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My 2018 Season

SEIowaDeerslayer

Well-Known Member
I was able to score on 2 nice bucks this year. Here are the stories:

Buck #1 - Early Muzzleloader

Early muzz has been good to me over the last several years. The places I have to hunt receive a significant amount of pressure during the shotgun seasons so late season usually always ended in disappointment. I also hunt a lot of big woods (for Iowa) areas so I put a lot of focus on scrapes and acorns earlier in the season, which is a prime opportunity for an early muzz tag.

I took October 18th and 19th off to try and fill my muzz tag. As luck would have it, the barometer was going through the roof and coupled with the full moon about a week away, I was chomping at the bit to get into a spot I had never hunted before on public land. I had scouted this place a couple of springs prior and was able to find a nice oak flat that also had several giant scrapes on it, as well as good sized rubs. I knew if the conditions were right I had to get into this spot. Finally, a couple of years later on October 18th I got the conditions I needed and I was diving in with stand and sticks on my back. It was over a mile to the spot but I knew it would be worth it. I was setup by 11am and settled in to enjoy the first significant October cold front. By 2pm I hadn't seen a thing and was beginning to question my setup when I saw a deer coming through the woods about 100 yards away. After he cleared some brush and I got a good look at him, I knew he was a good buck to take. He worked a few rubs and fed on acorns as he came in. He made it all the way to 25 yards and I put him down. He was shot at 2:30pm. The drag out was a painful experience, but with the help of a friend I was able to get home by 11pm, completely exhausted.

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Buck #2 - Bow

I took Nov. 7th - 13th off of work to try and hit the peak chasing right before lockdown, but mother nature had other plans. The plan was to hunt Southern Iowa the 7th-9th and if that didn't pan out would hit some proven spots further north. I had some good sits but all of the mature bucks were already with does and would not leave them, and my typical cruising setups were not panning out. On the last day I made a move into a known doe bedding area where I knew they would be, and I pretty much blew the entire herd out even with getting in 2 hours before daylight. I didn't see any deer that sit and the afternoon was unproductive as well.

Time to move, so I headed back north to try a couple of small farms I have permission on up there. On the 12th I slept in and headed to the woods on a known doe bedding/crusing bluff. I had bucks chasing does all around as I was trying to get my stand and sticks up the tree, and I was able to get setup undetected. I had probably one of my best rut sits ever that afternoon. I had 12 bucks and a handful of does working between bluffs.

There was only 1 mature buck and its a buck I have some history with, I call him the Van Buck. I hit that buck last year with my wife's van on Thanksgiving Day 2017 going 30 mph and knocked him down, and he got up and limped off into the timber. I had hit him on his right hip so I figured he might survive, but most likely would die. To my surprise on October 31st this year I got a picture of him on a scrape at about 10pm, and strangely he was the only mature buck I was getting pictures of on this small piece. To close out the hunt on the 12th, he chased a doe 50 yards from my setup right at last light, and I knew I had to get into this spot in the AM very early. I woke up at 2:45am this morning and left the house by 3:15am headed to the same ridge, & was settled into the tree by 4:30am undetected. In the dark I heard bucks grunting and nudging does on the adjacent bluffs & I knew I was in for a show. At first light I saw a few does on the other ridge bed down and the action slowed so I figured it would be a waiting game. At 6:50am a single doe came hauling butt down the ridge top and right behind her was The Van Buck with a pretty decent limp to him. She came down and crossed my shooting lane perfectly with him about 20 yards behind her. As soon as he got into the lane I let the Grim Reaper eat and he crashed 50 yards later. I love how the rut can go from cold to hot just with a single day or going to a different spot.

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Hope you enjoyed the stories and sorry for being long winded. Good luck to everyone still hunting. The rest of the month should be dynamite.
 
Nice work on a couple dandy bucks! I love the name, "the van buck", because you hit him with a van. He was a tough ole boy for sure!

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