Follow the Bartlett brothers, Andy & Seth, on their outdoor adventures. Join us for exciting hunts, land management practices, and other great experiences in the fields & forests of the greatest place on earth.....Iowa!
I took advantage of the belated spring weather to get some planting done. I did 3 plots. One was a food plot for deer. Another was a food plot for people. The third was a food plot for people that will probably be eaten by deer.
I planted sweet corn in my front yard. The dog should keep the deer and raccoons off that one- emphasize the word "should." I also planted sweet corn down at our pond. While my dad does frequent the area, I don't believe it's enough of a presence to keep it from being hammered by deer, but time will tell.
After all that I sped up the road and seeded some red and white clover. It crossed my mind to flank it with some blue grass or big blue stem so I could have an all American red, white, and blue food plot but I didn't follow through... maybe next year.
I used my john deere 60 tractor and 290 planter to get the sweet corn in. I grossly miscalculated how much I needed. I got $60 worth of sweet corn seed and when I finished I probably had $40 worth left over.
I used the 4 wheeler and cultipacker to seed the clover. I had already plowed and harrowed that plot a week earlier.
I first cultipacked it to get any air pockets out of the soil. I also drug a homemade rubber mat contraption to smooth out the soil as well. Here you can see on the right I have packed it and the left hasn't been done yet.
After firming up the ground I broadcast the clover seed and followed up with the cultipacker a second time to press the seed into the soil. Here is the finished product.
I really enjoy putting in clover plots. They are easy, economical (this plot was about $6-$7 in clover seed) and fairly maintenance free, once established you just have to mow them 2-3 times a summer.
Ideally you want to plant them in late summer to early fall so competition with weeds is minimal while your clover stand establishes, but I don't have a choice this year as my wife is set to give birth to twins in about a month and my food plotting time will be nonexistent. That is another reason I love clover. A good stand will last about 3-4 years which buys me plenty of time to change diapers!
With the cold winter we've had this year there's been plenty of ice on the ponds & lakes and I took advantage of it the last couple days at Green Valley State Park near Creston.
The fishing reports coming out of Green Valley this winter have been good & the 1st day of my outing didn't disappoint.
After a dismal 2012 campaign, our group decided to switch gears and abandon 2nd shotgun season in favor of the first season. Our thinking was we'd get to the deer before they'd been run back and forth between the gauntlets. Along with the season switch, we changed our luck by giving the group a name. Solon Whitetail Assault Team (S.W.A.T.) hit the fields, forests, and fencerows of NE Johnson County and we drummed up some business!
The switch to 2nd season proved a great idea as we filled 12 of our 14 tags in two days. The weather was bitterly cold though, with temps hovering just below and just above ZERO most of the time. We left the hides on 4 of the deer and took them to the meat locker, but the other 8 we skinned and deboned. On Monday morning we cut over 250 pounds of meat off those 8 deer. It was made into loin steaks, breakfast & Italian sausage, bacon burger and other protein filled creations.
The pictures that follow show the sport, fellowship, and carnage that ensued.
Reid with a couple big does he slayed on the first drive of the day.
Rebecca with her big doe.
Carl & Rebecca with an old buck & big doe.
SWAT recapping a drive over a fallen buck.
Toby's buck killed out of Moosehead on Sunday.
Field dressing
A couple bucks from the Moosehead drive. Deer were pouring out of this drive.
Scott made a great shot on this HUGE doe with his muzzleloader while out still hunting by himself.
Hangin' out at camp.
What does the fox say?
Playin' some cards.
No deer camp would be complete without the Bragging Board. Here we tally booms and kills. The exact rules behind the delineation of these marks has evolved over the years and is now written in the SWAT by-laws and articles of incorporation!
The group gathered around Iowa Eddie.
Andy & Steve with a button buck taken from one drive.
Monday morning, cutting up meat.
Stuffing the grinder with one of the new recruits.
Stuck in the middle of my 12th year since I last harvested a buck with my bow, my personal curse continues. Countless times I've dreamed of the moment I'd walk up on a pile of antlers at the end of a cherry trail. I can sometimes feel the heaviness of this curse evaporating into thin air as I sink to my knees behind the fallen giant. I imagine the pain and physical exertion from having to drag him out over fallen trees, through the carpet of leaves on the forest floor, and through deep ravines to my truck. Then as I hoist him into the bed of the truck I begin burning up the phone lines to show off my trophy..........
Then the scurry of a squirrel below my stand wakes me from my reverie and sets my heart to racing as I think it could be the monster approaching. On Sunday, November 10th that dream almost became reality.
I was invited to a 300 acre farm in southern Warren County to hunt the epitome of Whitetail Heaven. It was a "one and done" afternoon hunt. My friend & guide, Don, set me in a stand, 20 feet up in a Hackberry tree. I overlooked a 20 acre food plot that already held 2 does as we walked to our stands. I climbed high, situated all my gear and settled down for what proved to be one of the most exciting hunts I've had in 12 years.
The plot I was hunting over.
It didn't take long for the action to heat up. A small 8 pointer crashed in behind me, hot on the trail of a doe. Then a few more does filtered back out into the far side of the plot. As I watched the feeding does, movement to my right in the big block of timber caught my eye. I immediately saw a lot of antlers. The big buck disappeared momentarily as he dipped into a dry creek bed. He then reappeared in the tall grass between the timber and food plot. His course of travel was leading him directly at me! I quick turned on the video camera, pointed it in his direction and readied for what was about to transpire.
Without stopping he walked directly into the plot in front of me. Walking broadside at 30 yards with nothing but air between us, I drew and anchored at my cheek. I started to line up the shot and gave him a "grunt" that should have stopped him, but he had other intentions and kept walking. Again I grunted, louder than the first and again he continued to walk. Finally a third grunt, louder than the previous two, I should have just shouted "Hey deer, stop!" He paused, and I touched my release. The arrow smacked him, but instantly I knew it wasn't good. I hit him low and back. In the video that follows you can hear my instant reaction to the misplaced arrow.
My heart and hopes sank 20 feet to the ground. He ran into the timber and stopped. I quickly grunted & snort/wheezed a few times, hoping to override his instincts and bring him back. All that did was garner a few looks and bring a different buck crashing in behind me. I watched my buck for over a half hour. He'd walk a few steps and stop, then walk a few steps and stop. I knew I had to back out and come back in the morning. I texted Don and told him what happened. He asked what the buck looked like and after I replied he replied with "The Skanky 8". It was a known buck, tall tines, narrow spread, and good mass. He was the mature buck I was looking for. Here's the video of the buck as he approaches, but I failed to get the actual shot on film.
I backed off for the night and went home. The next day, my 7th anniversary, we went to look for the buck. My wife, bless her beautiful heart, was excited to spend the day with me looking for him! We drove back to the scene and started the track. There was heavy, good blood for the first 150 yards. Then it disappeared. We found a drop or two, by pure luck, over the distance of another 1/4 mile or so. At that point, we turned our tracking into a broad sweeping search that hoped to simply turn up the recovery of the buck. After most of the day, the snow started to really come down and we called off the search.
It was extremely disappointing to not find this animal. 1, because I'd rather miss than wound an animal; and 2, the buck couldn't have given me a more golden opportunity. A big thanks to Don for sharing his land and deer with me; and an even bigger thanks to my wife for giving up almost the entire day to help me search. Moving forward, the daydreams continue, as does the curse.......
I've been on a few hunts since my last post and taken a few pics each time I've been out. I have a longer story about a big buck encounter for a separate post, but thought I'd share some of the random pics in their own post.
A couple yearlings approach.
No deer, just a cool shot straight down from my perch.
Small 6 point buck in the center of the picture. I rattled this guy in shortly after first light. I used my grunt/snort wheeze call to keep this guy in close range for a good 1/2 hour. It was fun just to play around with the call and see what worked & how he reacted.
Turkey top, clover plot. I stuck a turkey decoy out under me for fun one night. Rattled in a spike on this hunt from the far tree line. He cautiously checked out the decoy, made a scrape and then walked right through my shooting lane. Only needed about 4 more years to grow though!
View downhill from another of my stands deep in the timber. Had to "open" this shooting window up this summer as I had a harrowing miss on a real giant buck in this exact spot last year. Still haunts me to this day.
This morning I went out to the stand in which I shot the two does from last weekend. It was a cold breezy morning and come first light the deer were moving. I immediately saw a small buck and a couple does filtering out into the cut corn field. Then I saw the buck I had the stare down with dogging a doe through the neighboring property. They disappeared into a thicket and a few seconds later this big beast came sniffing down the same trail.
I tried grunting but he had other things on his mind. He disappeared into the same thicket and shortly after the smaller buck came bolting out wanting nothing to do with the big boy. The smaller buck was respectable, probably a 130 inch deer and as he came by my stand at 10 yards broadside I had a hard time not shooting but I knew the big one was in the area so I held off.
I watched the doe run circles in and out of the thicket with the big guy in tow. They disappeared behind me and things calmed down. About 10 minutes later I heard footsteps and saw the hot doe coming towards my stand. She crossed the fence and ran by me at 20 yards. I saw the big guy trailing her about 30 yards behind so I grabbed my bow but he saw me. He flared out away from my stand about 20 more yards and stopped at the fence. If he crossed he would have to come 10 yards and I'd have the same 40 yard shot as I had on the two does a week ago. Time stood still.
He knew I was there but his hot doe was on my side of the fence. His carnal needs finally overwhelmed his common sense and he crossed the fence. I was already at full draw. I got him stopped broadside when he got in the clear. I lined up my 3rd pin for the 3rd time in the exact same spot and let er rip. My heart sank as I heard a loud crack and watched the buck take off with my arrow sticking out of the side of his head.
I honestly can't tell you what happened. The only thing I can think of is that in the excitement maybe my anchor points were off and it threw off my sights. I wish I knew. I really wished I would have missed. I watched him stop about 100 yards away and could see blood on the side of his face. I left almost immediately.
My dad and I came back this afternoon. We got permission from the neighboring land owner to pursue him. Then we went to the farm I hunt and talked to the farmer. There is another guy and his son who hunt the same farm as me but on the other end. They told the farmer that this morning they saw a buck running around with an eye out. I got ahold of the guy and he told me his son had seen a nice buck chasing a doe around this morning and his eye looked like it had recently been gouged out but it didn't have an arrow in it.
Everything added up and I'm almost 100% certain it was the same deer. Thus the saga of One Eyed Bandit has begun. It's a pretty horrible feeling seeing a majestic animal like that retreating with your arrow in its head. However I take some comfort in knowing he's back out there doing his thing and God willing I can get a second cance at him. Stay safe out there and shoot straight (unlike me).
On November 2nd I set out for an afternoon sit with two unfilled doe tags burning a hole in my pocket. I wanted to get them filled soon so I could have the comfort of a full freezer while I pursued filling my buck tag. I got to my stand at about 3:30 with a full 3 hours of daylight ahead of me to legally fling arrows at whitetails. Things were looking good.
As I climbed into my stand something startled me about 10 feet above my head. A large, chubby house cat blasted out of a squirrels nest and scampered up the tree trunk. As it jumped to the next branch I saw that it was actually a fox-sized fox squirrel. It was seriously the biggest damn squirrel I've ever seen. My heart rate slowed some as I watched the teenage mutant ninja squirrel make his way away from my stand. I got settled in and took in my surroundings.
At about 4:45 I watched 3 yearlings make their way out of the neighboring property. They jumped the fence, and walked past my stand and out to the cut corn field in front of me. A few minutes later I saw a big ol' mama doe cautiously approach the fence. She crossed and came towards my stand. She turned broadside at 40 yards and headed towards the cornfield and I could tell I wasn't getting a closer shot than that. I drew back my bow and got her stopped.
I settled my 3rd pin behind the shoulder and let 'er fly. I could easily see by my illuminated knock that the arrow had flown true and she bolted back across the fence. I saw her go down in a patch of weeds 100 yards away. Sweet! I can go get her drug back to my stand, gutted, and still have an hour and a half to keep hunting. I left everything in the stand but my knife and got on the blood trail. About 20 yards after I crossed the fence I looked up and saw this bad boy staring back at me:
This pic was from my trail cam near my stand and was taken that very day in the morning. As you can see he doesn't have the biggest rack but he was pretty puffed up. I could literally see slobber glistening in the sun light as it dripped from his mouth. He continued down the trail towards me, I didn't make a move. It was pretty neat but when a buck gets to be 20 yards from you on the ground and it's the rut and you have no weapon and his neck is wider than his ears, it's a little unnerving. He finally made me out at 15 yards and bugged out. I continued down the trail and found my doe.
After getting her taken care of I was back in the stand by 5:15. Approximately 20 minutes later I noticed another doe taking the same path the first one did so I readied my bow. It was a carbon copy of the first encounter. She crossed the same spot in the fence and I stopped her in the exact same spot 40 yards away. I thought my arrow flew true like the first but it was a bit forward. Luckily for me, the muzzy blew through both front shoulders and dropped her in her tracks.
Unfortunately, it was not a fatal shot so I got down and finished the job with my final arrow. I got her gutted and drug to the first one and went to get some help.
I sold my truck a week earlier to fund the finishing of our basement so I had to go borrow the farm truck. My dad took a break from hauling in corn to help me. We got them tagged, loaded, and hauled back to my house. After getting them washed out we hung them in the garage. Some of the best money I've ever spent was buying a 1000 lb rated chain hoist from Theissen's a few years ago. We hung up both of the deer on the gambrel and I lifted them out of the truck with one hand thanks to the easy operation of the chain hoist. It has saved my back on more than one occasion.
It turned out to be a great hunt and I look forward to concentrating on pursuing the elusive white tailed buck deer. Stay tuned to the blog, things are heating up in the whitetail woods!
