I always save 4-6 days of vacation for hunting the rut in Iowa. I took my first day last Wednesday. I sat the entire day. I ended up switching stands 3 different times because of the wind. The only break I took was for 45 minute to eat lunch. While I was at my second stand I got pictures of two buck at a stand we have a cell cam on. I was only 100 yards away but the wind wasn't right at that point. After lunch it had switched to NE. It is a decent wind but a little iffy depending on where the deer want to come from.
It started out at 42 when I went in by the end of the night it was 32 with 15 MPH winds and snow. I didn't see my first deer for the day until 4:00. It was a little spike buck skirting the edge of my shooting lanes. He ended up down wind, alerted and took off back in the direction he came from. Around 4:45 I caught some movement to my right, downwind again. This time it was a nice young 8 pointer. He didn't seem to mind that he was down wind. It was still blowing pretty hard and I think he was close enough it was going over him, he was in my shooting lane but not what I was looking for.
Right at 5:15 with 15 minutes of shooting light left I see his antlers bust through the cedars. He started working a licking branch and the scrape. After pissing twice in the scrape he went left to right at 30 yards. I pulled back and shot as he was walking. I ended up hitting him a little back. It looked like it was right at rib/guts. I thought it was a good shot at first but the advantage of videoing your deer is you can go back and look at it. I decided to let him go for the night.
The boys had a half day on Thursday so I just decided to take them out of school and have them help find the deer. It had snowed that night so I knew I wouldn't have much blood. We went in the direction he left and it looked like he jumped a fence into a pasture. Nope, that wasn't if. So then we went back and started walking through the timber. He didn't make it very far. He went about 50 yards. I sliced his liver in half. He died within 15 yards of where I best buck of my life died three years ago.
It started out at 42 when I went in by the end of the night it was 32 with 15 MPH winds and snow. I didn't see my first deer for the day until 4:00. It was a little spike buck skirting the edge of my shooting lanes. He ended up down wind, alerted and took off back in the direction he came from. Around 4:45 I caught some movement to my right, downwind again. This time it was a nice young 8 pointer. He didn't seem to mind that he was down wind. It was still blowing pretty hard and I think he was close enough it was going over him, he was in my shooting lane but not what I was looking for.
Right at 5:15 with 15 minutes of shooting light left I see his antlers bust through the cedars. He started working a licking branch and the scrape. After pissing twice in the scrape he went left to right at 30 yards. I pulled back and shot as he was walking. I ended up hitting him a little back. It looked like it was right at rib/guts. I thought it was a good shot at first but the advantage of videoing your deer is you can go back and look at it. I decided to let him go for the night.
The boys had a half day on Thursday so I just decided to take them out of school and have them help find the deer. It had snowed that night so I knew I wouldn't have much blood. We went in the direction he left and it looked like he jumped a fence into a pasture. Nope, that wasn't if. So then we went back and started walking through the timber. He didn't make it very far. He went about 50 yards. I sliced his liver in half. He died within 15 yards of where I best buck of my life died three years ago.
