I have had a few requests to post a thread following my deer season. I won't claim to do as good of a job as Fitz, but I will try to update as often as I can. As some of you know, last year I moved to Iowa. 2016 was a roller coaster of a first season here. After chasing and messing up on 2 much much bigger deer, I was able to kill a 143" 4 year old 8 point. This year I have high hopes, after learning more about the spots I hunt. I will be posting what I am doing at each property all summer leading up to the season.
Alright! It's nice to see you do this. I will be following along. Sounds like you got some monsters to go after this year!
Great...not only do I have alerts from Facebook Live's of yours to deal with my jealousy...there is a thread on the forum too. LOL! Good deal man, you know I'll be subscribing.
I guess I will start by talking about the areas I hunt. The one I will be focusing the most on is actually brand new for this season. I leased 175 acres of overgrown pasture. Property is a square. Very hilly terrain. 152 of the acres are in CRP, but its an old program so it is mainly brome grass and cedars, some are big enough to put a stand in. The only timber on the property is along wither side of two winding creek bottoms. One starting in the SE corner and one in the SW corner, snaking their way through the property and converging at the center of the North end. from the air, the creek bottoms form a wishbone shape. At the Northernmost point where they converge, the creek runs into a Huge block of timber on a neighboring property. The farm I lease is only accessible through an easement, and has no road frontage, so it is extremely isolated. This farm is basically all bedding cover, with two huge travel corridors. The one thing it does not have is food, but I am fixing that. I am beyond excited to see what kind of deer show up on camera here. It is an area with world class genetics. I have come to find I have an odd knack for determining the potential for a farm when I walk it. My gut feeling about a property is usually right. When I first set foot on this one the hair on the back of my neck stood up...no joke. Probably the best dirt I've ever had permission to hunt, but time will tell. I will post a few pics Ive taken there and what I have done so far.
There is a pond with about a dozen crabapple trees. I started a mineral site at a gate opening in the old pasture fence. Its a low impact spot close to the entrance where I can come in to camera easily, and its far away from where I plan on hunting. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
These are taken in the NE corner looking back to the SW. I started another mineral site close to the fenceline here also. That way I can check camera without alerting anything. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
While walking it I found an old mineral site from the previous lessees. I am going to fill it in. I don't understand why they had it in this spot. Then I found a 155" 9 point dead. I am pretty sure he was a 3 year old. Shame he won't be around. 21" inside spread. Looks like he may have been shot and not recovered. He was laying right next to a tiny secluded water hole. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This is the center of the farm. Last year there was a 2 acre soybean plot here. I will be keeping it and replanting. It is the top of a big long north/south ridge. It sets up perfectly for late season to pull deer out of neighboring timber to the north and hunt on W-NW winds. I put a trophy rock in one corner just to get some pics. I will be filling the spot in before season starts. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Spent last weekend establishing trails and mowing areas Im going to turn into food plots in the crp. This plot is on an adjacent ridge to the 2 acre soybean plot, about 300 yards away. It is going to be soybeans as well. The access to this one could not be better. It will hopefully pull deer bedded in the creek bottom. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have realized that to effectively hunt this farm, I am going to have to hunt the ridges and use box blinds and elevated pop up blinds. The ridges offer the most consistent wind, and every single time i walk down towards the bottoms I jump deer. It may be interesting/frustrating, but if I can pull it off this place should be a doe factory during the rut and late season. Next on the list is to spray all the food plot locations, and then get beans planted before June. The other 5 food plots i have mapped out will be fall plantings for hunting during bow season. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Spot #2 is also new this year. It is a lease that I found that looked intriguing and the price was cheap. It is 120 acres, in an L shape. About 70 acres is tillable, which will be soybeans this year. 18 acres of crp, which is in buffer strip program. it hugs the creek bottom that cuts across 2 sides of the property. There is a 5 acre alfalfa/grass hay field, and the rest is mostly big cottonwoods and hedge apples along either side of the creek. The farm kinda reminds me of terrain you would see in Kansas. The timber has some cool structure to it, creating lots of funnels. the north end has 3 hedge rows that come together like a turkeys foot, with all three hedgerows surrounded by crp. When I first walked it, it looked good, but not quite as good as my main lease, but this one was less than a third of what the other one cost me, so it will be a spot I put some cams on and hunt it mostly for does early and late season unless something big shows up on camera...which it is Iowa, so you never know. I have not taken any pics out there yet, but I do have 2 mineral sites started and my stand locations picked out.
Spot #3 is where I was after a mega giant last year. I ended up missing him at 30 yards on November 9th. It is also where I killed my avatar buck on January 9th. It's not the type of spot you would think big deer would be. 400 acres of wide open cow pasture. maybe 4 acres of trees on the whole place. The deer numbers on this farm are crazy high. What makes it good is the neighboring property is 250 acres of timber/cedars/and crp that is not hunted. all the deer bed on the unpressured neighbors land. That property does not have any food though. The farm I hunt has several large alfalfa/clover hay fields that pull deer every single day. I saw up to 75 per hunt. This spring I picked up over 20 sheds in the hayfields. I basically hunt out of hay bale blinds, as the places that have the most concentrated deer movement are in the wide open. I shot a pile of does out there last year. It is mainly an evening spot, as getting into the farm in the mornings with deer all over the place is impossible. There should be at least a half dozen 150"+ bucks on the farm this year, with a couple 165-170", and hopefully the mega giant is still around. The farmer is in the middle of claving season right now so I am staying out of there. I will be putting up cameras in another month or so.
spot #4 is right by my house. It is 260 acres. 160 is tillable, which should be beans this year. 40 acres of cattle pasture full of big cedar trees, and a 5 acre thicket that butts up to the next property, which is all bedding cover. Last year during the rut, on November 8th, I saw 15 bucks over 125 from my tree hunting the 5 acre thicket. It is my after work/before church spot. The best spot is literally 300 yards from my door.
This year so far i have started a mineral site, which is getting hammered. Here it is new and 3 weeks later as of a couple days ago Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I also have tweaked one of my stands and I am putting in a food plot in front of it. Perfect spot for a south wind. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
