BJohnson
Well-Known Member
My daughter Haley has hunted late muzzleloader season in 2018, 2019 and 2020. In 2018, she harvested her first deer, a nice doe off of our farm in So Iowa. Due to EHD, the does were off limits in 2019 and the season came and went without a shot opportunity for her on a decent buck. Heading into 2020, I had passed a couple nice 8's on the permission farm I hunt closer to our home hoping that Haley could get one in front of her during late season. We hunted the cold afternoon on X-Mas eve but saw only one doe-fawn. We spoke on the way home that night about the fact that the permission farm rarely produces two slow hunts in a row and we both were looking forward to Saturday's hunt.
We got into the blind around 2:30 and the first deer appeared around 4:20. Additional deer appeared out of the cover in the next 45 minutes walking from numerous directions towards what remained of the brassicas placed within range of the tower blind we were hunting out of on Saturday. None of the 3 target bucks we had spoken about heading into late season were showing themselves but there was a nice young 8 pt heading our way from the south. Eventually he presented Haley with a 75 yard shot directly in front of her window. She asked my opinion on age and decided to pass him when told he was probably a nice 2.5 yr old buck. The buck wandered into the cover surrounding the plot and I told Haley that was a hell of a pass for a first buck. A couple minutes later the buck came back into the plot and walked again in front of her window, licking a trail cam we had ranged at 55 yrds. She said "Dad, I think God is telling me to shoot this buck" and she immediately began getting in her ear plugs and settling in for the shot. I knew she had made the decision and got my plugs in also while grabbing the binos to watch the shot. The buck reared up when hit and bolted hard to the east. I could see an exit wound midway up the chest and straight up from the front leg - she had pin-wheeled him. Haley's boyfriend was sitting directly behind her and was pretty jacked up having watched Haley execute the shot. After following the blood trail across the plot, we stopped at the edge of cover and went home to get a rope and otter sled for the recovery.
Not long after we returned, we had located him at the bottom of a very steep ravine. He had made it about 20 yards off the plot before stumbling to the north and barrel rolling down into the bottom of the ravine. Thank God Keller was there to assist with the drag up from the bottom of that ravine - no way I could have done it without him.
We got into the blind around 2:30 and the first deer appeared around 4:20. Additional deer appeared out of the cover in the next 45 minutes walking from numerous directions towards what remained of the brassicas placed within range of the tower blind we were hunting out of on Saturday. None of the 3 target bucks we had spoken about heading into late season were showing themselves but there was a nice young 8 pt heading our way from the south. Eventually he presented Haley with a 75 yard shot directly in front of her window. She asked my opinion on age and decided to pass him when told he was probably a nice 2.5 yr old buck. The buck wandered into the cover surrounding the plot and I told Haley that was a hell of a pass for a first buck. A couple minutes later the buck came back into the plot and walked again in front of her window, licking a trail cam we had ranged at 55 yrds. She said "Dad, I think God is telling me to shoot this buck" and she immediately began getting in her ear plugs and settling in for the shot. I knew she had made the decision and got my plugs in also while grabbing the binos to watch the shot. The buck reared up when hit and bolted hard to the east. I could see an exit wound midway up the chest and straight up from the front leg - she had pin-wheeled him. Haley's boyfriend was sitting directly behind her and was pretty jacked up having watched Haley execute the shot. After following the blood trail across the plot, we stopped at the edge of cover and went home to get a rope and otter sled for the recovery.
Not long after we returned, we had located him at the bottom of a very steep ravine. He had made it about 20 yards off the plot before stumbling to the north and barrel rolling down into the bottom of the ravine. Thank God Keller was there to assist with the drag up from the bottom of that ravine - no way I could have done it without him.
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