Hardwood11
It is going to be a good fall!
On December 7 I was in my stand on the south end of my property and was not seeing much when a good buck came by chasing a doe fawn, I put the cross-hairs on him and just did not have a clean shot, so I passed. At the time I was a little bummed, as it was a good buck. Turned out to be a blessing.
That afternoon, the wind was from the south, kinda warm 49 degrees. We got out early 1:30 and waited until the deer would enter the field from the timber into the picked corn. At 3:30 we saw a few does come out. Then at 4:00 --3 bucks entered the field. One was really nice, it looked very thick, wide, and tall, and I thought it might even have a drop tine?
I needed it to clear a tree and then I would have a good shot. He was at 118 yards, and I had practiced with my Savage 220 at 125 yards and was dead on. So I put the scope on him, quartering away, and pulled the trigger, he jumped up, and ran off slowly. I thought maybe he fell, as I heard antlers hitting a tree.
We decided to give him 2 hours just to be safe. However, when tracking we found good blood, but he went 250 yards...Decied to back out. Very nervous, and not feeling the best, I thought there was a chance I didn't hit him as good as I thought.
The next morning my son and I, and our good friend tracked the buck. Still not a slam dunk, we basically saw a pattern that he did a complete circle and was cutting across the picked corn to a 22 acre block of timber. The good news was there was quite a bit of blood and he stumbled and fell twice. Glassing up ahead my friend spotted the buck on the side of the timber. The shot was good, but that buck was a tough warrior. Wow, I was so pumped. You could see from a slight distance that he was big.
High fives, fist pumps, and he was tagged! I could not believe it. He was bigger than I thought, I was telling the guys at deer camp that he was a 160. Turns out after scoring him a couple times that this big guy was a Booner (gross)!!
....174 inches and one hell of a happy hunter!!! We had lots of celebrating that evening!! My son and friends ended up with 4 deer, 2 bucks--2 does. Saw a bunch, had a great time! The local people in the Loess Hills/Iowa are very nice and helpful and we enjoy making several trips to this unique part of the
state!!
That afternoon, the wind was from the south, kinda warm 49 degrees. We got out early 1:30 and waited until the deer would enter the field from the timber into the picked corn. At 3:30 we saw a few does come out. Then at 4:00 --3 bucks entered the field. One was really nice, it looked very thick, wide, and tall, and I thought it might even have a drop tine?
I needed it to clear a tree and then I would have a good shot. He was at 118 yards, and I had practiced with my Savage 220 at 125 yards and was dead on. So I put the scope on him, quartering away, and pulled the trigger, he jumped up, and ran off slowly. I thought maybe he fell, as I heard antlers hitting a tree.
We decided to give him 2 hours just to be safe. However, when tracking we found good blood, but he went 250 yards...Decied to back out. Very nervous, and not feeling the best, I thought there was a chance I didn't hit him as good as I thought.
The next morning my son and I, and our good friend tracked the buck. Still not a slam dunk, we basically saw a pattern that he did a complete circle and was cutting across the picked corn to a 22 acre block of timber. The good news was there was quite a bit of blood and he stumbled and fell twice. Glassing up ahead my friend spotted the buck on the side of the timber. The shot was good, but that buck was a tough warrior. Wow, I was so pumped. You could see from a slight distance that he was big.
High fives, fist pumps, and he was tagged! I could not believe it. He was bigger than I thought, I was telling the guys at deer camp that he was a 160. Turns out after scoring him a couple times that this big guy was a Booner (gross)!!
....174 inches and one hell of a happy hunter!!! We had lots of celebrating that evening!! My son and friends ended up with 4 deer, 2 bucks--2 does. Saw a bunch, had a great time! The local people in the Loess Hills/Iowa are very nice and helpful and we enjoy making several trips to this unique part of the
state!!
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