OUTFITTER:
J & S Trophy Hunts
Steve Shoop
P.O. Box 312
Memphis, MO 63555 USA
660-945-3736
jstrophy@aol.com
www.jstrophyhunts.com

ABOUT THIS HUNT:
I headed out from my mountain retreat in PA and was excited to hunt with my very good friend Steve Shoop. We would be hunting the second shotgun season in Iowa which most people don't realize has no rifle season.

Early on we had several encounters with mature deer. A nearly identical 150" bruiser to the one I shot in Kansas appeared coming to the food plot when he winded us and bolted. This was a good sign of things to come.

Hunting food plots and wood lines. We had set a stand early in the morning which gave me a great opportunity to watch the deer movement which was just out of our shotgun range. They were bedding on top of one of the plateaus and it was obvious they were using the sunny side of the hill to stay warm. I marked a waypoint on my Lowrance GPS. After the morning hunt and a great observation under our belts and with Steve's blessing we decided to move the stand closer to the bedding area.

On 12.17.2005 it all came together! We were in the stand we had moved closer to bedding area and we had deer moving all around us. We spotted the monster we had seen the previous day come in at around 120 yards. There were a few times the safety was clicked off but I heard a little voice in my head pleading for patience. The buck decided to bed down.

Having a Browning shotgun in my hands instead of my trusty Browning A-bolt I went back and forth between sitting tight and waiting for this buck to come towards us or trying something else. I could see him bedded down behind a briar patch and stump and all I could see was the tips of his antlers. Steve was talking about trying another area.

I decided to climb down from the treestand and move towards the buck but the ground was crunchy and noisey. Steve was waiting at the bottom of the hill. I had to make a decision. I decided to stalk this animal. One advantage we had was a flurry of ground squirrel activity to mask the sound of our movement (cameraman and I). We got to within 75 yards of this bedded buck and that smile came across our faces. We knew we could take this animal if we could only get him to stand.

I took a stick and swept it over the ground. We could see his head moving left and right trying to locate the sound. He stood up and looked back over his shoulder. In my mind I kept saying "Please, don't bolt!" He didn't. The next noise he heard was my shotgun going off and another magnificent animal was down.

The good news is I fulfilled another Obsession Quest animal and knew I could do better than the 130 " animal which would eventually be life sized and on display at Bass Pro Shops. Steve Shoop invited us back in 2006 to try for something better!

ABOUT THIS ANIMAL:
Obession Quest Northeast Whitetail
130" 8-pointer

EQUIPMENT USED:
Browning Gold 12 gauge w/ Winchester Supreme Slugs