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Bob Bills
December
8, 2014
Somewhere in Iowa
In mid-July I decided this was the buck that I was
going to hunt unless another bigger buck made himself known. But
considering the known whitetails on my farm this was the primary
target buck.
I had a couple encounters with this buck during bow
season but never within range to close the deal.
It was shotgun season and I had my youngest boy Ryan
with me, he's my Lucky Charm. My target buck made an appearance. The
buck posed for a good shot with my muzzle loader. I decided to wait
until morning to recover. He only went 50 yards.
Thanks George for the Monday morning mentoring
sessions to keep me focused on hunting the 5x6 and reminding me to
pass the several other nice bucks that I was seeing quite often. That
was definitely hard to do but the discipline paid off.
The buck grosses around 174 inches. |



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Dean
Jackson
November
29, 2014
Somewhere in Iowa
I didn't try to technically score him but I think he
makes closer to 24 than 23 on main beams and has at least 4 tines over
10 inches with one close to 13 inches. Looks like he could go almost
180 nontypical and close to 190 gross. What's important to me is that
he scores over 170 gross which is what I had set as a score for my
Bucketlist Buck.
Bow - Mathews ZXT at 62 lb. draw
Cabela's Stalker Extreme arrow with Blazer vein
Broadhead - Muzzy three blade 100 grain
HHA adjustable single pin sight
Tru-fire Hardcore buckle foldback release
Rangefinder - Redfield No Excuses, Raider 600
15 ft ladder stand and Seat of the Pants safety restraint system
Saturday, November 29, 11:41 in the morning
33 yard shot. Double lung - 250 yard recovery.
I have dreamed of someday shooting a buck with more
than 170 inches of antler. I called it my "Bucketlist Buck,"
and realized that it was a very lofty goal, but living in Iowa made
this goal a real possibility.
Synopsis of the hunt.
I hiked from my truck over half a mile into my tree stand and settled
in before sunrise with about 9 deer leaving on the horizon. Three
bucks and ten does and fawns wandered through the area during the next
4 hours. The bucks were loners, checking for does and checking
scrapes. One of them worked on a rub.
Trying to get a photo of a coyote who was approaching from down wind
failed when he caught my scent and trotted off. Feeling like I was
being watched I turned around to see a nice buck staring at me from 24
yards. I was busted and he stomped the ground before quickly walking
off.
I had seen 22 deer, and was enjoying the morning immensely. It was
about time for my lunch. All day sits welcome lunchtime which is
usually a highlight for me. I had taken a couple bites out of my PB&J
when I caught movement by one of the scrapes. I put the sandwich in my
pack, stood and turned to face the incoming buck.
He was the big boy I was hoping to see! I realized that keeping calm
was job one, but the rack looked incredibly large. No way could I
treat this like just another shot with my Mathews.
I expected him to follow where the other bucks had walked but after
checking the scrape he turned and began walking parallel to me. A
quick check with the rangefinder showed he was at 33 yards and I set
my HHA sight for 30 yards. I drew as his head went behind a tree and I
stopped him with my version of a doe bleat. He froze and look my
direction as I settled the pin on the spot covering where I envisioned
his heart was beating. Reminding myself to level the bow and watch the
flight of the arrow, I carefully released. The arrow seemed to be
right on track but I didn't see the moment of impact. The sound was
right, "pffft," no bone smack nor paunch thud. The buck was
off bounding in a long semicircle, tail tucked tight, but no other
sign of distress as he disappeared about 75 yards to the north. I
hadn't heard him crash, but was feeling good about the shot and I sat
down to gather my composure and enjoy the adrenalin rush. I decided to
wait a half hour, finished my sandwich and called my brothers before
getting down.
The arrow was laying where the deer had been standing and it was
pleasing to see its crimson color, but there was no beautiful blood
trail. I was able to find only a couple small drops of blood in the
first 50 yards. I was beginning to question the hit but the trail
improved very slowly as the deer slowed to a walk after 150 yards. The
blood trail was still poor but on reaching the bottom of the ravine
the deer turned and walked up the creek for an other 50 yards.
Stopping and glassing ahead I was overcome with relief as I spotted
white antler ahead of me. I could see one side of his rack sticking
out of a logjam in the creek bottom where he had tried to hide.
There was no ground shrinkage, but the opposite, as I approached him
and put my hands on his impressive headgear. I had my Bucketlist Buck.
It was time to call my friends, ask for some payback in help for
getting him out of the deepest nastiest gully on the farm. Thanks for
the help, George and Morgan. |


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Chad
Behrens
November
9, 2014
Somewhere in Iowa
Had
a crazy morning in the stand on Sunday. Deer running everywhere,
saw over 10 different bucks including 2 nice deer but no shooters.
Wind
shifted to out of the North midday so got back in stand that
afternoon. Hunted a stand I had hung to hunt this deer. I
have several cam pics of him and I knew his general roaming area.
Few
things moving that afternoon but nothing crazy until he showed up
about 30 minutes before dark. I had rattled a bit and pulled him
out of a drainage ditch about 150 yards away.
Came
in from my west but circled a little downwind but he didn’t catch my
scent. Walked through my shooting lane at about 22 yds,
quartering away and I hit him hard as he almost piled over forward
when it hit. My view was blocked so I didn’t see how far he
ran. Got down, found arrow and blood but wasn’t certain where
I had hit him so left him over night.
Went
back the next morning and he was barely 50 yds from the stand.
Great
hunt and always feels good to take down the one you are after!
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Mark Baier
November
8, 2014
Somewhere in Iowa
George, I shot this buck last
Saturday night. I hunted the same spot on Saturday morning and saw him
briefly hanging with three or four does. After talking to Drew on my
way home from the morning hunt we decided I needed to set the stand in
the evening as the wind was suppose to lay down and we hoped he was
still in the area. On my evening set I hadn't seen a deer but then
right at 5:00 I heard the crunch of dry leaves and saw him coming
towards me. He started angling a little away from me but gave me a
broadside shot at about thirty yards. I hit him a little farther back
than I would like but I caught a major blood supply and he only went
about twenty yards. I need to thank Drew for helping me drag him out,
taking pictures and continuing to teach me about hunting.
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John Doonan
October
29, 2014
Somewhere in Iowa
Another great public land buck via John Doonan.
Gross 165. |





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George
Parris
October
31, 2014
Somewhere in Iowa
It's been 23 months since I've released an arrow. I
finally got it done. This buck may be one of the biggest bucks I've
captured on
camera this year.
There is a scrape that is used every year on this
farm. On this night, this buck
checked the scrape but did not work it. After three years of hunting
this farm the trail cameras have taught me I need to hunt the
scrape the last few days of October and the first couple days of
November. That is when it seems to be most active.
I had decided to sit this
stand all day. It was darn cold, a five layer day for sure and I had
on 4 layers. The morning hunt was fairly active. Midday was slow. I
climbed down at noon to pull the SD card from the scrape
camera. Two shooters had been on the scrape since Wednesday with one
being this buck.
Around 5:18 pm (camera time), this buck appeared
on the scrape. This was to be my day, the buck walked right at me
after leaving the scrape. Some deer do and some veer off at an angle
resulting in a much longer shot.
The wind had been perfect all day, blowing my scent over
the river. However, at the end of the day, the thermals began to cause
me a little grief. He captured a whiff of my stinking body and turned
around to return in the direction he had come. My shot was around 18
yards. The Montec tipped Full Metal Jacket hit high in the spine. I have a tendency to shoot low
so my pin is set shoot high. The second arrow ended the hunt. Finally!! 23
months is a long time when you enjoy hunting trophy Iowa whitetails
like I do.
I had numerous opportunities at this buck in 2013
but just could not bring myself to pull the trigger on my thumb
release and I was at full draw a couple of times. His growth just
wasn't where I wanted it to be. His growth in 2014 was much better
thanks to all of the rain.
Thanks to my very good friends Doug, Dean and Ken.
The pictures are great and the drag was easy with that crew. |

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Nicole
Bills
October
12, 2014
Somewhere in Iowa
Nicole shot
this buck grossing 155 with an eye guard on the left side broken
completely off. It had been close to 10 years since Nicole had shot a
deer and let's just say she was very happy with this one. This buck
was by far the biggest body buck we have ever shot. In matter of fact,
the locker said that it was the top 1 or 2 biggest body deer that they
have ever had hanging in their locker. I was a little nervous when we
got to the stand on the mice situation but apparently Adam and I had
taken care of them earlier. I don't think she would have stayed very
calm. She shot her buck with a muzzle loader and the buck didn't go 40
yards. She made an amazing shot.
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Drew Baier
October 4, 2014
Somewhere in Iowa
I had pictures of this deer and another shooter,
traveling this draw pretty regularly the last couple weeks. Last
Sunday (Sept. 28th) I slipped in checked my camera to confirm this was
where I wanted to hunt early. I trimmed up some shooting lanes and
double checked the straps on the tree stand.
I settled in the stand on Oct 4th around 4:45 pm. I
hadn't seen a deer all night until this buck showed up around 7:05. He
came in behind me and offered me an easy 12 yd shot.
I felt pretty confident about the shot, but still
decided to leave him over night to be on the safe side. It was cool
and I wasn't worried about spoiled meat. We recovered him about 150
yards from my stand, after following a very obvious blood trail.
He rough scored in the low 150s and has an
impressive 23" inside spread. I'm very pleased with this big old
mature Iowa buck!
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Adam Bills
September, 2014
Somewhere in Iowa
We got to the farm around 2 in the afternoon. We
worked up quite a sweat getting there and realized it was like a sauna
in the shooting house. We got our chairs setup and realized we had a
lot of company in the shooting house....mice. We killed 6 mice our
personal best in one sit. Once that commotion was over we just waited
for the deer to come out. They started trickling out once the sun
started to shade out portions of the standing beans we were hunting.
We had a couple basket rack bucks show up and quite a few does and
then all of a sudden Adam spots his buck. He walked out and instantly
I knew he was a shooter. We have had numerous trail cameras out on the
farm since April and had only gotten one trail camera picture of this
buck. My main goal at this point was to keep Adam calm. The buck
eventually got within range and Adam got a shot. I was very proud of
my boy the way he held everything together. We made the decision to
recover the buck the next morning. He grosses 175 and now my 7 year
old boy has bragging rights of the biggest buck in house.....I
wouldn't have it any other way.
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Max
photo size:
640
x 480 pixels |
Name
Date of 2014
Harvest
State:
Somewhere in Iowa
Some tips on
taking your success photos. Please respect the animal:
-
Clean the
animal of all blood,
-
Stick the
tongue back in the mouth,
-
Find a
dark background,
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For bucks,
strive to maintain equal height between the top of your head and the
top of the buck's rack,
-
Don't be
afraid of close-ups,
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Don't be
afraid to use flash, even during the day,
-
Avoid
pickup and garage photos, we have quite a few people request that we
don't show them,
-
Take your
deer back out to the field with your buddy or family member, it is a
memory that will last your entire lifetime,
-
Take your
time.
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