Successful whitetail deer hunters prove -
Persistence Has It's Rewards!

This is a story from Bob Hooven. Bob came to Iowa in 2010 on a hunting trip where he shot a beautiful deer. Here is Bob's story:

This is a short story of my hunt on Friday 10-29-10 in Decatur county Iowa. I was staying at the Bar M Bunkhouse, owned by Terry and Peggy Mothershead, in Grand River, Iowa. (Note from TM: We enjoyed your stay especially the excellent guitar picking!) It doesn’t include all the scouting, walking, and effort since Monday the 25th leading up to this day.

Iowa Deer, 8 point

It was my fourth trip into this area spaced out over 3 or 4 days. The first time in was mid-morning. At that time I saw signs of big bucks. The second time in later that evening, I set up a ground blind near a big scrape. While there, I had a 35 yd. marginal shot at another nice 8 point deer. At that time I didn’t draw my bow, thinking he would offer a little better shot. The next evening, on the ground, the big one walked out in front of me at 30 yards in a corn field. I just didn’t think I could shoot through 30 yards of corn stalks! That day most of the action seemed to be on the other side of the field. The next morning I was determine to be in their face. On the way out I picked out a big locust tree near a trail that would give me cover for my back but wide open in the front.

It was barely day light when I arrived the next morning at the site. I cleared the leaves with my feet then stepped out and cleared one shooting lane between me and the field. Now I was ready with my bow hanging from a limb, expecting the buck to come out of the field back to the timber in the creek bottom. Only a few minutes later I heard something snap over to my right. I turned my head to see the biggest buck I’ve ever seen while hunting. He was 20 yards and closing the distance to pass in front of me at 8 yards. I didn’t know I was that close to the deer trail. I reached for my bow, began to crouch, and was drawing at the same time. He stopped slightly to my right with no shooting lane. At full draw I sort of went around in a circle with my bow arm to find a little shooting hole in the brush. The arrow found it’s mark and the buck only went about 60 yards and gave it up. I stayed put for as long as I could. (about 45 minutes)

When I got to him I was so excited and there was no ground shrinkage. His gross score is 160+ inches. I’ve taken lots of deer over the years but this was the biggest, first one from Iowa, and the first one while hunting from the ground.

Well that’s about it except for tagging, picture taking, skinning, quartering, and the two ¾ mile long trips to pack it out.

Whiteail deer hunters and Inside Iowa Hunting owners, Terry and Peggy Mothershead pose for a photograph with their trophy bucks harvested during the 2009 early muzzleloader season in Southcentral Iowa.

Yes, I know we are blowing our own horn, but we couldn't keep quiet about this awesome 160 buck Terry harvested - October 18, 2009.	And I followed on October 21, 2009 with my first whitetail buck ever. At 140 he's not a monster but the rack is very symetrical and an interesting chocolate color.

Danny from North Carolina harvested this awesome 12 point nontypical whitetail buck on private land - November 9, 2008. This whitetail deer was nontypical in more ways than one - other than antlers this buck has no male parts.	Jimmy from North Carolina harvested this nice 10 point whitetail buck on private land - November 10, 2008.
Dave from Pennsylvania harvested this tremendous 8 point whitetail buck on private land - November 6, 2007.	Mike from Minnesota harvested this tremendous 8 point whitetail buck on public land - November 6, 2007.
Mike and Dave pose for a picture with their trophy bucks - harvested on the same day - November 6, 2007.
Kent from Minnesota harvested this nice 8 point whitetail buck on public land - November 8, 2007	Ron from Oklahoma harvested this nice 10 point whitetail buck on public land - November 19, 2007
Marker from Iowa harvested this 8 point whitetail buck (inside spread measures 22 1/2 inches) - November 16, 2007.	This one almost got away, but with a lot of persistence and good tracking, the lost was found.

Dan from Wisconsin harvested this whitetail buck on public land - December 1, 2007. Unofficial green score 185 B&C.

Mike from Iowa harvested this whitetail buck on private land - December 1, 2007. Unofficial green score 180 B&C.

Cody with his first whitetail buck harvested on December 1, 2007. Unofficial green score 195 B&C.

Return from Whitetail Deer Hunters to Successful Iowa Hunts