kbgibby
Threebeards
Got out for the first time this weekend down in southern Iowa. Hung a new stand Saturday morning over a clover field and was back in the stand (after the rain) by 3:00 p.m. Saw a few does but it was windy and no bucks to be seen. By 6;30, the wind had died down and it was a perfect evening. Just when I thought I was gonna be skunked, I heard a grunt and saw this guy working a scrape on the opposite side of the food plot and about 75 yards away. There was a second scrape right across from my stand at 26 yds so I figured I'd get a shot.
He slowly worked his way down and I drew as he passed behind the last bit of cover. But instead of broadside, he worked into the scrape head on so all I had was an ass shot. I held for what seemed like an eternity and was about ready to let down when he turned and I could let fly. I hit back just a bit but was confident it was a good hit. So I waited to let him bed down.
About 20 minutes later, a buck appears in the field and walks right under my stand. I didn't see a mark on him and his antlers seemed whiter than the one I’d just shot … so I let him pass by.
At dark, my buddy came to pick me up and we searched and searched for my arrow. Finally found it with good blood on the vanes but a bit of paunch juice on the shaft. But we couldn’t find any blood anywhere. We backed out and came back a couple hours later and followed the trail the second buck had taken but couldn’t find any blood there either. So we decided to wait for morning.
After searching where we found my arrow with no luck finding blood, I went back to where the second buck had been along the field edge and immediately found a little blood on the clover. We followed the blood trail to the creek, then finally picked it back up where he climbed the bank on the opposite side. About 20 yds away, we found him lying in the open timber. Coyotes had gotten just a bit of a hind quarter, but he was otherwise in good shape. On field dressing him, I’d caught just a bit of liver and most of the blood had stayed inside him.
Not a monster, but a big bodied eight and my nicest bow buck to date. He still had bark on his antlers from rubbing a cedar. We had a trail cam shot of him as well.
He slowly worked his way down and I drew as he passed behind the last bit of cover. But instead of broadside, he worked into the scrape head on so all I had was an ass shot. I held for what seemed like an eternity and was about ready to let down when he turned and I could let fly. I hit back just a bit but was confident it was a good hit. So I waited to let him bed down.
About 20 minutes later, a buck appears in the field and walks right under my stand. I didn't see a mark on him and his antlers seemed whiter than the one I’d just shot … so I let him pass by.
At dark, my buddy came to pick me up and we searched and searched for my arrow. Finally found it with good blood on the vanes but a bit of paunch juice on the shaft. But we couldn’t find any blood anywhere. We backed out and came back a couple hours later and followed the trail the second buck had taken but couldn’t find any blood there either. So we decided to wait for morning.
After searching where we found my arrow with no luck finding blood, I went back to where the second buck had been along the field edge and immediately found a little blood on the clover. We followed the blood trail to the creek, then finally picked it back up where he climbed the bank on the opposite side. About 20 yds away, we found him lying in the open timber. Coyotes had gotten just a bit of a hind quarter, but he was otherwise in good shape. On field dressing him, I’d caught just a bit of liver and most of the blood had stayed inside him.
Not a monster, but a big bodied eight and my nicest bow buck to date. He still had bark on his antlers from rubbing a cedar. We had a trail cam shot of him as well.
