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Recap of Our Non Resident DIY Hunt in SE Iowa

Arrowsmith1

Arrowsmith1

Active Member
Here is a recap of our DIY hunt on our farm in Southeast Iowa (Davis County).

We only ended up tagging one nice doe, but it was one of the best deer hunts I have ever been on. Pretty much non stop action.

If we simply wanted to kill deer. My hunting partner and I could have tagged out (1 buck and 1 doe each) probably on the first day. Definitely by the second day. We were basically covered up with deer and some good ones. We just never got good opportunities at the bigger bucks.

My wife and I have owned this farm since 2010. I have never hunted there. I had planned to draw in 2014, but our area got hit hard by EHD in 2013. Here are some things I learned.

1. Our little 63.5 acre farm has a lot of deer on it and passing thru it. We saw 130 or so deer from the stand over the week long hunt. I saw 16 different bucks and several of the same bucks. The creek that runs the length of our farm is a deer highway. My hunting partner saw 83 deer while on stand (for the week) and both his stands were about 300 yards from camp. You could see our tent and my truck from his stands.

2. We do not have any food plots on our farm (yet), but my neighbors have corn, beans, alfalfa, and triticale on all four sides of our ground. Our farm has 1/2 mile of wooded creek bottom that runs the length of the property. This creek bottom is some of the most thickest timber in the area. This seems to concentrate the deer on our farm....at least for this year.

3. We have a lot of young bucks. The age structure on our farm contains many 1.5 to 3.5 year old bucks. I assume this was caused by the EHD die off. The buck to doe ratio is close to 1:1 as I saw as many or more bucks than does.

4. Our farm has some rough terrain. We have 60' elevations changes from ridge top to creek bottom. We have a river channel with 15' to 20' vertical banks that have to be negotiated. Finding safe crossing areas can be tricky before and after daylight.

5. I have some neighbors that are great people. We have permission to hunt on way more ground than I ever dreamed. There is no way we would have had time to even look at all the property. We had plenty of deer on our place and spent 95% of our time there.

6. Its awesome to hunt Midwest unpressured deer. The deer respond to calls and decoys like I have not experienced before.

7. I will never again under estimate how many deer can live in small patches of timber.

Here are a few pictures of deer we had on camera and some we were holding out for. Most of these pictures came from a camera on one real active scrape. My hunting partner had the big bodied 8 at 25 and 35 yards on two different days but could not get a clear shot. The young big wide 8 was on a trail coming out of a cut corn field. I have also included some pictures of our "old school" deer camp.

038 (Small).JPG 128 (Small).JPG 129 (Small).JPG 126 (Small).JPG 177 (Small).JPG Bean Field Cam (Small).jpg Big 8 (Small).jpg Decoy 1 (Small).jpg Camp 1 (Small).jpg Camp 2 (Small).jpg
 
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Here is my first Iowa deer. 17 yards broadside.

I was not planning on shooting a doe, but could not pass a slam dunk.

It felt good to take a deer on our ground.

Doe 1 (Small).jpg Doe 2 (Small).jpg
 
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Arrowsmith1 said:
If things work as planned my wife and I will be Iowa residents by next season. We are retiring and moving to our ground in Iowa.
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I wish you well. As muddy said late season is always an option if the deer don't get pressured too much and you have surrounding food it can be great. Just so you know the Iowa DNR has a time frame and a few hoops to jump through to establish residency. Just trying to save you some headache so you don't move in September and then realize you still have to wait for a tag.
And most of all congrats on a very successful hunt
 
Good stuff Mike, I am not at all surprised that you had such good action with the deer trading through your ground. That is exactly what I thought it would be like when I was there a few years back. Did the spot where there was a washout right at your south fenceline ever get fixed? Congrats on the successful hunt...and on many more to come!
 
bigbuckhunter88 said:
I wish you well. As muddy said late season is always an option if the deer don't get pressured too much and you have surrounding food it can be great. Just so you know the Iowa DNR has a time frame and a few hoops to jump through to establish residency. Just trying to save you some headache so you don't move in September and then realize you still have to wait for a tag.
And most of all congrats on a very successful hunt
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Thank You for the info and well wishes. I have been researching that. I hope we are settled and residents in the proper time frame. If not I can still get a doe tag as a non resident landowner. It has to be used during one of the shotgun seasons but that is ok too. If that is the case I will take a lot of pictures during bow season.
 
Daver said:
Good stuff Mike, I am not at all surprised that you had such good action with the deer trading through your ground. That is exactly what I thought it would be like when I was there a few years back. Did the spot where there was a washout right at your south fenceline ever get fixed? Congrats on the successful hunt...and on many more to come!
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Dave. Our farm greatly exceeded my expectations. I am excited about the work ahead. Also excited about improving the habitat. I have a lot to learn, but I have some very knowledgeable hunters right here on Iowa Whitetails to learn from.

I am glad you got to see our ground and I greatly appreciate your help with the game cams. I finally got to meet the neighbor that you met the day you were there. He is an awesome person. I almost fell off his front porch when he said "You can hunt my ground". Most of his ground is tillable, but there are some good pockets of timber. Between my two neighbors (both are outstanding people) I will have access to two miles of the creek that you walked.

As far as the washout. The fence is repaired, but the wash out is still there. I will have plenty of projects to keep me busy.:D
 
Arrowsmith1 said:
Dave. Our farm greatly exceeded my expectations. I am excited about the work ahead. Also excited about improving the habitat. I have a lot to learn, but I have some very knowledgeable hunters right here on Iowa Whitetails to learn from.

I am glad you got to see our ground and I greatly appreciate your help with the game cams. I finally got to meet the neighbor that you met the day you were there. He is an awesome person. I almost fell off his front porch when he said "You can hunt my ground". Most of his ground is tillable, but there are some good pockets of timber. Between my two neighbors (both are outstanding people) I will have access to two miles of the creek that you walked.

As far as the washout. The fence is repaired, but the wash out is still there. I will have plenty of projects to keep me busy.:D
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If I were you...I would try to make a deal with your southern neighbor. Perhaps offer to pay for the fence if he will work with you and move the fence south 30 yards away from the creek. Dump some rip rap on the creek bank so it doesn't wash out again and presto...you would have a path along the creek, on the south side too. If you had an unobstructed pathway on the south side of the creek I am sure the deer would travel that like a superhighway. You could put a stand or two back in your timber a little bit and suddenly you would have a beauty of a spot(s) to hunt on a northerly wind...and good, clean access potential too. That's the type of place you could hunt over and over and not wear it out and you already got a good feel as to how the deer like to use those drainages...that would only make the whole place better IMO.
 
Well done to you guys!! I give you props for passing younger bucks and “not having to just kill one” if it wasn’t right for you. I know the tags and land are expensive- props. Great story and agree- Iowa is one of a kind for deer hunting. Folks who have hunted other states - most of which are ravaged - are usually the ones who most appreciate Iowa. Great story.

What’s your future plans for work on that farm- I saw food in the story possibly. It’s a fun & addicting thing to get into!
 
Daver said:
If I were you...I would try to make a deal with your southern neighbor. Perhaps offer to pay for the fence if he will work with you and move the fence south 30 yards away from the creek. Dump some rip rap on the creek bank so it doesn't wash out again and presto...you would have a path along the creek, on the south side too. If you had an unobstructed pathway on the south side of the creek I am sure the deer would travel that like a superhighway. You could put a stand or two back in your timber a little bit and suddenly you would have a beauty of a spot(s) to hunt on a northerly wind...and good, clean access potential too. That's the type of place you could hunt over and over and not wear it out and you already got a good feel as to how the deer like to use those drainages...that would only make the whole place better IMO.
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Great idea Dave !!! That is probably exactly what I will do. My neighbor that has that ground that adjoins us on that side is a great guy and would probably agree to that plan. Plus it is pretty easy access thru his pasture to get equipment in there.
 
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