I blew three soft Doe bleats and readied myself…I had seen two smallish 8 point bucks running a doe on the field about 200 yds across the deep ravine in front of me, the rut was kicking in…
Moments later, I saw a high rack set of polished antlers coming toward me…Knowing deer can pinpoint sounds like a good sonar, I picked up my bow and readied myself for a shot. I was sitting in a semi-permanent ladder stand set up for a left handed shot gunner…which gave a right handed guy like me a pretty small window.
The husky 9 pointer paused briefly at the fence line and then cleared it, walking right at me. 30yds, 25yds, 20yds…a frontal shot does not suit me. He finally stopped…but right behind a thick oak limb below me…yeesh! He walked away a few yards…then, as luck would have it, he started angling toward me again. My bow was still at full draw, set at 63# and 92%LO. I twsited to my right as much as possible, thankful for the WB containment rest, as I torqued my torso around at full draw. I put my pin just inside the point of the shoulder…an angle that should put my Slick Trick throught the “boiler room”. I released and saw the white fletch disappear right on target. The buck bolted a short distance and then he just stood there!! About 30 seconds later he layed down…and soon the head tipped over and the buck was mine.
Three years ago fellow IDO member MossyDan invited me and my friend Mike Trevarthen( picture left) to come down and try bowhunting Iowa whitetails…After failing to draw for two years, the tag(s) finally were issued. The fact that Iowa had some really big bucks was no surprise to me…the rugged rolling hills punctuated with steep ravines and deep brushy creek bottoms did surprise me and shattered my thoughts of miles of flat cornfields.
We scouted both public ground and were granted permission to hunt a couple private areas.
We started hunting on Nov 1, really a tad early for the rut, but the pre rut sign was definitely in abundance…Rub lines, scrape lines, well used trails were plentiful. As the week unfolded it became obvious that there were not the skewed ratio of bucks to does that exist back home. We actually saw more bucks than does in our week of hunting… Keen competiton for does was obvious. Mike passed up 7 or 8 120-140 class bucks and saw at least two 160+ class bucks within 60 yds. He is heading back there next week and I wish I could go along…
I planned on hunting out of my Double Bull blind but, the brush was so thick and high it was very difficult to find a good location to set up with that system.
I would highly recommend a good light weight ladder stand for Iowa. Those old gnarly Oaks and crooked Hickorys are nearly impossible to use a climber or stick ladder/hang on set up.
The Iowa DNR was very helpful and informative…They furnished maps and directions to Public hunting areas…and also information on land owners that may grant hunting permission.
I thank Dan (MossyDan) Bramow for the scouting and information he provided us to help make our hunt successful.
My Gear;
GameHide Hyperhide fleece suit (Naked North Camo)
Cabelas MTP underwear…base layer and midweight
Red Wing 800gram boots
Monster Bow Inc… Dragon(camless)bow 63#@29″
Victory V-3 shafts…4 fletch Rayzer feathers
WB DLX rest
HHA 6019 FO sight
125gr Slick Trick Magnum broadheads
Scott Shark release
Iowa non res Deer licenses are by area lottery draw
Cost for a buck tag, mandatory doe tag, and added fees was $545.00
1) the old (lucky) ladder
2) typical terrain
3) scrape
4) The gnarly one and MossyDan
Great report. I think it is awesome that you got help hunting a few states away using this website. I think this site is the best for sharing information and wishing fellow hunters the best of luck.
x2 Nice buck
I’m glad you enjoyed your trip here Tom and by the way you described the way you had to lean over and twist too shoot I knew then you were a good shot, good shooting! Hopefully you can make it again soon, hopefully this spring for some catfishing when their getting ready to spawn. Ol George and I have been talking about it and its a good possibility we’ll have a 300 LB. weekend like this last spring, it happens every year like that. Almost all the corn is still in the fields and hopefully some will be picked closeby for Mike when he gets down here this weekend. We didn’t do too bad for a couple ol grisseled guys and I’m glad you got a decent buck. Hopefully I can make it up for some of that fantastic huge smallmouth fishing you were telling me about, 7 LB. smallies is unreal. See you soon.
Nice read and buck Tom
Great job helping out Mossydan 
X2 Nice looking deer Tom…congrats!
x 3
Very cool report Tom! Love the pics and the details!
Congrtats on a nice Bow Buck!
It sounds like you guys had a great time! 
Congrats on a dandy buck Tom!
It’s great that you and Dan were able to hookup and hunt members getting together from different parts of the country and sharing the hunt together with a well laid out game plan.
Thanks for sharing a great story and pictures to go with it.
Jeff
Great job Tom!!
I thought I’d put in a plug for Mike who’s coming back down this weekend to hunt again. I don’t know if Toms going to report on his trip because their close friends or if I should. If Tom doesn’t I’ll get some pictures anyway and I’ll do one. I don’t know why the farmers aren’t picking the corn because it should be dry enough with the last week and a half of good drying conditions. I’m totally convinced the bigger bucks are closer to the mature does and their in the cornfields with their fawns feeding fattening up for winter. So when the farmers start picking the corn I think thats the time the bigger bucks will start showing up. Hopefully then Mike can get a shot at a 160″ or better.
Nice work Tom, and great details to the hunt. The pics help us understand a bit more about that “Iowa brush”!
Thanks for the story!
Joel
Joel, thats typical Iowa hills and brush with trees. Theres hilltops you can drive over and look out and see this terrain for many miles. There is flat land here but theres alot of hills in eastern Iowa, especially N.E. Iowa. The four most counties in N.E. Iowa resemble Buffalo county closely with lots of bluffs and large valleys. All those hillsides are tree covered and in all the small and large valleys theres either streams, creeks or rivers. Grant Wood the artist lived here and his pictures were painted to show the typical Iowa landscape of rolling hills and valleys. Alot of this is planted in corn and soybeans and with the terrain beings what it is thats why theres good deer numbers here, they have plenty of places to hide and get big and old. In the areas where theres more acres planted theres still little creeks and rivers with timber and brush along both, thats why the deer have a very good chance to make it through until the next year. Alot of guys don’t want to walk those steep hillsides because its hard to get a deer out, the deer have everything going for them to make it through to the next year, but its also the best places to hunt, the denser the woods and brush the better the hunting. In alot of those places the farmers won’t even plant a crop because they know they won’t get anything because of the deer and other animals. In an area that is planted in almost every field the first three rows of corn are always gone with damage in the rest of the field. Theres plenty of places for deer to hide and its perfect bowhunting.
Congrats on your harvest Tom!!! Mossydan, we are looking at trying to put together a DYI hunt in the Yellow River Forest Area… I might have mentioned to you before that went to school in Decorah and just love those four counties!!! We are usually down there for the close of duck season in Lansing and the bucks that make it into town are always fun to GAWK at!!!
Mark
Ya Mark I remember, all those towns up there have deer walking through them all the time and all winter long. Theres other good public hunting areas in Allamakee too, besides Winneshiek county. Let me know if you need help and I will if I can. The Ia.DNR.com has a map of all the public hunting in the four most N.E. counties and their all good to hunt, Im pretty sure they will send you a list. If you decide to just come down the DNR has lists of all the public hunting and all you have to do is just stop in a local office. Mike, Toms friend, made it down earlier today and is in the woods right now, I’m waiting for a phone call from him to tell me he made it out safely and didn’t fall or something else. He wanted to check in every night incase something did happen because hes hunting by himself, I’m splitting firewood, could be worse I guess but I like making stove wood. I seen two bucks earlier today chasing a doe across the street and they were chasing alot harder then last week, the bigger buck was really dogging the doe and she was trying to dodge him every which way, the smaller buck was 50 yrds behind the big one. The pre-ruts kicked in good down here now and heard of a roadkill on the edge of town tonight also. Let me know if you need help with anything Mark.
Congrats on your IA bow buck Tom and thank you for the good report.
It’s also great to see that idohunting (kudos to Mossydan) brought you guys together for a hunt down in IA. That’s what this is sight is all about – hunters helping hunters! 