The Iowa Youth season opened Saturday. Unfortunately the whole family has been sick the last two weeks dealing with the china virus. Last night my oldest son and I felt well enough to give hunting a try. The last four miles we drove to our spot we must have seen two dozen deer out feeding. It has been in the 90's and finally we got a big temp drop that must have had the deer feeling good and moving. We set up on the ground with the plan to over look and alph alpha field. The field was in a good needing of cutting so on the ground it was hard see very far. About a half hour into our sit and a this deer enters the field. He's only 75 yards away but really tough to see with the over grown field. We watched for about 5 minutes and my son put the gun on the shooting stick and watched through the scope. We were both pretty excited. First time in the woods for the year and first time out of the house in few weeks. I could see he was shaking pretty good and the deer was calm and fed at will. I told Josh many times "I would rather this deer walk away unshot at than you take a poor shot. I only want you to shoot if you are 100% you are going to get him." Luck was on our side and the deer walked our way closing the gap to about 60 yards and putting him in amore visible spot. I repeated what I had already said a few more times and see Josh slip the safety off. At the bang the deer turns and runs directly away from us. I was not sure what happened. Tail was down and it ran rather slow. I saw it pause when it got in the timber but never saw it run away. I was not feeling good at this point and he started praying. We talked it over a hundred times and neither us were sure what happened. I was leaning towards a full miss. After 20 minutes we walked over to where he went into the woods to see if there was any blood where I saw him pause. There he laid dead 40 yards from where he was shot. Big body deer that filled the cooler to the top. We were pretty excited. He wanted to save the heart and eat it. It's been over 30 years since I've done that. Josh turns 16 next year so this was my last time to hunt with him as a youth. Makes me a bit sad to think about but I'm blessed beyond measure with all the deer, turkey, and pheasant we got to chase in the youth seasons. Thanks for reading. Thank you Iowa for another great public land hunt. Chadly
Congratulations memories made for life
Thanks for sharing the story ,, congrats on a fine deer...
Good job!!! Congrats!
Congrats Josh and Dad, thanks for sharing.
AWESOME, congrats!!!
congrats to the young man
congrats to the young man
Congrats I have great memories of Iowa youth season with my boys.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Congrats, I have always enjoyed watching my boys hunt. And deer heart is delicious in my opinion.
Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
Thanks guys for the kind words. He did eat the heart. I beat it with the tenderizer and sliced it thin. Soaked in egg and rolled in ritz crackers and flour. It was chewy but it did get consumed. My daughter is next to go out.
Nice work chadly. Enjoy it while it lasts. They grow up quick!
Good memories made. Outstanding story!
Awesome hunt, Congrats, big body deer, Heart never had it..
Congrats nice buck.