Late Muzzleloader Successes

[Chasing Tail]

I'm getting ready for the late muzzleloader season and thought it would be interesting to hear stories and see pictures of the members on this website of their late ML hunting. I would like to hear some details of the hunt (was it by yourself, group hunting, hunting food sources, in the timber etc.). I personally know it is a tough season to hunt so I think it would benefit us all to hear some success stories.

 

[twn417]

Nothing yet??? Im interested too. I will be hunting IA for the first time starting this monday! I can't wait!

 

[mission]

the first day of my season is planned and will be spent hunting with friends, we will spend part of the day in our bow stands and check out some public with some type of group effort with breakfast and lunch together.....2 of us will be telling bow kill stories and teasing of the ones that got away from the other boys:moon: still time to fill all of those tags with this weather, im glad cause no ice has got me going crazy

 

[Slinger]

I am more excited for this year than I have been in a long time. I haven't hunted in Iowa for a few years and it will be nice hunting where I grew up.

Not 100% set on where I am going. I plan to drive around Sunday night and try to locate a herd or two and figure out a game plan after that.

Two years ago the area I hunt got record snowfall. Opening day it snowed 8". Many bucks had already shed due to hunting pressure and the weather so I ended up tagging out on does the last two nights of the season. This year I am taking the first mature doe I get a crack at.

 

[Liv4Rut]

Here is my dads biggest late muzz deer.

this pic was taken the year before he shot it. He shot it the first evening of late muzzleloader a day after he had stents put in his heart. The doctor told him no physical excercise or driving for a week. So whats he do, pretty much drove his four wheeler right to the tree and climbed up in it. 45 minutes this brute came feeding down through the draw. I thought he was having a heart attack when he called me after shooting this buck. It was nuts.

This him the next year. He put on quite a bit.

 

[Chasing Tail]

Nothing yet??? Im interested too. I will be hunting IA for the first time starting this monday! I can't wait!

Yes I think that no responses of successful hunts proves just how hard late muzzleloader season can be. When I am by myself I have always hunted food sources in the late evening. I shot a buck last year on the 2nd to last day on picked corn. We have group hunted in the past with some luck. It's definitely a tough season. Good luck, hope it goes well for you.

 

[Chasing Tail]

Here is my dads biggest late muzz deer.

this pic was taken the year before he shot it. He shot it the first evening of late muzzleloader a day after he had stents put in his heart. The doctor told him no physical excercise or driving for a week. So whats he do, pretty much drove his four wheeler right to the tree and climbed up in it. 45 minutes this brute came feeding down through the draw. I thought he was having a heart attack when he called me after shooting this buck. It was nuts.

This him the next year. He put on quite a bit.

Very nice. Thanks for the post.

 

[Liv4Rut]

This is my biggest taken mid season over a picked corn field with a foot of snow. It was 25 below zero and I was dying in the tree. That was back when I didn't have good gear. I was driving home from college and I thought I would sit the last 1.5 hours before dark. I was driving my college car back then which was a saturn. Didnt think I would get one so I went anyways. Hung the stand and there I sat. About 45 minutes later he came out at 30 yards.

I put the gun on him and it hang fired bad!! I ended up hitting him the hip. He ran out to about 150 yards in the field and stopped. I had one hole to shoot through. I threw my gloves off and reloaded. My gun hang fired again with a miss. I reloaded again. Gun hang fired again resulting in a miss.

I was now down to my last reload. My hands were numb and I could barely get the bullet down the barrel. I got it all squared away and leaned hard against the tree and back the power off the scope way down. I shot and the gun went off great this time and I dropped him.

I was so cold I gutted him, drug him about 20 yards and layed my bibs on top of him. Came back the next morning with a truck and picked him up. it is normally a little over an hour drive home but that night was so windy and the snow was blowing it took over 2 hours to get home. Didnt want to drive a 4 hour trip to get him so I waited till morning.

 

[NWBuck]

This was the last time I bought a late ML tag...more recently I've opted for the early season. It was a classic food source hunt and it was COLD! My son Hunter, who I believe was 7 at the time, was along to enjoy the hunt. OK, we cheated...we were in an elevated box blind with a heater and it was toasty except for the walk in and out. This guy showed up and was going to get a pass, but Hunter kept whispering "he's a BEAUTY Dad!"...kids just want to see something get shot We watched him munch on soybeans for quite awhile and continued the pass or shoot debate. Eventually he wandered in to about the 90 yard mark and I decided to take him. Heart shot, mule kick and a short run later and it was over. We froze getting him gutted and drug out, but now a fond memory for us to talk about. Not the biggest buck I've ever shot, but made a nice plaque mount out of him that now hangs in Hunter's room :way:

 

[Deer Nut]

This is my biggest taken mid season over a picked corn field with a foot of snow. It was 25 below zero and I was dying in the tree. That was back when I didn't have good gear. I was driving home from college and I thought I would sit the last 1.5 hours before dark. I was driving my college car back then which was a saturn. Didnt think I would get one so I went anyways. Hung the stand and there I sat. About 45 minutes later he came out at 30 yards.

I put the gun on him and it hang fired bad!! I ended up hitting him the hip. He ran out to about 150 yards in the field and stopped. I had one hole to shoot through. I threw my gloves off and reloaded. My gun hang fired again with a miss. I reloaded again. Gun hang fired again resulting in a miss.

I was now down to my last reload. My hands were numb and I could barely get the bullet down the barrel. I got it all squared away and leaned hard against the tree and back the power off the scope way down. I shot and the gun went off great this time and I dropped him.

I was so cold I gutted him, drug him about 20 yards and layed my bibs on top of him. Came back the next morning with a truck and picked him up. it is normally a little over an hour drive home but that night was so windy and the snow was blowing it took over 2 hours to get home. Didnt want to drive a 4 hour trip to get him so I waited till morning.

Mike you have the greatest stories ever!:grin:

 

[LYON]

I got this guy 2 years ago sitting over a picked cornfield. I hadn't seen a thing and was actually just moving to check over a hill into a bedding area and here comes this guy running across the field from the opposite direction. I got down and stopped him at about 60 yards and let him have it. He's not very big, but an old brute. Heaviest deer I've ever tried to move.

Here's one my dad got about 5 years ago. We were doing a small push and I bumped this deer right to him. He hit the deer way high above the shoulder, knocked it down and while he was reloading it got up and took off. The three of us that were hunting set up another little push in the timber it went to and sure enough he came out and gave my dad another great shot! So what did my dad do? Hit it again, knocked it down and while he was reloading it got up AGAIN and went back into the timber. So this time we left it for a few hours and came back. I ended up walking up to within about 15 feet of it and he stood up and gave him the final shot. Not sure what happened, but both of my dads shots hit him high above the shoulder....
Sorry for the back of the truck pic.

This one was shot two years ago by one of my buddies on a timber push we were doing.

This one was also taken during a push with some friends last year. It actually ran past a couple of other guys (who did hit it) and then came right to me. He probably would have run me over but he hit the ground before that:way: This one was bitter sweet, because although he's a nice deer, he was EXTREMELY young. Would have been an absolute giant in a couple more years.

I will try to get a few more pics of some of the mounts from past seasons. Most of the deer we have gotten came from pushes, but we have really slowed down on the pushing the last couple of years and have resorted to sits over food sources.

 

[Chasing Tail]

This was the last time I bought a late ML tag...more recently I've opted for the early season. It was a classic food source hunt and it was COLD! My son Hunter, who I believe was 7 at the time, was along to enjoy the hunt. OK, we cheated...we were in an elevated box blind with a heater and it was toasty except for the walk in and out. This guy showed up and was going to get a pass, but Hunter kept whispering "he's a BEAUTY Dad!"...kids just want to see something get shot We watched him munch on soybeans for quite awhile and continued the pass or shoot debate. Eventually he wandered in to about the 90 yard mark and I decided to take him. Heart shot, mule kick and a short run later and it was over. We froze getting him gutted and drug out, but now a fond memory for us to talk about. Not the biggest buck I've ever shot, but made a nice plaque mount out of him that now hangs in Hunter's room :way:

I'm glad you didn't pass it up with your boy sitting there, you almost passed up a great memory.