davidblum
Member
Here is my story behind my 2013 Iowa trophy:
The morning of November 9th ended pretty well for me. I made the hour trip from Des Moines to Southern Iowa to a private farm I gained permission for last year. I got all set-up waiting for the deer to return from feed. I sat from before sunrise until about 9 am in a funnel without seeing a deer. The morning was fairly warm and the wind was again starting to pick up by that time at about 20 mph from the south. I opted to take my climber down and hike way back into the corner of the farm where things start to get thick. I hoped to maybe catch a buck working the edge of the bedding area.
The wind was in my favor and covered the sound of me trekking the half mile or so into the timber. I was able to make it all the way back without jumping any deer. I picked about the only tree available to climb and made my way only about 8 feet or so in the air because of some knots on the back of the tree. Once I got settled I thought I would start out with an aggressive rattling sequence and pounded the rattle bag together for about a solid minute. I was setup right on the edge of some thick bedding cover and figured there was a good chance there might be a buck bedded somewhere close.
As soon as I got done rattling I put the bag away and grabbed my bow. As soon as I turned back around from grabbing my bow I saw this buck about 70 yards away on a trot towards my stand. The first look at him I thought he was a solid 130's buck but didn't think he was a shooter. He dropped down a little shelf and popped back up about 30 yards in front of me. The second look at him I could see his tall G2's and a 10+ point frame and readied myself for a shot. He continued to walk towards my tree with some brush between me and him, searching for the fight he had heard. I could see a doe watching from the direction he had come from. He was at about 15 yards when he just cleared a small cedar tree and I touched the release.
The SlickTrick tipped arrow buried behind his right shoulder and he let out a loud growl as he ran away about 40 yards and turned back to see what happened. I didn't get a pass-through and I could see the white fletchings as he broke the arrow when he lurched away. I watched as he walked about 10 more yards before laying down and then he tipped over.
It only took about 2 minutes before the doe that he was with started to be chased by about 3 immature bucks all through the timber in front of me. Crazy how long that takes when the boss isn't around anymore.
After about 10 minutes and 20 text messages later, I climbed down to go check out my trophy. I could tell walking up to him that he was my best buck yet. He is a cool 11 point with turned in crab claws on the end of each main beam and some nice tine length on his 2's and 3's. The arrow had center punched his heart before plugging in his offside shoulder and had broke off inside of him.
I picked up a game cart the year previous for just this kind of situation and boy did it help. I almost exclusively hunt solo and that has made for some miserable drag jobs in the past. It took about 2 hours to get him field dressed and hauled to the truck. I made the drive that afternoon to the taxi with some plans of a pedestal shoulder mount.
Thanks for reading!
The morning of November 9th ended pretty well for me. I made the hour trip from Des Moines to Southern Iowa to a private farm I gained permission for last year. I got all set-up waiting for the deer to return from feed. I sat from before sunrise until about 9 am in a funnel without seeing a deer. The morning was fairly warm and the wind was again starting to pick up by that time at about 20 mph from the south. I opted to take my climber down and hike way back into the corner of the farm where things start to get thick. I hoped to maybe catch a buck working the edge of the bedding area.
The wind was in my favor and covered the sound of me trekking the half mile or so into the timber. I was able to make it all the way back without jumping any deer. I picked about the only tree available to climb and made my way only about 8 feet or so in the air because of some knots on the back of the tree. Once I got settled I thought I would start out with an aggressive rattling sequence and pounded the rattle bag together for about a solid minute. I was setup right on the edge of some thick bedding cover and figured there was a good chance there might be a buck bedded somewhere close.
As soon as I got done rattling I put the bag away and grabbed my bow. As soon as I turned back around from grabbing my bow I saw this buck about 70 yards away on a trot towards my stand. The first look at him I thought he was a solid 130's buck but didn't think he was a shooter. He dropped down a little shelf and popped back up about 30 yards in front of me. The second look at him I could see his tall G2's and a 10+ point frame and readied myself for a shot. He continued to walk towards my tree with some brush between me and him, searching for the fight he had heard. I could see a doe watching from the direction he had come from. He was at about 15 yards when he just cleared a small cedar tree and I touched the release.
The SlickTrick tipped arrow buried behind his right shoulder and he let out a loud growl as he ran away about 40 yards and turned back to see what happened. I didn't get a pass-through and I could see the white fletchings as he broke the arrow when he lurched away. I watched as he walked about 10 more yards before laying down and then he tipped over.
It only took about 2 minutes before the doe that he was with started to be chased by about 3 immature bucks all through the timber in front of me. Crazy how long that takes when the boss isn't around anymore.
After about 10 minutes and 20 text messages later, I climbed down to go check out my trophy. I could tell walking up to him that he was my best buck yet. He is a cool 11 point with turned in crab claws on the end of each main beam and some nice tine length on his 2's and 3's. The arrow had center punched his heart before plugging in his offside shoulder and had broke off inside of him.
I picked up a game cart the year previous for just this kind of situation and boy did it help. I almost exclusively hunt solo and that has made for some miserable drag jobs in the past. It took about 2 hours to get him field dressed and hauled to the truck. I made the drive that afternoon to the taxi with some plans of a pedestal shoulder mount.
Thanks for reading!
