Great Weekend

M

maxx

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Last year was crazy good for deer hunting for my family. I think I mentioned something about never having one as good again and Randy even commented saying it would be hard to beat. Well this year has been dam close to.

Youth season was really slow to, it was way to hot and youth football makes it hard to get out much. It also killed a lot of the early bow hunting and youth muzzle loader. Both my boys really enjoy hunting my 12 year old killed two nice deer last year and my younger son didn't get one last year. My focus was for him to kill something first but the 12 year old can hunt by himself this year so every time we would go out I would set him up with his bow and then go with the younger boy in a stand with a muzzy.

We got out the first Sunday of early muzzy. We were in my favorite stand but the action we pretty slow. The wind was marginal for that stand but I figured we could make it work. Toward the end of night a small doe came in down wind but it didn't bother her. She was sitting at 20 yards to our right. My son decided to shoot her I told him to aim low we were using my muzzy with 100 grains of powder and it shoots high at that range. He shot and the deer exploded in the air about 10'. I thought she was gone for sure. We got down and didn't find a drop of blood. We looked for a good hours I was shocked and confused.

I brought he SD card into work on Monday and I was able to slow it down frame by frame and with that I could see the ground behind her blow up after the shot. That is the beauty of video. I have zero production value to my videos I just enjoy having the memories and it helps on recovery, more to come later on that!

The older boy is going to WI for rifle season with me so he gets to miss a Friday. I told my younger boy I would take him out of school for a morning to hunt. The weather said Thursday would be our best bet it was still unseasonably warm. The wind was perfect for the same stand so we were back in the spot he missed. We were going to sit till 9:00 and we didn't have much activity until 8:35. At the same time the same doe he missed came back in. This time I took his muzzy with 50 grains of powder. The deer stopped perfectly this time right in front of us and he put a great shot on her, Devin came in with the first deer of the season. She is a Texas doe, she wasn't a yearling but she wasn't very big. My guess is a late drop the year before. I have the video of this but I never got this one on YouTube.

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We didn't hunt much that weekend but the next Saturday had me in a tree with my 12 year old. We both had our bow in hand. He is a lefty and I am a right so it works great. Anything that comes in to the left I shoot then anything to the right he shoots, he also hunts by himself at times. We were hunting a top of a ridge between two bedding areas. The stand is really close to one but when the wind is right you can slip through some cedars really quite and undetected. Also works great in the morning when they are feeding. I like this spot during the rut because the bucks cruise between the areas looking for does.

It was a slow morning but around 8:30 we could see a buck around 60-70 yards out. I wasn't prepared because I didn't have my grunt tube with me yet all I had was a rattling pack. I lightly rattle at him and it startled him but then he just sat and looked towards us (typically I am not a fan of rattling at deer that close). I couldn't make the buck out great but I knew he would be a good one for my son. He asked if I would shoot it and at the time I said probably not. I had a killed a really nice 15 point last year. With that I didn't want to set my standards to high anything that is big and mature I wanted to still shoot. As we were watching him a doe was making her way to us. I could tell by her pace she wasn't messing around. She was going to take the buck with her or worse yet get our wind and blow the area up.

I told TD if she gives him a shot to take it. She gets to a perfect shooting window for him, I stop her and he shoots below her. She bounds 15 yards towards the buck and stops. I think this made him see her, neither really knew was the noise was so they just stood there for a second and then he pushed her off back the direction she came from.

TD rushed his shot he released the arrow right as I stopped her and then he said he forgot to frame the peep to the site housing, we have all been there!

We hunted the next morning but neither of us saw a deer in the stand, I saw a small 8 standing 60 yards from my truck as I was loading my bow up.
 
Congrats! Hunting with your kids is such an amazing experience. You're doing it well! Give him a knuckle bump from me.
 
The rut was coming! I always try to save 4-5 days of vacation for the Iowa rut. I was set up to take off Thursday and Friday last week plus Thursday and Friday this week. On these days I have zero commitments other than hunting. With a three kids this is hard to do on the weekends. On these days I like to sit all day. I not great at sitting in one stand all day so I will get down take a 20 minute break and then get back in a stand.

The wind was set up again for the stand that TD missed the doe in. I got in with 30 minutes of dark before shooting. After getting set up I could hear some steps in the bedding ground to my left and I could here some steps in the timber to my right. By the time the steps to my right got to me it was legal shooting time but I couldn't see much really. The loud ones turned out to be two raccoons but they were followed by a deer. The deer made it 30 yards by my stand, it was legal shooting time but I really couldn't make out what it was because it was overcast and really dark in the timber.

The woods were still after that until 8:30 a nice older 8 came through. He wasn't one I would want to shoot but it was fun to see. I thought I had good video of him but I realize I forgot to hit the record button... I hate it when that happens.

I got down at 10:00 and by 10:45 after breakfast and a coke I was back in a different spot. I wasn't set up for long when a small little buck came in from behind. I don't think he really got my wind but I think he smelled my tracks from when I walked in. He stomped a few times and then run back the way he came. 20 or so more minutes go by and a nice doe came burning through my left. She didn't stop long enough for a shot. The place I hunt requires you to shoot 2 does before you can shoot your buck I hadn't killed anything this year yet, the nice thing is if you kill 4 deer the year before you are already qualified to use your buck tag so I was ok (kids are exempt).

The rest of the mid day hunt was slow. I got down at 2:00. By 3:30 I was back in the stand I started the day at. The wind that day set up for another stand that I wanted to hunt but I didn't want to burn out 3 areas in 1 day.

I saw my first deer at 5:30. It was another yearling doe, perfect easy to drag and great eats! She ended up bedding by me at 40 yards. She was there for 30 minutes when something behind me the other direction spooked her down the hill. I got up and adjusted my seat and my cushion fell to the base which spooked a larger doe back down the ridge.

Ten or so minutes later I adjusted my hood to have a doe come running through over my left shoulder followed by a slowly walking 5 point. I am not sure if I spooked her or if she was getting pushed by the little buck. I figured it was going to be one of those years.

Around 6:00 or so I catch moving to my right again. It was the same yearling making her way back through. I had to stand to get a better shot. She came in perfect and I stopped her at the same dam tree TD missed the doe the week earlier. Easy 20 yard chip shot and what do I do shoot under her just like my son. I rushed it also. She runs about 15 yards more and starts walking again now she is at 30. I get another arrow loaded draw back and stop her again only to have her stop behind a tree. Which turned out great because as I was waiting for her to clear I could hear/caught movement behind her. As you will see in the video the buck was making his way in. I am not sure if he was naturally making his way in or if my mouth grunt brought him in. From here on out I will let the video do the talking. I am pretty sure it was the same buck I saw with my son. He was bigger than I expect, with that I think I shot him as much because I was pissed about missing the doe. I didn't truly know how big he was until I walked up on him. I had no idea he had those monster brows!

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Again my videos are very rough. I don't like the sound of my voice so I don't talk much and I have never tried to edit but I may want to cut all the videos together into one this year so I may have to learn.

[video=youtube;jxKwFTyflGE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxKwFTyflGE&t=206s[/video]

More to come after lunch!
 
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That's good stuff! Congrats on a very good buck. One of these years I need to skip a western trip and burn that time bowhunting the run like that. Truly my favorite time to be in the whitetail woods.
 
Awesome stuff and congrats!! Kiddos are always tops to see out hunting. Keep up the good work.
 
Where was I...

I am not sure why the picture came in so big and I wish I would have taken writing more serious in high school as I am not very good at it.

I had Friday off so I took care of some stuff around the house that I hadn't done in a long time. I also got my deer skinned up and deboned. My 12 year old was going to go to some all night camp for church but we found out about it to late and when he went to sign up there were any spots left. I decided to take him out of school early. I grabbed him at 2:30 and we headed out. We had two spots the wind worked well for. One of them was a double stand that we could sit together and the other was two separate single stands. I told him I would prefer to leave the double for the next day, it is a really good morning spot and the wind would be great for it but I let him decide. He was ok with it so we went to the other spot. I got him set up by himself and I made my way to my spot. I still have two doe tags left and a few turkey tags. I didn't see anything but he had a nice 8 behind him and a small forky come in. He let the forky go.

The next morning we hit the double stand. This is the place that I have killed 5 bucks out of in 7 years, one of which was the 15 pointer I killed last year. We were only going to hunt until 9:00 because we were going to a pumpkin patch farm with the family. Yes we are a week late but they were still open and it was a lot of fun because no one as around. My youngest loves that place. Around 7:45 we had two identical bucks come in. They were 3 points. They never gave a shot but I don't think he would have wanted to shoot one anyway. At 8:00 we had a spiker come in. He wants to shoot one for some reason, Side note in Iowa you can put a antlerless tag on a spiker. The buck never made it to were TD could shoot him. We were sitting in a double ladder stand he is on my right because he is a lefty, the deer was to my left. He told me I could shoot him and put one of my doe tags but I decided to let him go. I was 100% sure he was as spike but I just worry about that rule of putting a antlerless tag on him and since I already killed my buck I just wasn't into it. Good thing, he had walked out one time but I grunted at him to bring him back just to mess around and to see if he comes in TD's shooting lane. That got the attention of a little 8 point. He was coming in from the right which is pretty common in this spike. They typically make there way around the cover into a bunch of shooting lanes. This guy needed to take 3 more step and he would have been set up perfect for a 15 yard shot, instead he came straight towards us and worked his way behind us catching our wind.

That was it for Saturday, we didn't go out that night.
 
Man it is really bothering me having that big picture!

Sunday morning found is sitting back in the same stand I killed my buck out of. I wasn't sure how I wanted TD in the stand. I have a ladder stand with a small hang on sitting just to the right of it. I have the base of the hang on at the same level as the seat of the ladder. I set it up last year a muzzy spot for my younger boy. It just happened to work well for TD being a lefty. When he is in the stand he can shoot forward and to the right. The dilmenia was there is a good scrap to the left and that is where I shot my buck. Any deer going in that direction would be tougher for him to shoot. He would have to face the tree and shoot over in front of me. So I contemplated putting him in the ladder making that an easier shot. We ended up sitting him in the hang on. I felt he put him in a better position for more shots.

At 8:00 I caught movement. To paint the picture better the movement would have been straight in Front of my son but slightly to my left. It was a nice old 8 point making his way in. I can let the video do the rest from here out!

I get a little excited and I tend to swear to much so sorry for that.

[video=youtube;tRWbMgVkYtY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRWbMgVkYtY[/video]
 
Finish this off. First I love the cut that Youtube has to start it. That deer is standing in the same spot I shot mine.

My son was turned facing the tree ready to shoot him there if the angle got right. Essentially he would have been shooting right front of me. I was leaned back enough that I felt it was save. It sounds worse than what it was based on the angles pretty hard to explain.

I prefer the camera to my right when I am filming it sets up better for me to see the view finder and I am right handed so it is just more comfortable. This was difficult to video because I was struggling to track the deer, zoom properly and see him in the small view finder. I also had my grunt tube in my hand. I think I mention at one point that he was going to try to get down wind of us to figure out what we were. I have seen that more time that not that deer will go either right to your tree when you grunt them or down wind. I always try to grunt at them when they are in a position to go by my stand to get down wind. This was a perfect example of this. The deer was trying to get down wind of us. When the deer is looking at us he is basically straight up wind. When my son shoots him he is about 10 yards away from getting our wind.

Anyway as you can see he walks behind the tree, TD had to turn 180 degrees to shoot behind. At this point I am pinned and I cant see anything. I am tracking the deer through the view finder of the camera. I cant see him get drawn or any of that, with that I can barely see the deer in the view finder because of my position. I could basically hear the arrow go and the watermelon sound of it hitting the deer.

As soon as he shot I stood up and turned to track the deer. I could see the arrow buried up to the fletching and I thought it was a great shot. It was hard to tell as the deer was running away but it looked really good. He then told me that he thought it was a little back. He had to duck under his bow hanger (my bad I didn't put it high enough) and under his seat, he said he had to lean out to get the bow drawn. It is really great composure for him, this is a kid that I had to help pull his bow back last year because it was cold out. This year he was able to get drawn under those conditions we also cranked it up some.

Here is where having a video is great. Like I said I thought it was a great shot he said he thought it was back a little. I told him we will pack up, mark the blood at first shot and then run into town and look at the video. Based on the video we decided to give him a bunch of time. We went home watched it on my laptop. I had to go to church for a function for my daughter. Once that was completed we grabbed a friend for each boy and headed out. By the time we got started tracking it was about 6 hours from the time he shot the deer. We found him 439 yards from where he shot it. It turned out to be a direct liver hit. He thinks his odd body position made him push the shot a little. That is about it, what a great time and it was a lot of fun involving both boys and there friends on the recovery.

Here is a link to my last year deer season. Like I said I am not sure if we will top it but dam it is pretty good. My 7 year old daughter wants to try to shoot one with a crossbow. We can only do it during the late muzzy season. I found some public ground that has beans on it and I expect they will be there during late season which could make it an awesome place to hunt. If she kills her first deer this season it will definitely move it up the list!

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Last post I promise. Last years deer in no order because the old thread doesn't have them.

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PARENTING DONE RIGHT !!!! I love that you can get the kids out there like that . I cant wait to own some of my own property and make friends with neighbors and such for more hunting access . Im so jealous
 
Pretty awesome stuff, congrats to all. My 7 yo just watched the videos with me and can't wait for gun season it starts Saturday, he missed during youth season.
 
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