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The Red Shorts Buck

NWBuck

PMA Member
The final of my 3 harvest stories for the morning is possibly the most entertaining, and I hope I can tell it adequately.

Our nephew Matthew often comes up to stay with us and bow hunt on weekends during the fall. A couple of weeks ago he was up and both he and my son Hunter passed on some really nice deer hoping for something exceptional. I joked with both of them that they'd better get on Google and search for "tag soup" recipes :)

Anyway, last weekend (19th & 20th) Matthew decided to stay home and not come up. His family lives in central Iowa in a rural development along the banks of the skunk river. There's some timber and such all around their place, so it isn't uncommon for them to see a variety of wildlife in the back yard. Sunday morning Matthew was busy in the house working on some college scholarship applications when one of his sisters told him there was a small buck in the back yard. Fearing the tag soup thing might really come true, Matthew said "what the heck" and figured he might as well put on a stalk. He threw on some shoes and a sweatshirt, but decided he wouldn't be out long so he wouldn't bother changing out of his red shorts. The buck had worked his way out of the yard and over the bank heading down to the river. While Matthew put on the stalk, his sister sent this snap chat...
Matthew1.jpg

Yep, we were all chuckling at him out there with no shirt, light jacket, red shorts and shoes in 20 degree weather stalking a dink buck. Well the last laugh was definitely on us...

Once Matthew reached the edge of the hill he looked down and saw the dink buck just out of range. But he also saw another set of antlers bedded in some grass down hill from him. Much. Bigger. Antlers!! After a couple of grunts to get him to stand and stop, Matthew was able to draw and get off a shot just before the buck spooked. He called us when he got back in the house and said he thought he'd smoked a dandy! He got warm clothes on, gave the buck some time, and recruited family members to help with a trailing job that ended up being a little longer than expected. But at the end of the trail was indeed a dandy buck! Congrats again Matthew, and I guess you'll be eating venison instead of tag soup :) Nonetheless, there's no other name for this buck than "The Red Shorts Buck"
Matthew2.jpg

NWBuck
 
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Nice! That's a heck of a buck to put a stalk on without knowing he was there! Congrats Matthew!
 
Ha! That is a great story AND a great buck. Congrats, he will remember that one forever. Side note...does any of your clan hunt conventionally? :D
 
Ha! That is a great story AND a great buck. Congrats, he will remember that one forever. Side note...does any of your clan hunt conventionally? :D

Ha ha...yeah, but it seems the best stories happen when we're not :)

NWBuck
 
Ha ha another great post! Awesome year for your family. Congrats to Matt great pictures!!
 
That's absolutely awesome!

"His family lives in central Iowa in a rural development along the banks of the skunk river."
Its not Metz, is it?
 
Way to go Matthew, if you wouldn't have gone after the dink you wouldn't killed a great buck. sometimes when you least expect it great things happen. Congrats and way to get it done.
 
Great story and congrats to him.

This is a bit nuts. I have a pic of a deer looks just like that!
IMG_20161123_191212_zpsaajmhdf7.jpg
 
Crazy similarities...I had to scroll up and down several times before I was convinced they were different deer.

NWBuck
 
That's absolutely awesome!

"His family lives in central Iowa in a rural development along the banks of the skunk river."
Its not Metz, is it?
Guess I'm not sure if it has a name or not, and if so, what it would be. It is just south of Story City and on the west side of I-35.

NWBuck
 
Usually those dink bucks ruin a stalk on a good buck but this one led him to a good buck! Awesome story
 
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