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What a season

biggest buck

biggest buck

Active Member
Well what started out as one of the most promising seasons ever for me has turned out to be one of the hardest ever.
It all started 3 yrs ago when I got permission to some new ground. First yr I saw several large bucks and shot a 160ish 8 pt. That year I also saw a stunning NTyp that would have easily went 180 with a nice droptine.
Move forward to 2009 now. Season started out from opening day seeing several bucks under 140, 15 bucks to be exact the in first 2 days! Then came Oct 23 2009. At 0930 I decided to get out of my tree and after packing up all my gear I turn and take one last look only to find a beautiful 170 10 pt just 27 yds out! To make a long story short, I had him at 18 yds broadside and couldnt make the shot happen. He was now my target buck of the year. I hunted all but two days from that day until I ended up harvesting a nice one on Nov. 11 that I just couldnt pass up. (Pott co buck w mass 2009). Then it was on to does for the rest of 2009 and in the process saw several more bucks around the 130-145 mark getting a couple of those on video with my phone directly below my stand. A week later my nephew begins hunting the propery and was in putting a stand up when all of a sudden the big NTyp from 2008 runs right by him and up to my stand that I killed my buck from. This year he is sporting 3 droptines. He is now one of my nephews targets along with the 170 typical I saw.
Now we move to 2010! August comes and the big NTyp begins showing himself on the road at nearly the same time & same place everynight. He is now well over the 200 inch mark and the 3 droptines are all about 8 inches long. By the end of August all stands were in place and while hanging them we saw a bruiser of a 10 that would push the 170 mark and several other smaller bucks during that month. And, another friend who hunts nearby sees the giant 170 typical from the year before that has now grown to what he guesses close to the 185-190 typical mark. Making him one of 3 target bucks. So were all primed for Oct 1 to finally get here! Opening day again looked very promising as I had 4 different bucks with the largest one going 140. My vacation started Oct 18 and would run til Nov 21 with the exception of 2 days in between.
The bucks continue to come til about Nov 3rd. Then for some reason things changed and the season turned quiet and the deer seemed to disappear. At this pt I have not seen one shooter, yet my buddy bagged him a real nice 163 inch 10 pt and my nephew bags him the twin brother of my buddies that also scored 163. These two bucks are nearly identical in character and both taken within a 1/2 mile of one another. So now its down to me with the only buck tag left so I basically have the entire area to myself. I hunted hard with about 70 hrs put in the stands and have yet to see any bucks worthy of shooting. Biggest one to date is a 145 11 pt that I had at 10 yds. Very young good looking buck that was given a pass this year.
Not exactly sure what changed in the area. I think we actually shot too many does and the bucks simply went elsewhere looking for love. Its either that or its the big boy Ntypicals fault for making himself seen in August. We found out that a family of 7 hunters moved in across the road onto a property and could only assume its due to the NTyp showing himself so often.
The last day I sat, Nov 23, was the first day I'd seen a doe since Nov. 5th, and 12 very small bucks. So what began as what was supposed to be my best season ever in 24 yrs of bow hunting has turned out to be the most disapointing season ever. Guess I set my expectations too high.
Bring on shotgun season now!
 
A 145 11 pt. what is a bad season about that? All depends on your perspective. I sat for 65 hrs thru rut and saw 3 two yr olds and one doe. Count your blessings!
 
was the farm you picked up 3 years ago untouched before you got it? it sounds like it, and 3 years of your hunting pressure has taken a gold mine and turned into an average spot. No pics of the nontypical?
Loneranger...:confused:...:confused:...:confused: I think you need to find a new area! or take a shower:D
 
Yes it was untouched for many years. As for the 145 11 pt, I let him walk because he is a very young deer and will be an absolute stud in another 2 years. Thats my choice to let them deer walk. Last years deer only scored 143, he was an old stud and had tons of character and mass so he didnt get a pass!
 
Not possible. It was sold to me as a deer hunting mecca in Iowa. I was from Michigan and green as grass,. I should have talked to some on here before purchasing land in that area. I have been told by now,, this area has always been poor. I am stuck with it .
 
That is a good area but your area must have seen too many does killed in the last few years just like many areas in the State. I have seen my deer sightings in the last 5 years go from 10-15 deer per sit (4-5 hours) with a 1:3 buck to doe ratio go to 1-3 deer per sit with a 4:1 buck to doe ratio. I have also seen less shooter bucks 4.5 y.o. or older every year for the last three years dispite passing everything younger than 4.5 for many years. I know I am loosing several upper age class deer every year due to the January antlerless season because I have trail camera pictures of them after shotgun and late muzzleloader even if they have shed before the end of late muzzleloader. The "if it's brown it's down mentality" and the "shoot the big does" which might as well be "shoot the shed bucks" is really affecting the upper age class deer. I usually find 3-4 shed bucks and 2-3 antlered bucks dead each Spring while shed hunting. Let's be clear the deer aren't starving because there is ample food plots of grains and greens. This is due to the mentality in my area that if they shoot at a herd of "does" :rolleyes: and a deer doesn't fall in sight than they missed and lets drive to the next road and shoot some more ammo up when they cross. I have even heard guys talking in the local bar saying that they are reporting the shed bucks as does so they don't take away the January antlerless "rifle season". I will also add that I was born and raised in Iowa and that I have been bowhunting every year for 29 years and the last three were probably my most disappointing.
 
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This has been a crap year for myself, as well as many of my friends! I probably just figure it was my luck! But A few of my cronies have over 3k of some of the best deer hunting acres Iowa has to offer! Guy's that won't pull the string on less than a 150..ish type! Same story! Lotta dinks/does!! :confused: So we go!!
 
We kinda got off object of this post, but good to know I am not the only one seeing deer pop go down and down. This could be considered a pity party, but good to know. I am dropping subject, till next season.
 
If you saw very little rutting action this year and very few deer numbers in general, you are not alone. I think there's at least 3 other threads on here right now discussing the same thing.
 
Out of all the hours I sat in my 8 different stands I had 28 total bucks, 25 of which were all different bucks. I only saw one 140ish actually chasing does. The others didnt really seem all that interested in the does when I had both in my presence. I think due to the extreme amount of pressure from us and around us and due to there being at least 16 does taken by 4 hunters, myself included with 4 of those that this is why I didnt see the big boys all season.
 
biggest buck said:
Out of all the hours I sat in my 8 different stands I had 28 total bucks, 25 of which were all different bucks. I only saw one 140ish actually chasing does. The others didnt really seem all that interested in the does when I had both in my presence. I think due to the extreme amount of pressure from us and around us and due to there being at least 16 does taken by 4 hunters, myself included with 4 of those that this is why I didnt see the big boys all season.
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I guess I just don't understand....16 does? Why? Do those get hushed or do they really get eaten by the families of the person that shot them? Seems like a lot from one farm.
 
No not on one farm, just all within the same mile section. My buddy took 6, me 4 and 2 other guys who hunt close by took 6 between themselves.We had no idea all these people were hunting until we had already taken a few does ourselves. And I'm not sure about the family of 7 guys that began hunting close by this year, no idea if they shot any or not. Ive been taking about 4 each year on the property I hunt. Next year my buddy and myself vowed to take only 1 doe each.
Yes 2 of mine were donated to the HUSH program, the other 8 were not!
 
Just my opinion, but I think as bucks age they get tired of fighting constantly for does. It sounds like your area has a pile of young bucks and the big boys found someplace with less competition. I have seen this happen on the farm I hunt.
 
I am new to the site but have been reading (as well) where people are not seeing the does and the deer numbers are way down. I live in NW Iowa (Dickinson County) and we don't have the large tracks of timber - we are in the prairie pothole area with large tracks of public grasslands as well as wetlands. Public hunting areas have really causes our quality of deer hunting to in the toilet - but thats a seperate topic.

What we are seeing here is the DNR allowing way to many deprivation tags being issues as a way to kill off the numbers. In some cases a land owner is issues a number of tags and they a join public areas so they have almost unlimited amount of acers to kill off does. I have been hunting the same areas for 20+ years and used to see wintering areas with 200+ deer in a herd but now I would challenge you to find a even a deer track.

Sadley our "population" of deer has become urban and refuge bound. The problem with this is people see a lot of deer near town and assume there are deer everywhere so there is no pressure on the DNR to change their policy of 'killing everything". But I drive a 15 mile x 15 mile route (all the time) and I know every rock and twig in that area and the deer numbers have been dropping (over the past 5 years) to almost nothing. I took two kids out for the early youth season and in the past you would see a doe and fawn(s) about every mile (section) and now you are lucky to see that in every 3 to 4 miles.

The only way we are going to be able to have an impact is to go the the DNR meetings, contact your represenatives and become active in getting the truth out. Until then we all will still be typing posts about "the good old days"
 
tc1968 said:
Sadley our "population" of deer has become urban and refuge bound. The problem with this is people see a lot of deer near town and assume there are deer everywhere so there is no pressure on the DNR to change their policy of 'killing everything".
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Bingo, we have a winner.
 
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