On Saturday I finally filled my Iowa Late Muzzleloader tag after more than 20 hours of sitting in a blind or walking public ground. (Centerfire Pistols are legal for use in the Iowa late muzzleloader season). I hunt in the Muscatine area and the place I have the blind is a bedding area, so deer come in very late. Saturday was overcast and starting to mist and about 28 degrees. I'm hunting in fairly dense woods along the Mississippi river bottom, so after the sun goes down it gets late very quickly. Shooting time ended at 5:22 p.m. At 5:19 I scanned the trail junctions I was watching and saw a larger patch of brown than normal and then could see the white patch of a deer nose. It's almost dark. I lost track of the deer for about 30 seconds when it went behind some trees and then I spotted it on a trail I hadn't expected it to take, directly across a gulley from me, thankfully silhouetted on the snow about 50 yards away, slowly walking. All I could tell is that it was an adult deer, which is my criteria for filling tags. I touched off at 5:21 and saw the deer donkey kick, then hunch up and slowly lope over the hill out of sight. I got to where it was standing when I shot, found a little blood in the flashlight, then started getting more blood that was about 2 feet away from the hoofprints - a good sign. About 40 yards from impact I found him piled up. I had no idea that it was even a buck because it was so dim that I could only see the silhouette and barely could see crosshairs.
I use a T/C Encore with an MGM 18" .357 Max barrel. 30 gr. of AA1680 behind a 180 gr. Speer, ignited by a Remington 7 1/2 primer. This load stays on a 20 oz. bottle at 200 yards if I'm using a good rest setup in the blind. This is my second year using this bullet - I normally use a cast and checked bullet from my Ranch Dog 359-190-RFGC mold and 27 gr. AA1680. I may go back to that load, as I've always had full exit penetration with it and I did not on this deer or either of the two deer we killed with the Speer 180 gr. spire point last year, but they definitely got the job done. But I'm pleased as punch with this 4x4. He measures 19.5" inside spread, which makes it the widest whitetail I've ever killed. Not bad for having no idea it had antlers when I pulled the trigger.

Yep-nice one...way to stay with it.

Nice, late season is tough

Nice last minute buck.
I had that happen about twenty years ago and it seemed like everything that happened that day was trying to keep me from going out that afternoon.

Ha! Yeah - I didn't mention that part. I got out much later than I wanted to because I have five kids at home and my wife is in isolation with COVID. I'm thankful the teenagers took care of the little ones while I was out. It's been a tough season and the deer moved REALLY late. I took the 18 year old daughter out to the same blind on Monday evening, hoping to fill her tag on the last day. She did have a couple of opportunities, but we don't shoot deer only slightly larger than my weimaraner.

Congrats 👍

Very nice!

Congrats, man!

A little headgear surprise! Congrats!

Nice!!

Nice buck !

Congrats !

Congrads, I'm thinking I need to get a 357 Max too!

Those last minute of the season deer sure are satisfying.
Congratulations.
GreggH

Great job

Selmer, what is the scope? Is your last shooting light of 5:22pm thirty minutes after sundown?

Selmer, what is the scope? Is your last shooting light of 5:22pm thirty minutes after sundown?

Sorry - I forgot that detail. It's a 2.5-8x32 Leupold Pistol scope. The deer was spotted with my 10x42 Swarovski SLC binocular. I'm convinced that without the optics I would never have bagged the deer, as I would not have seen him in time to get on target had I not seen him at the trail junction. A few days earlier my 16 year old daughter was in the blind and wondered what the difference between my binocular and less expensive optics is. When we got close to the end of shooting time I handed her the Swarovski set to compare with the Zeiss Classic 10x42. The Swaros were the winner, but she said, "Everything is just a little brighter and I can see the tree branches still when I look with binoculars." "Exactly. I pay a lot of money to be able to see things during the first 15 minutes and last 15 minutes of light. That's when the good stuff counts." The scope is obviously not as bright as the binoculars, but obviously good enough. It's the only time I can ever remember that I wish I had a lighted reticle like the Firefly reticle.

And yes - our shooting time ends at 30 minutes after sundown.

Very nice last minute Iowa buck. I envy you and your east end of the state’s wood lots and the Mississippi River bottoms.

way to go
Congrats

It's my first year in this location - but my other biggest whitetail I killed during finals week of my first semester of seminary in Dubuque on a bluff over a Mississippi River drainage. A very heavy, but narrow, 7x5

Awesome! With a handgun too! Nice!

Congrats on a fine late season buck. Nice surprise walking up to that one and seeing that headgear. I had it happen once to me. It was probably 40 years ago. He wasn't as nice as yours, But it was still a nice surprise as well.

Congratulations

Nice shooting - Congrats!

Great buck. He will be good eating. I wish his twin was in my freezer. Deer less here this year.

Congrats. Great last minute buck!

Nice bucks, that's awesome especially with a pistol. Is there any requirement for the pistol besides it has to be a straight wall cartridge.

They removed the straightwall requirement this year. Any cartridge, firing a bullet of .355”-.500” diameter, producing 500 ft-lbs energy at the muzzle with a barrel of at least 4”.

So you're saying I could use a 375 ruger? It doesn't have to be straight wall any more. That's pretty cool

Yes - the .375 Ruger is perfectly legal for the regular Iowa gun seasons now. Legal as a pistol for late muzzleloader, though it would be a handful as a pistol!