Here are some updates from Team Patton from their November hunts.
 
*Rut was extremely slow due to heat and all corn still in the field here in Southern Iowa.
*Encounters with a typical 12 we call "Timid Tommy" twice during the rut but wouldn't come any closer than 65 yards...no trail cam pics, however.
*A few other mature deer sightings but no opportunity for a shot with bow, these will hopefully become muzzleloader bucks.
*Season plans - Tyson will be doe hunting during Shotgun 1
*We plan on Tyson being the 1st hunter during late muzzy and I (Travis) will run the camera until he has a harvest and then jump behind the weapon...Then Tyson will go back to trying to fill his bow tag.
 
A few trail cam pics of some bucks over a hot scrape.
 
Alive below....
Big 8 is still alive and kicking

Junkyard - still alive per the trail pic, hard horn & velvet attached

Wicked G2 buck - hard horn and velvet

Harvested below....
Big Natural - Hitlist buck was harvested on a bordering farm, 160" 8 point

Sky Brow - Hitlist buck was harvested on a bordering farm, 154" 8 point...great brows just lacked on some of the other tine length - hard horn & velvet

Lots of big typical 8 point frames running on these two managed farms.
 
 
Good luck and hopefully more harvest photos to come!
 
Team Patton

From Jerod Schenimann-

With no buck tag in my pocket, I've been filming for Brandon every chance I get. My schedule has gotten even busier with school the last couple weeks so my availability has gone down a little bit, as has Brandon's, but we are doing what we can. Brandon had two good encounters with the same buck two nights in a row last week. He's a tall, heavy 10 pt. with a split G2 on his right side. Both nights the buck came out plenty early. He pushed some doe's down the hill into the food plot but both nights, after pushing the doe's to within 30 yards of the stand he bedded down at 60 or 70 yards to keep an eye on them. Both nights Brandon noticed that when coming down the hill, the buck walked within 20 yards of an old dead tree so the next day we moved the stands. We hunted it two nights in a row with the right wind and he never showed!!!

Typical of a mature buck! It was back to work and class for us on Monday so we didn't get to hunt him again. Brandon has a second season shotgun tag and I've got a late muzzleloader tag so that will be the next time we will get to hunt. Good luck to all the first season shotgunners!

Brandon LaFever 

Well my season has definetely been interesting this year. I shot my first buck on the 3rd of October. Then on the 8th I shot two does about a half hour apart they were hit good so I knew they would be dead. Then about an hour after that I had Porky, the big twelve come in to my food plot and give me a 30 yard broadside shot and he jumped the string.

I slowed the footage way down and right at the last second he ducked and spun away from the arrow and it clipped him right in front of the shoulder, it appeared to be just a flesh wound. I tracked him the next day and ran out of blood after about 100 yards, we then just did a body search and found nothing.

After that I had opportunities at three different borderline shooter bucks up until October 30th. Thats when things got interesting, I got on stand that mourning and then right at legal shooting time I saw some movement coming towards me and a monster ten pointer coming right to me. I stood up, grabbed my bow, and drew back, by then he's at 10 yards broadside and walking at a pretty steady pace so I settled my pin on him and said "nerp".  Needless to say he came apart at the seams and blew out of there; I was dumbfounded.

After that incident it was pretty slow until November 17. I climbed into the same stand that morning and about 8:15 am here he comes again only from a different direction. I stood up, got my bow ready and he locks up at 10 yards behind a big oak tree. My scent was blowing the opposite direction and I made no noise or movement.  So who knows maybe they can detect brain waves like Gene Wensel says? Anyway, he ended up turning and walking into the thick stuff and presented no shot.

I went back out that night to the other end of my farm and low and behold who do I see with a doe about 100 yards away? The big ten. There he was in all his glory hanging with a doe. He milled around with her for about five minutes then walked up and sniffed her and started to walk off out of sight, that's when I thought either she's not ready yet or he's already bred her. I hurried and grabbed my grunt call, blew three times like a doe with my mouth, then used my grunt to snort wheeze twice, then he came running around the corner right for me. He ran to about fifty yards, stopped, and turned around and looked at that doe and right at the same time she jumps across the fence heading away, so whats he do? He turns around and tears off after her, I couldnt believe it. Actually I can believe it. Its deer hunting.

He has been the only other encounter with a big shooter buck on my farm since Porky. Everyone else have been borderline bucks. This has definetely been the slowest year for sightings and encounters with deer in general for me. I think it has a lot to do with it is all the corn still standing around my area and I think deer numbers are down. My observation of the rut in my area was also poor. I'm sure a lot of it took place out in the middle of nowhere with the corn for security cover. My late season plans are to try and fill my landowner tag with my bow and also my muzzleloader tag with my bow at least for a while. If that doesn't pan out, I may turn to my Thompson Center for help. I probably won't go after the does on my farm. I think the numbers are down the way it is. I can't wait to get off of my property once again and see some different turf!

George Dean

Well, as I look back over the 2009 rut, I must say it was certainly different.  Cold temps in mid October and heat waves through the middle of November was a tad bit odd to say the least.  Then two weeks of constant rain made difficult hunting even harder.  With more then 80% of my stands under water, at times I did not know if I was hunting for deer or ducks in flooded timber.  But enough crying,  when the waters finally receded and temps cooled off, the action did pick up.

Over the course of the season I was able to have good encounters with all of my Hit List bucks. I saw "No Brows" so many times he should be dead, but he would never close the distance to allow me a shot.  I had "Temptation" at 10 yards, but let him pass as he looks to be only a 3 year old buck.  I had "Gunther" chasing a doe at 100 yards, but nothing I could do would make him leave his newfound friend.  Then to top it off, I was able to lay my eyes on a deer we call "Ghost" three times.  That is about three more times than I have seen this deer in the last three years. 

So it was easy to understand why there were several heart-pounding moments as Ghost walked within 60 yards of the stand following a doe.  But she turned north instead of following the trail that headed right past my 30-yard shooting lane.  But all is not lost with 6 weeks of gun season coming up those 100 yard and 60 yard shots will be more than welcomed.  I will be hunting 1st and 2nd season shotgun with my TC Pro Hunter on my landonwer's tag and will be ending my season with late season muzzleloader.  My son, Austin, and daughter, Kortney, will be back out again during the gun seasons to try to harvest another deer on camera.  So put on another layer of clothes and pack your pockets full of handwarmers; I will see you on the stand. 

 
George Dean
North Central Iowa