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Iowa-GO!

I am currently writing my 6 day hunt and will post 1 or 2 days every day until the conclusion. Iowa-For this who have never been to Iowa I have but 1 word. GO! I have been hunting since I was 5 living in NJ and now IL for the past 20 years or so. While the hunting is good in IL I had no idea how good hunting can be until this year. I had been buying Iowa points randomly for the past 15 years or so, not every year, in fact I finally had 4 points so my brother Stephen and I decided to go hunt IA. He had been twice before, once unguided on public land and once with this outfitter. Both times he had killed a deer. His guided experience was less than stellar but we decided to give it another try. I will not say who the Outfitter was since they are not a sponsor and it really doesn’t matter. We were hunting Zone 6 close to the Missouri border. I had absolutely no expectations for this hunt. I didn’t even know what to expect. We went the 3rd week of November from the 13th to the 20th. There were 15 hunters in camp the first week and 9 or so the second week and success was running about 50% from what I could tell. The outfitter leases 30 or so farms from 30 acres up to 1000 acres so we would have plenty of ground to hunt. It also turns out that my brother and I were the only ones in camp that weeks so we had the whole place to ourselves. We also had the only full time employee, and head guide, at our disposal so things were looking good. We were hunting typical Iowa, farmland with CRP and woodlots.

Iowa Day 1- November 14th The first day I got dropped off and was told to follow the bright eyes into the woods, stand was on my right. I was expecting a ¼ mile walk or so but it was only 50 yds or so and there was my stand for Day 1. I was hunting a funnel in between 2 woodlots with CRP to my left. I saw 2 good bucks walking the CRP before shooting light and then it started to get lighter. As soon as I could shoot I had a 2.5yo 8pt grunting like crazy and chasing a doe all over. At some point they got separated somewhat and I heard another deer grunting and running through the woods. Here comes this basket rack, hauling ass, he crosses the road thru the woods and literally runs into the doe, who then takes off running and he goes after her, and the 8 point is soon to follow. I had deer in view most of the morning and lost count at somewhere around 40 deer before noon. Mostly does, a few random bucks but nothing to shoot at. I am not bragging but simply stating facts I have killed 2 PY bucks, a 154” 8 pt and a 142” 11 pt. so I know how to judge deer and have seen a few true Booners in my life. The general rule of thumb is “Don’t shoot the 8 points” because most will disappoint you. Around 2pm I see a wide, heavy, tall buck walking right at me, kinda bird dogging looking for does but not moving that fast. I grab my bow thinking this is a shooter. As he gets closer I realize he is a clean 4 pt without a hint of brow tines. 20” wide, foot long tines and heavy, but not a shooter. Sure gets the blood pumping though. I saw a doe and 2 fawns around 3pm(we will visit them later in the story) and right at dark I grunted in a 130” 10 pt that to be honest I would have shot him but he hung up behind a little cedar tree at 25 yds and I never got a shot. End of day 1. My brother was hunting a 700 acre farm a few miles away and had a similar day. Not a bad Day 1.

Great day. Next update.

Thanks for the report. Sounds like a great day.

Good story far I'm sure it will get better. Please keep it coming!

I am going to repost this as Iowa-An epic Hunting Tale

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