Bow Ben
Member
I was lucky enough to draw an Iowa bow tag this year and headed back to the Iowa public land for a 10 day hunt November 5-15. The first few days were slow for big boys but saw a lot of young bucks on the prowl. Things picked up on the 7th and some better deer showed up too as I passed 2 bucks that were solid 125-130" deer but not what i was looking for with a week left to hunt. The 8th and 9th were very slow with few bucks sighted. The morning of the 10th was dead until about 11am when I had 4 bucks chase a doe under me but all 4 were young buck so they all got a pass. Around 12:30 I climbed down and grabbed my climber to head into an area I had not hunted yet this year. I was settled in around 1:45 and things were dead until about 3:15 when i heard a deep grunt come from the brush in front of me. A few minutes later i saw a rack rubbing a tree about 80 yards out. I knew he was a decent buck but couldn't see him real well through the brush. I caught some movement out in front of him and noticed a doe headed my way. She made her way straight toward me with the buck in tow. I had no shooting in front of me and that's right where she headed when she turned and walked right to me tree stopping at 5 yards and looked up at me, I thought it was over. I froze as she stared at me for 6-8 seconds and then she put her head down turned and walked quartering away for 10 yards and stopped. The buck just stood about 18 yards broadside in front of me watching her. I had zero shot where he stood. I found a hole through the brush in front of him that was maybe 8-10 inches that I could squeeze a shot through if he would take 2 more steps. Well he took 2 more steps and stopped on his own. I drew my bow and had to squat down in my stand 6 inches to get that opening on his shoulder. I put my pin on his heart and touched the release. The arrow was perfect and i center punched his heart and there was instantly blood spraying everywhere. He ran about 60 yards out of sight when I heard him crash. He is a beautiful buck with 11 points with forked G2's on both sides and a 21 inch outside spread, he grossed 164". Now I have another damn taxidermy bill!! Iowa is truly a special place when it comes to deer hunting. I might go insane waiting for my next tag. Why did i move back to Michigan again?? Good luck the rest of the way to all those still chasing the dream.
