| Author | Message | ||
     Brian J. mcKee (Brimcowa)  BOC ROYALTYPost Number: 424 Registered: 4-2002 Rating: N/A |
Saturday I just couldn't help myself! The deer licenses went on sale and I musta been first in line! The DNR is recommending that hunters pass on the bucks this year and help get the herd under control by focusing on does this season. I have to admit that I've never shot a doe and will have to change my attitude on opening day, if not sooner! If I see that 12-pointer I spotted just before shed, last winter, I hope I can keep my finger away from the trigger! But man, what an awesome buck! The mass was incredible and he had to be pushing over three hundred pounds (almost twice the size of my 8-pointer I harvested)!! Do your area a favor this year...try to think doe!! The herds will thank you for it and the bucks will get that much more incredible the following season! While the fishing's good, I can wait for December, but just barely!!!!!!! "Those that would sacrifice their liberties to gain security deserve neither" | ||
| Donnie Caton (Wolvrine) BOC ROYALTYPost Number: 351 Registered: 3-2002 Rating: N/A |
Hey Brimcowa, I've got a friend who has a farm up around Winterset, IA. He is supposed to take me up and introduce me to 5 farmers around his ground who have supposedly already given me permission to hunt their land. Do you know anything about the area? These guys are not really hunters at all but tell me the bucks are huge. It'll be a non-resident tag for me, and I'm trying to figure out whether to put in for a shotgun, or a muzzleloader tag. I haven't even received my info yet on it. Any insight will be appreciated! Get 'er done!!! | ||
| Walter Lee Flack (Wolfman) BOC ROYALTYPost Number: 229 Registered: 7-2002 Rating: N/A |
Brimcowa, you are right, I think the does venison is better tasting anyway,I try to fill my doe tag for freezer meat first. The trophy bucks seemed to be getting thined out everywhere, the herd needs those trophy genes. When I lived in Illinois there was this one doe that I knew and was able to recognize when i saw her, this particular doe gave birth to 2 buck fawns in a single year not once but twice in 4 years. That is the one doe that I passed up if I seen her during the season. | ||
| Brian J. mcKee (Brimcowa) BOC ROYALTYPost Number: 428 Registered: 4-2002 Rating: N/A |
I hear you Wolfman...this will be my fourth year hunting the same WMA (only my second for deer). I'm starting to get the lay of the land and truly am starting to feel part of the landscape. Wolvrine, you might want to try a couple of options concerning Winterset. One, I think that the spot in question is near Des Moines, so if you go to mit/nrcs iowa on your search engine you should be able to click on the general area to get a feel for the land...I would recommend the 1:24000th scale map. It has good color and resolution. The area is quite beautiful with gently rolling hills interspersed with deep valleys and clear streams that are buffered by thick stands of ancient hardwoods, mainly hickory, oak, maple and ash. When you get there, listen to what they have to say and then focus on the funnel areas between bedding, water, and food sources that offer cover. The map in question can be printed and that way, once you get an idea where the farms are located in relation to your map, you will be able to highlight the most-likely routes and save yourself alot of legwork! Good Luck...there's a couple of new guys that have added to the board in the Iowa section of the board that live alot closer to Winterset than I who might be invaluable in the future if you just go there, take some notes and E-mail them... "Those that would sacrifice their liberties to gain security deserve neither" | ||
| Donnie Caton (Wolvrine) BOC ROYALTYPost Number: 357 Registered: 3-2002 Rating: N/A |
Thanks Brian, I'll check it out. I also found out that I could get an archery tag, and the season is much longer. I think that this would be my best bet as it will give me several weekends of scouting/hunting. I have one deer stand that is right on the Missouri/Iowa line, so I know it is excellent. I think that Winterset is south and west of Des Moines. Anyway, I'll check out the maps, thanks again...Donnie Get 'er done!!! | ||
| Shawn Dauphin (Bigcats22) BOC INITIATE Post Number: 4 Registered: 5-2002 Rating: N/A |
Hey guys i got 3 deer this year 1 buck and 2 does but opening day of shotgun man i missed the big one it sucked but i ended up getting a six pointer.I only spent 3 hours out and got 3 deer it was amazing they were coming from everywhere.Did anybody get a big one? write back. | ||
| Brian J. mcKee (Brimcowa)  BOC PALADINPost Number: 635 Registered: 4-2002 Rating: N/A |
Way to go, Shawn!! For me,I went to the same spot at Syracuse WMA that I utilized last year when I got my 8-pointer. I was in place with the wind in my face at daybreak...heard alotta shooting going on all around me but didn't see or hear anything 'cept some brushbusters who didn't have a clue, cutting through my field of fire. I started to still hunt towards some late morning shots in the hopes of ambushing a doe getting chased around by gunshot. After a couple hours I had moved maybe four hundred yds along the southern edge of a large meadow. The doe came out of some buckbrush to my southeast and stood for a shot that couldn't have been more than 20 yds, and I nailed her right behind the left shoulder, right in the furnace! She did a somersault from the impact and landed sprawled on her side...I only load one slug so that I'm forced to make the first shot count, and I suddenly became dumbfounded when she jumped up and headed north over a slight rise and into that tall prairie grass. Blood was everywhere when I went over to the spot where she had gone down. After some time I followed the trail over the rise and when I looked out over that 20-30 acre area of meadow I could count four other hunters cutting through the grass!! I knew I was in deep doo-doo at that point. No way she was gonna lay down and die in the middle of a convention, but I pushed on anyway and tracked her for the rest of the day... Next morning I was back at it, searching and beating down every brush pile. It got to the point where I was literally on my hands and knees spotting traces of blood on a blade of grass almost too small for the naked eye! Then trying to determine if it was hers or not and which direction she may have headed! Around two o'oclock, I ran into a DNR officer and some other hunters who exclaimed that more than likely, someone else had harvested my doe and that I was wasting my time and better luck next year (with a smirk)...who would wanna take someone else's doe? What kinda lowlifes was I sharing the woods with? I proceeded over to Bennett Cedar County Conservation area and set up on a ridge to wait for anything that might come out of the creek bottom and use that gulley as a funnel to get to their evening food plots...some young guy came out of the parking area behind me about two hundred yards and stood on the top of the ridge over my left shoulder, maybe fifty yards up the ridge. He never saw me from what I could tell, and after about ten minutes I heard a commotion below and whatever it was, it was heading up that draw. About the same time my young friend started to saunter in the general direction of the disturbance, dragging his firearm by the barrel and looking for all intents and purposes to be on a walk in the park. He couldn't have heard the disturbance or he would have stayed put, right? He stopped atop the next ridge, maybe 50 yds in front of me and to my left. I could see the does now, about 150 yards ahead of me as they came over the next furthest ridge (by its base) and stood there sunning themselves and acting quite content with the situation...but I didn't like it one bit. I whistled real low and the young hunter glanced my way and, WOW! He finally saw me, and...waved! I made a motion with my hand for him to get down and he put on his thinking cap and obliviously waved back, grabbed the barrel of his gun and started toward the next ridge at which the does were congregated near the base of, and still minding their own business. Before he even got to the base of that next ridge, the three does, who now had noticed him, now decided that it was time to flee and I watched in dismay as they headed back the way they had come!! My young "Great White Hunter" never even saw them or heard them, and will never know how close I came to considering...never mind!! I never saw another deer for the last three days of the season. By then, the jist was up and they had all headed to private land that was less crowded by drunken idiots 'driving' through their feeding and bedding areas. I doubt that I'll ever hunt a WMA again. I squirrel hunt at least three times a week...sometimes every day; heading up to the deer season, and could easily have poached a deer with a .22 through the eye on any ONE OF THOSE DAYS. To finally have the season arrive only to have had to live through this nightmare is still incomprehensible to me and I may never recover from it! My time in the woods is precious to me...to have it ruined like this, by others who think that they're in Montana somewhere and can go stomping over hill and vale until something catches their eye is more than I can take a second time around...yep, you might say I'm a bit disgruntled and my freezer is still empty, too! Anybody like squirrel? Glad I got this off my chest. It's been eating at me ever since the second week of December... "Those that would sacrifice their liberties to gain security deserve neither" | ||
| Bryan Shrum (Whistler) BOC PALADINPost Number: 747 Registered: 7-2002 Rating: N/A |
Well, my season is just about up too. I got an 8 pointer, a 5 point and a nice doe, all early in the season. I was out for 4 days last week and for the first two days we had nothing but rain. Didn't see a deer in those two days. The third day I saw nothing in the morning, and in the afternoon I was sitting on a stump just inside of a pine thicket watching an old fire break on the side of a hill. With about 30 minutes of light left I started hearing a deer walking up the hill in the leaves. Of course it was coming from the only place that was obscured from where I was sittin. I heard it come to within probably 30 yard of me and just walked off down the hill, I never saw it. That night the temps dropped to below freezing and everything froze. I had covered all the cloth on my treestand so it was fine when I got there in the morning. When I got up the tree and got settled in, I noticed that everytime I moved there was this creaking sound coming from the side rails on the stand. Water had frozen inside the seams of the rails and was making noise with every move I made. It was fine as long as I sat still. Well, about 7:45 4 does were walking up a hill to my right side and if I was gonna get a shot before they got downwind of me I had to stand, turn and get a bead on them. When I stood and started to turn the stand creaked and they bolted. 15 minutes later it had warmed enough that the stand was quiet again. Dumb luck. That night we had come home to my place and I decided to go out and sit in a hunting box one of my friends had built on 15 foot leggs. When I got back there I realized I had forgotten my stool, and I can't kneel for extended times like that. So I decided to just go up in one of the permanent tree stands I have on a hill near my back fence line. The hunting box is right on the edge of the main valley that runs across my land and has an excellent view of the whole valley and most of the upper hillside. The permanent stand has an excellent view of the whole top of that same hill, but limited view of anything over the edge of the valley. About 4:30 I heard what I thought was abouit 6 or 7 deer walking just below the top or the hill where I coouldn't see them. On my way out 30 minutes later, when I got in my truck and started for home I had to stop for 6 or 7 deer crossing the road coming out of my valley. Go figure! If I just hadn't forgotten that stool! Oh well, I can't complain. Brimcowa, having had to hunt on public land for 5 years before I bought my place, I know what it's like my friend. We still go to the Public Hunting Area, but we usually wait until late in the season before we get serious about hunting out there, that's when we have it mostly to ourselves. Most of the people here hunt like heck the first month then just quit. I have my best luck in the later weeks of the season. This year was the exception, got one opening day on my land, one in the PHA Thanksgiving weekend and one my neighbor's place about 3 weeks ago. Hopefully next year will be better for you. Just getting out in the woods is great for me. It was a good season, now back to fishing! Bryan 
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| Jaime Anzaldo (Janzaldo)  BOC SQUIREPost Number: 157 Registered: 10-2002 Rating: N/A |
Better luck next time Bryan and brian. I agree with you Bryan just going outdoors is great. Brian what calibor do you hunt deer with? ever hunt for turkey? I do not hunt yet, but want to some day. I always wanted to hunt for wild pig,turkey,duck,pheasant and as of recently, deer. | ||
| Darrel Miller (Cornhusker)  BOC STAFFPost Number: 1171 Registered: 3-2002 Rating: N/A |
Jamie, I had been showing you some bucks my son had taken in my picture section. Go take a look at a 36 point white tail. HUGE rack. | ||
| Jaime Anzaldo (Janzaldo) BOC SQUIREPost Number: 160 Registered: 10-2002 Rating: N/A |
Hey Darrel, I saw the picture of that buck; real inpressive set of antlers, thought it would weigh more than it said in the article. What is your son's name Darrel? Hey Shane, hunting with a muzzle loader must be great; must be hard to get close to a deer to be accurate. | ||
| Bryan Shrum (Whistler) BOC PALADINPost Number: 753 Registered: 7-2002 Rating: N/A |
Jaime, I can put three rounds consistently in an area the size of a half dollar, 1 inch above the bullseye at 100 yards with my muzzleloaders. They're scoped, and I use 180 grain .44 Cal sabots in a .50 cal muzzleloader. Loaded with 90 grains of Cleanshot powder. I have a Thompson Center Hawken and a CVA inline. Both are that accurate. That means the bullet is a .44 cal resting in a plastic holder if you will. The holder is .50 cal. If only I could see a deer to shoot with one, that would be great. Been quite a few years since I shot one with the muzzleloader. This is what a sabot looks like.  Bryan
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