‘25 Iowa whitetail

No hunting today. the kids wanted to go ice fishing so we went. 0 fish and 2 soaking wet kids later we are home. To make matters worse, I bought two new tungsten jigs this morning. Going down the bank to get on the ice my jig bucket dumped and I lost a good number of jigs. I should go for a drive i bet there is a monster buck peeing on my blind right now.
 
No hunting today. the kids wanted to go ice fishing so we went. 0 fish and 2 soaking wet kids later we are home. To make matters worse, I bought two new tungsten jigs this morning. Going down the bank to get on the ice my jig bucket dumped and I lost a good number of jigs. I should go for a drive i bet there is a monster buck peeing on my blind right now.
Love a tungsten jig but hate the tungsten price! Ouch
 
No hunting today. the kids wanted to go ice fishing so we went. 0 fish and 2 soaking wet kids later we are home. To make matters worse, I bought two new tungsten jigs this morning. Going down the bank to get on the ice my jig bucket dumped and I lost a good number of jigs. I should go for a drive i bet there is a monster buck peeing on my blind right now.
Sounds like a normal day with kids.
 
The whole way there, before we got out of the truck and while we were walking out on the ice I was preaching for them to stay on their feet, stay dry. It lasted a good 30 seconds before they were splashing in the slush.
You should've known better. (I wouldn't have known better either).
 
I made it to 9:30 last night. At 12:02 am my 10 year old woke me up to say it was midnight and she had stayed up. The only way I was making it to midnight is if she’d woke up me up a few minutes before.

This morning I left the house with a red sunrise in the east. I headed north across our property, then the neighbors, now onto public land. It’s woods as far as one can see, making the deer density low this time of year. The snow is very crunchy. I’ve only cut one buck track but I think this is a hike for exercise verse hunting at this point.

I visited one of my favorite places within walking distance of my house. An old school bus that was to be a part of a ski area. The plan was to use the old busses as warming sheds. This is the only one left, it used to have a Woodstove in it but it looks like someone decided they needed it pretty badly. The bus sits on a ridge that is only as wide as the bus, it is surrounded by a wooded bowl on 90% of it, making it a good vantage point. There are lots of turkeys back here and every year I do battle with a Wiley old tom in this area. IMG_0335.jpegIMG_0336.jpegIMG_0337.jpeg


IMG_0334.jpeg
 
Those are some impressive eyes!
Hard to tell from the pictures but it stuck out like a sore thumb. The antler was a different color than everything else. There’s a big trail that crosses the road into that field and I told him to watch the trails where they cross. But to his credit, he is very observant, not much gets past him.
 
Funny how much heavier they look with that winter coat.
That guy looks like he’s been washing his fur with Vidal Sassoon shampoo and conditioner.

I feel like the bucks we shot during the group hunt had larger than normal bodies this year too. Last winter wasn’t terribly tough, maybe that had something to do with it?
 
Look at this little fluffy guy I watched for a while. Never seen a young buck so fluffed up. He looks like he's a bigger body but I'm sure he's actually a scruffy little youngling who used the good conditioner View attachment 397829
Was watching one behind the house today with the spotter and immediately thought he was a pretty good one when he entered the field. But after closer examination he wasn't. Pretty similar to that one in your post. Hard to tell with a cheap pos vortex spotter at 3/4 of a mile.
 
Was watching one behind the house today with the spotter and immediately thought he was a pretty good one when he entered the field. But after closer examination he wasn't. Pretty similar to that one in your post. Hard to tell with a cheap pos vortex spotter at 3/4 of a mile.
And that's how I shot a fawn one year when I was like 17... 😂 didn't have anything else around it to judge the size. Ground shrinkage was another level on that one...

Also, he ended up dying in a tiny muskegg pond. Only went like fifty yards but took me like an hour to find him cause why look in the pond for your deer...😂
 

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