I know I did some type of crazy dance right there in the timber but I was just too excited to not do something!! honestly it took me a few minutes to figure out how to get down to him but it was all worth it. Here are a few pictures right after I got down in the ditch with him.
Here you can see where I hit him. I did catch the shoulder but my broad head(Steelforce Phathead) punched thru and took out the nearside lung and down into the heart.
Here is another view from down in the deepest ditch in Iowa!
And finally a few hero pictures!
Little did I know what I had in store for me the rest of the day. After tagging and field dressing the buck the work began. I got my buddy to help me get him out of the big ditch. But being that we were more than a mile back in it was going to be a long drag out. I wanted my buddy to hunt as we only had one more day left on our trip so I went after it myself. We did have a sled to use which helped out a lot but it still took me more than 8 hours to get him to the truck! Needless to say for reasons many more than one this hunt will never be forgotten!
Iowa turned out to be everything that I had dreamed about, plus a little but more!! It truly was an adventure from start to finish! Despite a few hiccups along the way, I cannot wait to go back and do it again!!
"Shooter". He was already at 25 yards slowly closing the gap on a faint trail. I slowly grabbed my bow and latched my release like a sloth. As I was ready, he was walking slow 5 yards in front. Just as he took 2 steps past my stand, I slowly stood up over the top of him, drew, and let him have it between the shoulders. The arrow zipped cleanly through and he was on his way. I immediately saw I had good blood from stand, but did not see my arrow as I thought it was a clean pass through. Trying to keep my composure, I waited it out a little and took my time tearing down. Followed blood for 20 feet and surprisingly found my arrow 5 feet up laying on a branch. He must've kicked it up while running off. 75 yards later I found him piled up!
