Gellar
Well-known member
I am going to hunt tomorrow morning. I like to sit for an hour or two in the morning then still hunt into the wind reeeeaaal slow.
2020 late muzzleloader season
- Thread starter Gellar
- Start date
Gellar
Well-known member
What zone were you in? I am in nonresident zone 9, the northeast corner right along the Mississippi River.
Gellar
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Right at the end of shooting light a small 8 came out. I saw a spike, 6 doe, and the buck!
elkantlers
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Gellar
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Were you successful? I’ve never deer hunted in NW Iowa. I’ve fished and pheasant hunted.
HighDesertSage
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Good luck this morning. It's frigid over here 5 degrees and 15-20 mph winds. Got some good snow too. Hopefully you did as well and the deer are moving.
Scrappy
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- Joined
- Mar 25, 2017
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- 255
Good luck this AM.
Gellar
Well-known member
Conditions: 7 degrees, sunny, dusting of snow wind: Nw 15-20 blowing snow in open areas.
I got out to a neat little spot on public land that is out of the wind. It’s at the head of a drainage that goes about a mile and joins a larger drainage that eventually gets to the Mississippi River. There is a spring and a few old foundations from a homestead. My father in law grew up a couple miles away and hunted anything and everything around there for the last 70 years and says he cannot remember that there was ever any buildings standing there. Usually deer will be bedded down near the spring as it’s a few degrees warmer in the winter and out of the wind. There are also a lot of apple trees, but i didn’t see any fruit left today.
I snuck in before light about 615 am and got settled in. I could only stay until around 8 cuz Momma had some Christmas baking to do and wanted me to occupy the kids. Long story short, I didn’t even see a deer. I very well may have bumped them on the way in.
I am going to take Christmas Day off. And my dad will be hunting with me at least one day over the weekend.
Merry Christmas!
I got out to a neat little spot on public land that is out of the wind. It’s at the head of a drainage that goes about a mile and joins a larger drainage that eventually gets to the Mississippi River. There is a spring and a few old foundations from a homestead. My father in law grew up a couple miles away and hunted anything and everything around there for the last 70 years and says he cannot remember that there was ever any buildings standing there. Usually deer will be bedded down near the spring as it’s a few degrees warmer in the winter and out of the wind. There are also a lot of apple trees, but i didn’t see any fruit left today.
I snuck in before light about 615 am and got settled in. I could only stay until around 8 cuz Momma had some Christmas baking to do and wanted me to occupy the kids. Long story short, I didn’t even see a deer. I very well may have bumped them on the way in.
I am going to take Christmas Day off. And my dad will be hunting with me at least one day over the weekend.
Merry Christmas!
BoulderBulls
Well-known member
Merry Christmas, keep the updates coming. I'd love to hunt Iowa someday
Gellar
Well-known member
Sit down to Christmas dinner and I see these out the window, 4 does!
Gellar
Well-known member
Conditions: 27 degrees and snowing, wind nnw 5 mph increasing to 10-5
I got out yesterday 12/27 afternoon for a couple hours. Originally my dad was going to hunt with me all day but he wasn’t feeling great so I did chores and watched the kids while my wife was returning some Christmas gifts. The snow was forecasted to start at noon and the weatherman was very close. The kids and I took the opportunity to go sledding behind the atv when there was enough snow! I decided to head out to where I was going to sit around 3. I went to the same spot as I had during the high wind last week. The wind direction wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either. I had 8 does that came out in the last few minutes of light and did not see any antlers. My clothing and gun were all soaked by the end of the hunt so I hung everything to dry. Unbeknownst to me I had gotten some snow accumulation in my ghost ring sight and it was frozen solid. If I would have decided to shoot a deer I would not have been able to anyways. After thawing out in the garage I wiped the muzzleloader down with a light oil. I have hunted through snow storms before and the powder has been just fine but I am thinking I might shoot the round tonight and start fresh before I go hunting. The forecast is looking good with more snow tomorrow, possibly up to 8”.
I got out yesterday 12/27 afternoon for a couple hours. Originally my dad was going to hunt with me all day but he wasn’t feeling great so I did chores and watched the kids while my wife was returning some Christmas gifts. The snow was forecasted to start at noon and the weatherman was very close. The kids and I took the opportunity to go sledding behind the atv when there was enough snow! I decided to head out to where I was going to sit around 3. I went to the same spot as I had during the high wind last week. The wind direction wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either. I had 8 does that came out in the last few minutes of light and did not see any antlers. My clothing and gun were all soaked by the end of the hunt so I hung everything to dry. Unbeknownst to me I had gotten some snow accumulation in my ghost ring sight and it was frozen solid. If I would have decided to shoot a deer I would not have been able to anyways. After thawing out in the garage I wiped the muzzleloader down with a light oil. I have hunted through snow storms before and the powder has been just fine but I am thinking I might shoot the round tonight and start fresh before I go hunting. The forecast is looking good with more snow tomorrow, possibly up to 8”.
Gellar
Well-known member
Buffs35
Well-known member
Best of luck! Hopefully they move before the weather.
Gellar
Well-known member
Made it out again this afternoon!
Conditions: 23 degrees and Sunny wind, west @ 5 mph, winter storm starting around 1pm tomorrow
I intended to be out hunting earlier today and left my office accordingly to do so. For some dumb reason on the way to my hunting spot I decided to drive by our work shop and see what was up there. An hour later and I’m not hunting as early as I planned! This morning on the way to work I saw lots of deer browsing on hillsides. Because of that I decided to sit on an edge of an alfalfa field where the deer like to browse in the forest on the east facing slope. I don’t care for sitting in blinds and to get the best view of the hill I would need to be out away from the timber edge by a little bit. With the new snow from yesterday I put on the snow camo. I spotted a clump of foxtails that would make good cover but I’d have to lie prone in the snow. As I’m approaching the foxtails I spot a deer on the hillside and throw the binos up. I quickly see it’s a doe, but my plan may just work! I watch the doe from 150 yards and soon a big bodied deer comes crashing down the hill towards the field. When I find it in the binos it’s a doe too. I watch the pair for a while and soon see a deer to my left about 200 yards, than another and another and another. All in the edge of the field. 2 forkies and 2 does. They are feeding towards me, but if they come out from the edge very far they will catch my wind. Straight in front of me I spot the back of a deer but it has its head down. I watch it in the binos for what seems like a long time but is probably less then a minute when he looks up. A solid 8 pointer! Now I really start to focus in to see if he’s a shooter. Every time he would lift his head up I would waiver between shooter and not shooter. I know there are bigger bucks in the area because I saw one two weeks ago when I was scouting. I figure if I hadn’t made up my mind now I would pass on him and snuck out without spoiling the bunch.
the view from behind the foxtails
Small forky
Does that eventually fed towards me
Conditions: 23 degrees and Sunny wind, west @ 5 mph, winter storm starting around 1pm tomorrow
I intended to be out hunting earlier today and left my office accordingly to do so. For some dumb reason on the way to my hunting spot I decided to drive by our work shop and see what was up there. An hour later and I’m not hunting as early as I planned! This morning on the way to work I saw lots of deer browsing on hillsides. Because of that I decided to sit on an edge of an alfalfa field where the deer like to browse in the forest on the east facing slope. I don’t care for sitting in blinds and to get the best view of the hill I would need to be out away from the timber edge by a little bit. With the new snow from yesterday I put on the snow camo. I spotted a clump of foxtails that would make good cover but I’d have to lie prone in the snow. As I’m approaching the foxtails I spot a deer on the hillside and throw the binos up. I quickly see it’s a doe, but my plan may just work! I watch the doe from 150 yards and soon a big bodied deer comes crashing down the hill towards the field. When I find it in the binos it’s a doe too. I watch the pair for a while and soon see a deer to my left about 200 yards, than another and another and another. All in the edge of the field. 2 forkies and 2 does. They are feeding towards me, but if they come out from the edge very far they will catch my wind. Straight in front of me I spot the back of a deer but it has its head down. I watch it in the binos for what seems like a long time but is probably less then a minute when he looks up. A solid 8 pointer! Now I really start to focus in to see if he’s a shooter. Every time he would lift his head up I would waiver between shooter and not shooter. I know there are bigger bucks in the area because I saw one two weeks ago when I was scouting. I figure if I hadn’t made up my mind now I would pass on him and snuck out without spoiling the bunch.
the view from behind the foxtails
Small forky
Does that eventually fed towards me
Gellar
Well-known member
Yesterday afternoon was miserable!
Conditions: 21 degrees, heavy snow wind, Ne at 5 but increases to 15
I left work at 1 to be hunting before the snow storm started. As I was walking to where I intended to sit it started to snow! I got situated facing the east where deer usually come off a public piece that is closed to hunting and onto another piece that is open to hunting. I have sat in the same spot here a few times this winter and seen deer every time but never a buck I wanted to harvest. Soon enough a flock of turkeys came out in the open. I would love to harvest a fall/winter turkey but I only have an archery tag for them and I’m muzzleloader hunting! They seem to know this tidbit of information and come well within archery range as they feed. They spend close to an hour in the field before going into the woods to the west of me. Around 3:30 the wind begins to pick up still from the northeast. The only piece of skin showing is maybe two inches around my eyes, but that 2” is getting pelted with little icy snowflakes. It is driving me crazy and I couldn’t take it no more. I pick up my gear and head home around 4:00 without seeing a deer. My wife had a big pan of chicken enchiladas almost ready to eat and they hit the spot after being pelted in the eyes with snow! The season goes until the 10th of January.
Conditions: 21 degrees, heavy snow wind, Ne at 5 but increases to 15
I left work at 1 to be hunting before the snow storm started. As I was walking to where I intended to sit it started to snow! I got situated facing the east where deer usually come off a public piece that is closed to hunting and onto another piece that is open to hunting. I have sat in the same spot here a few times this winter and seen deer every time but never a buck I wanted to harvest. Soon enough a flock of turkeys came out in the open. I would love to harvest a fall/winter turkey but I only have an archery tag for them and I’m muzzleloader hunting! They seem to know this tidbit of information and come well within archery range as they feed. They spend close to an hour in the field before going into the woods to the west of me. Around 3:30 the wind begins to pick up still from the northeast. The only piece of skin showing is maybe two inches around my eyes, but that 2” is getting pelted with little icy snowflakes. It is driving me crazy and I couldn’t take it no more. I pick up my gear and head home around 4:00 without seeing a deer. My wife had a big pan of chicken enchiladas almost ready to eat and they hit the spot after being pelted in the eyes with snow! The season goes until the 10th of January.
Crossbowguy
Well-known member
Good Luck fella and Happy Holidays!!!
Scrappy
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- Joined
- Mar 25, 2017
- Messages
- 255
Haven't had much luck the last couple days. Skipped this morning so I could dry everything out. Freezing fog this morning as well.
Gellar
Well-known member
I haven’t been out yesterday or today. I will be out tomorrow. They are calling for a calm south wind. I have been watching an area where a south wind will be perfect. It is an area where the deer come off of a public area closed to hunting onto an open area and I have some big buck history with this spot. I have had several youth hunters in this spot take 130-140” bucks. About 10 years ago my brother in law was not able to hunt for a couple of years due to cancer treatments, when he was ready to go again I took him to this spot and we watched several bucks come out that he would have been happy with, but it knew there was a better one coming to the field. Finally a few minutes before legal shooting about a 155” 10 pointer came out and I told him that was the one we were after. He dropped it in his tracks with his muzzleloader! Hopefully I can hit that spot up tomorrow afternoon.
Gellar
Well-known member
Out and about in the woods this morning. Time to eat lunch then head back out. I’ve been still hunting into the wind and have only seen a doe so far. But the woods are beautiful with the snow!
Gellar
Well-known member
waiting for a bit....
