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.
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.
Last edited: