Two Tags and Down to the Wire

I was down to the wire with three more days left and two tags along with two people each waiting to get a tasty young Iowa Doe.  I seem to do a lot of down to the wire hunting when it comes to turkeys and deer.  This time it was different.  It has been really really, I have to say that twice, cold. 

I had the opportunity to hunt my old haunt next to the levee along the Missouri River, but whenever I scouted the area, I saw few fresh tracks, and no deer at all.  With the flooding that took place along the river last spring and summer, they may have moved out to higher ground or just farther east into some additional stands of timber.  It was back to the land north of Oakland, IA, where I have had success earlier this year.

All of a sudden the weather changed and upon getting ready to go I saw it was really foggy.  In fact, I could hardly see across the street.  Heading to Oakland, driving across Iowa at times was like being on a roller coaster.  Up and down the hills I went. What was interesting was that the fog hung on the top half of the hills and the bottoms were clear.  It was like a cloud bank had settled just above the low areas of the ground.  With this in mind, I might have good visibility along the river bottom.  Not so, the fog was there, but not as bad.  Stumbling along, I made it to the area I wanted to hunt.  I sat right under a tree and faced the west towards the timber, and waited.  Visibility improved, and I could see about 100 yards, but nothing appeared.  The landowner called me, and I told him where I was sitting.  He then drove to the north end of his woods and wove around until he reached me.  He flushed nothing, but it was nice to have someone drive.  Next he went south, and tried it again, but nothing came up from the south.  By now it was 10 AM, and I headed for home.  In the evening, I went over to the levee along the river, but saw nothing.  Two more days to go.

The next morning, I was up and into the south end of the timber.  The wind was light from the north.
The landowner called me around 8 AM asking if I had seen anything. The answer was NO.  He got into his truck and drove the ground again.  Just about the time I heard his engine, out of the south end of the timber stepped three anterless deer.  At 30 yards, I took the first one. She was a nice mature doe.  This would make for excellent dining.  The other two headed off to the east.

We dressed her out and loaded up the doe. The landowner then headed down south to see if he could drive some up toward me.  It was a possibility.  The wind had shifted to more of an easterly direction, so I would not get winded.  After an hour, I heard the engine of the truck and he appeared.  Nothing came by me so I called it quits, not only for the day, but for the season. The temps would be in single digits the next day, and I had reached my limit of cold weather.  I was one short, but the two people I was hunting for could split this one.  She was a nice mature doe.  The pictures at the bottom show the ground I was hunting.  In places the snow was over my knees.  This is Iowa in the winter.

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.

Hank



At the south end of the timber facing north.  I harvested a deer from this location



I sat under this tree in the fog and faced west into the timber,  Corn and pasture behind me.



Looking west from the tree.  This should have been a good place, but nothing came down the lane to my right.



Looking north up the lane where I was expecting the deer to come down.  It is really good looking ground.







 


 


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