Hunting the late season in Iowa is unlike anything I have ever experienced before in my life. However coming into the late season I must admit I was a bit concerned because of all the complaints I had been hearing about deer numbers being down across much of the state. This being my first year in Iowa as a resident I was pleasantly surprised by the number of deer I had seen through the early season and through the middle of November. That being said I did not know what to expect coming into the late muzzle loader season.
I had heard stories from my friends who are residents of Iowa about the “magical” late season hunting. They would tell me tales of seeing fifty to one hundred-fifty deer a night. To say that I was skeptical about these stories would be a drastic understatement. That was until I got a phone call from close friend and hunting buddy Scott.
My family and I were in Kansas City with my wife’s parents for Christmas when my phone rang. “TW, you are not going to believe this. I drove by one of our leases and I counted easily two hundred deer. It was the most incredible thing I have seen.” Scott too is from SWMO and like me this was his first year experiencing what Iowa had to offer. Scott and I quickly devised a plan that all depended on him being able to sneak in during the mid day and brush in a ground blind for us to hunt the evening of December 26th.
That morning I woke up at my in-laws and could not get the family packed fast enough. By 10:00 a.m. we were on the road. After a few quick “potty” breaks we were back home by 1:30 pm I quickly grabbed my hunting gear gave kisses to my wife and boys and was back on the road to meet up with Scott to hunt our lease for the first time in the late season.
After arriving at Scotts and taking a lightening quick shower we got everything loaded up and were driving to the field filled with anticipation for what the evening might hold. Scott had done an amazing job brushing in the ground blind right next to a big cedar tree in the fence row. It was now 4:00 pm and the first deer of the evening showed up, a little button buck browsing on the picked corn 190 yards away from the blind. Soon after deer kept coming, literally pouring in, seemingly just appearing from no where.
In no time we had thirty-five deer in front of us, and then fifty. At that point I looked to the north of the blind and saw the first decent racked buck of the evening, a nice nine point. “Alright” I said, “the first buck of the evening and it is still early.” Not two minutes later I peered out the blind again, and said “Bigger buck, Shooter!” A heavy beamed, main frame ten, with a busted g-3 now accompanied the 9pt. As I was watching the two bucks pick at the fallen corn, another big framed eight, jumped the fence and begin making his way down to the bucks we had our eye on.
By this time the light was beginning to fade, and we were a mess in the blind. I was trying to video these bucks, while Scott was maneuvering himself in such a way to get a shot, I was also getting my gun and shooting sticks in place, all the while were were talking about which bucks we were going to shoot. Soon enough the decision was made for us, the old eight was further away and was not coming any closer. Scott was using his TC Encore with open sights and I had my CVA with a BDC reticle scope attached. “You shoot the eight point” Scott said, while he already had his gun shouldered and ready to shoot. “I’m ready, are you?” He asked.
“No” I replied, “I don’t know which deer is the eight” There were now about seventy-five deer in the field and the eight point was with two other deer and all three had their noses buried in the corn stocks. “Don’t shoot, I’m not ready.” I kept repeating. Finally, the buck raised his head and confirmed I was indeed on the right deer. “O.K. I’m good.”
“I’ll count” Scott said. “One, two, three,” BOOM! Both guns fired at the exact same moment and smoke filled the air. “Where’s your deer?” Scott asked.
“I think he’s laying there kicking, but I am not sure.” I responded, “What about yours?”
“I don’t know, he took off over there. I think I hit him.”
Although neither of us were totally confident in our shots we knew better than to push a possibly wounded deer so we did what any healthy hunter would do. We went to eat dinner. Coming back after dinner we quickly found some blood, but after searching in the dark we decided to come back in the morning with fellow Victory Pro-Staff member Ty Green.
The morning light was much better for tracking, and what ended as a faint blood trail in the evening started as an easy track job in the day light. We found Scotts nine point, that actually had two extra kickers making him an eleven. Now it was time to see if my CVA had done its job.
Sure, enough right where I had shot him, there he laid. A beautiful four and a half year old mature eight point was down. Days of anticipation, and a night of excitement, wondering, second guessing, tossing and turning now had turned into celebration.
Scott and I have hunted together in Southwest Missouri for years and have had some amazing hunts, but this one might top the list. Two beautiful Iowa bucks taken at the exact same moment will be something that will be very hard to beat.
