Another Giant Arrowed by Midwest Whitetail Fan!
Posted By
Ben Koopman
at
1/6/2012 12:00:00 AM
It was November 4th and Chad Boehlje was hunting that afternoon out of his Muddy stand that he had hung in a mature oak the week before. The last time out on this particular farm he decided that he needed to move his previous stand site about 100 yards to a new location over an area where a couple of trails converged with one running parallel to a deep cut creek and one continuing on out into a cut corn field. Chad had also noticed some small but fresh scrapes had been opened up in this same stretch of timber. The prevailing winds had kept him out of this particular stand from when he moved it until the 4th but on that day the wind finally cooperated. One of trails he was sitting over ran North and South to the East of the stand site with a shooting lane 15 yards directly to the East and another 32 yards SSE of the stand at the bottom of a fairly steep incline which ended at
Chad Boehlje connected with this buck
the bank of the creek. The other trail split off of the N/S trail at the 32 yard mark and angled NW up the side hill passing directly under the stand itself on its way to the cut corn field. Most of the recent sign was located on this trail about 25 yards to the NW of the stand site chosen. It was Chad's 7th hunt of the season and 2nd hunt on this particular farm. He had yet to see a buck in 2011. That particular day Chad got in the timber around noon, cleared shooting lanes, and climbed up and settled in for the afternoon. It was hot and quiet with no deer movement or activity for most of the day. With about 30 minutes of shooting light left, Chad looked down the hill to the 32 yard mark and saw a big, mature doe step into the shooting lane from the South and nose a couple of the cuts he had made on some under-story while clearing the lane. Chad had sprayed the cuts with raccoon urine and while she seemed interested she was not alarmed. She continued North to a point directly East of him stopping right in the 15 yard shooting lane (where she again took the time to bird-dog out some of my cuts). At this point Chad looked back down the hill and noticed another deer had stepped into the 32 yard lane. He got a good look at the size of the body and enough of a look at his head gear to know he was a mature buck and a shooter by Chad's standards. Like many bow hunters have seen at this time of year, this buck was intent on staying within 30-35 yards of this particular doe and was in lock-step with her, stopping when she stopped, starting when she started. Chad got his Hoyt in hand, drew, and settled his pin. At 32 yards he was presenting a straight on shot, also known as "no shot". He waited for the doe to continue to the North and bring him past me at 15 yards. She had other plans however. While Chad was focused on the buck the doe had crossed trails and was now relocated directly under his stand. He glanced down through the platform and was staring straight down on her back. Chad decided the thing to do was just ignore her and wait and see where she took this buck. He didn't have to wait long. Shortly after stopping below me she got spooky and took 5-7 quick steps up the trail and past me to the NW. The buck had been watching, saw her getting out past his imaginary boundary and decided to close the distance in a hurry. In about 5 steps he was at 15 yards and looked as if he was going to pass right underneath Chad with no shot presented coming or going. He had stayed at full draw and dropped his Hoyt as quickly as possible while the buck closed the distance to the doe. Somewhere at around 10 yards Chad grunted. The buck skidded to a stop, turned to present broadside with a slight quartering toward angle, and looked directly up at Chad. He released the arrow and it found its mark. The buck simply turned and trotted back down to the 32 yard mark and then walked back to the South out of sight. Remarkably, the doe never spooked, she turned back to the East, crossed the front of Chad's tree again and browsed out at 40 yards until he lost sight of her at dark. Chad backed out quietly that night and recovered the buck in the morning about 60 yards from the stand. He had never seen this particular buck before that afternoon. The buck unofficially grossed 185 1/8 with 27" main beams and an inside spread of 22 6/8 (still “green” when measured). This buck gave Chad a great hunt (as did the doe) and wonderful story to tell! Congratulations Chad!
during Iowa's bow season!
Share your hunt with us. Send in a photo and description to bkoopman10@gmail.com
