Whitetails 2001

This year was the first time in my life I had the opportunity to hunt on my own land. That fact alone made this season a little special but I also seemed to be the guy in the right place at the right time for a change.

I did very little bowhunting this year, I got layed off and was looking for a new gig during deer season this year. That's even worse than working and not being able to get away. You can't seem to ever get anyone to plan anything in advance, with headhunters,it's always tommorrow somethings going to happen so please be available, unforunately that kept me out of the trees way more than I would have liked.

Missouri

I did get out for firearms season in Missouri on my own little piece of heaven. Based on my limited preseason scouting and comments made by the local conservation officer, I really didn't expect too much. I was told that since the gun season runs during the rut and high-powered rifles are allowed, very few bucks ever grow a second set of antlers, the woods turn blaze orange from hunters and the deer population was down, still recovering from a bad outbreak of "blue tongue" in 1998. That said, Hayden and I had both agreed the first set of antlers to come by was in trouble. I was a little hesitant to take any does for fear of seriously denting the herd further.

With a little trepidation we went hunting.  About 15 minutes after the season opened, Hayden popped a little 6 pointer. We had taken care of, hauled to the check station, and were back before breakfast. One of the conveniences of hunting your own place, just truck up to the house and eat breakfast in comfort. I went back out just after noon to find my little buck. Just before dark, I found him, or rather he found me. Another little 6 pointer, was working a scrape line on the far side of the little isolated pasture I was watching. This provided me with a very challenging 115 yard shot for the Sendero. The little 100 gr Ballistic Tip did what it was supposed to and first deer season on my place came to an end.

All things considered I was really quite pleased. My place consisted of just hay ground and patches of timber. I bought it late enough that I didn't have a chance to get any food in this first year. Even at that we managed to take a couple of little bucks opening day. While I was hunting that first afternoon, Hayden got a little bored and went back to the stand he'd hunted that morning and had a 10 point walk by in bow range. That was too much for the boy and he had to vacate the premises.

Based on what I've seen since hunting season closed and the habitat improvements I'm making. I plan to be just little more patient next year. The hunting pressure in my immediate area is not nearly as high as I was lead to expect and there are some mature bucks around. I've seen 2 different 10s and an larger 8 that made it through the season. Any one of the 3 would look real nice on my wall

Iowa

Iowa firearms season is historicly fill the freezer time. We usually hunt all day Saturday, Sunday morning and call it quits. Some years we stick around Sunday evening but rarely. With this situation, we normally take most any opportunity presented on a mature deer, male or female. On Saturday I sat all day not seeing a deer till almost sunset. A little spike came by and gave me a shot at about 50 yards with the new Mossburg 695, I had trouble with the safety (I absolutely hate this safety for future reference) and managed to get a little excited and missed him. I really thought I had hit him in the boiler room the way he bolted, so I took a second shot to try to stop him. I promptly got down and went to check for blood or any other sign of a hit at both locations and found nada. I can't imagine missing at 50 yards but I apparently did. I later talked to my brother who said it sounded like the second shot hit him, as a result I checked for blood again the next morning after it got light enough to see reasonably well. Still no sign, so back in the stand I went. Shortly thereafter, I spotted an older 7 point walking toward me. He got to about 100 yards and turned broadside as he headed on across the finger I was watching. He stopped just short of the ditch and offer me a perfect broadside which I quickly accepted. At the shot, he bolted much like the little spike the night before. As I was watching the area he ran into I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Turning slowly back to my right I see a spike following the same path the older buck had taken just moments before. I let him continue till he stopped quartering to me about 80 yards away. I thought this might very well be the same spike I shot at and possibly wounded the night before, very likely as we don't see very many spikes in the area I hunt. With that nagging thought in my mind, I sqeezed off another partition that dropped him right in his tracks.

I then got down to check on my deer. I walked right past the little spike to try and locate the first buck I shot at. I found him before I even found any blood sign, he had only gotten into the ditch about 10-15 yards and was very easy to spot. I took care of him and drug him out to the edge.

I then went back to take care of the spike. I was curious whether he had any extra holes in him, he did not fortunately or unfortunately depending on your perspective. Even at that, I'm pretty sure he was the same one from the night before because as I said we don't see them very often and it would be very coincidental to see two different ones in the same spot like that. Whethter I'm right or not I sure feel better thinking I am.

I visited with some of the other hunters in our party that had stopped over to see if I needed a hand with anything and proceeded to get back up in my stand. Since I'd already taken two deer, I was very laidback and not really paying very close attention to much of anything, just enjoying the day drinking a little coffee and relaxing when I look up to see another buck walking across my favorite little finger. I told everybody I wouldn't shoot another one if it wasn't bigger than what I had down already. I looked at this 8 pointer and somehow convinced myself that he was pretty good sized. I think it had something to do with the 10x binos but at any rate, I put down the binos and picked up the slug gun one more time. I guessed he was about 150 yards out so I held low on the shoulder and sqeezed it off. It turned out to be a little farther than that and as a result the slug broke both legs as it just clipped the bottom of his chest. He again bolted down into the ditch. This one made it to the bottom and required a finisher due to my poor range estimation.

So I finished my whitetail season with a spike, a 6, a 7 and an 8. No quality but I sure can't complain about the quantity. The Winchester Supreme Partitions performed wonderfully when I did my part.

By the way "party" hunting is legal in Iowa, I'm really not a poacher.