Harvest Report - 2007
Some animals we've harvested over the years...
Jordan Feller
Date: November 24, 2007
Animal: Iowa Whitetail (taken on public land)- On the morning of November 24th Russ and I headed to a great area we had scouted this spring on a large tract of public land. This is a great rut spot that the bucks love to travel and we were hoping to catch a buck cruising or freshening some of the scrapes near by. We couldn't ask for better weather with highs around 40 and lows near 20, it was great. We hadn't seen any deer until 8:30 rolled around and coming up the green valley was a great buck. He was on a mission working his way to a huge scrape that was 100 yards away from us. We were posistioned on the ground and when he went behind a hill for a couple minutes we were able to prepare for him to sneak back out. Right as expected he pops over a hill 20 yards away from us, turns broadside and the arrow was on its way. He made it 60 yards and piled up! It is our second harvest on video and we were pumped!
Jeff Burkley
Date: November 21, 2007
Animal: Iowa 9 point- As told from the camera-man...it was a day to never forget as I called Jeff Burkley to see if we could possibly do an afternoon hunt together. He quickly agreed as this is the time of the year (Thanksgiving and Christmas) when we do one of our annual "Holiday Hunts." We haven't brought a camera with us ever as we love to just get away and relax, but I felt today was the day to bring one. With a few stops on the way to Central Iowa to retrieve a camera from the ever gracious Matt Strayer, we finally made our way into the stand around 2:45 hoping to take a buck or doe. It was about 27 degrees with a 20 mph wind out of the north and it had just finished snowing pretty hard. Jeff quickly spotted a couple of fawns and a half-rack out in front of us and the action was pretty consistent most of the rest of the evening. A slight lull in the action was interrupted by a fully mature doe skirting us about 40 yards away. It wasn't 5 minutes later before a giant 9 pointer walked out of the white pines on the trail of the doe. I whispered to Jeff there was a big buck coming, but I'm not sure he believed me at first. It was getting really dark, and I couldn't find the manual mode on the camera to lighten it up, so we just went with it hoping all would turn out. And as fortune would have it, he came right down the path towards us and stopped about 15 yards for a quartering away shot. Jeff Burkley put the smack down as the buck dropped right in his tracks. From the mouth of Jeff Burkley, "Now I REALLY have something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!" We thank the Lord that this all came together the way it did. It's amazing how every piece came together - from the camera to the shot to the weather to the footage turning out...congratulations to Jeff on a great deer; you deserve it!
Matt Strayer
Date: November 9, 2007
Animal: Southern Iowa 8 point- November 9th proved to be a great day for the Outreach Outdoors team. Matt Strayer and Matt Thede were at it again as they started the day in a new funnel stand that Thede had discovered and wanted to hunt during the rut. It was a great set, by 11:00 the two had seen 8 different bucks and 1 shooter that stayed just out of bow range.
At noon the two headed south to a new farm that Strayer filmed Matt Hoffert shoot his buck on earlier in October. Strayer had found another great spot for a rut stand earlier in the year when he was scooting, but had not yet prepped a tree. They arrived at their spot at about 2:00. It was definitely a team effort as it became challenging to find a tree that covered all the different parts of the funnel/ridge that the two wanted to hunt. The two worked together and decided on the right tree. Strayer admits it was not the tree he would have chosen if he alone had made the final decision. At 3:00 they were sitting and ready for the action to begin.
It was at about 4:00 when the first deer appeared. (The hour between 4:00 and 5:00 is what Thede has coined the hour of power based on deer movement.) A doe crossed over the cedar covered ridge above them and stopped just before exiting the thick trees. She was about 20 yards broadside at this point. She had them pegged, as she must have caught movement somehow. However, there was a buck approaching fast as they heard deep grunts and stomping coming up behind her. She decided to break the cover of the cedars and cross one of their shooting lanes at about 23 yards. The buck followed not far behind and Strayer stopped him in the opening for a shot. The rest is history and Strayer's 2007 season came to a close with a great Iowa 8 point. If it had not been for Thede's suggestion on the tree, the shot would not have been possible due to brush and tree limbs. Once again a team effort.
Matt Hoffert
Date: October 26, 2007
Animal: Southern Iowa 8 point- It was October 26th, and Strayer and I were headed back to the same field I shot a doe on opening day. It was our first time back since opening night, and I had two more doe tags that I was looking to fill. In the back of my head I was thinking, as the month of October goes by, November (the month we live for as bowhunters) is that much closer, and the possibility of catching a buck on his feet during daylight hours increasesdramatically. We were up in our stands by 4pm and by 5pm we had a doe enter the field corner just like we anticipated, only we were both sitting down and she caught us trying to get into position. Although she was only 12 yards away, it was impossible to get her on film and get a shot off before she took off.
- Things calmed down until just after 6pm. Entering the field on the same trail as the doe was a small 2.5 year old buck...we were ready and the camera was rolling, but the buck was too small. As the buck was milling around in the field, I looked back into the timber and saw a bigger buck destroying some small trees. I told Strayer here comes a bigger deer. He entered the field and the camera was on him. I made a perfect shot at 15 yards and Strayer did a great job getting an over the shoulder view of the shot on camera. He did not go 40 yards and crashed. It might not be the biggest deer in the woods, but being my first video buck kill, it was a night I'll never forget!
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