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Buck down!!

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INative

New Member
If you can't tell from the title, I'm still a little excited. This is my first Iowa buck. Second buck with a bow and probably my biggest bow buck. Could be close to last year's inch wise. Last night I made a post about urban hunting, which I'll quote below.

Anyway, I saw this buck last night ehile hunting from a blind, he made a scrape behind a tree (so I couldnt shoot). Then he turned and walked straight away from me. I was regretting not taking the risky shot, since we all know, its not likely you'll see the same (fairly mature) buck the next day. So today, after a morning hunt in the same blind, I decided I needed to be in a tree. So I went to menards and bought a $80 ladder stand and put it together. Took it out in the woods at about 1:30 this afternoon and hung it 15 yards from my blind. As fortune had it, I spotted him again tonight at 5 PM, a couple hundred yards out. He meandered through the woods in my direction. He checked a scrape at about 70 yards, then walked right to a scrape, 32 yards away. Thankfully, I had used my rangefinder as soon as I got in the stand and I ranged that exact scrape, and a few trees and stuff to get my distances down. Anyway I made a sound to get his attention and I let the arrow fly. It was a pretty bad shot 2-3 inches high and about 6 inches back. I thought I really messed up. BUT he ran 30 yards, fell over and died. I think I hit a blood vessel that runs along the backbone, as his guts where all intact. Whad do you think?

The pics:
Pass through
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His left side is a little short, which sucks, but Im still happy
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Left main beam looks a little longer though
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What are your best guesses on age and score?
Im guessing 4.5. He had a nice block head and a big body. Could be 3.5 though.

I'm happy no matter :grin:
 
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INative said:
Hey guys,

So I have a story, and I'd love to get some tips.

I got my buddy into hunting this fall, kinda. He bought a bow and practices with me, but he doesn't have his hunter ED yet so he cant kill anything. Anyway, he has about 8 acres of woods just on the outskirts of Des Moines, just ouside of city limits, along a creek. I was very skeptical about hunting this area since there are tons of cars driving around the area and you can easily hear people yelling and carrying on all around, even as close as 100 yards from his property. This is in a big residential area. He had put up a trail camera about 3 weeks ago and had not had much action. Last weekend, we found a few scrapes and I helped him set up his cam so he might actually be able to catch some deer. He bought a blind and he sat out there for the first time this morning. No bow or anything. As the story goes, as soon as he got into the blind he heard a big rukkus really close to him. He didn't even have any windows of the blind open yet, so he quietly unzipped one side and there was "an 18 pointer 10 yards from his blind!" He said he thought it was an elk at first. LOL I was skeptical again since he is a new hunter and hasn't really been much of an outdoorsman. He said didn't spook it. He said it went and made two scrapes, grunting and blowin out of his nostrils like crazy. So this afternoon after my morning hunt, I went to his property, helped him set up his blind in a better location, scouted a bit, and pulled his SD card. I was amazed. There are scrapes everywhere now! From one scrape, 50 yards in every direction, theres another scrape! I mean there are probably 12 scrapes on just 2 acres. And the trail cam had a nice 10 point, and two nice 8's from last night alone! Anyway, we hunted together tonight, and at 6 pm, a different, very nice 10 pointer walked by the blind at 15 yards. I drew my bow and the buck started making a scrape right behind a tree. I stayed at full draw for a couple minutes, waiting for the buck to step forward or to the side, but instead he turned and walked straight away, in line with the tree... UGGGHHH! Thats the only deer we saw tonight.

So, what do yall think? I have never hunted urban before, but this place has more scrapes than I have ever seen in one area. There are almost no rubs at all though.

Have any tips for urban hunting?

Any pointers as to how we should hunt this property?

I'm really hoping to run into that "elk"/deer.

It seems like a guy could walk all over this property and not hurt his chances at all. If these deer want to go anywhere, they almost HAVE to walk through this property, unless they'd rather run through neighborhoods and down busy streets.
Click to expand...


Last night's post
 
Nice buck. Congrats.

I had a decent 8 point walk to 21 yards last night...and passed on a head-on shot. Needless to say, I did not see him again tonight.
 
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Nice looking buck. Was the chest cavity gull of blood when you field dressed it? The blood on the hide looked more pink then red.
 
I'm just very thankful it was a clean kill. I've shot 4 deer with my bow. I have not missed one yet, and all have been clean kills. I got lucky on this one though. This was my furthest shot on a deer with a bow. And a horrible shot at that. I must have jerked and the whisker biscuit isn't good with jerks, so people say.
 
Thanks! Man he would have been a big boy in a year or two. Oh well, hunting such a small property, ya never know if he would have even made to next year. I'm happy with him!
 
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