TheMadCatter
Well-Known Member
This story starts back in 2017 when I passed a 175"+ non-typical and noticed a typical eight-point that would stick around him constantly even during the rut. I had plenty of pictures of him going into 2018 but didn't run cameras as much in Iowa because last year I was focused on hunting out of state. I saw this buck on the hoof many times in 2018 and passed him many trying to focus on his non-typical buddy which was now 190" at this point. Unfortunately, I didn't seal the deal on the 190" buck and missed and didn't hear from him this year.
Fast forward to this spring, I was busy out west...again. I didn't shed hunt hard here and ended up getting a call from Dad "Hey, I found this big shed you might want to look at." I came down and saw it was one of the sides to the eight and he was really impressive! I went down right to where Dad found it in the tractor and found the other side with 10 yards.
I was pre-scouting our farm and saw him in velvet and knew he was a good buck but wasn't sure I wanted to shoot him. Then I ended up getting a bunch of trail camera pictures of him and decided to shoot him. I hunted archery and never saw him but was able to put my eyes on a couple of other deer previously unknown to me.
I've been hunting/guiding since August and before that most of my summer consisted of me immobilizing deer and elk. I have been hunting every weekend since the third weekend in August (Oregon Black Bear/Mountain Lion) and I can say I'm worn out! I wasn't going to hunt Thursday night but Dad insisted we go out. I grabbed an extra chair for the tower blind and we headed out. We got into the blind about 2:30 pm and noticed that there was a buck 221 yards away feeding in the standing soybeans. I raised my binos and instantly knew it was him! Less than 100 yards from where we found his sheds. 221 yards with the Optima and unfortunately I had to shoot him two more times and ended up hitting his G2.
I'm still finishing up the second season trying to get my best friend a deer, might hunt Missouri next week, and then it's off to Wyoming for a rifle cow elk hunt. When I'm finished with that I will be grinding trying to find a seasonal job either in Iowa (or close to here) and then I'll begin guiding in Colorado again at the beginning of September.
Fast forward to this spring, I was busy out west...again. I didn't shed hunt hard here and ended up getting a call from Dad "Hey, I found this big shed you might want to look at." I came down and saw it was one of the sides to the eight and he was really impressive! I went down right to where Dad found it in the tractor and found the other side with 10 yards.
I was pre-scouting our farm and saw him in velvet and knew he was a good buck but wasn't sure I wanted to shoot him. Then I ended up getting a bunch of trail camera pictures of him and decided to shoot him. I hunted archery and never saw him but was able to put my eyes on a couple of other deer previously unknown to me.
I've been hunting/guiding since August and before that most of my summer consisted of me immobilizing deer and elk. I have been hunting every weekend since the third weekend in August (Oregon Black Bear/Mountain Lion) and I can say I'm worn out! I wasn't going to hunt Thursday night but Dad insisted we go out. I grabbed an extra chair for the tower blind and we headed out. We got into the blind about 2:30 pm and noticed that there was a buck 221 yards away feeding in the standing soybeans. I raised my binos and instantly knew it was him! Less than 100 yards from where we found his sheds. 221 yards with the Optima and unfortunately I had to shoot him two more times and ended up hitting his G2.
I'm still finishing up the second season trying to get my best friend a deer, might hunt Missouri next week, and then it's off to Wyoming for a rifle cow elk hunt. When I'm finished with that I will be grinding trying to find a seasonal job either in Iowa (or close to here) and then I'll begin guiding in Colorado again at the beginning of September.
