MuzzHunter
On a 20ft High
Sorry for the long post. Its been awhile since I have shared a post on here due to lack of harvest in the past years but I thought I'd share my 2017 season with you guys.( P.S. Hopefully the pictures show up for you guys)
This past season was one that was filled with some ups and downs. It started with spending a lot of my time scouting more pieces of public ground and running cameras trying to locate some possible shooters. After finding a few bucks and areas to focus my attention on for the season, opening day of bow was finally upon us. That opening morning I had decided instead of going to try and fill my antlerless tag I was going to go in an area I had been getting pics of a good buck all summer. So that morning I get setup on a big oak flat not far from where the I had been getting his pictures. It didn't take long that morning for does to start filtering through feeding on acorns. I had a group of 8 does milling around in front of me for about 20 minutes when all of a sudden everyone of them threw their heads in the direction they came from. I knew something was coming but couldn't see it yet. Then I spotted what they were looking at and I couldn't believe it, it was the buck I had been hoping to see. He came in and bumped the does and then fed on acorns all the while slowly working into shooting range. Within minutes he's at 2o yards and I come to full draw just then he turns towards me. It seemed like an eternity for him to turn while at full draw, finally he does and I take aim and release the arrow only to watch it fly right under his chest. My heart sank and couldn't believe I just choked when it came down to crunch time after putting so much time and effort into this season. On the bright side it was opening day and there was a lot of season left.
This is my opening morning missed opportunity.
Now fast forward to November and the start of my 5 day rut vacation. It started out pretty good with seeing some decent deer the first few days of my vacation. Then had a few slower days and I still had my antlerless tag in my pocket and I told myself if given the chance I should fill that tag to put meat in freezer. On Nov. 5th I headed to an area I knew there was a good chance I'd have a shot at a doe at the least. I wasn't in the stand for more than 45 minutes when I looked to my north and spotted a doe headed right towards my location. I grab my bow and shes closing the distance and gets to within 5 yards and I draw on her and settle the pin and watch my arrow disappear right behind the shoulder. She bounds off and makes it no more than 30 yards from the tree and just falls over. I was pumped and had a huge boost in my confidence after my whole opening day ordeal.
A couple days late on Nov. 7 I went in to an area of public I hunt often but wanted to try a new setup in this area. I go in that morning and bust a ton of deer in the dark and can only think there goes my day. After getting setup in a tree and it gets light it doesn't take long and I see my first deer and its a buck. One that I had actually passed at the end of October. As the day when on I ended up seeing 6 more bucks 3 of which were shooters. The only problem was I picked out the wrong tree that morning, they were all in range but just didn't have a clear shot. The end of the day I decided I was going to move the stand to a tree that would give me a clear shot and put the deer at 25 yds instead of 40 and I was going to hunt that same spot the next day.
The next morning I arrive to the area and head into my setup for the day with high hopes of seeing one of the shooters I saw the day before or another one. Right at first light I had a young yearling doe milling around on acorns right around me. About 20 minutes of her feeding I heard leaves rustling up on the ridge and spot a for sure shooter. He spotted the fawn and had to come check her out as he came down the hill I couldn't believe how be he was getting. He was a true giant for anywhere in Iowa, public or private. After checking the doe he turns and heads right towards where I'll have a shot at 25 yds. He gets broadside of me and I'm at full draw and try to stop him but he wouldn't stop. He walked another 15 yds and finally came to a stop and my adrenaline was going crazy and instead of taking my time and executing a proper shot I rushed and watched my arrow fly right underneath his chest. As he walked out of my life I kept hitting myself for not executing on crunch time on a true Iowa giant and couldn't believe my bad luck continues. It was a tough one to swallow put was a great experience to have an opportunity on a buck of that caliber on public ground.
My doe harvest
Now onto late muzzleloader season, with my job I'm fortunate to have a lot of time off during this season so I could put in the work to find the deer knowing its not easy especially on public ground. After hunting the first week and seeing a few deer here and there I decided to try a couple new areas that I had never hunted late season. My first sit I saw over 20 deer 4 which were bucks but no shooters. The next day I saw another 20+ deer but no bucks. I had one other place in mind for that next hunt on Jan. 4th, that afternoon I got setup and wasn't even there more than 15 minutes and I had a nice looking 120" buck come out and start feeding followed by a small buck. I had a good feeling about the night having bucks in the field. At about 4 I spotted 3 more bucks slowly working their way towards the field, right away I determined the one was a shooter even though he was a little busted up that didn't change my mind one bit. The first buck entered the field and not long after the other two followed and would be right at about 100 yds. As soon as the buck I wanted entered the field I shouldered the gun and took aim. I had to wait for one of the other bucks to clear him and as soon as he did I let the muzzleloader bark. When the smoke cleared the other two bucks stood there looking around but my buck was nowhere in sight and I never saw him running away. I had assumed I dropped him in is tracks so I reloaded and went to check things out. Making it about 50 yds to where he was standing was when I first spotted and started doing fist pumps in the field. I was jacked to say the least especially since it had been over a decade since I had harvested a buck with a gun. After having so many lows during bow season I was happy to end my 2017 hunting season on a high and hope to keep the ball rolling into the 2018 seaon!!!
My Muzzleloader Buck
This past season was one that was filled with some ups and downs. It started with spending a lot of my time scouting more pieces of public ground and running cameras trying to locate some possible shooters. After finding a few bucks and areas to focus my attention on for the season, opening day of bow was finally upon us. That opening morning I had decided instead of going to try and fill my antlerless tag I was going to go in an area I had been getting pics of a good buck all summer. So that morning I get setup on a big oak flat not far from where the I had been getting his pictures. It didn't take long that morning for does to start filtering through feeding on acorns. I had a group of 8 does milling around in front of me for about 20 minutes when all of a sudden everyone of them threw their heads in the direction they came from. I knew something was coming but couldn't see it yet. Then I spotted what they were looking at and I couldn't believe it, it was the buck I had been hoping to see. He came in and bumped the does and then fed on acorns all the while slowly working into shooting range. Within minutes he's at 2o yards and I come to full draw just then he turns towards me. It seemed like an eternity for him to turn while at full draw, finally he does and I take aim and release the arrow only to watch it fly right under his chest. My heart sank and couldn't believe I just choked when it came down to crunch time after putting so much time and effort into this season. On the bright side it was opening day and there was a lot of season left.
This is my opening morning missed opportunity.
Now fast forward to November and the start of my 5 day rut vacation. It started out pretty good with seeing some decent deer the first few days of my vacation. Then had a few slower days and I still had my antlerless tag in my pocket and I told myself if given the chance I should fill that tag to put meat in freezer. On Nov. 5th I headed to an area I knew there was a good chance I'd have a shot at a doe at the least. I wasn't in the stand for more than 45 minutes when I looked to my north and spotted a doe headed right towards my location. I grab my bow and shes closing the distance and gets to within 5 yards and I draw on her and settle the pin and watch my arrow disappear right behind the shoulder. She bounds off and makes it no more than 30 yards from the tree and just falls over. I was pumped and had a huge boost in my confidence after my whole opening day ordeal.
A couple days late on Nov. 7 I went in to an area of public I hunt often but wanted to try a new setup in this area. I go in that morning and bust a ton of deer in the dark and can only think there goes my day. After getting setup in a tree and it gets light it doesn't take long and I see my first deer and its a buck. One that I had actually passed at the end of October. As the day when on I ended up seeing 6 more bucks 3 of which were shooters. The only problem was I picked out the wrong tree that morning, they were all in range but just didn't have a clear shot. The end of the day I decided I was going to move the stand to a tree that would give me a clear shot and put the deer at 25 yds instead of 40 and I was going to hunt that same spot the next day.
The next morning I arrive to the area and head into my setup for the day with high hopes of seeing one of the shooters I saw the day before or another one. Right at first light I had a young yearling doe milling around on acorns right around me. About 20 minutes of her feeding I heard leaves rustling up on the ridge and spot a for sure shooter. He spotted the fawn and had to come check her out as he came down the hill I couldn't believe how be he was getting. He was a true giant for anywhere in Iowa, public or private. After checking the doe he turns and heads right towards where I'll have a shot at 25 yds. He gets broadside of me and I'm at full draw and try to stop him but he wouldn't stop. He walked another 15 yds and finally came to a stop and my adrenaline was going crazy and instead of taking my time and executing a proper shot I rushed and watched my arrow fly right underneath his chest. As he walked out of my life I kept hitting myself for not executing on crunch time on a true Iowa giant and couldn't believe my bad luck continues. It was a tough one to swallow put was a great experience to have an opportunity on a buck of that caliber on public ground.
My doe harvest
Now onto late muzzleloader season, with my job I'm fortunate to have a lot of time off during this season so I could put in the work to find the deer knowing its not easy especially on public ground. After hunting the first week and seeing a few deer here and there I decided to try a couple new areas that I had never hunted late season. My first sit I saw over 20 deer 4 which were bucks but no shooters. The next day I saw another 20+ deer but no bucks. I had one other place in mind for that next hunt on Jan. 4th, that afternoon I got setup and wasn't even there more than 15 minutes and I had a nice looking 120" buck come out and start feeding followed by a small buck. I had a good feeling about the night having bucks in the field. At about 4 I spotted 3 more bucks slowly working their way towards the field, right away I determined the one was a shooter even though he was a little busted up that didn't change my mind one bit. The first buck entered the field and not long after the other two followed and would be right at about 100 yds. As soon as the buck I wanted entered the field I shouldered the gun and took aim. I had to wait for one of the other bucks to clear him and as soon as he did I let the muzzleloader bark. When the smoke cleared the other two bucks stood there looking around but my buck was nowhere in sight and I never saw him running away. I had assumed I dropped him in is tracks so I reloaded and went to check things out. Making it about 50 yds to where he was standing was when I first spotted and started doing fist pumps in the field. I was jacked to say the least especially since it had been over a decade since I had harvested a buck with a gun. After having so many lows during bow season I was happy to end my 2017 hunting season on a high and hope to keep the ball rolling into the 2018 seaon!!!
My Muzzleloader Buck
