OOBoneCollector
Active Member
Here we go!!! The story of SANDMAN!!!!! 
Last year late season we started getting pictures of a really nice 3.5 year old 10 pointer coming out to our food plots. At the time I thought he was 4.5 but as late season went on and the more I talked to people and showed them the pictures, it seemed as though he was probably 3.5. Thankfully Matt Thede and I were not able to close the deal on him, or even see him, because we sure tried to!!!! HAHA :lol:
After the season we hit it hard with habitat work by finishing up all the TSI, working hard once again on the food plots (which paid off ) and other odds and ins to make sure the farm was ready to go. Once we started running trail cams, the buck that I was after late season last year showed up again and he looked darn nice!!! We decided to nickname him SANDMAN!!!
But, we were really down about the bucks we had on the farm. We only had one shooter on cam the entire summer (Sandman) and that was it. Not even a buck roaming around or anything. And it turns out that Sandman so far has been the only shooter we have had on cam the entire year!!!!! But none the less we knew he was there and we knew we had the right stuff to get him. Ty started off the year by going out during youth season but wasn't able to get a buck on the ground (with no sightings of Sandman). Bow season came around and Dad and I hit it hard!!!! But it was not good..... During bow season we didn't get any pictures of good bucks, not even Sandman all of October and November and did not see a shooter all of bow season, Not even one far away So to say we were a little down and confused would be a true statement. Next was shotgun season where Ty was able to harvest 2 does and my cousin was able to harvest his first deer!!! So we were tickled about that and then we had a very awesome surprised... Sandman had come back to the farm!!! We got a picture of him the week after shotgun so I was pumped to go after him again.
Date is WRONG!!!
Then came late season! I was all finished up with school on the 20th of December and I had until the 16th of January off (all of late season muzzy... haha sorry!!) and I was ready to hit it hard and do whatever it would take to get a big one on the ground on film. On December 23, opening day of late muzzy, Dad and I hit the woods to one of our best spots for seeing deer, a spot called the tower blind with temps being in the single digits. We ended up seeing around 40 deer with probable 10 being bucks. A couple decent ones but just nothing we were looking to shoot.
Then Christmas eve and Christmas came around the next two days so that was off limits to hunting and was time spent with family and celebrating the birth of Jesus!!! WHOOT WHOOT!!! :way:
Thursday the 26th rolled around and the temp had rose to the upper 20's so we let Ty come out and hang in the tower blind with us for the night. At 3:30 the floodgates opened and we had deer coming into the foodplot from every direction.
At around 4:30 I lean back in my chair and 50 yards to my left was SANDMAN (first time ever seeing him on hoof)!!!! He came out of the CRP and he was on us and gone before we had a chance to get the camera on him or have a chance at a shot. We waited to see where he went and he ended up heading to one of our bean blots where we were getting pictures of him during the summer and in the fall and fed out in the middle of it for 30 MINUTES!!!!! and the thing that bummed me out a bit was that if we had the right wind, that blind would of been where I would of sat that night But we were confused though... The spot where Sandman came out was at about 70 yards right next to the edge of the cut/standing corn, but instead of eating in the corn where 50 deer ended up eating (15-20 being bucks) he walked the ENTIRE EDGE of the corn and went down to the beans. The only deer out of the 50 that did and he went and ate all by himself down in the beans with 4 other does that were already there. We were so pumped though to finally see him and it I was fired up once again to get going hard after Sandman.
Friday night we hosted an Ugly Sweater Party, my sister and I, to raise money for Dance Marathon at The University of Iowa, which was a huge success, but I wasn't able to hunt. Then on Saturday it warmed up into the 40's, THE 40's!!! So instead of hunting, Dad and I went up and put cameras around the corn plot and mowed off some more in preparation for what was to come... and that was a 50 degree drop in temperature starting Saturday night. With that front coming through, we knew Sunday night and Monday that we would have to be in the woods.
Sunday night rolled around and it was about 10 degrees with 20-25 mph winds that had the wind chill well below zero. So it worked out great to head to the plot where Sandman ended up going and eating because it was down in a little valley, out of the wind, compared to the corn plot which is on top of a hill where the wind just absolutely howls!!!
View from the blind
Tower blind up top
We were set up at 2 and already had deer out and by 3 we were up to 8 does and 1 little buck and too many turkey to count! Then at about 3:30 they all trickled off and went back to the timber and we had a half hour lull where we didn't see anything. Then at 4 pm some does came out down in an inside corner of the plot and then a little fawn came out only 40 yards away to our left and she kept looking back so we knew more deer were coming. And wouldn't you know it, the SECOND deer out was Sandman!!!! :way: He fed right there for a bit while the flood gates opened and deer after deer came out. Because of the windows of the blind and where he came out, I had to wait until he worked farther out into the field to take the shot. He then after 5 minutes work far enough out where I could shoot him but I had to slide over and actually sit on my dad's lap while he was filming!!! Haha which you will see on the second camera angle when the hunt comes out... I made a doe bleat with my mouth to try to get his head to pop up but instead he started walking farther into the plot and finally stopped. A 50 yard shot quartering away and I took the shot!!!! MULE KICK... TAIL TUCKED... RUNNING HARD!!!! I knew I had just nailed Sandman!!!! We went to look for him right after because we didn't want him to freeze and we didn't want our light to go away. We found where I hit him and blood was everywhere!!!!! Flying out of both sides and spraying all over the snow.
After a short track job of 70 yards, Sandman was laying 20 yards from the edge of the timber!! The 2 season adventure for Sandman was finally over and I had finally after a long long season, harvested the buck I was after. Like always I have to thank God for giving me the opportunity to do what I love and giving me everything I need to do so. I am blessed beyond measure and I could not be more thankful. And I have to thank my Dad for putting in a lot of work and filming me... and my family for putting up with me talking about hunting 24/7 and stealing Dad as a camera man!! He scored right at 150 and he really didn't grow too much from last year so it was a good time to take him.
WITHOUT FURTHER WAIT..... SANDMAN!!!!
Will be on Hunting With a Purpose vol. 6 for Outreach Outdoors coming this spring!!
p.s. it was -3 when we were taking the pictures this morning... Luckily I was still able to move the lips a tiny bit so I could smile :lol: :lol: (couldn't use some of the pictures because I looked like I was in pain, which I was a bit)
Last year late season we started getting pictures of a really nice 3.5 year old 10 pointer coming out to our food plots. At the time I thought he was 4.5 but as late season went on and the more I talked to people and showed them the pictures, it seemed as though he was probably 3.5. Thankfully Matt Thede and I were not able to close the deal on him, or even see him, because we sure tried to!!!! HAHA :lol:
After the season we hit it hard with habitat work by finishing up all the TSI, working hard once again on the food plots (which paid off
) and other odds and ins to make sure the farm was ready to go. Once we started running trail cams, the buck that I was after late season last year showed up again and he looked darn nice!!! We decided to nickname him SANDMAN!!!
But, we were really down about the bucks we had on the farm. We only had one shooter on cam the entire summer (Sandman) and that was it. Not even a buck roaming around or anything. And it turns out that Sandman so far has been the only shooter we have had on cam the entire year!!!!! But none the less we knew he was there and we knew we had the right stuff to get him. Ty started off the year by going out during youth season but wasn't able to get a buck on the ground (with no sightings of Sandman). Bow season came around and Dad and I hit it hard!!!! But it was not good..... During bow season we didn't get any pictures of good bucks, not even Sandman all of October and November and did not see a shooter all of bow season, Not even one far away
So to say we were a little down and confused would be a true statement. Next was shotgun season where Ty was able to harvest 2 does and my cousin was able to harvest his first deer!!! So we were tickled about that and then we had a very awesome surprised... Sandman had come back to the farm!!! We got a picture of him the week after shotgun so I was pumped to go after him again.Date is WRONG!!!
Then came late season! I was all finished up with school on the 20th of December and I had until the 16th of January off (all of late season muzzy... haha sorry!!) and I was ready to hit it hard and do whatever it would take to get a big one on the ground on film. On December 23, opening day of late muzzy, Dad and I hit the woods to one of our best spots for seeing deer, a spot called the tower blind with temps being in the single digits. We ended up seeing around 40 deer with probable 10 being bucks. A couple decent ones but just nothing we were looking to shoot.
Then Christmas eve and Christmas came around the next two days so that was off limits to hunting and was time spent with family and celebrating the birth of Jesus!!! WHOOT WHOOT!!! :way:
Thursday the 26th rolled around and the temp had rose to the upper 20's so we let Ty come out and hang in the tower blind with us for the night. At 3:30 the floodgates opened and we had deer coming into the foodplot from every direction.
At around 4:30 I lean back in my chair and 50 yards to my left was SANDMAN (first time ever seeing him on hoof)!!!! He came out of the CRP and he was on us and gone before we had a chance to get the camera on him or have a chance at a shot. We waited to see where he went and he ended up heading to one of our bean blots where we were getting pictures of him during the summer and in the fall and fed out in the middle of it for 30 MINUTES!!!!! and the thing that bummed me out a bit was that if we had the right wind, that blind would of been where I would of sat that night
But we were confused though... The spot where Sandman came out was at about 70 yards right next to the edge of the cut/standing corn, but instead of eating in the corn where 50 deer ended up eating (15-20 being bucks) he walked the ENTIRE EDGE of the corn and went down to the beans. The only deer out of the 50 that did and he went and ate all by himself down in the beans with 4 other does that were already there. We were so pumped though to finally see him and it I was fired up once again to get going hard after Sandman.Friday night we hosted an Ugly Sweater Party, my sister and I, to raise money for Dance Marathon at The University of Iowa, which was a huge success, but I wasn't able to hunt. Then on Saturday it warmed up into the 40's, THE 40's!!! So instead of hunting, Dad and I went up and put cameras around the corn plot and mowed off some more in preparation for what was to come... and that was a 50 degree drop in temperature starting Saturday night. With that front coming through, we knew Sunday night and Monday that we would have to be in the woods.
Sunday night rolled around and it was about 10 degrees with 20-25 mph winds that had the wind chill well below zero. So it worked out great to head to the plot where Sandman ended up going and eating because it was down in a little valley, out of the wind, compared to the corn plot which is on top of a hill where the wind just absolutely howls!!!
View from the blind
Tower blind up top
We were set up at 2 and already had deer out and by 3 we were up to 8 does and 1 little buck and too many turkey to count! Then at about 3:30 they all trickled off and went back to the timber and we had a half hour lull where we didn't see anything. Then at 4 pm some does came out down in an inside corner of the plot and then a little fawn came out only 40 yards away to our left and she kept looking back so we knew more deer were coming. And wouldn't you know it, the SECOND deer out was Sandman!!!! :way: He fed right there for a bit while the flood gates opened and deer after deer came out. Because of the windows of the blind and where he came out, I had to wait until he worked farther out into the field to take the shot. He then after 5 minutes work far enough out where I could shoot him but I had to slide over and actually sit on my dad's lap while he was filming!!! Haha which you will see on the second camera angle when the hunt comes out... I made a doe bleat with my mouth to try to get his head to pop up but instead he started walking farther into the plot and finally stopped. A 50 yard shot quartering away and I took the shot!!!! MULE KICK... TAIL TUCKED... RUNNING HARD!!!! I knew I had just nailed Sandman!!!! We went to look for him right after because we didn't want him to freeze and we didn't want our light to go away. We found where I hit him and blood was everywhere!!!!! Flying out of both sides and spraying all over the snow.
After a short track job of 70 yards, Sandman was laying 20 yards from the edge of the timber!! The 2 season adventure for Sandman was finally over and I had finally after a long long season, harvested the buck I was after. Like always I have to thank God for giving me the opportunity to do what I love and giving me everything I need to do so. I am blessed beyond measure and I could not be more thankful. And I have to thank my Dad for putting in a lot of work and filming me... and my family for putting up with me talking about hunting 24/7 and stealing Dad as a camera man!! He scored right at 150 and he really didn't grow too much from last year so it was a good time to take him.
WITHOUT FURTHER WAIT..... SANDMAN!!!!
Will be on Hunting With a Purpose vol. 6 for Outreach Outdoors coming this spring!!
p.s. it was -3 when we were taking the pictures this morning... Luckily I was still able to move the lips a tiny bit so I could smile :lol: :lol: (couldn't use some of the pictures because I looked like I was in pain, which I was a bit)
