Being new to Iowa 2 years ago I have only sparsely hunted public land due to frustration of other people ruining numerous hunts. Coming from a farm back home in SC with 1100 acres in my back yard to public land was quite the culture shock!
This year I decided to travel to get away from the crowds and give it all I had to kill an Iowa buck before we move back to SC. On Novemeber 6, with 30mph (wouldnt attempt to even hunt in SC) winds I took some advice from this forum and decided to set up on the back side of a fairly steep ridge down wind of a bedding area. I had to wait until light to walk in to find a tree which I finally made it up at 7:33 am. At 8:32 am I saw this buck chasing a doe at 80 yds and knew for public land he was a shooter. Dissapointingly he ignored my calls and left shortly after with her. To my surprise he returned in the same area 80 yds away at 10:15 and worked a scrape, since I was on a good trail with scrapes in front of me I knew for sure he was coming my way....nope!! he bedded down, and for the next 2 hours I had to watch him sleep! ugh....nerve racking! (I have a picture below of him bedded down, hard to see him but hes laying with his but towards me)
When he finally got up he casually walked away ignoring all my calls except for when I broke out the rattle bag, but still he only looked my way and turned for the bedding area in front of me. Having thought he was gone I sat back down and began to relax....unexpectantly 20 minutes later he busted through the brush at 50yds in front of me and worked a scrape! Guess there werent any does in bed for him, this gave me the opportunity to stand up and get ready, He began walking towards me at a 45 degree angle and offered a perfect shot at 22 yds! He only ran about 30 more and began to stomp his foot and blow, I could see the blood pouring from the entry wound and knew it was a solid hit! Normally I would put another one in him but it was too thick for a second shot. He went down right there in sight moments later(pictured below) and the roller coaster of a hunt was complete, except for the 1.5 mile trip back to the truck!
I couldnt have been happier with this buck, especially having only hunted this area a handful of times and learning the strategies used to hunt deer in the midwest versus down south, especially on these windy days. This forum has helped me a lot, and I appreciate all the threads and posts.
This year I decided to travel to get away from the crowds and give it all I had to kill an Iowa buck before we move back to SC. On Novemeber 6, with 30mph (wouldnt attempt to even hunt in SC) winds I took some advice from this forum and decided to set up on the back side of a fairly steep ridge down wind of a bedding area. I had to wait until light to walk in to find a tree which I finally made it up at 7:33 am. At 8:32 am I saw this buck chasing a doe at 80 yds and knew for public land he was a shooter. Dissapointingly he ignored my calls and left shortly after with her. To my surprise he returned in the same area 80 yds away at 10:15 and worked a scrape, since I was on a good trail with scrapes in front of me I knew for sure he was coming my way....nope!! he bedded down, and for the next 2 hours I had to watch him sleep! ugh....nerve racking! (I have a picture below of him bedded down, hard to see him but hes laying with his but towards me)
When he finally got up he casually walked away ignoring all my calls except for when I broke out the rattle bag, but still he only looked my way and turned for the bedding area in front of me. Having thought he was gone I sat back down and began to relax....unexpectantly 20 minutes later he busted through the brush at 50yds in front of me and worked a scrape! Guess there werent any does in bed for him, this gave me the opportunity to stand up and get ready, He began walking towards me at a 45 degree angle and offered a perfect shot at 22 yds! He only ran about 30 more and began to stomp his foot and blow, I could see the blood pouring from the entry wound and knew it was a solid hit! Normally I would put another one in him but it was too thick for a second shot. He went down right there in sight moments later(pictured below) and the roller coaster of a hunt was complete, except for the 1.5 mile trip back to the truck!
I couldnt have been happier with this buck, especially having only hunted this area a handful of times and learning the strategies used to hunt deer in the midwest versus down south, especially on these windy days. This forum has helped me a lot, and I appreciate all the threads and posts.
