This is my second year to hunt Iowa's early muzzleloader season, and I hunted the same piece of ground as last year. It is south of Eldora and the west boundary is the Iowa River. The piece has pasture ground, two patches of alfalfa and a single ravine that starts at the road, runs E & W to the river and pretty well cuts the piece in half. The ground is about 14 miles from my day job and I have a lot of flexibility, so I've been hunting before and after work
Saturday was the opener and I made 2 round trips, Sunday was a rain day, 2 trips each on Monday and Tuesday and I was beginning to feel the effects of long days. It's legal to shoot as late as 7 PM, but it's been too dark from all the cloud cover to reasonably take a shot that late. Nonetheless, I've been waiting until 7:20 or so to leave at night and worrying that the deer were sensing some pressure. Yesterday morning they high-tailed it south just minutes before I could have taken a shot and last night there were only two in the low patch.
I pretty well had made up my mind that I'd take a big doe or a decent buck if a shot was presented on Wednesday morning. I got up early, checked the wind direction and plotted a strategy on my way to hunt. I had been dropping down in the ravine and then popping my head up to take a look out across the alfalfa. With the SSE wind, I decided to go to the north fence line, then west to the river and then south to a big tree at the NW corner of the alfalfa.
The deer tend to bed down in the alfalfa and often all you can see is a head sticking up. I crawled the last 20 yards, and that alone shows a certain dedication b/c there are about 20 head of black Angus cows in the pasture and the land mines are many and nasty. I got to the tree at 6:20 and started glassing the alfalfa patch. It is about 200 x 200 yards. I practice 200 yard shots so about anything in that field was doable if I used shooting sticks.
At about 6:40 I could make out a couple of deer diagonally across the field. Then I noticed a couple of big-bodied creatures straight east of me at 175 yards and working towards me along the fence. It was 6:45, and legal to shoot at 6:53 so I was watching my watch as much as the deer. At a few seconds past 6:53, I dropped a good-sized buck but only 8 points at a laser verified 11 yards.
I mosey'd up to the fence after the shot, and there were still 8 deer within range - some just munching away. Last year's shot was taken while sitting next to one of those trees on the hillside in the background.
This buck is no trophy, but it will be one of my most memorable hunts.
You can see the river in the background, and it is ready to go out of its banks.
Best regards - Cob
Saturday was the opener and I made 2 round trips, Sunday was a rain day, 2 trips each on Monday and Tuesday and I was beginning to feel the effects of long days. It's legal to shoot as late as 7 PM, but it's been too dark from all the cloud cover to reasonably take a shot that late. Nonetheless, I've been waiting until 7:20 or so to leave at night and worrying that the deer were sensing some pressure. Yesterday morning they high-tailed it south just minutes before I could have taken a shot and last night there were only two in the low patch.
I pretty well had made up my mind that I'd take a big doe or a decent buck if a shot was presented on Wednesday morning. I got up early, checked the wind direction and plotted a strategy on my way to hunt. I had been dropping down in the ravine and then popping my head up to take a look out across the alfalfa. With the SSE wind, I decided to go to the north fence line, then west to the river and then south to a big tree at the NW corner of the alfalfa.
The deer tend to bed down in the alfalfa and often all you can see is a head sticking up. I crawled the last 20 yards, and that alone shows a certain dedication b/c there are about 20 head of black Angus cows in the pasture and the land mines are many and nasty. I got to the tree at 6:20 and started glassing the alfalfa patch. It is about 200 x 200 yards. I practice 200 yard shots so about anything in that field was doable if I used shooting sticks.
At about 6:40 I could make out a couple of deer diagonally across the field. Then I noticed a couple of big-bodied creatures straight east of me at 175 yards and working towards me along the fence. It was 6:45, and legal to shoot at 6:53 so I was watching my watch as much as the deer. At a few seconds past 6:53, I dropped a good-sized buck but only 8 points at a laser verified 11 yards.
I mosey'd up to the fence after the shot, and there were still 8 deer within range - some just munching away. Last year's shot was taken while sitting next to one of those trees on the hillside in the background.
This buck is no trophy, but it will be one of my most memorable hunts.
You can see the river in the background, and it is ready to go out of its banks.
Best regards - Cob
