After shooting a great whitetail on the east side of the Missouri river I grab a buddies boat and headed to the west side of the river. This is the first time I ever hunted out of a boat. During the morning hours I had to get caught up on some work but was able to get out around 11:00. I dropped the boat in on the east side and went across the lake to the west side for the afternoon hunt.
Once I reached the area I wanted to get to, I began to glass with the Nikon scope and binos. I found a doe in a woody draw and decided to beach the boat and walk up there to see if a buck was nearby. Once I got out of the boat I seen a good whitetail on the hill and looked across the bay and spotted a good 3×3 mule deer. I decided to get back in the boat and go across for a better look at the mule deer. Once I got the boat beached and up to the hill I last seen the deer, I found him bedded with a bigger buck and a doe. I got to 300 yards and played the waiting game. After two hours of looking at him in the cross hairs I decided to shoot him in the bed. I touch the shot off and never came close, he stood up and I shot two more times and never touched a hair on him. I could not believe it; I practiced those shots and felt confident.
After missing I watched him go over the hill with the doe, not looking to scared they angled back towards the public land. I swung way around and found them in a draw about half mile away from where I missed, I belly crawled up to the hill to within 200 yards and put the Nikon cross hairs on the front shoulder and touched it off. Finally it found its mark and he went 10 yards and was done!
This was my first ever rifle mule deer and was extremely excited. I drug the deer back to the boat for a little photo shoot and got him in the boat for a ride back across the river. Just another tactic to use when hunting is a boat to access areas many cannot get to by foot. Keep following the blog when I will explain what I seen in Iowa during November!