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2nd shotgun - any better?

Deer Nut

Deer Nut

PMA Member
I haven't seen or heard much on the forum. Have people been seeing more hunters? More deer? Three does scurried by my house last night. Never heard anyone shoot. S.E. Johnson county.
 
I started counting gunshots yesterday morning and the total was about 30 by 9 am. That may sound like a lot, but it covered LOTS of prime ground and years past that would have been the first half hour.

I had a group of 5 deer under my stand at 9:30 yesterday morning, 3 does and 2 forkies. Jumped a group of 5 does on my walk back to the vehicle. The neighbor was out cutting firewood, so that shut down some movement.

Hunted a different property in the afternoon, jumped a 1.5 yr old buck who stood broadside at 30 yards. He's not going to reach 2.5 yrs old if he does that in front of too many people. Continued the walk and jumped 5 does and one 2.5 yr old buck tucked into some blow downs. I'll probably leave that property alone the rest of the season for them to hide out.
 
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Heard around 30 shots up around Volga from sun up to around 930 while I was ice fishing. On a typical year that would have been doubled. Did talk to one group that saw fewer deer than I would have guessed but they managed to harvest a big mature buck.
 
Saw 3 big bucks yesterday am with no shot ops. Saw a 4th while driving to the next property. 10yds in front of the truck! He was purdy! Looked to be a Perfect 10, roughly a 150. Tried to take pictures but camera wouldn't function quick enough lol

I went to work at 1pm, my dad sat in a stand and had a 130ish 10pt at <5yds and gave him a free pass. He also saw 2 big bucks across the field but too far to shoot

Today: had 1 decent 8 slip out the side on us this am. Had does on us all morning. A few good herds. Currently, zero shots fired...

I keep reminding the group, lay off the does and next year will be better... a few are getting antsy to get first blood and get the monkey off our back. Most of our pushes produce deer of some sort for good shot ops, and I see that as successful. But we have yet to have a good buck in range

#s are still way down tho. IDC what anyone says. Hunting has been slow.
 
Quite a few guys runnin around and pushin down here, quite a bit of shooting as well, especially yesterday. Didnt see as many others groups out today but still heard some distant shots. Our group of 8 guys has only 5 so far. Weve seen a good amount of deer, shot a couple good mature does in the mix. Just cant get as many shot opportunities as we usual do due to other groups or simply deer going the wrong way!
 
Got skunked on a few pushes that normally have deer. Group of 11, only 4 hanging. Numbers are down, but my group is all for the meat, so the "if its brown its down" mentality is in full force. Which is fine, unless we're hunting on our farm/area, then I have to convince them mature bucks only..which makes me not to even want to push our farm, but it'll be our best producing push.. :/
 
7 guys. Filled 8 tags in a day and a half. About normal or maybe a little better than normal for us and saw a normal amount of deer. About 30 each day. Hunted 5 properties with about 700 total acres. Mostly private, but some public.
 
tough hunting where I am at. So much snow on trees you cant see more than 30 yards in timber. Shot a doe, see a good amount of sign and a few popping up here and there in timber but hard to push with only one guy. They are just running circles around us and I would be willing to bet a lot of them are not even getting up out of their beds. the ones we do jump are close.
 
The group I hunt with has definitely seen less deer this year however we have still managed to harvest 2 button bucks, 1 mature doe, 1 mature 12 pointer, 1 mature 10 pointer. Between 8 people that's not a bad ratio.
 
Very Quiet around my area so far. Possibly local bow hunters and local poachers,have all the venison they want. I patrol the perimeter of my 40 each day to see what is going on, make sure no tresspass. Keeping my land a safe Zone for the deer left. While out walking saw one "hunter", come across neighbor's land with small boy. Boy was carrying a gun, which I assume was a toy? Had better been cause kid was little. I gave him a HI and stayed on my hill a bit just to see where he'd go. As he got down to neighbor's drive and walked in ,he let off with some expletives, which from the distance sounded something like,"Your, F-ing Land". Probably like, "I am not walking on your F-ing land". Nice guy....?
 
Extremely quiet! I usually rely on pressure in the area to stir the deer up. There is no pressure this year and the deer are acting "normal", moving only first and last few minutes of the day.

Not sure if it's lack of deer deterring the groups or maybe the land has changed ownership into small parcels that won't grant permission.
 
Saturday was rough not many groups out pushing close to me so sitting was tough. Sunday I shot a 140" 10pt that ended up having a slug laying right under his hide at the top of his back, a hole through his throat just missing the wind pipe and a graze off if a front leg. He made it to my timber a looked to be healthy and walking around like he felt safe. The two larger groups around the area had 12 and 8 deer total. Not many does which is good. One mature buck, handful of baskets and lots of buttons/spikes.

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It was pretty quiet but on a couple tracts, it went from quiet to a WAR ZONE in a few minutes. Last night in the afternoon after peace & quiet all day the war started.
 
I haven't heard any warzone activity. I sat all day Sat. with my dad on an 80 acre piece, no neighbors hunting or anything 1st or 2nd season. Wind was perfect, 20 acres of warm season grasses, 1 acre turnip & rye plot, thick timber, awesome bedding...didn't see one deer. Fresh snow, didn't even see a deer track. Called up one of the neighbors and he hasn't seen a deer since November. Tons of coyote tracks, and I took out a female pup during my morning sit when she came cruising through.

Tough sledding out there! This was far SE Iowa. Probably won't hit that spot at all late muzz...maybe I'll just hang it up for the year and strictly go after some 'yotes. They're really thick it seems.
 
There were 3 groups including ours on Sunday all within a 1.5 mile diameter. Pushed our farm along a creek and old railroad bed, that hadn't been pushed since 1st season, only kicked up a small 8pt. Figured a lot of the deer woulda been chased into ours, guess not.
 
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my 2nd gun 10

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Saw 4 Mature bucks today and a spike. I was bummed when I missed a big 10pt I'd been after this year. Oh well, always tomorrow morning! At least I know there's some good ones out there!
 
Th shot one buck during bow season two separate times without a recovery.
He killed a buck during bow season.
Two bucks during first season.
Missed a buck during second season.
90 percent of us are lucky to get an opportunity at one big shooter a year, this kid must be on some killer land...
 
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