Rack Magazine

A wild-eyed buck with attitude trips this Iowan’s trigger.

For the past 12 years, five friends have burned off-days the first week of November to take advantage of Iowa’s whitetail rut.

The group includes Mark Brownfield, Vick Bycroft and three Steves: Johnson, Lastine and Morris. They have 40 stands in two counties – a total of 1,200 acres – between them.

“We hunt deer mornings and evenings and enjoy the time with each other,” says Steve Morris, who was top dog in 2014.

On Nov. 1, the first afternoon of their weeklong hunt, Steve asked everyone where they were going. When nobody mentioned the Cistern Stand where Steve Johnson had taken an enormous buck the previous season, he chose it.

He thought the wind was perfect for the setup. Plus, Steve Lastine, who owned the property adjoining the stand site, had seen a buck with towering tines crossing his land there several times.

“I settled in about 2 pm. The oak trees had already dropped their leaves, and the weather was dry,” Steve said. “I took about 25 minutes to walk that last 15 yards, making as little noise as possible.”

When he was aloft, Steve heard a deer snort. He guessed it had winded Vick, who was hunting 300 yards down the creek.

The first deer he saw was a small buck that stood up from its bed just 75 yards in front of his stand. He couldn’t believe the animal had been bedded there the whole time.

After walking the edge of the creek toward the snorting deer, the small buck returned to its bed. And then another buck stood.

“The cover was so thick, I couldn’t determine how big the second buck was, but I did see that the tips of its main beams almost touched,” Steve said. “In my mind, I eliminated the deer as a shooter, assuming it was young.

“Once buck No. 2 reached the edge of the creek, I decided it was a mainframe 8-pointer. I was looking for a 10-pointer or bigger,” he continued. “Since I’d seen two deer in less than three minutes, I quietly stood, took my Mathews bow off the hanger and nocked an arrow.”

Buck No. 3 was a mainframe 10-pointer. It came up the creek and made eye contact with the 4x4, which lowered its head and assumed an aggressive stance.

When the 10-pointer responded submissively, Steve realized the 4x4 was the dominant buck. He then wondered if it was the deer his friend had seen.

When the 10-pointer approached Steve’s tree – taking the same route Steve Johnson’s 2013 buck had followed – Steve drew his bow. He didn’t think he would get a shot at the dominant 4x4.

However, the 8-pointer came out of the creek 30 to 45 yards away and got on the same trail the 10-pointer was walking. Steve was impressed by the antlers’ mass. The rack also had quite a few kicker points that couldn’t be seen from a distance.

"The deer was swinging its neck back and forth as if to tell the 10-pointer: If you’re not gone, I’ll kick your butt,” Steve said. “I let down my bow and turned toward the shooting lane the big one would pass through if it stayed on the same trail.”

Having hunted from that stand for several years, Steve knew the various distances within the shooting lanes. When his target buck was 23 yards away, Steve grunted so loudly that it echoed throughout the timber.

“The 8-pointer stopped,” he said. “I looked through my peep sight and put the tip of my 20-yard pin low on the buck’s chest. Before I made a conscious thought of squeezing the trigger, the arrow was on its way to the slightly quartering buck, and my broadhead buried deep into its chest.

“The 8-pointer staggered to the left. The arrow had gone through its heart before hitting the leg on the opposite side,” Steve continued. “It quickly turned, crashed through the brush down into the creek, and ran up the hill for about 60 yards, wobbling back and forth. It landed on its rump, got back up, and then fell over stone-cold dead.”

Steve, pretty shaken, remained in his tree for about 10 or 15 minutes before attempting to descend. He knew he’d just taken the buck for which he’d been waiting 30 years.

“As I crossed the creek, the closer I got to the buck, the more the antlers seemed to grow,” he said. “The bases were thick. The tines coming off the backs of the main beams resembled 4- to 5-inch-long knives. And there were numerous other points less than an inch long, which gave the rack character.

“I texted Vick: I shot a big 15 pointer! When Vick arrived, we took pictures. Afterward, I took my knife out to start field-dressing the buck, but I was too shaky. Vick told me, ‘Let me have the knife, or else you’ll probably cut off your fingers.”’

After notifying the other two friends hunting that day, Steve and Vick loaded the buck on a cart and rolled it back to Steve’s vehicle.

“When Steve Johnson saw my deer, he couldn’t believe we’d taken two trophy bucks out of the same stand in consecutive years,” Steve said. “To be honest, I couldn’t believe I was that fortunate.”

Editor’s Note: The story of Steve Johnson’s hunt from the Cistern Stand appears elsewhere in this issue.

This article was published in the December 2017 edition of Rack Magazine. Subscribe today to have Rack Magazine delivered to your home.

• Doubling Down: This carrier of big antlers did not walk softly.

• Holy Grail: Missouri hunter’s makeshift ‘hillbilly castle’ puts him closer to whitetail Camelot.