The Iowa regs permit the use of pistols during the Late Muzzleloader deer season and that's the season that works best for our schedules and is the longest of all the deer seasons. I went out on Monday, the opening day, to do some scouting for taking one of our daughters, Grace, out the following day. We had the blind set up on new property that doesn't get much hunting pressure and none during Iowa's regular gun seasons. Within 45 minutes we had deer in front of the blind. I had one of our four year old twins with us and he had fun watching the deer. I was texting photos to Grace and my wife and they both said, "Fill your tag!" So after hoping a big 6 point which lacked brow tines would come far enough over the rise in the bean field for a fair shot and then watching the sentry doe in his bunch stomp and snort wheeze at something off to our right and take off, I waited for a big adult doe to shoot. I finally pulled the trigger on one at 189 yards about 15 minutes before shooting time was over. I was using my new-to-me XP-100 in .350 Rem Mag. A good shot put a Speer 180 gr. through both lungs and resulted in a 20 yard death run. We field dressed her and then put her on the scale. 147 pounds. A big doe and VERY fat.
We went out Tuesday at about the same time with the four year old AND our nine year old daughter in the blind with Grace and me. Deer started to show up about the same time and they didn't hang up behind the rise. A beautiful 8 point chased a doe up over the rise and ran straight at the blind. They started feeding about 75 yards away and Grace had her TC Encore in .357 Max up on the tripod rest for about five minutes waiting for him to turn broadside. Her patience paid off and he stood stock still at 75 yards. I watched the 180 gr. Speer bullet impact perfectly through my Swarovski binoculars. Grace got to see the donkey kick and full death run as he ran south across the beanfield. She started to get nervous as he got close to the field edge and I said, "Just watch." He nose dived and went head over heels right at the edge of the field. She's never gotten to see the full death run before because they've been right at the edge of trees or sloughs when she has shot them. It's her biggest buck to date and had he not busted both G2s fighting he would be a beautiful 10 point. I failed to get a weight because I ran out of vertical room and his head was still dragging on the ground. Even pulled up as far as I can in the garage his nose is touching the floor. He makes my 147 pound doe look like a yearling, so I'm guessing he is close to 200 pounds dressed. We had a heck of a time loading him on the sled into the back of her Envoy XL!
We're very pleased with this year's hunt and Grace did everything on her own this year with virtually no guidance from me, from verifying zero to practicing from our tripod rest setup with a monopod on the grip to ring 6" steel plates out to 200 yards to getting everything to the blind and getting herself setup. I'm very proud of the deer hunter she has developed into and I've sold the 20 gauge 11-87 she started with. Since she became old enough to hunt with a pistol she's been using that TC in .357 Max and made some great shots with it.
We went out Tuesday at about the same time with the four year old AND our nine year old daughter in the blind with Grace and me. Deer started to show up about the same time and they didn't hang up behind the rise. A beautiful 8 point chased a doe up over the rise and ran straight at the blind. They started feeding about 75 yards away and Grace had her TC Encore in .357 Max up on the tripod rest for about five minutes waiting for him to turn broadside. Her patience paid off and he stood stock still at 75 yards. I watched the 180 gr. Speer bullet impact perfectly through my Swarovski binoculars. Grace got to see the donkey kick and full death run as he ran south across the beanfield. She started to get nervous as he got close to the field edge and I said, "Just watch." He nose dived and went head over heels right at the edge of the field. She's never gotten to see the full death run before because they've been right at the edge of trees or sloughs when she has shot them. It's her biggest buck to date and had he not busted both G2s fighting he would be a beautiful 10 point. I failed to get a weight because I ran out of vertical room and his head was still dragging on the ground. Even pulled up as far as I can in the garage his nose is touching the floor. He makes my 147 pound doe look like a yearling, so I'm guessing he is close to 200 pounds dressed. We had a heck of a time loading him on the sled into the back of her Envoy XL!
We're very pleased with this year's hunt and Grace did everything on her own this year with virtually no guidance from me, from verifying zero to practicing from our tripod rest setup with a monopod on the grip to ring 6" steel plates out to 200 yards to getting everything to the blind and getting herself setup. I'm very proud of the deer hunter she has developed into and I've sold the 20 gauge 11-87 she started with. Since she became old enough to hunt with a pistol she's been using that TC in .357 Max and made some great shots with it.
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