Iowa “22” late muzzloader

[Eastforkmarine]

Day 1 mid day report, SE wind at 10 mph, flurries and 33 degrees, pulling all day sit in box blind in small valley west of farm house that has a large cedar patch,20 ish doe and one spike and a bruiser at 300 yards gave us a quick drive by .. and 6 long beards .. hopefully big boy shows himself before dark again.

[whaler1]

Great first morning. 

[Eastforkmarine]

28 deer , two of which were bucks , 6 long beards, two bald eagles, and a pack of yotes sounding off on the way out. Good first day , North wind tomorrow and cold temperatures are pushing us to other property across the road ..

[whaler1]

Will box blinds be available most of your trip?

[Eastforkmarine]

Yes there are five , in a place for each wind we also have a **** load of tanks and two buddy heaters if needed.. and farmer has a heated ranger .. 

[whaler1]

Awesome. Good luck in the morning. 

[Eastforkmarine]

1 minute ago, whaler1 said:

Awesome. Good luck in the morning. 

Thanks Billy 

[Gator]

You got to put in your time...

[steelie]

Good luck man. Following this thread...

[Eastforkmarine]

1 hour ago, Gator said:

You got to put in your time...

Look at you learning things from me.. awe

[Eastforkmarine]

Just now, steelie said:

Good luck man. Following this thread...

Thank you!!!!!

[Eastforkmarine]

Good morning from Iowa! Cold and clear 6 degrees. Sitting in a box blind on south east corner. North west wind pushed us here today. 3 doe so far mile plus trek to get up here got in a touch late set up 2 minutes after legal shooting time. Tracking on onX is from summer tree stand repair. 

[whaler1]

Going to be a great day. Look forward to your reports. Thanks for sharing the adventure. Good luck!

[Eastforkmarine]

Wow we now know what it’s like to hunt with Rob or in Iowa.. after a slow morning with the wind in our face we only saw 4 doe so at 12:30 Made a plan to hunt another blind north of a large cedar depression, we didn’t even get to blind and had two small bucks and a few doe underneath the blind so after kneeling for about 20 minutes they made their way off and we got in .. man at 3 o’clock deer just started pouring out of the cedars 30-40 small bucks does fawns incredible they all made their way 50 and less yards from us then I noticed 3 shooter bucks all together standing 96 yards out no clean shot all you could see was horns then a leg they eventually made their way into a adjoining field that we overlooked. No shots given,, then at 4 a big 9 I have on camera came out of cedars and never presented a good shot at 86 yards was heartbreaking to watch him just walk away ,,, 4 definitely shooters and one I’m unsure.. lol what a day .. going back to same blind hoping to catch the heard again in the morning..

[whaler1]

Wow. What a night. Good luck in the morning. 

[Persistence]

Gino,

Glad you are seeing lots of deer. Makes the trip all worth it. I am sure you and Mallory will connect on a couple of those Iowa brutes. Good Luck

[Eastforkmarine]

16 minutes ago, Persistence said:

Gino,

Glad you are seeing lots of deer. Makes the trip all worth it. I am sure you and Mallory will connect on a couple of those Iowa brutes. Good Luck

Thanks Patrick !!

[Eastforkmarine]

Day 3 ,6 degrees light snow and SE breeze at 10-15 ,multiple doe at first light two small bucks sparing and one possible good one I only had in the scope for a few seconds.. we may hunker down in hotel tomorrow and Friday calling for -5-15 for highs and wind chills of -45-55 with blizzard like winds ..then hunt sat and Sunday. What better way to celebrate Christmas ,in the woods of Iowa ? I can’t think of any better.. I dare anybody reading this thread to argue that point.. 

[Tomb]

Always amazes me that anything can survive out there in temps and windchills like that.   Super tough animals!!

[whaler1]

Anything fun to do or good local food near the hotel?

[Gator]

If you use Google maps to find Cumberland, Iowa, there's literally a marker tab that reads, "Middle of Nowhere". I'm not making this up.

 

[Eastforkmarine]

Sorry for the late update , yesterday was another day of lots of deer groups of doe would move through then another hr or so and another group would move through small bucks bumping doe around, late in the afternoon Mallory noticed a group of doe had bedded down 100 yards from us on the edge of a cedar patch to our south at 3 they all got up and started moving 20 plus .. then at 4:30 we saw 3 bucks fighting all three were involved in the match nothing big all 2 year olds but great to watch , at ten minutes to dark after Mallory couldn’t get a good shot the opportunity presented itself to me , not what I came to Iowa to do but knowing that we only could have one day left to hunt I made a decision to fill a tag so I don’t have to drive back to Iowa to hunt alone . Hopefully this deer isn’t frozen solid , we skinned him and gots go debone him to bring him home .. hopefully the kid will out do me to bring a great end to a incredible journey so far. 

[Persistence]

Tom, that is a great buck .Congrats!

[whaler1]

That’s fantastic. What an experience for both of you. Hope she gets an opportunity too. 

[JakeyBaby]

Congrats!!