Hey guys Steve O. said you were looking for the story on pretty boy. I'll try to give you the short version.
Steve and I met at our bow club a few years ago. Our passion for hunting is the same. He had seen some of the other bucks I'd taken in Iowa, so he wanted to get in on the action. I used to have a farm in Davis county so I already had some starting points.
We knew that we should draw this year so Steve began talking to some people he knew. Soon we had some good ground to hunt.
We started scouting in early spring on our way to Kansas for a turkey hunt. Things really started to heat up near the begining of fall.
In September we Started to set up stand locations as we had already seen several good bucks on the farm. Steve had gotten maps from My topo.com. In one 4 day trip we had about 20 different stand sites trimmed out and stands ready to go.
We got news from a friend of ours Richard Cote from Washington that he also drew a tag and he would be joining us.
I've always liked that pre-rut time as the deer seem to come to the horns and the grunt tube better. The does are still feeding, and the bucks are starting check out the doe's. So we picked Oct.25th-Nov.10th for our hunt.
At the last minute steve said he would be a few days late because of work. I picked up Cote from the airport and we headed for The Pine Ridge Retreat in Keosauqua.
The weather was kind of warm and the bucks were not moving much. The big bucks we had seen before were laying low. Morning hunts were proving to be the best and we did see some pretty good deer.
We did some more scouting mid day and set more stands. After a morning hunt in late October Cote and I checked out a spot on the back of the farm that Steve and I really liked.
There was alot of fresh scrapes and rubs along this inside corner. I especially liked this one spot that Steve and I had picked out in Sept. But the leaves were down and the tree we picked in sept. was now looking a little bare. So I chose a tree with more cover about 10 yards from the original tree.
That afternoon we came back to the same spot, Cote set up in the inside corner and I went back to babysit a big scrape. A cold front had moved in that day and the temperature had droped into the low 30's. The cold snap we'd been waiting for had hit.
It was alittle windy and the deer were not very active.
I was sitting mid way down this great ridge with nice draws on either side of me. I was only about 18yds from the scrape. I had seen a few doe's but no bucks.
All of a sudden I heard the leaves rustling. A small 7 point came up the draw and went right to the scrape and began working the scrape. I was watching him and heard the leaves rustling again. I turned to see this nice buck coming on the same path as the 7 point.
There was no question in my mind this guy was the real deal. I grabbed my bow and stood up. He never saw me as I was tucked in between three trees.
His ears were layed back and he was letting that smaller buck know that that was his scrape.
As he moved behind an osage tree I came to full draw. As I picked my spot the buck was at about 12yds and the arrow was gone.
The high mule kick was a good indication that the arrow hit his heart.
He made about 40yds into the alfa field and stopped. His tail was down and his head was hangong low. A few seconds later he dropped right there.
I wanted to go to him but it was still a little early and I did'nt want to spoil Cote's hunt.
As dust approached I took down my stand and waited for Cote. As he came near to my location he saw the buck laying in the field and came running.
High 5's and hand shakes were in order. He told me that he did'nt see anything from his position.
We hung the buck in the land owners barn. I could'nt wait for steve to see this buck. It was to bad that he could'nt have been there as he was such a big part of my success.
A few days later Steve arrived in camp and we showed him the buck. He gave him the name Pretty Boy, that works for me Steve and Cote were both successful in filling there tags. But you'll have to get there stories from them.
Iowa is truely the land of dreams!!!
Topic: Gary Wissmueller (Read 628 times)
