Iowa Eight
- Jackson Marsh
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Iowa Eight
Iowa Eight
I knew my 2017 bow season was going to be fun, after a long 4 year wait I drew an Iowa tag!
Over the past few off-seasons my brother, JAB, and myself scouted numerous properties to add to the previous properties we had hunted/scouted in previous years. We had a good game plan and planned to bounce around from property to property and report back to each other on deer sign and movement.
Originally I was going to hunt the first two weeks in November, but after Dewey informed me that he saw very little pressure in October last year, and seeing a cold front coming in, I decided to hunt Iowa early.
My first hunt was on the afternoon of 10/23/2017, I chose a crow’s foot where I had bumped a big buck out of last winter/early spring. I had found multiple big scrapes below the bed while scouting in the spring, the hope was a buck would drop down from his bed and check them. I bumped three does going in and also found a belly high rub on the walk in.
At first the wind was perfect, but during the last hour or so of the hunt when the wind speed increased it began to swirl. Not surprisingly no deer from the stand were seen.
The next morning a North/Northwest wind (20-40 mph) was predicted and I had the perfect spot for it. It was a slight saddle with a ravine funnel. This spring 200 yards to East of the saddle I found a good buck bedding area with adjacent scrapes and rubs. I was setup and ready to hunt about 20 minutes prior to first light. With the damp ground and high winds I needed to be on high alert. At 7:30 a nice ten pointer came through right in front of my stand. After he crossed my tree he smelled my track. I drew on him but decided to pass. He was headed right to the buck bedding area. It’s kind of fun when the deer do exactly what you expected them to do.
That afternoon I headed to another property that I really liked the looks of. It sets up well for the predominate fall wind. I ended up seeing a spike buck, three does, and an unknown deer.
View from stand
The morning of 10/25/2017 I decided to hunt the same property on a different ridge. This particular ridge I found a lot of good buck sign, and little to no hunter sign. The property is loaded with deer and on the walk in I saw multiple eyes shining back at me from my headlamp.
My original tree I climbed appeared to be rotten on the inside so I switched to a telephone pole sized tree a few yards away. Dawn broke on a clear, damp morning with light wind. At 7:30 I did a few light grunts, immediately a spike buck came out of the adjacent thick ridge top cover and headed down the hill towards me.
While I was keeping an eye on him, I heard rubbing and sticks breaking to my southwest in the thick cover. Once the spike buck got down the hill and behind be I was able to turn around and face the unknown deer making a ruckus in the cover.
From behind me I heard a “thump, thump, thump.” I peaked over my shoulder and saw the spike buck had cut my track and was stomping. I knew what was coming next and was prepared. The spike buck blew and I immediately snort-wheezed at him. He tore back up the hill and when he was halfway up stopped and blew again. I immediately snort-wheezed again. That scared the heck out of him and he ran off.
A minute later a good buck appeared out of the thick cover and slowly worked his way down to me. When I first saw him he was 40 yards away, he was calm and looking for the buck that snort-wheezed. As he made his way to my left (I was facing straight ahead) I had to very carefully turn (remember I’m in a bean pole tree). I decided if he gave me a shot I would kill him.
With no big trees between him and me it was going to be tricky to get drawn on him. The buck eased down the hill and looked to his right. I drew. He took another couple of steps into my lane, I stopped him and watched as my lumenock hit right where I was aiming. With my arrow sticking out I watched as the buck ran down the hill. He died in sight, on a logging road, after running 50 or 60 yards. Buck down!!
Buck dead on logging road
I sat down and couldn’t believe my Iowa season was done on the third day.
Front view
Side view
Since my brother and JAB are never around when I kill a buck, I decided to bone the meat out and pack him out using a pack frame.
My muzzy broadhead shattered his off shoulder and the arrow broke while he was running.
Buck's view just before getting whacked.
All dressed out and ready for transportation.
Watching my back on the pack out!
Iowa is a fun place to hunt; I’m looking forward to it again in four years. If you are an average hack like me and have reasonable expectations a P&Y caliber deer is possible. If you are an experienced big buck hill killer you should do very well on public land.
I’ve bow hunted Iowa three times for a total of 15 days and killed three decent bucks.
2009
2013
2017
There’s a reason Iowa is called the “Land of Milk and Honey”
I knew my 2017 bow season was going to be fun, after a long 4 year wait I drew an Iowa tag!
Over the past few off-seasons my brother, JAB, and myself scouted numerous properties to add to the previous properties we had hunted/scouted in previous years. We had a good game plan and planned to bounce around from property to property and report back to each other on deer sign and movement.
Originally I was going to hunt the first two weeks in November, but after Dewey informed me that he saw very little pressure in October last year, and seeing a cold front coming in, I decided to hunt Iowa early.
My first hunt was on the afternoon of 10/23/2017, I chose a crow’s foot where I had bumped a big buck out of last winter/early spring. I had found multiple big scrapes below the bed while scouting in the spring, the hope was a buck would drop down from his bed and check them. I bumped three does going in and also found a belly high rub on the walk in.
At first the wind was perfect, but during the last hour or so of the hunt when the wind speed increased it began to swirl. Not surprisingly no deer from the stand were seen.
The next morning a North/Northwest wind (20-40 mph) was predicted and I had the perfect spot for it. It was a slight saddle with a ravine funnel. This spring 200 yards to East of the saddle I found a good buck bedding area with adjacent scrapes and rubs. I was setup and ready to hunt about 20 minutes prior to first light. With the damp ground and high winds I needed to be on high alert. At 7:30 a nice ten pointer came through right in front of my stand. After he crossed my tree he smelled my track. I drew on him but decided to pass. He was headed right to the buck bedding area. It’s kind of fun when the deer do exactly what you expected them to do.
That afternoon I headed to another property that I really liked the looks of. It sets up well for the predominate fall wind. I ended up seeing a spike buck, three does, and an unknown deer.
View from stand
The morning of 10/25/2017 I decided to hunt the same property on a different ridge. This particular ridge I found a lot of good buck sign, and little to no hunter sign. The property is loaded with deer and on the walk in I saw multiple eyes shining back at me from my headlamp.
My original tree I climbed appeared to be rotten on the inside so I switched to a telephone pole sized tree a few yards away. Dawn broke on a clear, damp morning with light wind. At 7:30 I did a few light grunts, immediately a spike buck came out of the adjacent thick ridge top cover and headed down the hill towards me.
While I was keeping an eye on him, I heard rubbing and sticks breaking to my southwest in the thick cover. Once the spike buck got down the hill and behind be I was able to turn around and face the unknown deer making a ruckus in the cover.
From behind me I heard a “thump, thump, thump.” I peaked over my shoulder and saw the spike buck had cut my track and was stomping. I knew what was coming next and was prepared. The spike buck blew and I immediately snort-wheezed at him. He tore back up the hill and when he was halfway up stopped and blew again. I immediately snort-wheezed again. That scared the heck out of him and he ran off.
A minute later a good buck appeared out of the thick cover and slowly worked his way down to me. When I first saw him he was 40 yards away, he was calm and looking for the buck that snort-wheezed. As he made his way to my left (I was facing straight ahead) I had to very carefully turn (remember I’m in a bean pole tree). I decided if he gave me a shot I would kill him.
With no big trees between him and me it was going to be tricky to get drawn on him. The buck eased down the hill and looked to his right. I drew. He took another couple of steps into my lane, I stopped him and watched as my lumenock hit right where I was aiming. With my arrow sticking out I watched as the buck ran down the hill. He died in sight, on a logging road, after running 50 or 60 yards. Buck down!!
Buck dead on logging road
I sat down and couldn’t believe my Iowa season was done on the third day.
Front view
Side view
Since my brother and JAB are never around when I kill a buck, I decided to bone the meat out and pack him out using a pack frame.
My muzzy broadhead shattered his off shoulder and the arrow broke while he was running.
Buck's view just before getting whacked.
All dressed out and ready for transportation.
Watching my back on the pack out!
Iowa is a fun place to hunt; I’m looking forward to it again in four years. If you are an average hack like me and have reasonable expectations a P&Y caliber deer is possible. If you are an experienced big buck hill killer you should do very well on public land.
I’ve bow hunted Iowa three times for a total of 15 days and killed three decent bucks.
2009
2013
2017
There’s a reason Iowa is called the “Land of Milk and Honey”
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Re: Iowa Eight
Jealous! Great job.
- Stanley
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Re: Iowa Eight
Dandy buck for sure. Congrats on the swift kill.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
- vtbuck
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Re: Iowa Eight
Awesome story. Love the way the pics are presented with the story. Makes the reader better understand and feel like they’re there with you for the hunt. You’ve killed 3 dandy’s in Iowa. WOW!
Great job and keep it up!
MITCH
Perfection is a dream, practice is hard work, and achieving a goal is making that goal a reality.
- john1984
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Re: Iowa Eight
That's a massive buck!! Congrats JM
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Re: Iowa Eight
Wow he is beautiful congrats man
YOUTUBE CHANNEL
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC4nCYfIyRKpg_fetLXKBaBA
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC4nCYfIyRKpg_fetLXKBaBA
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Re: Iowa Eight
Awesome...thanks for the history! Great buck. Heavy mass... Iowa is definitely on my bucket list but being an impatient guy, 4yrs is a LONG wait
I would love to apply and go their on the off years I don't draw KS...problem is, there is no way to figure that out. Some years, I would draw both. Just more than I can swing in one year.
I would love to apply and go their on the off years I don't draw KS...problem is, there is no way to figure that out. Some years, I would draw both. Just more than I can swing in one year.
- MOBIGBUCKS
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Re: Iowa Eight
Great job JM!!! Heck of a buck buddy.
- Dewey
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Re: Iowa Eight
Congrats again Neil. Great job on an awesome buck.
Three bucks in 15 days . Bet you regret moving out of Iowa every day.
I worked WAY too hard for mine last year. Took me 19 days to get one.
Three bucks in 15 days . Bet you regret moving out of Iowa every day.
I worked WAY too hard for mine last year. Took me 19 days to get one.
- isitseasonyet?
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Re: Iowa Eight
Great buck!
- Lockdown
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Re: Iowa Eight
Good call on the snort wheeze
Congrats Neil! Dandy buck for sure. Now you get to do the same thing in WI. Good luck the rest of the year!!
And I can't listen to anymore nonresident success stories in IA. I'm going to start applying
Congrats Neil! Dandy buck for sure. Now you get to do the same thing in WI. Good luck the rest of the year!!
And I can't listen to anymore nonresident success stories in IA. I'm going to start applying
- oldrank
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Re: Iowa Eight
What a stud !!! Way to put the smack down on a great buck !!!!
- Kraftd
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Re: Iowa Eight
Congrats! Awesome looking buck and great story!
- seazofcheeze
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Re: Iowa Eight
Great story and awesome buck, thanks for sharing!
- johndeere506
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Re: Iowa Eight
Congrats very nice buck! I liked the buck pic every 4 years too.
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