N.E. Iowa bow hunt recap

I was going to do a LFTT but the place we stayed had no cell service and when we were hunting there was literally too much deer action to type and keep up 😀
A friend and I was lucky enough to secure bow hunting on over 1000 acres of some of the best land in NE Iowa this year. We were the only bow hunters on the property for the season. I have never seen anything like it before and the only word to describe it is UNREAL.
First I sent some cameras up in September and they put them out so we could see what was roaming around. Here’s a few pics that we got and when we got there.

Our room was above the office.

Some good uns. Which ones did you kill?

WOW!!

Here is pics of the property

First morning of the hunt we woke up to snow. Deer moved really good and a passed a nice 9pt at 20yds.

First afternoon I went off a ridge behind the corn where it was good bedding area. Had a doe walk right under then shortly this nice 9pt came in following her. He stayed 5-20yds away for 10 mins. I took a selfie with him 😀







About 5:30 had a buck come in which I thought the 9pt was back. This big shooter came in to about 30yds but I had no shot. He made scapes, rubs, and was grunting. He turned and walk down the hill way from me. I grunted and snort wheezed and he kept walking away.

Second morning of the hunt I am sitting little further down the ridge from the first morning hunt.
My friend text me this pic and said “passed him did I mess up?” My answer....”Yeah!!



Since we were one ridge apart I was hoping the buck would come by me. Around 9:14 I text him to see if it was slow movement over there. Then there was unmistakable sound of a deer walking. There was a 120” 10 pt and 30 yds walking straight to me with another deer behind him. Then I saw the second deer was a bigger buck. The smaller buck passes by me at 10 yds. I look at the bigger buck and see 10 good points, good mass and big body so I’m shooting him. Big bucks turns to the right and is broadside at 15yds and I shot him where the yellow X is. Shot looks good right behind the shoulder and he runs off down the ridge. I text my friend at 9:16 and say “I’m done”

Since we had been planning this trip we knew this would or could be our best chance to kill our biggest buck ever. I knew the area and what was there. My friend said he wanted a chance at a 170”-180” buck 😂 and I wanted my dream buck of anything 150”. Sounds reasonable 😂. Since our hunt was scheduled for 10 days We decided that nothing less than 140” for the first 3 days. That’s why my friend passed that buck he didn’t think he was that big 😂.
When I shot the buck I thought he was 140”. That’s hard to pass up since my biggest is 138” and here he is at 15yds broadside.
So my hunt lasted 1.5 days !!!

After a short track job of maybe 75yds my friend says those Magical words “there he is”. Luckily he didn’t make it off the ridge to the bottom.
As we found him.





Needless to say he “ground grew”!!!!!! What I thought was hopefully a good 140” turned out to be gross 157 4/8!!!! Ended up he was one of the bucks we had pic of but had way under judged him. The size of the body and head was much bigger than we expected.

The next day my friend is wrapped up with bucks but the big ones are not giving him a shot. I got and sit with him for the afternoon hunt and movement was slow. As were sitting there probably 200 yds behind us my Spartan sends me a pic of this buck and of course he doesn’t come down by us.

The next mornings hunt he saw more bucks. He videod an 8pt breed a doe, had a real big buck run a doe across the ridge and saw the big 9pt again but still no shots. At one time he could see four different bucks on the ridge. Rut is on !!!
That afternoon he was going to sit where we got the huge bucks pic the weekend we were driving up. There was a lot of daytime buck pics in this spot right on the edge of the corn field. I was going to sit a stand on a hayfield where we had good pics and hopefully shoot a doe and scout any bucks for for him
We we get to the corn field the Landowner has started cutting the corn.



We know that the tractors won’t bother the deer but he decided to go sit the hay field with me since there was two stands there.
Here is the hayfield from my stand. His stand is straight across from me on the fence with hay on the left and a thicker grown up field on his right. He is in the stand I was going to hunt had he went to the corn field. Instead I get in a ladder stand by the road.

Congrats. Sounds like a once in a lifetime hunt. Hopefully your buddy connects on one too

I could see him in the stand but not the ground by him. Early on he has a “120 8pt run a doe around the grown up field then he comes right by him and heads up the field into the woods. Little bit later he hears deer running around and grunting. Soon after a doe comes out and he sees a buck behind her. Thinking it’s the 8pt again he takes a look and sees its a big buck. The buck steps out and works a scrape and he shoots him at 25 yds. I hear something and throw up my Bino’s and see the buck take about two leaps, stop and look back. I’m thinking I Hope Todd sees him. About that time the buck falls over !!!! I look over at him on the stand and he has his arms and bow up in the air celebrating. Then I realize I had heard the shot!!! Holy crap that was awesome. We both climb down and walk over to the buck. He had only ran 15yds before falling over. Pics are taken from the spot he died.
The buck has 14pts and rough scores 173 4/8!!!!! We also realize it’s a buck we had pics of and we had misjudged him also thinking he might go 150” 😂

327 inches on antlers !!!!!!
Somehow we both killed our dream bucks in a total of 4 days.
It will never happen again but at least it did once !

Corn stalks have more uses than growing corn 😃

that is awesome

Since we were done hunting (doe hunting only is miserable up here) here is a few pics from around the area.

The family we hunted with had three sons play college football so in true southern fashion I made the dad and two of the sons (other not there) “honorary Alabama fans” and I even got a Roll Tide out of them. To my surprise they all knew a lot about Alabama and Auburn football. The dad jokingly calls one of his grandsons, that is big for his age of 8, “Alabama Sam”. He says he will be big enough for Alabama to look at him 😀

This was truly a hunt of a lifetime and we have already made arrangements to be back in 3-4 years when we can draw a archery tag again.
Hope y’all enjoyed the details.
Roll Tide

Sounds like a great trip and hunting! Cool photos. Those big bucks are big due to age, food and genes, mostly the first two. Great bucks y'all stuck!

Man that was an awesome hunt. Congratulations!

Congrats to the both of you Great post, thanks for sharing!!

Awesome deer

Really enjoyed this thread. Congrats to the both of you on some fine bucks. I hope to go on a Midwest/northern hunt one of these days.

Looks like an awesome trip. Thanks for the pics and story.

That’s awesome there! 👍🏻

Trip of a lifetime, thanks for sharing.

... Love it when a plan comes together....Congrats!!!

Congrats on a couple gooduns and thanks for sharing ....

Awesome pics and story sounds like a great hunt! Congrats!

Congrats. Super bucks.

Cool story. Congrats on a fun hunt

Outstanding trip. Everything looks great except the head covers with them nasty A's onum.

Thanks for sharing the pics and stories! Congrats on two bucks of a lifetime!

Lifetime dream hunt there. Congrats!

Dang makes me jealous looks awesome

That is definitely a awesome hunt y’all had

Awesome story and the pictures were great. Thanks for posting.

Congrats Jeff! Looks like amazing property, people, and (obviously) quality deer too! That’s memories for a lifetime right there!

Good stuff team mate

Awesome. Thanks for posting

Congrats! And thanks for sharing 👍

Awesome!

Congrats

Great story and pics. Congrats on an awesome hunt.

Kuddos for the great thread and even better pictures. Looks like an amazing trip. I haven’t made it to Iowa yet but hopefully one day. Congrats on two great bucks!

I really enjoyed that. Thanks for sharing. Congrats on a great hunt.

Awesome. Thanks for sharing

Congrats! Great story and thanks for sharing!

Man what an awesome thread and hunt! Congrats on some studs teammate!!

Awesome trip, thanks for taking the time share your experience.

Thanks for sharing! Great story and trip!

that would’ve been a dream hunt for anyone. Hopefully you’ll get a chance to go back in the future

Thank you for sharing that. Awesome read and sounds like a fantastic trip

Awesome story. Thanks for taking us along!

Very nice trip,, congrats to you both!

Awesome Story!

Jeff. do you have any idea of the weight of your deer? When I saw the first pic,I said "Jeff done shot someones horse" It was so big the rack looked small on the ground. Fine buck sir.

Congrats! That’s a dream few days of hunting!

Awesome write-up, thanks for sharing!

Check your blinky envelope

Great story and great bucks! Thanks for sharing.

Damn that is a heck of a trip. Nice work.

This is exactly why I LOVE this forum, reading full blown hunting experiences put into words by people a lot like me! Awesome trip, awesome details put into words and picture, i truly enjoyed reading it as you laid it out! ROLL TIDE!!!

Congrats! Sounds like an awesome experience!

I have no idea but the body was so big I thought he was around 140” not almost 160” !!!

Unreal hunt and experience!!! Congrats pal!!!

That is one awesome buck! Congrats!!

congratulations on a great buck

Yea Cmon. That’s awesome.

Very nice write up. Thanks for sharing pictures and the stories!

Congrats awesome thread

That's an awesome story and write-up. Congratulations!

Great hunt! Congrats to both of you! Beautiful country!

Congrats on a great hunt.

Congrats!

That’s awesome! I hope to do something like this one day with 2 of my hunting buddies

Awesome thread. Congrats!