noharleyyet
Well-known member
Dink, that pic is a real testament to camo. Were you using using a cough silencer?
Midwest whitetails - Restart
- Thread starter Big Fin
- Start date
I was wondering if you would ever post today Big Fin,thought maybe you were floating down the river you have been crossing.It was bitter cold up here all day and I was glad I hunted the first season.You should be able to give some killer product reviews on cold weather gear after your done with your midwest tour.Good luck tomorrow.
ashersdad
Well-known member
Good luck Fin. Keep warm and give it hell.
smalls
Well-known member
If you are gonna be a smartant about something...................what about those catapillar looking eyebrows
I just thought they were wooly buggers below your Orvis Approved Hat
smalls
Well-known member
Fin...I got a feeling it'll work out for you.
And growing up in shelterbelt country I know how a deer drive can sound like the siege of Charleston.
And growing up in shelterbelt country I know how a deer drive can sound like the siege of Charleston.
Dinkshooter
Well-known member
No............no................ no.
I was living in Ames, about 1/2 hour north of Des Moines. I decided that Saturday night to head to southern IA and give it a try. I got up at 2 am and drove to a public land area 1 hour southeast of Des Moines. Another place I had never been before. I walked out in the dark and climbed a tree with my stand and spent the morning on a high oak ridge. Nothing came by. So, I spent a couple hours wallking around checking out the place. By then the wind was howling, so I dropped down into this little valley, and it wasn't so bad. I figured the deer had to be down there because of the wind. There was a great trail and rubs so I climbed a tree down there and set up the stand. The valley helped with the wind a little, but it was still hitting the tree tops pretty good. Just about bucked me off a couple times.
He came by around 4:45pm chasing a yearling doe. 7 yard shot. He piled up maybe 50 yards from me.
I HAD no idea where I was and I had never seen the direction back to the truck in the light. I absolutely had to be at work the next morning for the annual meeting. This was also long before a Mystery Ranch and a gps. Cripes I was whitetail hunting, I shouldn't need packframes and game bags. He was getting shoulder mounted no matter what. So, I chopped him in 2 pieces and carried the front half and drug the hind about a mile back to the truck.
There is these crazy vines with thorns in Iowa, by the time I got back to the truck, I had shredded my woolies clear down both legs. Just flaps.
Funny how a person can get so much adventure in Iowa if they want
Fin crossing the creek is just the first step
sumbeetch, if its as cold and windy in iowa as it is here today, and Big Fin went out, he is one bad azz individual. single digit temps, 30-40 mph winds steady, and a 1/2 inch of ice under a 1/2 inch of snow. no deer is worth that. good luck Big Fin.
Well, I came to the motel to pick up some extra clothes and thaw out for an hour before heading back this afternoon.
It has warmed up to a balmy 4F as of right now. Almost enough to make a guy want to take his shirt off.
Didn't have to wade the river this morning. Just walked right on top.
Growing up in Koochiching County, MN, I have dealt with cold temps before. But, I usually wasn't outside hunting. Most often, I stayed inside, or had an ice fishing house to provide protection.
It is not so much the cold as it is the wind. This morning the winds were a steady 25mph, with expected gusts to 35mph. Around 9:30, I think the gusts were every bit of that.
It is too noisy to walk around and expect a deer to stand and wait for you, but if you stand still for more than fifteen or twenty minutes you get pretty cold. So I am trying to mix it up with a little walking and hiking to get the blood circulating, then stand in a good location for as long as I can take it.
Saw a couple does this morning, and on the private land to the immediate north, saw a doe and a very nice buck standing on a hillside filled with stunted corn that hadn't yet been harvested. Not sure how you deal with deer living in standing corn, especially when they are on private ground. I will have to think about that one.
The toes and fingers are starting to tingle. Time to go grab another cup of coffee and drive back to my evening spot. Will have to move down into the timber to get out of the wind, even though it cuts the visibility quite a bit.
I am having fun. In fact, while taking this picture my fingers started to get really cold and I broke into hysterical laughter thinking how stupid I must look and how crazy it is to be 1,200 miles from home, all in the name of deer hunting, on a day such as this. Aren't confusion and hysteria the first signs of hypothermia?
View attachment 7107
And to think I could be back home, in the nice warm office, charging clients outrageous fees. Glad to be here.
It has warmed up to a balmy 4F as of right now. Almost enough to make a guy want to take his shirt off.
Didn't have to wade the river this morning. Just walked right on top.
Growing up in Koochiching County, MN, I have dealt with cold temps before. But, I usually wasn't outside hunting. Most often, I stayed inside, or had an ice fishing house to provide protection.
It is not so much the cold as it is the wind. This morning the winds were a steady 25mph, with expected gusts to 35mph. Around 9:30, I think the gusts were every bit of that.
It is too noisy to walk around and expect a deer to stand and wait for you, but if you stand still for more than fifteen or twenty minutes you get pretty cold. So I am trying to mix it up with a little walking and hiking to get the blood circulating, then stand in a good location for as long as I can take it.
Saw a couple does this morning, and on the private land to the immediate north, saw a doe and a very nice buck standing on a hillside filled with stunted corn that hadn't yet been harvested. Not sure how you deal with deer living in standing corn, especially when they are on private ground. I will have to think about that one.
The toes and fingers are starting to tingle. Time to go grab another cup of coffee and drive back to my evening spot. Will have to move down into the timber to get out of the wind, even though it cuts the visibility quite a bit.
I am having fun. In fact, while taking this picture my fingers started to get really cold and I broke into hysterical laughter thinking how stupid I must look and how crazy it is to be 1,200 miles from home, all in the name of deer hunting, on a day such as this. Aren't confusion and hysteria the first signs of hypothermia?
View attachment 7107
And to think I could be back home, in the nice warm office, charging clients outrageous fees. Glad to be here.
Attachments
Day 3 is now history.
This afternoon, I went into a place where I have been seeing the majority of the deer activity. On my way in I saw a group of ten does/fawns. They were just over the fence coming out of the standing corn on the private ground. Exciting to see at 2:30 in the afternoon.
This spot gives me two options. In the first picture you will see the timbered ridge on the far left. Lots of tracks and beds in that thick oak. Impossible to walk through without sounding like the elephant train, so my only hope is to set up between the standing corn far to the right and behind this photo and hope to intercept them coming off the ridge.
This photo is taken looking straight northwest. The wind blew hard from the NW today, so I am looking directly into the wind from the standpoint this pic was taken.
The main trail coming off the ridge splits. You will see the close strip of trees that comes from the right and peters out as you look to the left. That stip of trees is the main trail that goes to the unharvested corn immediately off the camera to the right.
The other fork in the trail splits off where the close strip of timber ends, about 175 yards out. It then goes south, which would be to the left side of this pic, then turns east and follows behind me, until reaching the private property.
View attachment 7108
Here is a closer view of the main trail that I am set up on. this pic is taken looking almost straight north. That trails runs west to east, leading deer from the timbered oak ridge to the corn patch to the east.
View attachment 7109
Thinking I am a smart guy, I set up on the SE corner of this opening and down wind of the trail straight in front to the north, knowing the NW wind will not affect any deer coming along the trail from the oak hills to my west.
I cannot cover both trails, so I am thinking the odds are they will use the protected trail in front of me. Plus, any shots on that trail will be less than 100 yards.
After all my painstaking planning and theorizing, not to say sitting out in the cold and wind, no deer come down the close trail. With about ten minutes of shooting light left, I am about ready to give up.
Another quick scan of the opening shows Mr. Big. He is moving south, where the trail forks. He is 175 yards away. I look at him to make sure my eyes are not deceiving me. No, my eyes are just fine.
Now I am shaking. With the adrenaline, cold, and excitement, I am trying to hold still. I had previously ranged the spot where the trail split and knew it was 175 yards.
At last light, that is beyond my capability with a shotgun. I know the trail comes closer to me, and if he follows it, he will end up around 130 yards to my hard left before dropping off the open bench down into a creek bottom.
What to do? Chance a very risky shot? Wait and see if he comes closer? Call or rattle?
Well, I decided to wait and see if he would come closer. He is coming closer, though very slowly.
As if I had rang a bell or yelled, he stops, looks directly at me, and has me pegged. I cannot for the life of me figure out what he saw or heard. I made no noise or movement. The wind was blowing hard from him to me.
I hold completely still as he is now facing straight on. I have the shotgun in the crotch of the tree and feel pretty steady, but a straight on shot, with a shotgun slug, at 150 yards is not a shot I am looking for, even with a scope, rifled barrel, and sabots.
I hope he will ease and continue to my left, but I am quickly losing what little shooting light remains. I see him look left, then look right, and without notice, he is bounding back from where he came.
I yelled at myself with every cuss word I know. Sorry to my Mormon friends, but it made me feel better.
In the last three hours, I have replayed this in my mind many times. For the life of me, I cannot figure out what he heard, smelled, or saw. I know big bucks have a sixth sense, and he would fall into that "big" category. Sometimes things just don't fall into place, no matter how hard you work to eliminate the variables. I guess sometimes you just need to be lucky.
I am somewhat amazed that he didn't follow the other trail, as it goes right under the lip of a ridge and is protected by trees and the hillside. It is also the easiest way to get to the food source.
Bucks like him don't get big by being dumb. They get that way by doing what hunters don't expect. I sure didn't expect him to come down the other trail, and I surely didn't expect him to bolt for some unknown reason.
All I can figure is that he has travelled these trails thousands of times and knows if even the slightest thing has changed. Or, before coming down the trail, he stood in the timber and watched the opening for a long time and I had made some movement or somehow had given him notice that I was setup in this concealed corner of the field.
Good thing I am really tired, otherwise it would be hard to sleep, wondering what I could have done differently. I don't know what I could have done differently, other than set up on the other trail, which given the wind, would not have made good sense.
Not sure if he would have been the biggest whitetail I have shot, but would have been in the top two. But more importantly, would have been a remarkable end to a challenging hunt.
Oh well, two more days to hunt and freeze my a$$ off. :BLEEP::BLEEP::BLEEP:
This afternoon, I went into a place where I have been seeing the majority of the deer activity. On my way in I saw a group of ten does/fawns. They were just over the fence coming out of the standing corn on the private ground. Exciting to see at 2:30 in the afternoon.
This spot gives me two options. In the first picture you will see the timbered ridge on the far left. Lots of tracks and beds in that thick oak. Impossible to walk through without sounding like the elephant train, so my only hope is to set up between the standing corn far to the right and behind this photo and hope to intercept them coming off the ridge.
This photo is taken looking straight northwest. The wind blew hard from the NW today, so I am looking directly into the wind from the standpoint this pic was taken.
The main trail coming off the ridge splits. You will see the close strip of trees that comes from the right and peters out as you look to the left. That stip of trees is the main trail that goes to the unharvested corn immediately off the camera to the right.
The other fork in the trail splits off where the close strip of timber ends, about 175 yards out. It then goes south, which would be to the left side of this pic, then turns east and follows behind me, until reaching the private property.
View attachment 7108
Here is a closer view of the main trail that I am set up on. this pic is taken looking almost straight north. That trails runs west to east, leading deer from the timbered oak ridge to the corn patch to the east.
View attachment 7109
Thinking I am a smart guy, I set up on the SE corner of this opening and down wind of the trail straight in front to the north, knowing the NW wind will not affect any deer coming along the trail from the oak hills to my west.
I cannot cover both trails, so I am thinking the odds are they will use the protected trail in front of me. Plus, any shots on that trail will be less than 100 yards.
After all my painstaking planning and theorizing, not to say sitting out in the cold and wind, no deer come down the close trail. With about ten minutes of shooting light left, I am about ready to give up.
Another quick scan of the opening shows Mr. Big. He is moving south, where the trail forks. He is 175 yards away. I look at him to make sure my eyes are not deceiving me. No, my eyes are just fine.
Now I am shaking. With the adrenaline, cold, and excitement, I am trying to hold still. I had previously ranged the spot where the trail split and knew it was 175 yards.
At last light, that is beyond my capability with a shotgun. I know the trail comes closer to me, and if he follows it, he will end up around 130 yards to my hard left before dropping off the open bench down into a creek bottom.
What to do? Chance a very risky shot? Wait and see if he comes closer? Call or rattle?
Well, I decided to wait and see if he would come closer. He is coming closer, though very slowly.
As if I had rang a bell or yelled, he stops, looks directly at me, and has me pegged. I cannot for the life of me figure out what he saw or heard. I made no noise or movement. The wind was blowing hard from him to me.
I hold completely still as he is now facing straight on. I have the shotgun in the crotch of the tree and feel pretty steady, but a straight on shot, with a shotgun slug, at 150 yards is not a shot I am looking for, even with a scope, rifled barrel, and sabots.
I hope he will ease and continue to my left, but I am quickly losing what little shooting light remains. I see him look left, then look right, and without notice, he is bounding back from where he came.
I yelled at myself with every cuss word I know. Sorry to my Mormon friends, but it made me feel better.
In the last three hours, I have replayed this in my mind many times. For the life of me, I cannot figure out what he heard, smelled, or saw. I know big bucks have a sixth sense, and he would fall into that "big" category. Sometimes things just don't fall into place, no matter how hard you work to eliminate the variables. I guess sometimes you just need to be lucky.
I am somewhat amazed that he didn't follow the other trail, as it goes right under the lip of a ridge and is protected by trees and the hillside. It is also the easiest way to get to the food source.
Bucks like him don't get big by being dumb. They get that way by doing what hunters don't expect. I sure didn't expect him to come down the other trail, and I surely didn't expect him to bolt for some unknown reason.
All I can figure is that he has travelled these trails thousands of times and knows if even the slightest thing has changed. Or, before coming down the trail, he stood in the timber and watched the opening for a long time and I had made some movement or somehow had given him notice that I was setup in this concealed corner of the field.
Good thing I am really tired, otherwise it would be hard to sleep, wondering what I could have done differently. I don't know what I could have done differently, other than set up on the other trail, which given the wind, would not have made good sense.
Not sure if he would have been the biggest whitetail I have shot, but would have been in the top two. But more importantly, would have been a remarkable end to a challenging hunt.
Oh well, two more days to hunt and freeze my a$$ off. :BLEEP::BLEEP::BLEEP:
Attachments
DRAFTSTUD
Well-known member
He threw down the gaunlet! He has challenged your Manhood!!!! Kick his ass and tell the other Bucks that Willie Boy is Here! Good Luck! John
IdahoBugler
Well-known member
Keep at it fin. Your patience will pay off. Good luck tomorrow and try and stay warm.
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