High Wind Iowa Buck! (Long Read+ Pic)
10-27-2010, 12:59 PM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Iowa
Posts: 452
High Wind Iowa Buck! (Long Read+ Pic)
The day started out like any other, I awoke early and turned to see the clock on the end table reading 5:10 am. Five minutes longer and the alarm would sound the beginning of another hunt. So, I sleep walked myself into the bathroom and threw some water on my face to try to shock my still sleeping body. As I walked into the living room, I heard it; one of the hunters most dreaded sounds. The sound of a howling wind blowing harder than a freight train whistle, I knew instantly that a hunt would be futile and threw myself back into my warm bed and tried not to wake my wife whom I had promised the night before that I would take her out for another shared hunt, she has shown an interest in hunting and I have been more than happy to introduce her to the sport I love.
So the morning went on, I woke up made breakfast and began to check my usual four sites that preoccupy my time when I’m on the computer; CNN, the Weather Channel, Facebook, and last but not least, Huntingnet.com. I wasn’t satisfied with the news of the day as I never am and still found myself even more upset when I found out the wind would not stop until at least Thursday. What would I do without being able to hunt for 3 days? I trolled the site looking at threads that I hadn’t read yet and turned my attention to the TV; imagine this, there was nothing good on.
So the time came at about 2:30 pm to make my decision on whether or not I was going to hunt, obviously I chose to hunt. So, I told my wife to get her hunting garb on and we were going to sit. I had planned on sticking her in the blind and I was going to move about 200 yards to the East and sit in an old double stand that we had put up 2 years ago; and due to its heft, have not moved since. We pulled up to the gate at about 3pm and I sprayed her down and we began the trek down the path till we hit our separation point; she planned on walking the far Northern edge of the cornfield to the blind, while I chose the far southern edge.
I got to the stand and managed to get situated, but within minutes I knew my set-up wouldn’t work, as the 30 mph plus winds were blowing straight into my face and I couldn’t hear myself think as the wind was ripping through me. Within 10 minutes I had had enough of the stand and the wind and climbed down and walked the 200 yards to the blind where my wife was sitting; thinking to myself I might as well spend time with her since I don’t plan on seeing any deer. I made myself comfortable in the blind, and found it was perfect! No wind ripping through me, and I was spending quality time in the woods with someone I enjoy spending time with; it was win-win
We stayed in the blind until about 5 pm, and decided that we probably weren’t going to see anything anyway, so we would take a walk and I would show her around the rest of the woods. We started with the wind, making our way to the far eastern edge of the property and circled back around on the far southern edge. As we circled around, we stopped to grab the equipment that we left on the trail and started to walk out of the woods, it was only about 75 yards until we came to a T-intersection in one of the four-wheeling trails that criss-cross the property. My wife, unfamiliar with the property layout asked what was down the trail, I told her; and said lets walk down to it and check out the sandbar.
We reached the sandbar and walked out to a fallen tree that had nestled itself into the sand and sat down and took in the beauty of the river and CRP and timber on the other side. Not caring how loud we were as we started to walk off, she asked how far the sandbar went; unfamiliar with the current water level I wasn’t sure and we walked down the beach trying to find where it met the water. About 150 yards we found the end of the sandbar and at a half-run (more of a momentum boost) bolted up the berm. My first step up the berm was also my last, as laying not 10 yards in front of me facing the opposite direction was a huge-bodied deer. My wife hot on my heels smacked into my backside and immediately saw what had stopped me.
We quickly kneeled and I assessed the situation as best as a surprised hunter could, and formulated a quick game plan. I knew that I wanted this deer as soon as I saw him, he had a huge body and to top it off not only was my wife with me, but this was a heck of a story to tell. The first part of the plan was to get the deer on his feet so I could score a perfect double lung and heart shot; so I quickly briefed my wife on what I wanted to happen and handed her the grunt call and told her all she had to do was blow in it and get this guy on his feet.
I drew back my 70-pound Browning Verado and nodded; which happened to be the prearranged signal for my wife to grunt and get this guy moving. Into the call went air, and I’m not sure who was more surprised, the buck or me at what came out. You know, having been a hunter for more than ten years, I have heard and seen my fair share, but even duck hunting had not prepared me for what had just come out of my grunt tube.
The buck heard it and strained to turn his neck to see what was making a ruckus behind him. I let her continue with the call for a good 20 seconds and when I felt a little burn in my arm from holding my draw, I slowly rose from a knee and tried to line a shot up on the vitals. No good. At the last second before squeezing the release I spied a small tree blocking right where I wanted to hit. I immediately found the next best spot and took a step to the right, he saw the movement and I saw his leg muscles tense, as he was about to bolt. I squeezed the release and made the shot.
I did what every hunter does; they watch the shot, and then watch as their quarry bounds away in a hurry, hoping that they made a good shot. I didn’t have to hope; as he leaped I saw the fountain of bright red success spraying five feet in the air.
After a series of hugs and high fives and yes even a few kisses with my wife, we managed to make it out of the woods as the excitement buzzed. We backed out for almost 2 hours before heading in to try and find him. Needless to say, we found him about 70 yards from where I had shot. The shot couldn’t have been better unless it was a double lung heart shot. The arrow entered high on the spine and exited right in the boilermaker, the arrow made a devastating trail through the liver, and both lungs, missing the heart by mere inches.
This will be one of the most memorable hunts I have ever been on, not only was it one of the ugliest days of the year to hunt on, but I shared it with the love of my life. She cannot wait to get her bow this spring and is dying to get in a tree stand next fall!
He isn't the biggest buck on the farm, but story alone made him worth harvesting. He is a clean 8 point and dressed out at 245#, needless to say he was a hog!
So the morning went on, I woke up made breakfast and began to check my usual four sites that preoccupy my time when I’m on the computer; CNN, the Weather Channel, Facebook, and last but not least, Huntingnet.com. I wasn’t satisfied with the news of the day as I never am and still found myself even more upset when I found out the wind would not stop until at least Thursday. What would I do without being able to hunt for 3 days? I trolled the site looking at threads that I hadn’t read yet and turned my attention to the TV; imagine this, there was nothing good on.
So the time came at about 2:30 pm to make my decision on whether or not I was going to hunt, obviously I chose to hunt. So, I told my wife to get her hunting garb on and we were going to sit. I had planned on sticking her in the blind and I was going to move about 200 yards to the East and sit in an old double stand that we had put up 2 years ago; and due to its heft, have not moved since. We pulled up to the gate at about 3pm and I sprayed her down and we began the trek down the path till we hit our separation point; she planned on walking the far Northern edge of the cornfield to the blind, while I chose the far southern edge.
I got to the stand and managed to get situated, but within minutes I knew my set-up wouldn’t work, as the 30 mph plus winds were blowing straight into my face and I couldn’t hear myself think as the wind was ripping through me. Within 10 minutes I had had enough of the stand and the wind and climbed down and walked the 200 yards to the blind where my wife was sitting; thinking to myself I might as well spend time with her since I don’t plan on seeing any deer. I made myself comfortable in the blind, and found it was perfect! No wind ripping through me, and I was spending quality time in the woods with someone I enjoy spending time with; it was win-win
We stayed in the blind until about 5 pm, and decided that we probably weren’t going to see anything anyway, so we would take a walk and I would show her around the rest of the woods. We started with the wind, making our way to the far eastern edge of the property and circled back around on the far southern edge. As we circled around, we stopped to grab the equipment that we left on the trail and started to walk out of the woods, it was only about 75 yards until we came to a T-intersection in one of the four-wheeling trails that criss-cross the property. My wife, unfamiliar with the property layout asked what was down the trail, I told her; and said lets walk down to it and check out the sandbar.
We reached the sandbar and walked out to a fallen tree that had nestled itself into the sand and sat down and took in the beauty of the river and CRP and timber on the other side. Not caring how loud we were as we started to walk off, she asked how far the sandbar went; unfamiliar with the current water level I wasn’t sure and we walked down the beach trying to find where it met the water. About 150 yards we found the end of the sandbar and at a half-run (more of a momentum boost) bolted up the berm. My first step up the berm was also my last, as laying not 10 yards in front of me facing the opposite direction was a huge-bodied deer. My wife hot on my heels smacked into my backside and immediately saw what had stopped me.
We quickly kneeled and I assessed the situation as best as a surprised hunter could, and formulated a quick game plan. I knew that I wanted this deer as soon as I saw him, he had a huge body and to top it off not only was my wife with me, but this was a heck of a story to tell. The first part of the plan was to get the deer on his feet so I could score a perfect double lung and heart shot; so I quickly briefed my wife on what I wanted to happen and handed her the grunt call and told her all she had to do was blow in it and get this guy on his feet.
I drew back my 70-pound Browning Verado and nodded; which happened to be the prearranged signal for my wife to grunt and get this guy moving. Into the call went air, and I’m not sure who was more surprised, the buck or me at what came out. You know, having been a hunter for more than ten years, I have heard and seen my fair share, but even duck hunting had not prepared me for what had just come out of my grunt tube.
The buck heard it and strained to turn his neck to see what was making a ruckus behind him. I let her continue with the call for a good 20 seconds and when I felt a little burn in my arm from holding my draw, I slowly rose from a knee and tried to line a shot up on the vitals. No good. At the last second before squeezing the release I spied a small tree blocking right where I wanted to hit. I immediately found the next best spot and took a step to the right, he saw the movement and I saw his leg muscles tense, as he was about to bolt. I squeezed the release and made the shot.
I did what every hunter does; they watch the shot, and then watch as their quarry bounds away in a hurry, hoping that they made a good shot. I didn’t have to hope; as he leaped I saw the fountain of bright red success spraying five feet in the air.
After a series of hugs and high fives and yes even a few kisses with my wife, we managed to make it out of the woods as the excitement buzzed. We backed out for almost 2 hours before heading in to try and find him. Needless to say, we found him about 70 yards from where I had shot. The shot couldn’t have been better unless it was a double lung heart shot. The arrow entered high on the spine and exited right in the boilermaker, the arrow made a devastating trail through the liver, and both lungs, missing the heart by mere inches.
This will be one of the most memorable hunts I have ever been on, not only was it one of the ugliest days of the year to hunt on, but I shared it with the love of my life. She cannot wait to get her bow this spring and is dying to get in a tree stand next fall!
He isn't the biggest buck on the farm, but story alone made him worth harvesting. He is a clean 8 point and dressed out at 245#, needless to say he was a hog!
10-27-2010, 01:28 PM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Horseheads NY
Posts: 1,138
wholly crap!!!!!! That thing is a pig!!!! And he's not the biggest?? What are you feeding them things, steroids?? lol.. Nice story, Congrats on a hell of a buck.....
Last edited by V8Ranger; 10-28-2010 at 01:05 AM.
10-27-2010, 03:21 PM
#5
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Iowa
Posts: 452
Thanks guys, and yes he had a monster body, but that is easily explained by his age, he comes out somewhere around 5-1/2... One of two things are for sure though, he either didn't have the genetics to keep growing, or he just hit his prime a little early. We are still going through the thousands of trail camera pics the last couple of years trying to find him in any
