2007 Suburban Bowhunting Adventures

Suburban Bow Hunting Adventure 2007.

September 15th, Doe Kill No. 1 I can't seem to be able to sleep. The deer season starts today!!! I have a new bow, I have been shooting all summer I bought it right after the end of the 2006 season it’s a Fred Bear Truth. And Man do I love this bow. My old bow was a Bear Buckmaster 4000 that harvested many does with last year. It was very similar to a Hoyt Trykon. The Truth seems to be very similar to a Matthews. Parallel Quad Limbs it is just awesome. Anyway. After a full summer of practicing I am ready to get out and do some hunting. Well Squirrel Season opened up on the first weekend of September my boys and I went into the woods to try our hand at some squirrel hunting. Didn't do much good. We set-up a blind and got quite a few trail camera pictures. Here are a few of the beauties we got on disc. It was awesome my boys are hunting this year, although my youngest is more interested than my oldest Here is a picture of my youngest in his endeavors to help me check the camera. Well anyway our summer has been great one. Filled with family and fun. My work schedule has me away from my family from 4:00am Monday to around 3:30pm on Friday I work a lot of long hours through the week so I can get out of here early enough to get in quality time huntin' and fishin' with my family. Well This Friday I didn't get home until around 6pm we went for a drive to try and spot some deer one of the areas we went to is actually land owned by our Local Shopping Mall here is an aerial photo of where I hunt. and also a section of this neighborhood. I also have another area that I hunt which is this one that I hunted on the first day. one of the greatest things about living in S.E. Iowa is that we have some of the best hunting PERIOD. Doesn't matter whether its coyotes, turkey, fox, Deer, Squirrels, we have it all within a 10 minute drive of our home. So anyway, its 4:30am Sept 15th I am up and ready to go hunt, I can't get any of the boys up and out of bed, so instead of arguing with them, I just head out my truck is packed and I am ready to go. I do to my first area to hunt big timber when I get there I don't see a thing for nearly 3-1/2 hours it drives me crazyI didn't even see a squirrel like I was catching on the camera. Goes to show you that the Moultrie 99.00 camera does work okay, but its not probably as good as a 400.00 cuddy back. You see in my zone, since last year I was one of the top 7 hunters to harvest does, I needed to get one Doe in order to claim my buck tag and start after the deer I know is frequenting my woods. I have been dreaming about this deer for 4 days hoping to catch him again…. but man its already 11am and I haven't seen anything. I am like oh well, I guess I will go home until this evening. I pack up all my stuff, and as I am walking out to the clearing that is above and to the east of my blind (I have my blind set-up in a cut-out on the side of a large wash out that's nearly 50 yards wide and 400 yards long that dumps into a pond) I see a little doe go back into the timber about 50 yards north of me in the clearing, Oh goody!!! The wind is blowing from the N.E. so I duck back into the timber get down in the gully and ease my way up the washout, I get to where I Think I am bout directly underneath the deer but too the south of it. I start up the embankment. I get almost to the top and the little doe yearling is looking right at me!!! I just freeze behind an oak tree which was only a few seconds but seems like an Eternity. Now I have to get this doe, so I can hunt Mr. Big. well needless to say she wont' stop looking at me. So I move my head up and down, the doe looks at me cocks her head to the side, as if to say " what the heck are you" anyway, she turns just enough when a turkey goes cackling across the clearing. I draw my Truth back and put the Viper Sight Pin on her shoulder she is basically in a "U" shape at this time. She straightens out and gives me a broadside shot. I let the arrow fly, she takes off in a dead run. Unbeknown to me her momma stands up but is in a bunch of saplings, I try to needle a shot through them, but no luck I struck a tree shattered the arrow in about 10 pieces she takes off. Well I know the little doe is down and wouldn't go far. I go looking for my arrow, CAN"T FIND IT. Now I know that a muzzy 4 blade 100grain will slice through shoulder, so I know this deer didn't go far. As I walk over to the next gully on the east side of the clear cut. I see the large doe she just kind of looks at me then takes off. I know then that the little doe is down somewhere around there. There she is. This doe is small a lot smaller than she looked in my peep. I realize that this was the best thing to do, the larger doe couldn't of been much over a year old, and she was very very skinny. You can see here in some of my pictures. This fawn would not of had a good chance to survive the winter and mom wasn't keeping up either. So I drag the little doe back she couldn’t of weight 40lbs. You have to understand for Iowa this is very very wrong. Our fawns should be in the 80lb range by this time of year. Its just overpopulation. Plus people are putting out less food for them since the hunting started cracking down on the population. And the public is becoming more aware, randomly feeding deer makes the herd weaker. Anyway I go to get my camera, and of course the batteries are dead, its hot about 80 degrees, I have to get this deer checked in and quartered out. Which I do at home promptly. What a great first day.

Sunday Morning Sept. 16th, 2007 Doe Kill No. 2 I have the blind set-up at the LL timber, its on a Ridge to the Southwest of the pond I was hunting on Saturday the 15th. Well I have this blind under an elm tree, nothing special, I mean not brushed not nothing. Basic scent killer, the squirrels are going nuts right at daybreak, I know the deer use this ridge a lot, I mean its like a motorcycle path through there. Well there are mobile homes not even 15 yards to the west of me. Well just as the sun is really starting shine, I see this deer just kind of gambling up the ridge, it actually was moving so fast, it caught me off guard. It actually goes around the blind to the west and turns around (because there’s a big bush blocking the way and comes in front of me. I guess the deer between 5-10 yards away. I put my 10 yard pin right on the shoulder and let the arrow fly. The arrow sinks in but I can tell I did something wrong it wasn’t a perfect shot. I watch the little doe walk about 30 yards and just stop then disappears over the ridge. Well I go and look for my arrow and find it. Its covered in green/brown fluid, GUT HIT man I think to myself, what did I do? Well I wait a couple of minutes, and then I decide to try Jud Cooney’s advice, I just kind of follow the blood trail, but like a crazy man, I leave my bow at the blind!!! Well I get to the ridge edge and peek over looking for blood and there is the doe sitting down on the ground looking up at me. Well I back out and go after my bow. When I get back there she’s gone I mean it wasn’t’ even 10 seconds. Well I am having a hard time finding blood, but I find a spot. Or two on the shale so I know she went down hill, well I figure I havent’ pushed her hard and I know she’s hit hard, well, I start on the nearest deer trail the most used one that kind of drops down then curves back up to the logging road. Well I am following blood then I lost it, so I decide to go to the top of the ridge on the logging road and look down with my binoculars, well when I get to the top I walk about 5 yards south and look down through the trees, there is the doe crawling away into a brush pile right below me. Now I walked right by her not even 30 seconds ago. Jud’s advice was right don’t push hard, because wounded deer will “sneak” away. Well, I can see right where she crawled into a little depression in the ground under a dead fall. I walk straight down and get behind her, she has wedged herself under the dead fall. I am about 10 yards away and I let another arrow into her right behind the shoulder she expires. Upon examining my first shot, I see that I hit her high but she was down from me on the incline she was quartering away but really sharp The arrow had went through and came out the front side and actually cut bone and tendon on the front leg. It was a fatal hit, but I had a choice to make, given the same situation again, the only thing I would of changed would be to take my bow with me when tracking. What a surprise to see that doe within 3 yards of me. Well fast forward to S

September 21st 2007, I take advantage of getting home kind of early and get a treestand set-up at the Mall property and a ground blind set-up at LL Timber. I also hunt another place we will call the SD Lot because basically it is a 1 acre lot behind a deputy sherrif’s family home. I hunted September 22nd 2007 Saturday morning, saw NOTHING, so decided to go squirrel hunting instead, I carry 16 arrows with me whenever I hunt now. 6 broadheads with homemade lumenoks, and 10 blunts. I have two diamond 8 arrow quivers, and I really enjoy hunting squirrels, generally if I am hunting all day, I hunt deer until about 10:30am and then I stay in the blind remove the screens and try to shoot squirrels as they hit the ground, man they don’t want to sit still. Well this morning I am at LL after no luck deer hunting I go home. I decide I had better take care of some family chores at the house, but I go back out

September 23rd 2007 Sunday morning. I am hunting at the LL property. No deer again, so I decide to just walk and squirrel hunt. Man the squirrels are everywhere this morning. I shoot at several miss several. Then finally walk up to the same ridge where I shot the second doe the week before I knew there were a lot of squirrels there, and they were everywhere, I hit one but he takes off. Another one starts barking and jumps down on a branch about 20 yards in front of me I let an arrow go and bam he goes down. I am using the Bludgeon points, Let me tell you, I will never use them again. I usually hunt squirrels with bullet points, because squirrels are like turkeys, tough, you want your arrow to stay in them. I let a couple of guys talk me into them because “you don’t loose arrows” Well I have it 4 squirrels at point blank 10-15 yard range and they still manage to get up the tree and hide. When I use bullet points I get penetration the arrow stays in the squirrels and they generally can’t get up the tree. I added a washer and dropped from 100 Grains to a 75 grain bullet point and man that is a deadly combination, accurate penetration and shocking power. Well here is the result of my squirrel Hunt

Sunday evening September 23rd, 2007 I set-up at the mall and man what hot day its 93 degrees, I have my waders on and I am sitting in a blind that is facing west. With a wind blowing out of the south east. Yesterday morning, I had set up on the west side of the field where I had been observing the deer lounging around 9pm every night I was out watching, well this morning the deer are a little farther west in another part of the field and they are in the north corner behind Target. The funny thing is I spooked all the deer in the South West finger getting out of my truck but the other deer which were about 1000 yards away didn’t even care. I waited and waited, well like clockwork at 6:45am those deer got into single file walked directly south into the corner of the field that is the axis of the “L” the timber makes around it. They all walked in there. I thought to myself, “hmmm rather risky, but I think I will set-up a morning blind there” which as soon as it was 8:00am I knew no deer were going to come back out, I tore down my blind and headed to the east side of the field, I examined the timber got down in the creek and saw the deer were crossing right there 10 yards inside the timber and going to what I know to be big overgrown drained lagoon in the non-hunted city park. I had an idea, why not set up the blind as CLOSE as I could get to the opening where they were pouring out. I would set a Buck Decoy 50 yards out from me my decoy Rex2 as I call him. Would be the visual distraction since the deer would walk out of the timber within 10 yards of me, but I wasn’t cutting a direct shooting lane but rather brushed my blind in under a locust tree. It worked, the first deer came out a little fawn, it was looking back the whole time which told me a larger deer was coming with. Then the fawn’s sibling came out. The mother came out she saw that decoy and got to staring at it. The wind is blowing directly from the south now. But she heads east for some reason she doesn’t want to go between the timber and the buck she goes out about 75 yards circles the buck the buck has an old deer tail on it from last year at it moves in the wind. She comes back directly from where she went, she hasn’t winded me and Rex2 is completely saturated in homemade scent killer. She starts back to the timber when she’s 30 yards away, I let my arrow fly, and what happened, I MISSED. She heads into the timber. The little fawns run the opposite way. Well not even 5 seconds later a dog comes running out into the field. And a guy behind him walking his dog. Now this guy is freaked by the decoy. He then walks over to my blind and starts to have a conversation with me (so he thought) He says “you are aware there’s a trail there” now I wanted to say “you are aware you are trespassing” but I said yes, and he said “ I just don’t want to get shot” I said don’t worry, I won’t do that. Well he goes on his way. Chasing the little does with his dog. Well it gets late and I try to find my arrow, Even with a lumenok, when you hunt from a blind you loose arrows under the grass. NOTE TO SELF – BUY A METAL DETECTOR. $50.00 goes a long way. I can’t find my arrow and worse yet I don’t find any blood so I know I missed the deer. Come to think of it, I don’t think she ran because of my shot but because that dog and owner came from the south directly in her scent path, I think the spooked her. Well this hunt is ruined, that’s what happens when you hunt Suburban….

September 24th 2007 Doe Kill No. 3 and I take full advantage of it. I know where the deer are… I drive around the mall parking lots using my Bushnell Binoculars to scout for deer, I see there is about 7 of them behind the target parking lot, I drive back there, they know my truck no reason to disappoint them. I have a routine, I drive in and around I don’t stop but for 10 seconds then I leave. I see I have chance to take yearling doe, There are three of them in this group of 7. I head back over to the south west corner of the property park behind the old OfficeMax Building grab my bow and a chair, I left the blind up overnight, I had however drove my truck in the field that night to collect everything I could so I didn’t have as much to tear down the next day. I use the truck as a way to look like I am part of the staff to the deer, they are used to vehicles, tractors and such mowing the grounds. I get into the field well before first light, There are deer actually in the same section of the field, but being as this property connects right to a large city lagoon, there is heavy fog, I double time it to my blind. I get in fire up the thermocell and take down the shoot through screens, won’t need them this early in the morning. There is a huge shadow over my part of the timber thanks to the many parking lot lights. Being off. I cant’ believe that I was able to sneak in with deer within 150 yards of me and the wind blowing towards them, But I have my waders on and I have fleece camo pants over them that have been literally soaked in homemade scent killer. I soaked my shirt the night before. I stay just inside the canopy of the trees and double time it there. About 6:15am I see deer just magically appear within about 80 yards of my blind they are in no hurry and not alarmed. There are two little does running around. They go over about 300 yards to the west side of the property within 10 feet of my TRUCK when they come back they have a little 4 pointer with them. Man I almost shot him, next thing I know, there are deer everywhere, I mean everywhere, I know what I want a small doe around 75lbs if I can. Because its going to be hot and I want to get some hams in the freezer quick. One walks in front of the blind and I Put an arrow right through her, perfect heart shot. She runs about 30 yards and just piles up. Man I love it when a Plan comes together…. I hurry up tear down my blind, and go looking for the deer, I find the arrow covered in blood. On my way I find the arrow I shot the day before, it has not a drop of blood on it, MISSED. Oh well at least within my first week of Hunting I have some great stories, and collected, 1 squirrel and 3 does. What a way to start the season.

September 28th, 2007 Well its my third weekend of hunting for deer. But I have been tring to balance work, family and hunting... gets to wear you thin. My work week consists of Engineering Management starting Monday around 4:30am and averages about 10-12 hours per day until Friday then I leave for home around 1:30pm and I try to get an evening hunt in on Friday. Well this is Friday Septembe 28th, I try to get in an evening hunt on some does, but none come out into the field where I am hunting until after dark... I will have to try again another day. Saturday September 29th, I try to get in a hunt in the morning, with my son, but we both were up a little later than we should of been and I think the end of the week got us wore out, he and I decide, we are too tired to hunt... (can't believe it...) so we sleep in. I decide to try a mid-morning hunt. I figure a little still-hunting in some timber I hunt, I always take 8 blunts with me, because I am an hunter of opportunity. Well the woods were unusually quiet, and the wind was all wrong, I am sure there is a storm coming this weekend, The wind has been basically South-Southeast for the first two weekends of hunting. Well Now I got a South-Southwest-sometimes West wind. I start to do some still hunting, but I didn't see a single deer, and not even my other favorite animal to hunt with a bow squirrels were unusually absent from the woods that day. Well after a couple of hours of hunting I decide to go to the Archery Shop, I always like to go and talk to them to see what's going on in the deer woods, I have found the local pro shop to be one of the best places for Informations (and sometimes mis-information) around. Well everyone was there, but most hadn't been hunting that day because of the unusually warm weather. (85.) Well I decide I will try an evening hunt. Generally the places I hunt have daily visits either morning or evening or both. Well, when I get home, I start doing some chores around the house. At about 2:00pm I decide I would start getting ready to go hunt. My wife (darling that she is) wanted some "quality time" she's not a hunter, but since she generally allows me to hunt un-interrupted all season. (September 15th to January 27th) so I decide to forego the evening hunt and spend some time with my wife. (Those younger fellas who are newly weds please take note, balance is important). Anyway after taking her out to dinner, I at least get her to go for a "drive" which turned into a scouting trip to all the places I hunt to see if there were deer, my main field at the mall was full of does, I think we counted about 15 of them. So I decide I would hunt there in the morning.

Sunday September 30th, 2007 Its great morning cool, but the winds not very good, swirling and about 25mph well I go to my first field I get in there about 4:30am there are a couple deer on the West side of the field, the winds blowing from the west, so I circle south and head east to my blind. Thinking the does will come by my blind, they did but they headed north and then east they got behind my blind and I could hear them rustling around. They got past me and back into the bedding area. This happened well before first shooting light. Disappointed, at about 7:30am I head over to LL timber and decide to go squirrel hunting. I get settled into a draw and pully out my HS squirrel call. I start a few barks and then I put my hand over the end and start some distress signals. The squirrels start moving about 50 yards away from me, rustling around. I stay put with my back against a dead fall. I keep up the calling and low and behold something comes towards me in a red flash!!! It was a full-grown red fox!! I dont' know who was more shocked me or him. Well its not fox season here yet, and even though the wind was swirling, I had soaked my clothes in the homemade scent killer. The fox turned around and left. I waited a couple of minutes then started barking and calling again. NOTE: when that fox came into the area everything got quiet. I mean the squirrels had quit barking and the birds quit chirping.) Guess what the fox came back about 40 yards away from me then he got north of me and the south wind he got a whiff I believe of me and he took off back the way he came from. I am definitely going to try and bowhunt for some foxes this year. Well I wait a few moments in silence, and then the woods start to come back alive. I start seeing suirrels everywhere. on the opposite ridge of course. Well I start a small calling sequence, a couple of barks, distress and then a few chatters. Finally a good size fox squirrel comes down out of the trees. (in this area I am near a lot of houses so I never shoot squirrels in the trees there. (Too Dangerous) Well I had just bought a new range finder, Nikon 440 believe me I don't know how I got along without it. I have an Inteli-Optic Rangefinder, I gave it to my son. Well the Squirrel is about 55 yards away. I wait until the squirrel moves into a 45yard range. I put my 40 yard pin on the squirrel's head, it moves about 7 feet closer towards me. And I make a release, and I let the satellite arrow with a 100gr bludgeon on it. Perfect head shot. The fat fox squirrel dropped in its tracks. I know now that this kind of hunting is very very important to become a more confident shot in the field. That shot most of the time I would never take it on a deer. It has more to do with a mental block than anything. Well with trying to head shot squirrels either you are going to get a fatal hit or miss completely. I think that when a few more leaves fall I am going to dedicate much more time to squirrel hunting and couple it with predator calling. My guess is that a Squirrel is a feast for the little foxes all over this timber. Well I go back home, man I am exhausted, work all week and hunt a hard all weekend it gets to you. Well its about 3pm after a long nap, I do back to my field by the Mall and get set up there are ground hogs in the field I try to make a 30 yard shot on one on my way in... just missed him. I believe that groundhogs and squirrels are two animals that one must hunt with a bow, to try and spot and stalk them. Ground hogs are in open cover, so you can simulate (in my opinion) a western open country hunt. And squirrels are in the thick timber which helps with keeping quiet against two animals with excellent eyesight. well I get settled into the blind its about 4:30pm and the sky looks dark. I mean really ominous. Well at about 5:30 a deer runs right by my blind. And stops about 70yards away, then I look across the field and there are 5 more deer 300 yards to the west. The wind is blowing from the west, The deer come within 45 yards of me, but I don't feel comfortable with a 25mph wind to make such a shot. They never come any closer, but then it was like God dumped a five gallon bucket of water and it poured, lightning and thunder until about 7pm this is the advantage of a ground blind, well since I would have to cover an open field in a lightning storm, I call my wife and ask her to come over to the mall get in my truck and drive to my blind and pick me up. This is another advantage to suburban hunting (easy access) she does and we load up all my stuff. I leave the blind for the next weekend. I want the deer to get used to it, plus with a rainstorm it will wash away all the human scent. With my using chest waders to travel to and from my hunting sight, I am leaving very little trace. Also one thing I do in this field is drive in there an hour earlier than I need to, drop all my stuff off then drive back out. I then am able to double-time it to my blind without a lot of noise or fuss. Vehicles dont' scare suburban deer. Same as Farmer's tractors dont/ Well even though this weekends hunt resulted in no deer. I kept my wife happy, actually got some rest, and I left myself set-up for next weekend. pretty good continuation of the season.

Updated Content 10-22-2007 I have been having a rash of bad luck. I have to date this season shot, 3 deer, recovered 3 deer, missed four deer, observed 20 deer, killed 4 tree branches. I did however improve my stalking skills and on the street savvy whitetails in my area that's a trick to accomplish, because they are all eyes, ears and nose. Last night, I was sitting in a treestand, when I started I was facing the field at QPM and the wind was blowing on my back from the way the deer should come, of course about 2/3 through my hunt just before prime-time it changed too late to get out of the stand, One doe comes out, she obviously following the same pattern as always, but was out at 50 yards according to my Nikon 440. Well it was very windy, so I chose not to take the shot, I watched her for at least a 15 minutes she walks patiently out about 200 yards then two more little does come out same thing, 50 yards out, won't take the shot. I am expecting mommas to come out, never showed... well I climb down (yes for all of you who know me, I actually hung a treestand and sat in it LOL) and I start towards my truck heading directly north towards TARGET, well I see a glimmer of a tail through the brush, the wind is blowing basically straight west into the timber, so I drop my BOWSHIELD (come back for it later) and duck into the timber about 75 yards from my intended quarry, there are two full grown does about 75 yards ahead. I crawl throught he brush and I am not very quiet, but I uset he wind to my advantage (about 30mph) everytime the trees rustle I move 10 yards at a time as quick as I can. Finally I make it to a large brushpile which is more dirt, (woodchuck haven) I crawl to the side of it and peak, I am looking right at a Large Doe who is bedded down not even 10 yards from me. Man this is exciting? well light is fading fast, she didn't make me out, thanks to the Ghillie suit I am wearing and the wind blowing the scent away. She won't STAND!!! so I decide to do the next best think, I grab a clump of dirt and lay my back against the dirt mount and start chucking them over the mound, it took 10 tries for her to finally stand up. She walks about 5 yards away still within Bow range if she goes any farther she will wind me and take off. I Lean up and take aim... 12 yard shot, I can make that no problem just early today, I had made a 38 yard shot on a Fox Squirrel, this is no problem, I take my time Release SMACK, another baby locust tree for the wall. I missed the branch that blended in so well with the Does body. She took off like a rocket into the timber. then she got a whiff of me and started snorting and carrying on. she was mad. Well then I am thinking, Either I hit her bad or missed her clean. I get a flashlight and start looking for my arrow well there's the last 6" with fletch attached. I couldn't find the rest, I decide to go into work late (have to go to St. Louis anyway) and go back in the morning, sure enough I found the rest of the arrow, and that doe has been throughly educated. I am pretty proud of being able to stalk within 8-10 yards of a very mature whitetail doe who was bedded down facing the direction I was coming from.

10-27-2007 Deer No. 4 Well this morning I had set-up in my Ground Blind. I got into the blind by 5:30am a full hour before sunrise. I had just read an article in Bowhunting World about rattling while it is still dark, so I do it, I rattle a pair of horns I brought with me. for about 1 minute. I wait 5 mintues and I do it again. Then I stop rattling until it gets daylight. I do another sequnce plus blow on my doe can. I bought one of those Quaker Boy cans that has the bellows on it, Well its too noisy carrying it in So I took the bellows off, and just blow on it, it works great, best doe sounds I have ever heard. Anyway, I can hear squirrels or foxes messing around in the leaves. Then right at the crack of dawn, I see HORNS its the Big G2 as I like to call him. He closes the distance quick, at 23 though he hangs up in the brush, I can barely see his shoulder, I am pondering, "do I shoot" well I chose not too, he hung around for about 15 minutes, then he cambe back from whence he came. The thing I did realize, is I believe he hung up because he could smell the Doe Estrust, and the Dominant buck scent wicks, but there was no visual to go along with it. I think next time I will use a decoy or two. Well after that fiasco its about 8:30am and I decide to get out of the blind, and pull it. But since this is obviously the bucks current travel route, I put a treestand up in that area. there are fresh scrapes and rubs all over the place. For those of you who know me, getting off the ground is not my thing, but its obvious that if the deer haven't spooked from the ground blind and I hunt out of it a few times I will change it up. a good ground blind location can also be a good tree stand location. Well I decide to go do a l ittle pre-rut scouting on the south side of the property. As I am walking the logging road I see scrape and rubs about every 15 yards or so this goes on for nearly 300 yards. I know it s going to be good next week. Well I bump a bunch of turkeys. Then I get into my truck and head for the house. Take a nap. and go back out again... Well I went back out this afternoon, there were deer everywhere, I couldn't connect earlier in the afternoon, but I went over in the late afternoon to the Quincy Place property, got on the stand, but the deer came out about 100 yards to the west of me. Since shooting light was quickly going to expire, I decide to get down and get close. The Wind was NNW, but the problem was I had to get through the tough brush south of the deer which I did it took me about 20 mintues to close the gap to 40 yards. The wind which was at my face earlier had shifted to my side. There was a little doe at 40 yards, I knew I couldn't get any closer, so I took aim and nailed her. Now she runs over a little knoll and I loose sight of her, but I knew I made a good shot. She went down not even 15 yards from where I shot her. I went and collected my doe. Took her home and she is hanging in the backyard thanks to the new cold weather.

10-28-2007 Deer No. 5 I went out Sunday morning to try and find a buck to share my arrow with... well first I started on the northwest side of the LL Property... no luck didn't even see a deer for 2 hours, which now my new number. 2 hours in a stand if I don't see a deer I move to another favorable wind position stand on the same property... anyway I move to the S.West Side of the property, I have a climber so I get in position and while I am trying to get settled in (bow on the ground still) a little 4 point buck comes up the trail, of course he saw the bow laying on the ground and then looked right up the tree at me, I stood perfectly still then decided after he turned to kind of jiggle the bow, educated him, he took off in a light run I hurry up and get my bow into the tree, settle in and begin a rattling sequence. Then the funniest thing I ever saw happened... I wish I had a camera, this little spike I mean he was maybe 80lbs with 3" brow tines only, comes barreling up the draw looking for a fight, I mean he was wanting to beat something down, LOL It took everything I had to keep from laughing. I could of shot him, because spikes are considered antlerless in my state, but I thought that he has enough spunk at that size he may grow into something big. So I let him go. well two hours later and no more deer so I climb down out of the tree pack up my stuff and go back to the truck. I decide to go to the Quincy property more or less to just check out the area, after I get done walking around I am coming out and there is this 6 pointer looking at me from about 70 yards away, wow at 12noon that's a good sign he was the same one I had seen the other morning with his nose to the ground. Well I go home and take a nap, then get my climber and head back to the LL property This time on the North Side. Theres a spot where the owner pushed down a bunch of trees the deer are using the path to come through, at least the previous nights I had seen deer there. Well first thing I do is get up in the tree and immediate get my bow hung up. well I am hearing all kinds of little critters, squirrels turkeys, birds, I am in the tree for about 1-1/2 hours getting close to the time to get down, when here comes a doe, she's about 30 yards out and I have little maple tree in my way, the doe goes to the edge of the timber. Lucky me some walkers she spots, so she comes back into the timber, the funny thing was this little kit fox followed her out of the timber, it was only like 4 yards from the doe, but when it saw the Couple it ran back into the timber, then came back with a chipmunk in its mouth, the doe was curious to see what the fox was up to so when the fox sat down below my stand and started to eat the doe walked right by me it took a minute to draw my bow, without her spotting me. The thing is I did not have a favorable wind. The doe came from the east and the wind was from the north west. She had her nose up, but I believe with the combination of scent killer, freshly washed clothing a shower and being up about 12 feet off the ground helped. I was also using H.S. Fresh Earth Scent wafers. anyway. she walks by my stand I am at full draw, when I turn to get into position, the fox busted me!!! and took off like a shot. The doe followed him wanting to know why he ran away. I whistled once... and let the arrow go. It struck home right through the doe and into the dirt, Lumenok lit up. I knew I made a great shot, the arrow was dark red. The doe took off, but I hear the wonderful crash, fact is I am so glad I have a 10 yard pin on my bow, because I dont' shoot from elevated positions much. but it works great out to 20 yards from a 12-15' height So its my perfect treestand pin. Well I get ready to climb down and I can hear coyotes howling, so I know I need to find this doe tonight. Of course she was able to run 50 yards down the ditch. But there she was plain as day with an awesome blood trail. I took her home and field dressed her, and then placed her on the ground next to the doe I had got the night before, thanks to the cold snap, I could hang them outside for a night. Here's a photo, you can see the first doe is wrapped in cheesecloth. Those dressing bags are awesom. Cheap 2.00 and protect the meat from all the critters plus its better when they are hanging your backyard, even though I also wrap them in burlap. Here's a photo.

11-2-2007 Deer/Doe No. 6 Well I got a few days, off, Picked up a doe this morning as she came running under my stand at 8:30am she ran down the hill and crashed. The funny thing is there was a really nice 8 pointer down the hill. He snorted at the dead doe, and hung around for awhile, so the doe must of been in heat. I tried everything rattling, grunting, he just wandered off in the opposite direction. Well back to it tomorrow, this is the second day that I have seen a big buck on the same ridge. Hopefully third time is a charm. I picked up some tinks 69 I tried some S&P for the last few days it hasn't worked. 13.00 bottle of unowhat anyway, I have her hanging in the backyard, I will try to take a picture of her tomorrow for the boards... Have a good one. Here I am with my catch for the Day my First Buck and my 6th Doe of the Season. (previous story)

November 5th, 2007 First Buck (Spiker) Deer No. 7 Well I came to a realization after reading an article in Midwest Outdoors entitled “Trophy Does with a Bow” for the past couple of weeks, I was not having fun bow hunting… I believe it was self inflicted pressure. I have been hunting a “big buck” and I was really feeling like I was failing at the “pro” bowhunter ambitions… well then I read this article and realized what was missing for those two weeks of hunting FUN. I got wrapped up in trying to video tape myself nailing a big buck, and I had never killed a buck with a bow, unrealistic expectations, even for a bowhunter in Iowa which is probably the best state in the country for a bowhunter. Now I got back to having fun and connected this past weekend with a doe and a Spike buck. And even though my first buck is not a Pope and Young monster, its my trophy. No I wont get it mounted, but I will mount those little horns on a piece of wood as a remembrance. Now on to the story of the day… I had been hunting the Leisure Living property hard for a few days, and decided to hunt a stand I hadn’t been in for a few weeks, I got into the stand just before first light. The stand being an inexpensive Gorilla “Baby Gorilla” stand. Works great for my purpose and I can buy them on sale for 36.00 at Blaine’s Farm and Fleet. Here is a picture of my stand Set-Up. You can see the blue rope I use for pulling my bow up. It’s a 3/8” rope, I like a heavy rope that is attached to my harness strap on the tree. I use a prussic knot attached to my harness while I climb the tree for safety. Here is a picture of what the area looks like from my stand. You can see the trailers where the residents live in Leisure living not even 100 yards from where I am hunting. In the stand. The deer funnel between my stand which is on the edge of the ridge and the trailers. I spent the better part of the morning sneaking in (which really only takes about 3 minutes from the truck to the stand. Right between the trailers. I get into the stand and I am pretty sure that the morning may be a bust. I got into the stand around 5:30am and got settled in. Sunrise was at 6:15am this morning. I don’t generally head into the stand much more than an hour or so before I can legally hunt. Sometimes that’s a problem, but I feel like if I have patterned the deer properly and know when they head for bedding areas and feeding areas. Getting there two hours early in the dark is nothing more than getting myself set-up to fail. Because I move from stand to stand a lot during the day. At I am waiting in the stand, and watch these two little baby raccoons as they climbed out of the pond and headed up the hill. Then about 10 minutes later out of no where this big bodied spike buck appears! In Iowa spikes count only as antlerless deer so I decide to take this deer, mainly because the property owner has been trying to get him off his trees, the buck has been tearing the trees to shreds. Well the buck walks right under my stand. At the corner of the pond he came right around the west side of the pond through the thick brush which is 75 yards under those trailers in the picture shown (please forgive the date and time) being wrong on the camera. I take aim with my Fred Bear Truth shooting Muzzy (100gr 4blade) tipped Satellite Bronze arrows. I let loose the when the buck is quartering away from me at about 12 yards Now for those of you who don’t know my trick (not being a treestand hunter with a lot of practice) I have a 10 yard pin on my 5 pin viper sight. It is what I call my single Treestand pin. The reason is that when I am elevated out to about 25 yards this pin puts everything within 2” of my aim point, automatically making me hold the bow low for elevated shots. Well I am a firm believer in Jud Cooney’s way of tracking, so after about 10 minutes of getting my things together, I know that if there were any more deer since he ran back from the way he came they were gone by now. Plus I had been seeing this spike for a few different occasions always by himself or with this young forkhorn. So I get down out of the tree to check my arrow. As you can see the lumenok worked perfectly and the arrow was covered in blood (again I apologize for the date and time on my pictures not being right) Well the direction the deer headed was back north from where he came of course I did hear him crash, but lets kind of follow the blood trail and check it out. As you can see there was quite a blood trail. This was a hard quartering away shot. Many don’t like this shot but from up high I think its my favorite shot to take more than broad side, because I aim for the front opposite Leg/shoulder area, which when done right cuts through everything, you can’t hardly miss anything doing it this way. Well lets see I keep heading back north over another little dip. And I can see my deer on the next rise not even 40 yards from where I shot him. Man my first Buck with a Bow, this is awesome. As you can see there is the entrance hole made by the Muzzy 4 Blade 100 Gr. And here is the exit hole. Which as you can see was a complete pass through. From the looks of the blood and the autopsy afterwards I cut through both lungs and hit the heart one of the most humane kills I have made yet. I love the 10 yard treestand pin. No holding over under just aim and shoot. An added note, I got this squirrel while leaving the area for the day at 35 yards man they taste good.

11-10-2007 Deer/Doe No. 8 Today, I started hunting at L.L. property, in the same stand I got the spike in. about 7:30 the parade started, 4 little does came across in front of me. When the last one stopped at 30 yards, I took aim and of course... I hit a twig and the arrow took a sharp turn to the left. and the deer ran away unscathed. Well I didn't see any more deer by 10:30am so I got down and decided to go to shaddocks, I drove the 2 miles to their house parked in the driveway grabbed my bow and bowshield, and got into the ladderstand that a friend of mine put up there last year. I didn't even have my bow pulled up when two does popped under my stand, I pulled my bow up, and then another doe came in front of my stand at 12 yards. I decided to to shoot her. Unfortunately, after I shot her which was a good shot, an 8 pointer stepped out, of course I was watching my doe, and didn't even notice him like a grey ghost until it was too late. Oh well, I started tracking the doe, about 15 minutes later. and she had run into the THICKEST BRUSH, I have ever seen, I tracked her for about 75 yards through this stuff and she was laying on the ground I pulled her directly out of the brush and across the rear border of a couple of the neighbors property. When I got to the landowner's back yard, the Mrs. was out in the yard with the dog, she thought I had been wasting my time because she hadn's seen any deer, but she just didn't notice the big doe behind me I was pulling with my harness. When I got her out to the truck, one of the neighbors was driving by and offered to help me load her into the back of my truck. I love hunting in Suburban areas. Well I was getting ready to leave when I get a text from a buddy of mine, he said, "I hope you are in your stand at Shaddock's because a big eight pointer is headed your way" well i turned around and headed right back to the stand, I got there and two little does again under the stand as soon as I get up into the stand, then the biggest 8 pointer I have ever seen came out. He didn't come within range. But he headed right up through the houses. Well after that fiasco, my buddy Joe called me and asked me if I wanted to hunt with him this afternoon, since he tipped me off to the 8 pointer, I said, I will meet you at th abandoned house. We met and then we went into the timber just north of where we were both hunting. We found a sweet funnel that comes off a hay pasture and into some big timbers, we hunted from 1:30pm til 5:30 we saw 4 forkhorns and about a dozen does. But no big bucks. We left our stands in there and we are gonig back in the morning. I think it will be a good place to hunt in the morning. Better than the evening.

1-11-2007 Deer/Doe No. 9 Well after nearly two months of chasing big bucks, I finally decided to hunt my way, I took another doe today, which was an awesome feeling, we have had bad weather, ice, snow, we were without electricity for nearly a week due to ice that killed the grid here. Well this morning, I get up early and head to a spot at LL timber that is on the northside of the residences. I had earlier the night before set-up a Gorilla Treestand with some climbing sticks, I must say that it was awesome because last week I had set-up with this same set-up and saw that I was nearly 50 yards from where I need to be, let me tell you, the climbing stick/hang on stand combination is totally the way to go especially when you never know where you can set-up. They make it very easy to get in and out of the tree. I have killed most of my deer from a hang-on with screw in steps, a ground blind, or my climber this year, and I have to admit, the ability to get down out of the tree quickly and to set-up for a few days if necessary is awesome. Back to the hunt... well I saw 3 does but they didn't give me a shot, so after 3 hours in the tree I climb down (i love suburban bowhunting, becaue if you have the deer really patterned, either they are showing up at a certain time or they are not). I decide to try another spot for the evening, which was a ground blind I had set-up where I had spotted two big bucks the weekend before. Unfortunately those two bucks never gave me a shot. Well it was unusually sunny and since this blind faces south east, I couldn't see even if I would get a shot, so I decide to head 300 yards across the dam of the pond and get into my old trust tree stand that is set-up 20 yards off the intersection of the dam of the pond and the logging road, it is where I shot my first buck and numerous does. Well its late about 3:30pm and a doe comes from the trailers heading south she's about 35 yards west of the stand, in some saplings, I decide not to take the shot because 30 yards past her is a trailer, she goes around me, the wind is blowing WSW so she never winds me, the funny thing is about 10 minutes after she gets behind me, I see her cross through the bottom up the hill and past the ground blind on the opposite hill!!! Well I am contemplating leaving the stand (you can tell I have been hunting hard since Sept. 15th) but I stay in the stand, I have no calls nothing, just an ambush. Well I hear some crashing and here comes a yearling doe running through the timber busts through some multiflora rose on the pond edge and stops 21 yards due east of my stand on the dam bank, I am thinking (is there a buck behind her???) it was an argument that the trophy hunter in me lost! I took aim being sure to use my 10 yard pin (its a great little trick I have learned to use when I am at a sharp angle,), and let the arrow fly. I hear the familar "thud" and the doe walks about 8 yards and stops, staring south down the logging road, now I am thinking (oh crap, I gut shot her) because she had that "sick" look deer get when you hit the liver or the gut area. Well I decide (I am not tracking her all over the country, I nock another arrow and put my 10 yard pin on her and thud I hear it again, she runs this time, about 20 yards down hill and piles up. I have to admit, I didn't have the confidence I had at the early season, with my work schedule I have not had the time to practice like I did last year. I am only hunting weekends only with a smattering couple of days off to hunt. Whereas last year, I hunted nearly EVERYDAY of the season (at least every evening) I am pretty happy though because I got my first buck (a spike) and shot quite a few does, I still have two more weekends to hunt and hopefully a big deer will come in. Here's a few pictures of me and my youngest with my doe

SPECIAL NOTE: One of the neat things I saw, was that when I examined the doe when I went to drag her out guess what I found? (2) Two entrance wounds, 1" apart and (1) one exit wound. talk about great shooting (so much for bad confidence) perfect quartering away on both of those shots, it was realy something because I always aim for the "opposite" side. Well two more weekends of deer hunting left, 8 weeks of league, then 5 weeks of Turkey Hunting. A few weeks of bowfishing, but I hope to keep calling coyotes all summer as well._________________Sticks N'Limbs Pro - Carson Optics Pro Staff Trophyline Pro - Tru-Ball Pro Staff Western-Rivers - Rackulator ProStaff Dead-On ProStaff IBO-ASA-IBA-BAI Member Bear Truth, SQ32, Element, Buckmaster 4000 http://www.suburbanbowhunter.com/

Last edited by gamohunter on Mon Jan 14, 2008 6:24 pm; edited 15 times in total