Iowa Hunters ??

[doug77]

I spent all day Fri. and Sat. in several different stands on 3 different farms. I saw 2 basket rack bucks and 1 doe.

What is every seeing out their or is it just my area thats low on deer.

doug77

[HawkeyeArcher]

I've been seeing very little buck movement out in the open before dark. Young bucks are chasing. Big bucks are coming out after dark still in my area for the most part. I'm hoping the front coming through later this week will get 'em up and moving.

What part of SE Iowa are you in? I'm in Oskaloosa.

[KAZ]

Doug,
Generally speaking pretty slow for Ben & I in SE Iowa as well... A few deer here and there but nothing consistent to show us the "phase" we're in... Friday night was a decent sit with a handful of us seeing a buck and at least one doe at our different respective areas. No progressive intensity, no real fresh rut sign. Our anticipation is high, but it seems like patience & perseverance will be the name of the game... Got to believe the best is yet to come! :-)

KAZ

[doug77]

Hawkeye, I'm hunting in Linn and Johnson counties.

I'm the only person that hunts 2 of the farms i'm on.

doug77

[Lefty]

Deer numbers definately down. My daughter and I have put meat in the freezer but feel we have been the lucky ones. I have seen very little scrape and rubs and found dead deer. No big bucks spotted but the last few days have seen deer starting to move earlier in the evening and have rattled in some smaller bucks.

[23feetupandhappy]

Doug,
Like Kaz said its been spotty for us but then on Sat morning I seen 9 deer in a couple of hours....
Until that sit I was wandering if the EHD had taken our numbers way down without us realizing it but still a lot of corn in and lots of leaves on the trees to hide them!!!
I'm confident that the numbers ( at least in our farm )
are still healthy but iv had similar issues in the past with this goofy moon cycle that we are currently in .  I don't put a ton of weight in the moon or let it predict when I hunt but do notice that there are times that it seems to mess with what I would call "Normal Movement".........

I hope that it picks up for you and that you and Matty will be blood trailing soon  

Ben

[Real Buckmaster]

I have had 5 sits and seen 0 deer. From this stand two years ago I was seeing 15 to 30 deer a day. I think the DNR missed the death toll by more than double.

[Altiman94]

I've seen a couple does and small bucks in the past 2 weeks but nothing that I feel resembles searching.  Just last night my main spot finally opened up with some scrapes.  They were really fresh so I'm thinking I'll head back there tonight.

[Caleb Andes]

Doug
Seems like deer numbers on our farm are up this year we have taken three does off the 60 acres we hunt on and are still seeing mature does almost every sit. That being said, I saw four different basket sixes yesterday morning. All of our shooter bucks are consistently showing up between 8:30 and 11:30 pm over scrapes. I can't help but conclude all hands are on deck in Muscatine, the big boys are just waiting for the first doe to drop in heat before that make that daylight mistake.

My brother hunts in maquaketa and had a 3.5 year old buck tending a doe all night which he was finally able to grunt in and harvest.

Until the first does come into heat around us I suppose we'll be waitin on the women...

[Lost Creek Bows]

I seen two over 150 all season and both were in the last three days. The girls are still about a week out. Little bucks still doing most of the chasing in my area.

[Lost Creek Bows]

I forget to mention deer number are half of what they were two years ago on are 2 farms.

[Brian K]

Hi Doug

I've had the same experience as you.  Hunting near the club and in  North linn.   I had a stare down with a doe and two yearlings. A  smaller Buck showed up.  They all eye balled each other.  Mom and her little ones went there way and he went his.  I'm just now starting to see scrapes.  


Then again,  I'm on public land so I never see a high numbers.

[DeerBacon]

I have noticed deer numbers are about half what they were in Clarke county at my spot. But it has been real windy and warm every time I get a day off from work. Spotted a couple nice bucks at work just a few miles up the road from my hunting spot. Coworker says he has been seeing a monster. I use to get a chance to harvest a deer about every time out a few years ago. This year is proving to be a challenge. Gonna have to take some time off work.

[Altiman94]

I had 3 mature does come through about 2 hours before dark with nothing following them.  I have some fresh scrapes in the area but I fear that they may be over night action.  It's just going to keep getting better from here guys!

I have seen one really nice buck one time, scrapes are open, I have seen the same two fawns and their mamma three times, and I called a coyote to within ten feet of me with a deer call. That is about it, other than an occasional doe or yearling buck. I have not pulled a string on anything yet, other than leaves and weeds.

[30coupe]

I killed a nice mature doe on Oct. 11, but haven't seen much worth talking about while on stand. We had plenty of bucks and does both on our cameras this summer, so I think they are still around. Lots of corn in the field yet around Jackson County, so if they are doing anything, it's probably in the cornfields.

I did find three new scrapes this weekend and one rub, so I think things are just about to get going. I almost took a big 10 point with my pickup this evening about two miles from my place. That was at about 8 o'clock. I was on the gravel road and fortunately I was driving pretty slowly for just that reason. Still the distance was in feet rather than yards when I finally got going slow enough for him to pull away from me. He ran down the road for quite a ways before he hopped the fence into the neighbor's pasture. Wish I could have herded him a little farther!

[Mac910]

I saw two decent bucks this weekend (NE Iowa) both about 140 inch 8 points. Rattled in several small bucks. The little guys are chasing, the bigger guys are just cruising it seems like. Scrapes are being hit hard.

Gene Wensel sent out an email with some bucks he passed up. I couldn't have passed any of them. He says he's having a lot of responses to rattling right now. One of the pics was a great buck with at least two visible wounds presumably from fighting.

I have the next week off to hunt. The weather forecast doesn't sound that great though.

[Robhood23]

Went down there on the 26th of October for our first real day of hunting and called one in and shot it. Will still try and get back down there and shoot a doe though later in the year!