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Huge Iowa Whitetail

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UNI Buck

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This is a deer that I hunted and saw only twice during bow season. My dad had a shot at him at 40 yards during shotgun season with his Knight muzzleloader standing still. His head was behind a tree and he was quatering towards him, but my dad couldn't wait any longer afraid that two does would scent him and spook and he would never get a shot. As the smoke cleared the monster ran off as if untouched. My dad thoght for sure he had hit him since his muzzleloader is so accurate, but never found any blood. He followed his tracks for a couple hundred yards, but lost them when they got down to a sandy area with a ton of tracks. He looked all around for a couple hours with no luck. We just hoped that he had missed him.
At the end of the next day we got word form the neighbor that they had shot a monster. Early the next morning they had been doing a drive and one of them came across the huge deer. He lifted up his head, but did not run. He shot and killed the deer and took his claim.
We found out that he did have 2 holes in him, where, I don't know. Pretty disheartening for us, knowing the time we put in all year only to let him slip away. Oh well, there is always next year. That hunter got the hunt of a lifetime so congrats to him. We heard he green scored around 190" typical, but never heard the final score. They sent this picture to our neighbor who gladly gave us the picture. I just got to get my dad to quit letting them get away, and maybe next year we'll have a monster on our wall.
 
I can relate to what your saying,I also lost a huge deer during bow season.I shot him during bow season,the 12th of November 01.I hit him to far forward so I backed out and gave him 3 1/2 hour's and went back with help.As soon as I went in the thicket he run out the other end,I should have backed out right away but I did'nt.He ran into a property that we did not have permission to hunt so we did'nt follow very far.We found 3 bed's with blood but no deer.
I looked and looked with no luck for the next 2 day's and found nothing.
The guy that own's the ground were the deer went told someone that they had found a big deer during shotgun season so my partner told me about it and I called him,he said that they had found him during 1st shotgun season and the coyote's had destroyed the carcase but the rack was still there.He told me that the deer rough scored in the 160's but he did not know what he would net but he was going to have the head sent somewhere and have a Europeon mount done and hang the rack at his home as he also is a hunter.
It's very hard to get over losing a buck like this but it's very nice to know that here in Iowa we have the opprotunity to maybe have a chance at another deer of that caliber in are lifetime.(Thank God we live in Iowa!!!}
Tell your Dad that I hope he get's another chance at a deer like that and that the hunting God's smile on him!I feel his pain and frustraition!
Buckhunter
 
It looks like the Jeffery Whisker buck, or at least that might be the first name.....
 
Buckhunter- You do realize that you can legally pursue that deer you shot on the property that you did not have permission to hunt. As long as you don't take your bow along with you you can pursue wounded game. It's always good to contact the land owner and let him know what you are going to be doing. I think as long as you do that you can pursue that animal. If a landowner would have a problem with it you might then contact the DNR and see if they could help.
 
My dad has a similar story! During shotgun season a few years back he was hunting a corn field on our land and had a big 10 pt come out at him. The deer was standing on a fence row and when my he took a shot at him the deer jumped the fence. It was further back than he would have liked, but still thought he had mortally wounded the deer. The deer managed to make it across one of our large fields to a road. Then it crawled under a fence and crawled across the road and fell in the road ditch on the other side. Some guy road hunting came along and and put a slug in its neck and tagged the deer. This is as mad as I have ever seen my dad! The guy ended up giving us the head, but since he shot it in the neck it could not be mounted. Just this last year we saw the same guy driving around during first season shotgun.

[This message has been edited by smokepole (edited 03-25-2002).]
 
buckhunter,
as trper responded you could legally persue
the animal as long as you don't take your weapon.I would talk to the guy who has it and see if there is any chance you could get it back,and you might want to talk to the DNR to see if he could have legally taken it,and ,mabye you will get it back.
good luck and keep us posted.


[This message has been edited by Youngbuck (edited 03-25-2002).]
 
Thank's for the info guy's,I already new I could legaly look for the deer and I did do that but was unable to find him.
I later talked to the landowner about the whole incident and told him I would be contacting him if it ever happen's again and he told me that would be fine.I do not hold a grudge on him for my bad shot,I also cannot be sure that that was the deer that I shot,even though there is little doubt in my mind.
I learned much from this happening to me but the thing that really has alway's stuck in my mind is the fact of wether or not to pursue a deer if it is still able to run after a 3 hour wait,He did not survive the hit but was still able to get up and run a least 300 yd's after I jumped and lost him,if he was found were the landowner said he found him.I'll alway's wonder what I could have done different. Thank's anyway guy's.
Buckhunter

[This message has been edited by Buckhunter (edited 03-25-2002).]
 
Buckhunter, this year I also hit a buck too far forward and/or a bit high and lost him. (1st time in 26 years). After re-thinking it 1000 times, I am pretty sure I know what happened.
#1, the deer was on a side hill so even though I was in a tree he actually was almost level with me so I should not have aimed high. (habit from many years of hunting out of a tree)
#2, My 3D target has this area slightly ahead of the shoulder marked as the kill zone so I aimed there as he was slowly waling instead of stopping him and aiming behind the leg.

The part that floors me is that I watched him limp away, and about 300 yards down the valley he collapsed in some knee deep weeds. I took about 2 hours to take my stand down and carry it back to the pickup thinking that he'd surely be dead when I got back. When I got back I was following the blood trail with my head down, when I heard something and saw him run over the next hill. I found where he wasy laying and that was the last blood I found. He was no huge trophy, but it still made me mad enough that I considered that tag filled and stuck it in my desk and finished the year simply hunting Urban does.
Gosh, it was 4.5 months ago and I still remember it like yesterday.
 
IA
Craig,
Have you ever thought that maybe you should have trailed him right away?I read an article by Judd Coony that say's on a marginale hit other then the paunch that you should go right after them,if you do not they will lay down and the blood will start clotting up and that is what happened to me,He claim's that if you stay after them they will eventualy lose enough blood to be fatal to them. The last bed we found of his we had one huge clot of blood and when he got up from that bed he just stopped bleeding.It go's against everything I have ever heard but I wonder if he right?
I should also mention that I did not get a passthru on him and if I had I'm sure thing might have turned out different,so I did not have a lot of blood to begin with and it never was very good except where he bedded up.
I also lost alot of my drive to bowhunt after that and if it had not been for my partner I may not have went back out for a long while after this nightmare happened.
Buckhunter

[This message has been edited by Buckhunter (edited 03-26-2002).]
 
Buckhunter, I agree with that. A few years ago I hit one a little forward and low. I could see him run across a corn field (100 yards) and stop in a fenceline. I didn't see him go out the other side. So I waited the standard 30 minutes and took off. Lots of blood, but I just took off for the last spot I saw him. He wasn't there. I looked around and found blood leading to an open bean field. Followed it 300 yards with lots of blood. Got to other side and found a bed with blood, real fresh.

After kicking him out of the bed I left for 3 more hours. Came back and followed blood for another 400 yards. I knew it was a deep muscle injury and not vitals, but he had lost alot of blood. Finally my trail dried up after I followed it thru a small creek twice.

I concluded that on that type of injury the more I pushed him the more blood he pumped out. After I backed away the blood coagulated enough to stop bleeding.

Fortunately, for my conscience's sake some construction workers saw him the next day feeding with does. They said he had blood all over his front lower chest. I figured it was a meaty brisket shot too low for vitals.

Don't know about you guys but I get very mad at myself when I hit an animal and don't retrieve it knowing it might die. To the tune that I quit hunting for a few days to regroup my thoughts and efforts. I guess it comes from the tremendous amount of respect I have for my quarry.
 
I too have had an experience with this problem. It happened during muzzleloader season 2 years ago. My dad and were still hunting through a draw when a huge buck jumped up and I sprinted up the hill so I could get a shot. When I got the shot the deer quatered away from me all of a sudden. When we got to the spot there was blood all over. So we tracked it for about 300 yards w/ no deer. We came to the conclusion that we must have hit an artery w/ as much blood as there was. We decided to keep going after him and after about 3 miles of tracking him we got a clear shot. I know if we didn't keep on him he would have clotted up and we'd have never found him. That deer lost more blood then any I had ever seen before. He should have died in the 1st mile but instead he kept circling the section on us. The deer ended up grossing 155" and definitely gave my dad and a run for our money.
 
2 YEARS AGO, my cousin was muzzeloading and shot a beautiful 8 point-very heavy. and it was to big for him to load up by himself. so he went home to get his older bro to help him load it up. well they come back to load it up and they get down their and see a gun and a puddel of blood-no deer. But before my cuz went to get his brother he put his tag on it thinking that he would tag it gut it and take it home. well he didn't gut it, so the deer got up and walked back into the timber. they tracked it for 4 hours and seen nothing. It was a perfect shot to! well he seen it the next night with no gun in hand since he didn't have a tag. so he waited intid shotgun season, and he ended up getting it this time. right when he shot it he went and started cutting him open. IT SCORED:: 157 1/4
 
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