Gellar
Well-known member
Awesome! I hope it gets bitter cold and we get a dump of snow for late muzzleloader season!
‘21 Iowa whitetail
- Thread starter Gellar
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bowhuntmontana
Well-known member
Sounds like an awesome trip. One question: How the heck did you manage to gain 1000 ft of elevation in a day in Iowa? My experience in Iowa made me feel like I could watch my dog run away for three days from the top of a moderate hill.
Just giving you some grief. Congrats again and thanks for sharing.
Just giving you some grief. Congrats again and thanks for sharing.
Gellar
Well-known member
The Driftless Area! There’s no other place like it in the World let alone Iowa!
Crossbowguy
Well-known member
Those are some unbelievable bucks! Congrats to all the hunters!
Gellar
Well-known member
Thank you. I am Still cleaning up the aftermath. Myself and another guy boned out 7 deer yesterday and won’t grind them or process until we here back on the CWD tests. At least 5 of them will go into a group sausage party that we will get together and make later.
We hunt in a CWD zone so all of the deer if eligible get tested. It will probably take a month to get the results back. We have never had any deer test positive since 2014 when they began testing even though the first case was about 1 mile as the crow flies from one of our drives. Our group probably gets 15 deer tested each year.
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Gellar
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Yea, I’m probably not the best photographer.Love the enthusiasm but we need to talk about your photos.
Gellar
Well-known member
My FIL still uses a flip phone to take pictures. I still regret the last time I let him take the pictures. I handed him my iPhone. He kept fat fingering it and was getting frustrated. Here’s the picture he took.
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Gellar
Well-known member
Late Muzzleloader opens today! Its a blistering 33 degrees and clear skies. The last several nights I have been watching some deer come into a field off of public land onto private land. The edge of the field is the boundary so if I get into position early enough with the right wind I should have an advantage. Unfortunately the best wind for the location is from the South or the southwest. That wind does not happen very often this time of year, tonight they are calling for a NNE wind so I will probably just be scouting tonight waiting for a better wind. I have all day Wednesday and Thursday off, but currently it is a toss up on if I will be deer hunting or ice fishing. Its been a while since I've had fresh bluegill so that is currently what I am thinking!
For anyone who has followed along it had been 3 years since I had had my scope on my muzzleloader, I took the scope off and replaced with a Truglo Ghost Ring site because scopes are not legal on muzzleloaders in Colorado for elk. Last week I decided to put my scope back on. In that time I forgot that my scope was sighted in for 245 grain powerbelt bullets with 100 grains of FFG powder. Now, Ive been using 300 grain Thor bullets and 100 grains of FFFG powder. The 300 grain bullets were hitting the target only about 2" low. I fixed that problem and now I should be good.
It seems this question gets asked in the muzzleloader thread often so I will answer. Our late season goes from today December 20-January 10. I will leave my muzzleloader loaded (powder and Bullet) until I fire it at a deer or the season ends and I discharge the firearm before cleaning it. I do take the primer out everyday. A muzzleloader is considered unloaded in Iowa if it does not have a primer. I tape the end of my barrel with electrical tape and I leave the gun in my shed or in my truck so it is not going from hot to cold, hot to cold. I have never had a problem with the muzzleloader not going off when I needed it to.
If you have any questions about hunting the late muzzleloader season in Iowa, my setup, or anything else I will try and do my best to answer them.
For anyone who has followed along it had been 3 years since I had had my scope on my muzzleloader, I took the scope off and replaced with a Truglo Ghost Ring site because scopes are not legal on muzzleloaders in Colorado for elk. Last week I decided to put my scope back on. In that time I forgot that my scope was sighted in for 245 grain powerbelt bullets with 100 grains of FFG powder. Now, Ive been using 300 grain Thor bullets and 100 grains of FFFG powder. The 300 grain bullets were hitting the target only about 2" low. I fixed that problem and now I should be good.
It seems this question gets asked in the muzzleloader thread often so I will answer. Our late season goes from today December 20-January 10. I will leave my muzzleloader loaded (powder and Bullet) until I fire it at a deer or the season ends and I discharge the firearm before cleaning it. I do take the primer out everyday. A muzzleloader is considered unloaded in Iowa if it does not have a primer. I tape the end of my barrel with electrical tape and I leave the gun in my shed or in my truck so it is not going from hot to cold, hot to cold. I have never had a problem with the muzzleloader not going off when I needed it to.
If you have any questions about hunting the late muzzleloader season in Iowa, my setup, or anything else I will try and do my best to answer them.
Ganderpike
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- Dec 20, 2021
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Hey Gellar and anyone else!
I have browsed this forum for awhile but now that I kick off my first IA
Muzzleloader season this week, I figured id try and get some input. Being relatively* familiar with Zone 10 I finally drew for the late season after 2 years. I have a small acreage with a cell cam out that has enough activity to harvest a doe. No shooter bucks unfortunately since early December though. I plan on hunting Dec 22 – Dec 30.
I have scouted out around 8-10 decent looking plots of public. On paper, there should be some nice deer in there. Looking at the unseasonably warm forecast I don’t see the deer being very active until after dark. Am I correct in that thinking?
I have a couple public parcels mapped out for “still hunting/stalking” and a couple for hunkering down over food. Is there any suggestions on how best to hunt these public chunks during the day going solo? If I had another licensed hunter with we could do a drive (I believe) but… I don’t.
I don’t have any expectations of harvesting a Booner, but would like an opportunity at a mature deer.
Thanks for the previous seasons worth of knowledge in other threads!
I have browsed this forum for awhile but now that I kick off my first IA
Muzzleloader season this week, I figured id try and get some input. Being relatively* familiar with Zone 10 I finally drew for the late season after 2 years. I have a small acreage with a cell cam out that has enough activity to harvest a doe. No shooter bucks unfortunately since early December though. I plan on hunting Dec 22 – Dec 30.
I have scouted out around 8-10 decent looking plots of public. On paper, there should be some nice deer in there. Looking at the unseasonably warm forecast I don’t see the deer being very active until after dark. Am I correct in that thinking?
I have a couple public parcels mapped out for “still hunting/stalking” and a couple for hunkering down over food. Is there any suggestions on how best to hunt these public chunks during the day going solo? If I had another licensed hunter with we could do a drive (I believe) but… I don’t.
I don’t have any expectations of harvesting a Booner, but would like an opportunity at a mature deer.
Thanks for the previous seasons worth of knowledge in other threads!
Gellar
Well-known member
Zone 10 is pretty flat open country. I’d look for a cattail slough with food on the outskirts of it. Still hunt into the wind really really slow. When you think you are going slow enough, slow down some more. Good luck!
BrentD
Well-known member
or percussion cap or flash powder in the pan.
Some still use antiquated muzzleloaders...
Gellar
Well-known member
I’d like to learn how to use them and more about them. You wanna make a trip to the Driftless Area?or percussion cap or flash powder in the pan.
Some still use antiquated muzzleloaders...
BrentD
Well-known member
Tempting. I was hunting the draws off the Des Moines tonight.
I appreciate the offer, but I'll pass. I'm still mostly chasing pheasants with deer hunting as side event. But I have always said I should hunt that area.
Thanks again, and good luck. The biggun's roam out there.
Gellar
Well-known member
There’s good pheasant hunting if you find good habitat around here. they are overlooked.
Nick87
Well-known member
Do you guys get results back regardless? Illinois just says if it's positive somebody will call. When? Well a month or two maybe. Real nice.
Gellar
Well-known member
It’s online, they currently say pending. I think if you get a positive they call.
Gellar
Well-known member
I don’t know who does illinois’ tests but for several years there were only a few labs doing them. Ia state, Tx a&m and Colorado state I believe? But all the CWD tests in the country we’re going to those labs and they were completely overwhelmed.
duckhunt
Well-known member
Good luck out there. I'm heading back your way Friday morning.
Gellar
Well-known member
I walked out on grey more in Pdc this morning. There was no one else out there and only about an inch of ice 100 yards off shore in about 18” of water so I turned around. I went up towards Lansing and there were a few guys out by lynxville, but on the wrong side of the tracks. In Lansing there were about 12 cars and 30 guys at shore slough. I wasn’t in the mood for people so I went to the north end of shore slough where they were doing the dredging last summer. There was one truck in the pullout and I knew who it was. His stuff was next to his truck and he had just walked.down to check the ice. He said it wasn’t thick enough for him and that was good enough reason for me to stay off the ice so I went home and got my muzzleloader.
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