TheMadCatter
Well-Known Member
Story later, I have LOTS of history with this buck. Dad was in the wrong place today, ended up using his any-sex tag. Hopefully he'll fill mine 2nd season when I'm with him! Saw lots of does 40-50 and only 6 bucks.
2014 Iowa Shotgun Buck
- Thread starter TheMadCatter
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KnuckleDragr
Active Member
Way to go TH! Neat rack. I like his curves!
bigbuckhunter88
PMA Member
Awesome buck. You've had a hell of a season. Loving the cat pics
ShedHunter1
Active Member
What a great buck!! Congrats TH!
TheMadCatter
Well-Known Member
Central Iowa
Life Member
Congrats, the cats a great touch!
6x6
PMA Member
Yeah it does
Meat Hunter
Life Member
Congrats. You have had a great year of hunting.
SEIowaDeerslayer
Well-Known Member
Heck of a season TH great job.
TheMadCatter
Well-Known Member
Story:
Bounce back to 2011, I decided it would be a good idea to try to manage a property to hunt. Now, this dream didn't come true until 2014...but it started here. I decided to put out a trail camera on this place. It was slow, and nothing came to it besides this buck and I pulled it down and it didn't return until 2012. In 2012 I had lots of decent bucks on my camera and I ended up finding this guys 2012 shed. In 2013, I went after this buck and started to work on the farm clearing lanes, getting trespassers off, and working with neighbors on the quality of hunting. Now, I shot my 172" buck on this property but this buck is more important to me. My Dad found this bucks 2009 side while running gas earlier this year. This year I decided he'd be my #2 hitlist buck and the other 172" would be #3. I worked hard trying to keep him in the area but never seemed to get day pictures of him. He stayed in the area until about two weeks before shotgun where he didn't show up on camera AT ALL. Figuring he was dead, I decided to buy a landowner doe tag and 2nd season regular and have my Dad by his Regular season 1 tag and a landowner doe tag. We made the agreement on Friday night that I was going to stay until 10am and then leave to check out the area by our grain bins (about 1 mile away on the section we have). I sat up onto of the grain bins and looked out and saw this buck with 19 does/fawns heading south (running) I figured it'd be my only chance at this buck. I packed up headed south in the truck back to kind of where my Dad was at and made my move. I then saw 27 does/fawns and watched them for a good hour (thinking those were the does/fawns with the buck). I never saw him but ended up having the urge to check if he was still in the draw where I saw him running. I went to that draw and started SLOWLY and I mean SLOWLY working that draw walking at turtle pace. I was about 200 yards from the end of the draw and I saw 3 sets of ears, and like a rocket the does were off. I figured that was it, but kept sneaking up the draw. Heck, I almost started heading back to the pick-up but figured the mile and a half walk on the road would be easier and maybe I could get a ride. I started walking like normal and I was 10 yards away from the end of the draw when he jumped out! Scared me but I was able to get on him and get a shot (a little high) and then the worst happened...my scope rail was loose! I shot 3 more times but they were crazy off, 30-40 yards off! Shot two more times and hit him in the leg. He ran over the hill and I could see he was having a hard time. I tried taking my scope off but it wouldn't come off. I ran over the hill and started to follow the blood trail and had 3 guys in another field looking right at me. I yelled "Did you see where he went?!" they yelled back "He's in the draw bedded down!" I could see him bedded down about 80 yards away and got down to the last terrace where I was about 50 yards from him. I'm lucky I bought see-through scope rings and was able to put in another slug to finish him off with a double lung. Was a crazy hunt to say the least!
By the way, the clover, soybeans, and corn look awesome! Followed most of what Dbltree (Paul) had to say. Going to miss all his amazing advice!
Bounce back to 2011, I decided it would be a good idea to try to manage a property to hunt. Now, this dream didn't come true until 2014...but it started here. I decided to put out a trail camera on this place. It was slow, and nothing came to it besides this buck and I pulled it down and it didn't return until 2012. In 2012 I had lots of decent bucks on my camera and I ended up finding this guys 2012 shed. In 2013, I went after this buck and started to work on the farm clearing lanes, getting trespassers off, and working with neighbors on the quality of hunting. Now, I shot my 172" buck on this property but this buck is more important to me. My Dad found this bucks 2009 side while running gas earlier this year. This year I decided he'd be my #2 hitlist buck and the other 172" would be #3. I worked hard trying to keep him in the area but never seemed to get day pictures of him. He stayed in the area until about two weeks before shotgun where he didn't show up on camera AT ALL. Figuring he was dead, I decided to buy a landowner doe tag and 2nd season regular and have my Dad by his Regular season 1 tag and a landowner doe tag. We made the agreement on Friday night that I was going to stay until 10am and then leave to check out the area by our grain bins (about 1 mile away on the section we have). I sat up onto of the grain bins and looked out and saw this buck with 19 does/fawns heading south (running) I figured it'd be my only chance at this buck. I packed up headed south in the truck back to kind of where my Dad was at and made my move. I then saw 27 does/fawns and watched them for a good hour (thinking those were the does/fawns with the buck). I never saw him but ended up having the urge to check if he was still in the draw where I saw him running. I went to that draw and started SLOWLY and I mean SLOWLY working that draw walking at turtle pace. I was about 200 yards from the end of the draw and I saw 3 sets of ears, and like a rocket the does were off. I figured that was it, but kept sneaking up the draw. Heck, I almost started heading back to the pick-up but figured the mile and a half walk on the road would be easier and maybe I could get a ride. I started walking like normal and I was 10 yards away from the end of the draw when he jumped out! Scared me but I was able to get on him and get a shot (a little high) and then the worst happened...my scope rail was loose! I shot 3 more times but they were crazy off, 30-40 yards off! Shot two more times and hit him in the leg. He ran over the hill and I could see he was having a hard time. I tried taking my scope off but it wouldn't come off. I ran over the hill and started to follow the blood trail and had 3 guys in another field looking right at me. I yelled "Did you see where he went?!" they yelled back "He's in the draw bedded down!" I could see him bedded down about 80 yards away and got down to the last terrace where I was about 50 yards from him. I'm lucky I bought see-through scope rings and was able to put in another slug to finish him off with a double lung. Was a crazy hunt to say the least!
By the way, the clover, soybeans, and corn look awesome! Followed most of what Dbltree (Paul) had to say. Going to miss all his amazing advice!