Iowa success Public land buck

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WV Bowhunter
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Iowa success Public land buck

Unread postby WV Bowhunter » Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:09 am

I guess this hunt really started in 2015 when I decided to buy a pp for Iowa. I spent a little time kicking around where I would hunt but by spring of 2017 I had a few areas of public narrowed down that I wanted to look at. My buddy and I headed out in March to scout and get a feel for the area. We were not disappointed, I found so much sign I knew that it would be good that fall. We put in for tags and didn’t draw. Another year of waiting gave me more time to digital scout and another spring scouting trip was on the horizon for us. We planned to go scout several different times but something always seemed to come up (sick kids, work and fresh snow storms) and the scouting trip of 2018 didn’t happen.

We finally got out there Oct 27th and got out there to do some scouting to see what the 3 pieces of public we had scouted the year before looked and none of them were looking that great. Sign was right where we figured it would be but it wasn’t looking like fresh hot big buck sign. Over the next 7 days I walked 48 miles on 5 or 6 pieces of public ground mostly scouting and finding spots that were worth sitting. I think I might have hunted 4 or 5 times that week and it wasn’t until the day before we were going to head back to WV did we see what we were looking for. I found a perfect looking draw with doe bedding all around the bowl the terrain created and really good buck bedding on several points around there. Bucks were running around that place like crazy and it was clear that there was a hot doe or two in area. We found another spot on a ridge about 300 yards away that looked like a killer area as well. This was the area that my buddy was going to hunt.

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This spot had the hot sign, the right terrain, appeared to have a high deer population and I could access through a crp field without messing up to much of the area. My first hunt in the area was what I had hoped for. I had deer all around me and had close encounters with a couple really nice bucks but things didn’t work out with them.

I had to be back at work in a couple days so we made the decision to pull out and head back home for a few days. I worked Monday-Friday but my mind was still in Iowa. We loaded back up Friday afternoon and made the 14 hr drive through the night and we’re in a stand the next morning. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have hunted Saturday morning because I was completely exhausted and really cold (it was 10 F that morning). I was smart enough to not waste going into my best spot when I wasn’t 100% into it. We both decided to wait until Sunday to push into that best area we found and set all day.

Sunday was pretty uneventful as far as seeing shooter bucks but I had small bucks and does around me all day long. I did see one buck that might have been a shooter around noon but he was 100+ yards away and in brush so I didn’t get a good look at him. I did have a doe and a fawn that worked by me at some point that looked directly at the tree I had setup in about a week before. Glad I had decided to move my setup about 50 yards this time.

At 3:50 I heard the unmistakable sound of a chase with grunts mixed in. I immediately decided this was a buck I would take if the chance arised. The buck was hard on the doe and she worked he way inside of 30 yards of me and then right by without me having the opportunity to get a shot at the buck. She worked to my right and squatted to pee!! I knew that buck would finally hold still. I ranged the spot and started to draw before the buck even got there. He buried his nose directly where she pee’d but was facing directly away from me. I held at full draw and patiently waited for a shot, he finally worked his rear end around and gave me a good quartering away shot. I picked a spot that would drive into the offside shoulder and before I knew it, I felt the bow jump in my hand and saw the arrow hit it’s mark.

He ran about 20 yards and stopped behind some brush at 40 yards from me. It was clear he was really hurting but was still standing. As I finally talked myself into sending another arrow his way through the brush, just as I drew and before I could shoot, he laid down. About a minute later, he jumped up and fell right back down in the same spot for good this time.

As I gave him a few minutes I looked off into the horizon and saw my buddy walking through the crp field. I knew there was no reason he would be out walking before dark unless he got one too so I gave him a yell so he could walk down towards me and I could figure out what was going on.

I was pretty excited and was telling him I got one and he was telling me he just shot one too when I saw a guy walking towards us. I guess another guy was about 100 yards behind me and neither of us knew it. He was watching my buck waiting on the doe to lead him over that way when he saw me shoot him. Just like most of the guys you run into on public land, he was a super nice guy. Even helped my buddy drag his buck while I was getting mine field dressed.

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We had somewhere around a mile out with each of our bucks. I’m sure if we would have stopped for more than a few minutes the sweat dripping off of me would have froze my shirt.

I still can’t believe that we both killed within an hour or two of each other. It was a great hunt and we will definitely be back when we can draw again. We met some great guys at the parking lot and out in the field.

We didn’t get a picture of our bucks together so when we pulled back in the driveway I had my wife at least get a picture of us with our antlers.

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Luck is when preparation meets opportunity!!
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Re: Iowa success Public land buck

Unread postby AfootTrack56 » Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:20 am

Nice one!! He’s a gnarly beast. Way to go!
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Re: Iowa success Public land buck

Unread postby Dewey » Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:36 am

Great bucks. That’s awesome. Congrats to both of you. :clap:
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Re: Iowa success Public land buck

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:39 am

Congrats to you and your buddy! Heck of a trip to tag out on the same day! ! :clap: :clap: :clap:


Did you guys camp or stay in a motel?
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Re: Iowa success Public land buck

Unread postby WV Bowhunter » Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:41 am

Jackson Marsh wrote:Congrats to you and your buddy! Heck of a trip to tag out on the same day! ! :clap: :clap: :clap:


Did you guys camp or stay in a motel?


We had a cabin rented for the first week, stayed in a motel on the second trip.
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Re: Iowa success Public land buck

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:46 am

WV Bowhunter wrote:
Jackson Marsh wrote:Congrats to you and your buddy! Heck of a trip to tag out on the same day! ! :clap: :clap: :clap:


Did you guys camp or stay in a motel?



We had a cabin rented for the first week, stayed in a motel on the second trip.



Nice.

Was Iowa worth the $$ for you or overrated?
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Re: Iowa success Public land buck

Unread postby thwack16 » Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:55 am

Great bucks! Congrats to you and your buddy!
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Re: Iowa success Public land buck

Unread postby muddy » Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:55 am

Jackson Marsh wrote:
WV Bowhunter wrote:
Jackson Marsh wrote:Congrats to you and your buddy! Heck of a trip to tag out on the same day! ! :clap: :clap: :clap:


Did you guys camp or stay in a motel?



We had a cabin rented for the first week, stayed in a motel on the second trip.



Nice.

Was Iowa worth the $$ for you or overrated?


Iowa public is over rated JM, totally totally overrated!


Congrats on the double!
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WV Bowhunter
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Re: Iowa success Public land buck

Unread postby WV Bowhunter » Fri Nov 16, 2018 9:00 am

For us it was totally worth it. And I’d say we had more in the trip than most guys. It’s 800 miles each way for us. So our 3 trips was 4800 miles. We also had lodging, food, groceries, fuel, donuts (we ate quite a few of those so I added that to the list) we ended paying a guy to cut them up so we didn’t have issues getting rid of the bones.

I really don’t want to add up all the costs but I probably could have went on an outfitted hunt in another state for what I had in this diy trip. Lots of ways I can cut costs next time out there but I’d still pay what I had in this one. I really enjoyed it and I’ll be back there in 3 or 4 years.
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Re: Iowa success Public land buck

Unread postby milkweed-militia » Fri Nov 16, 2018 9:03 am

That sounds like one heck of a trip. Awesome bucks and great write up!
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UntouchableNess
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Re: Iowa success Public land buck

Unread postby UntouchableNess » Fri Nov 16, 2018 9:04 am

Very solid bucks and to get them so close together is icing on the cake. Congrats!
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Re: Iowa success Public land buck

Unread postby Hatchet Jack » Fri Nov 16, 2018 9:07 am

Great bucks! I should draw next season, you gave me hope it can be done. 8-)
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Re: Iowa success Public land buck

Unread postby greenhorndave » Fri Nov 16, 2018 9:09 am

Those are some dandys. Congrats and thanks for sharing your story!
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Re: Iowa success Public land buck

Unread postby bigbucks1234 » Fri Nov 16, 2018 9:24 am

Awesome trip WV, thanks for the write up and pics. You're an animal traveling that far to hunt but i get it and I'll be doing the same in a few years as my kids are getting older. Congrats!!!!!!
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Re: Iowa success Public land buck

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Fri Nov 16, 2018 9:51 am

Another one for the wall eh? Lawd have mercy! Stud of a buck great job killer congrats :clap:
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