We just returned from Iowa yesterday morning, it was a good hunt. Ronnie and I both tagged nice bucks and saw at least 25+ deer a day. Each morning we stand hunted for 2 hours and then met up with several other hunters to organize drives for the rest of the day until the evening stand hunt.

Day one was nasty, we woke to ¼ inch of ice on the ground and a steady flow of freezing rain. The guys put me on the edge of a corn field overlooking a small creek bottom. It was a pretty miserable sit, but I did see a few doe. Ronnie sat on the adjacent farm and saw quite a few deer including some nice bucks out of range. After the morning hunt we met with the other hunters and organized a few drives. We did see several nice bucks in the drives including a 180 class monster, but no-one was lucky enough to connect. As the day moved on the rain began to slack and turn into a very slight snow with howling winds. Ronnie and I decided to stand hunt where he’d seen all the activity that morning. We set up in the same field about 500 yards apart in what appeared to be some very traveled areas. Around 4:45 that evening Ronnie broke the silence with his 11-87 and a Winchester XP3 sabot. I wasn’t seeing much and beginning to think I might not have been in a very good area, but as the light faded a few doe entered the field. Just before the end of shooting time a nice buck entered the field headed my direction. He finally made it into range, but with the darkness of the cloudy skies I wasn’t able to make out the size of his head gear. He presented a broadside 40 yard shot in the last minutes of shooting time, but I decided to pass. I could not make out anything more than he was a nice buck about 18 inches inside, but I couldn’t see any of his tines very well in the dim light so I let him go.

Ronnie had indeed connected with a nice buck at 35 yards. The buck had been fighting and broken the end off one beam as well as broke his split brow on one side. He said he saw the heavy horns and long tines and couldn’t keep his finger off the trigger! I’d have shot him as well, he was a nice buck and our Taxidermist will fix the tines with ease. Here’s a few pics of Ronnie’s buck:





Day two was much better weather wise, the winds howled, but at least the rain had moved on. I decided to go to the same stand where I’d passed on the buck the first evening. A few doe entered after first light and around 7:30 a nice buck began working his way in my direction. He came within 25 yards, but I decided to pass as he only sported a 120s class 8pt rack. Drives that day were fruitless as well, we bumped some nice bucks and again no-one connected. That evening I moved to a terrace row across the field from the stand I’d been sitting in as it seemed most of the deer I’d seen were within range of this terrace along the creek. Several doe and a spike were all that showed that evening.

Day three of our four day hunt was nice as well, the wind was calm and the temps in the teens. I decided to sit by the same terrace that morn. There had been two nice bucks walk that creek in the two days I’d hunted there, so I figured it was just a matter of time. At first light deer began to enter the field and just as I’d planned, most of them were funneling right past me between the terrace and the creek. I had about 12 doe in the field all around me when all of the sudden a buck popped out of the creek. He must have been bedded down in the grass near the creek & decided to get out and have a little corn with the ladies. I glassed him and immediately saw the six points on my side. The ole’ heart began to thump at this point. He looked the other direction and I could see that he’d broken his other beam right past the G2. I decided to watch him for a bit and see if anything else entered the field. After a few minutes he began to move along the creek about 125 yards out and no other bucks were in sight. I began to glass his head gear again and saw that he had quite impressive brows and a 3†sticker behind one of his G2s. I though this may be my only chance, so I lined up my ML10 and let him have it. He went down on the spot. Turned out to be a pretty nice buck, he had a 22-1/8 main beam and 7-1/4 brows. Here’s a few pics:




Ronnie’s buck was missing a little over 10 inches of horn. He scored 132-1/2, but would have went 143 had the tines not been broken.

My buck was missing 22-1/2 inches of horn. He scored 128-1/2, but would have went around 151 had the beam not been broken.

We saw a lot of nice deer on the trip and connected with two nice bucks. Ronnie saw a 160s class 10pt during one of the drives at a mere 50 yards and I jumped a monster 8pt that was pushing 150 inches. We saw a 160 class buck the last day as well that slipped out of a drive. There are some absolute monsters up that way.

I found a real nice 8pt skeleton, 19 wide and 12 inch G2s. Probably an archery kill.

Ya’ll have a good one and good luck on all of your hunts.

Reloader