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Iowa buck down

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JW_Halverson:
Indeed, that feller had a nice reserve of fat for the winter. Healthy and strong, just like every one of his ancestors that have run that ground from time immemorial.

I bet you're glad he didn't find his way to the middle of those black raspberries!

BowEd:
Yes he was considerate not doing that.I would of had to go get the nylon cordura chaps for us from coon hunting.
As a side note here before this hunt and others I lightly smoke my hunting clothes and myself with a braid of sweet grass for good luck.

BowEd:
Finished up on the skull and lower jaws.Took approximately a full day to do altogether.A par boil of about an hour is good enough.Over boiling and you'll lose the teeth and your lower jaws will come apart too.If you've got to glue pieces back on you've boiled it too long.I use our canning pot and a turkey fryer.

A boning knife and the longest longnose pliers you can get.A wire brush will come in handy too.
Skin/debone/boil/and clean up took just a few hours.Bleaching it with the bleaching mixture is left on overnight to half a day to dry.Then the dried powder is blown off with the air compressor and it's done.The powder is as fine as dry wall or gypsum dust.

You can see this buck has been working on trees/scraping/marking his territory for quite some time by how rounded his front tips are.His brow tines are shiny smooth also.I've seen his scrapes along the route to my stand.


I've done quite a few of these skulls in the past.All but a couple shown were shot with self or horn bows.
A few summers I helped a fella with his gutterless service visiting many yards in this area.This little collection of skulls and horns does'nt compare to the racks I've seen on some of the locals' yards.I'll show a few pictures of what I mean.
First a little look into my screened in porch war room where I have some of the skulls with functioning accoutraments made over the past years hung from pegs on an 8 foot 2" by 8" cedar board .Many other items are left in boxes not shown.

Some more scrimshaw work on cow horn and the rosette bone of an elk antler.Ivory is the easiest material to scrimshaw on as it's structure is very tightly grained.

Now a small 8 point from back in 2012 with a plaque picture of one of the B&T's I won B&T Days with.A national hunt win against 1100 other coondogs.A beaded coon dog treeing on a round piece of brain tan laced in a willow hoop to commemorate him.An epoxy encased 4 leaf clover hung in center of skull also.

A cedar frame showing the free articles from national magazines like Full Cry,Coonhound Boodlines,and American Cooner wrote on my dogs.

Some more bleached whitetail deer skulls,horsehair locks,and hooped scalps.

Buck of 2017.

Buck of 2015.Many could'nt believe this buck weighed 385 pounds on the hoof.Got over 125 pounds of deer meat from this fella.Figured he was at least a 7.5 year old.

This one has an extra rossete coming out of his skull.His lower jaws and hooves glued onto an oak burl.He was found dead on my property.Picture is as I found him.Sure would of liked a shot at him too.I think he was either injured from a gun season on the neighboring land and died there or EHD got him.These type skulls are the most difficult to bleach.The hide is dried onto the skull.

Took this skull to an informative meeting held by the DNR.There was a certified  deer rack scorer there so he measured it.It's catagorized as a non typical rack.Score on it was a net 168 and 1/2" after deductions.

Some coon peckers hung on the right hung on one of his tines.Used to have 10 times that amount of coon peckers but a little terrier got to them one time while I was gone coon hunting....ha ha.I did have plans of making a breast plate out of them.

I feel blessed and grateful to continue on with these passions.There's always next year to add to them too.To date recollecting I think I was in the stands around 30 to 35 times taking 3 shots total this year.I'd say close to 150 hours of hunting.Some years are more or less than others.Got busted a few times too.Deer hunting with primitive self made equipment brings the best out of a hunters' skill.More patience is needed but then the reward is more satisfying too.
My coonhunting/buckskinning and primitive deer hunting through these times turned out to be more than a hobby.More like a lifestyle that stays with me to this day with no regrets.You get what you put into things.
Saw lots of deer passing on 3 or 4 this year for sure that were just too small that were in the right shootable situation.Many I would of liked to shoot at but were'nt just right.If they are'nt I don't shoot.I try to stay away from foul shooting deer.Waste of effort and time.Chances are if you don't pull the string you'll get another chance down the line when everything is just right.That's if you are'nt detected too.A lot has to go right for a successful hunt.Some call this ethical hunting.I suppose they're right.I call it productive hunting.
If one is just starting out getting one shot and down of any size is a good thing too.It can build ones' confidence.
The red rat self bow has held up nicely IMO over the year of shooting.It still holds over 4" of reflex from starting out at about 4.5" of reflex.Excellent shooter.
To put my outdoor life experiences into a proper context is that for 45 years of my life this is what I did.Then I got married.It's who I am.If I was'nt in a tractor I was in the woods year round.Always connected to the land and it's inhabitants.House was just a place to rest.No domestic obligations.
I've never been one to pay someone for my experiences or accomplishments.I'd rather earn them myself.Everyones' demographic challenge can be different.Some places are just plain harder to hunt than others.It's where the true full satisfaction and knowledge is experienced.
A side note.....There a large whitetails all over this country of the U.S.A.Canada included.I've  coon hunted in at least 10 different states and seen them at night.This area though harbors it's fair share of big bodied bucks as well as any of them.

bjrogg:
Nice buck Ed. Congratulations on a really good season. I’m sure you will fully utilize your animals. Look forward to seeing what you do with them.

Bjrogg

Hawkdancer:
Nice deer!  We haven't had a chance to hunt yet, but our firearm season opens tomorrow, we have a hunt planned for next weekend, Thursday through Sunday, thumbtack to bows and muzzleloaders.
Hawkdancer

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