michsteelguy
Active member
Well, first off I want to put out my disclaimer..... this was with an outfitter.
Being from Michigan, my public land experiences (& some private) have NOT gone well, as many of you can attest. In my 40 years of hunting I have ran into sooo many problems (theft, prime time walk-thru's & errant gunshots by irresponsible hunters, private land trespassers, & just all around high pressure) that I have basically focused my hunting to out-of state locations. I'm super blessed to have ALOT of work all year long, but that also means that I dont get that much time to hunt. When I do, I really want to have an enjoyable experience.... whether i'm successful or not.
All that being said, I started to grow my pref points thru-out multiple states for different species and this year it was time to head to Iowa. This would be my 2nd time there (first being 6 years ago) but with a different outfitter. I arrived in camp the 1st week of Nov for a 6 day hunt, and a sigh of relief came about me as the accommodations and amenities were everything that was described on the website. Now I was hoping that the hunting would be just as good. I hunted multiple (leased) farms, and saw some really nice deer but no shot opportunities. Weather was the only factor (IMO) that was not in my favor as temps were very warm (50-60) for that time of year. A couple of nice deer were taken that week by other clients so that made me optimistic about what was possible. In the end, I went home empty handed but had a good time, meeting new people in camp, and treated well by a good outfitter. Seeing deer that I would never see here (Michigan) was also a plus!
A couple of days after my return home, and just when I thought my hunting season was over, I get a text from the outfitter. They said that they felt bad about the weather being so warm that any client who was unsuccessful would be welcomed back for a 3 day hunt (for a very minimal fee). Although this is something they normally DONT do, they had a 3 day window and wanted clients to feel good about their experience. This was a business move.... i get it. Anyways, after waiting 5 years to draw my tag I was going to put in as much effort as I could to be successful, so I drove back to Iowa. Weather was predicted to be better (much colder) and rut was starting.
Day #1 : saw plenty of deer including a shooter at 50 yds. He was a solid 12 pt and was the target buck on that farm so I was excited to see him during daylight (late afternoon). As the day progressed I watched this deer have a intense fight with another big buck for about 8 long minutes. Wow..... that was a sight to see!! After waiting for a possible shot opportunity which never presented itself, I pulled out my phone and got video of the 2nd half of the fight. When it was over, deer immediately cleared out of the beans which gave me an opening to get down and out of there without spooking the bucks. What a relief.
Day #2: went back to that same stand and saw lots of does and many smaller bucks , but no shooters.
(Final) Day #3 - (morning)...... got in VERY early to stand. Immediately, deer started to file into the small bean plot, as I could hear them, but not light enough to see just yet, as it was before sunrise. As the sun came up, I also noticed a real nice buck (approx 100 yds into the beans from me), but not quite a shooter. I watched them for about 20 minutes. Its now about 7:30 am and off in the distance (about 200 yds) I see the target buck, headed towards the bean field and myself. No doubt it was him, and he eventually walked right toward me and got to about 22 yds. Thats when things started to get tense. He made short time covering that distance, now all I had to do was make the shot....... and I did (sorta). My nerves were shot and seeing a big buck in front of me did havoc on my thought process and my estimated yardage was a bit off. At that moment, all i was hoping to do was to get a good pin on him and shoot. Now heres the good and the bad...... Bad : spine shot the deer and had to take multiple finishing shots as it rolled into a deep/steep ravine (SMH... ugggh, cant believe it), Good: the deer dropped immediately & I didnt lose it - no tracking needed. Lessons learned believe me!!!
I have always wanted to be able to make that excited phone call to family, friends and hunting buddies in real-time & it finally happened!! In my entire 40 years of hunting I have never experienced that of which I did this year in SE Iowa and I look to go back one day and try and do it all over again. Its something I will never forget and hope you all have the same opportunity as what the lord has blessed me with this year. Thanks for reading.
Being from Michigan, my public land experiences (& some private) have NOT gone well, as many of you can attest. In my 40 years of hunting I have ran into sooo many problems (theft, prime time walk-thru's & errant gunshots by irresponsible hunters, private land trespassers, & just all around high pressure) that I have basically focused my hunting to out-of state locations. I'm super blessed to have ALOT of work all year long, but that also means that I dont get that much time to hunt. When I do, I really want to have an enjoyable experience.... whether i'm successful or not.
All that being said, I started to grow my pref points thru-out multiple states for different species and this year it was time to head to Iowa. This would be my 2nd time there (first being 6 years ago) but with a different outfitter. I arrived in camp the 1st week of Nov for a 6 day hunt, and a sigh of relief came about me as the accommodations and amenities were everything that was described on the website. Now I was hoping that the hunting would be just as good. I hunted multiple (leased) farms, and saw some really nice deer but no shot opportunities. Weather was the only factor (IMO) that was not in my favor as temps were very warm (50-60) for that time of year. A couple of nice deer were taken that week by other clients so that made me optimistic about what was possible. In the end, I went home empty handed but had a good time, meeting new people in camp, and treated well by a good outfitter. Seeing deer that I would never see here (Michigan) was also a plus!
A couple of days after my return home, and just when I thought my hunting season was over, I get a text from the outfitter. They said that they felt bad about the weather being so warm that any client who was unsuccessful would be welcomed back for a 3 day hunt (for a very minimal fee). Although this is something they normally DONT do, they had a 3 day window and wanted clients to feel good about their experience. This was a business move.... i get it. Anyways, after waiting 5 years to draw my tag I was going to put in as much effort as I could to be successful, so I drove back to Iowa. Weather was predicted to be better (much colder) and rut was starting.
Day #1 : saw plenty of deer including a shooter at 50 yds. He was a solid 12 pt and was the target buck on that farm so I was excited to see him during daylight (late afternoon). As the day progressed I watched this deer have a intense fight with another big buck for about 8 long minutes. Wow..... that was a sight to see!! After waiting for a possible shot opportunity which never presented itself, I pulled out my phone and got video of the 2nd half of the fight. When it was over, deer immediately cleared out of the beans which gave me an opening to get down and out of there without spooking the bucks. What a relief.
Day #2: went back to that same stand and saw lots of does and many smaller bucks , but no shooters.
(Final) Day #3 - (morning)...... got in VERY early to stand. Immediately, deer started to file into the small bean plot, as I could hear them, but not light enough to see just yet, as it was before sunrise. As the sun came up, I also noticed a real nice buck (approx 100 yds into the beans from me), but not quite a shooter. I watched them for about 20 minutes. Its now about 7:30 am and off in the distance (about 200 yds) I see the target buck, headed towards the bean field and myself. No doubt it was him, and he eventually walked right toward me and got to about 22 yds. Thats when things started to get tense. He made short time covering that distance, now all I had to do was make the shot....... and I did (sorta). My nerves were shot and seeing a big buck in front of me did havoc on my thought process and my estimated yardage was a bit off. At that moment, all i was hoping to do was to get a good pin on him and shoot. Now heres the good and the bad...... Bad : spine shot the deer and had to take multiple finishing shots as it rolled into a deep/steep ravine (SMH... ugggh, cant believe it), Good: the deer dropped immediately & I didnt lose it - no tracking needed. Lessons learned believe me!!!
I have always wanted to be able to make that excited phone call to family, friends and hunting buddies in real-time & it finally happened!! In my entire 40 years of hunting I have never experienced that of which I did this year in SE Iowa and I look to go back one day and try and do it all over again. Its something I will never forget and hope you all have the same opportunity as what the lord has blessed me with this year. Thanks for reading.
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