By Alex Comstock
Earlier this month Clifford Martin was able to put down an early season giant in Iowa and I wanted to get the scoop on the hunt. Clifford is one of those guys that always seems to harvest a mature buck with consistency. I wanted to get an idea of the story behind his buck, and how he was able to send an arrow through him in October. Read on for the story of his awesome buck!
Q: Was this a buck you had been watching for a number of years, or was he a new buck?
Clifford: He was a deer that has been on my farm for the last two years. He wasn't a regular on camera, but each year he was spending some time on a clover plot.
Q: Had you been running trail cameras in hopes of patterning this buck? Was he a buck you were expecting to see the night you ended up harvesting him?
Clifford: Yes, I was running a few cameras on this farm all year...and he was one of the shooters that I thought would possibly show that evening.
Q: Describe your setup the night of the hunt. What kind of area were you sitting? What was your reasoning for sitting where you sat?
Clifford: With one of the first major cold fronts hitting Iowa that afternoon, I knew I had to hunt this food plot, but with no blind or stand setup to hunt this particular wind, I decided to hunt him from the ground on the east side of the clover plot. There were tall warm season grasses on the east side of the food plot allowing me to stay hidden until the shot. The reason I took the chance is I know my farm well and I know how deer use my food plot so I felt comfortable hunting him from the ground.
Q: Were there any particular weather conditions or anything like that which made you confident October 7th would be a good evening to hunt?
Clifford: The weather was perfect for getting the mature deer on their feet. We had warmer temps and rain earlier in the day and about 5:00 pm is when the temps started to drop and the barometric pressure was almost at 30. These were perfect ingredients to shoot an early season buck.
Q: Describe to the reader the events that occurred from the time you first saw the buck to when you released the arrow. Are there any details that stick out to you looking back on it now?
Clifford: I had two younger bucks sparring around in the food plot for close to an hour. I was actually surprised that there weren't any does in the food plot. With about 40 minutes of light left my buck walked into the food plot and starting sparring with the younger bucks. At that time he was roughly 60 yards away and I knew I needed him at 40 yards or under. After a few minutes of sparring, he walked out to about the center of the clover plot and starting feeding. At that point I got a few different ranges on him and he was exactly 40 yards. I waited for him to drop his head to eat and I came to full draw and sent the arrow home. He ran about 75 yards and tipped over.
Q: Are there any lessons you've learned from this hunt or others in the early season that somebody could take with them when they're thinking about hunting early in the year?
Clifford: If your not targeting your shooter bucks in October your missing out, I have killed 5 of my bucks in early October, out of the 6 years I've lived in Iowa.
By Alex Comstock
Earlier this fall, while I was in North Dakota on an early season hunt, through some friends I got word of a giant buck that was shot not too far from where I was hunting. Then, I saw photos, and let me tell you, giant is an understatement. Not too long, after, it just so happened that Jessy Langowski, the father of the hunter who shot this buck followed WhitetailDNA and sent me a message. And that eventually led to this story being shared here of how young Jace Langowski was able to send an arrow through a 190 class velvet whitetail at the age of 13.
By Alex Comstock
This story is another one that was written years ago, this one being created after fall of 2015. Just as my other story I shared earlier this week, this one was never published anywhere, and I now wanted to share it with you, as there are valuable lessons I believe that can be taken from it. And with that, I hope you enjoy the story of this public land hunt from a few years ago...
By Alex Comstock
The following story you are about to read was written four years ago, by the 19 year old version of myself. This was a story I wrote but never did anything with, and I wanted to share it with you today. It details the hunt for a doe in 2014, and some of the lessons I had to endure while learning when to pass deer. It's an important lesson, and that's why I wanted to share it with you today. Releasing an arrow at a deer should never be taken lightly and is a big decision every time you make it. Sometimes the best decision to make, is to not take the shot at all...
By Alex Comstock
This past weekend signaled the end of my shed hunting for the year as I took a last minute day trip out to North Dakota and was able to scoop up a couple antlers. Now that shed hunting is over, I wanted to take a look back at the last few months through some photos, and show you how my shed hunting went this year.
By Alex Comstock
Do you remember the day you got hooked on deer hunting? I mean that moment you realized hunting could change your life? I still vividly remember that day, and it was the first time I took a deer's life. I remember when time almost seemed to stand still and it was as if everything in that second changed, and it put me on the path that I'm on today. Ever since that October day in 2010, I became a bowhunter. A whitetail fanatic. And that will never change. Today, I wanted to run you through the evening that I became hooked and how it changed my life forever.
By Alex Comstock
As I sat and scrolled through trail camera pictures last night of the buck I hunted the past two years, Kobe, I felt a bit of remorse. Ever since Kobe was harvested by another hunter in November, I've questioned everything I did in the pursuit of hunting him. Even though I hold absolutely no grudge towards the guy that got him and am truly happy for him, I just felt so connected to that deer, I knew it was going to take time to get over it. If you need to get caught up on the story of Kobe, you can ready my last journal entry about him here. I knew I couldn't write a full reflection and what I learned while hunting the deer right after it happened, so I've taken time to put a lot of thought into it, and the following is what I've come up with as it pertains to what Kobe taught a young bowhunter.
By Alex Comstock
Here's an idea - buy a school bus, completely rebuild it, and then use it as a public land hunting machine to travel the country in. Well it's currently being done by Sam Soholt, and it's pretty awesome. I was fortunate enough to be in Sam's neck of the woods this past summer, and was able to swing by and check out his bus that he converted into a mobile hunting camp, and let me tell you, it's pretty remarkable. Now that he's been using it to travel the country hunting, filming, and photographing hunts, I wanted to get a full synophis on how the bus came to be, and his year so far using it. Enjoy our Q&A below!
By Alex Comstock
Have you ever wondered how many hours you might spend afield during a calendar year pursuing whitetails? Between winter scouting, shed hunting, hanging stands, glassing, checking trail cameras, and actually hunting, A LOT of time is spent preparing and chasing whitetails. This past year, I decided to document every hour I spent in the field and wanted to share that with you today.
By Alex Comstock
2017 is officially out the window, and a new year is upon us. I have no idea what 2018 may present, but I can't wait to see what the next year entails. This is a common time of the year to write about reflection, goals, hopes, resolutions, etc. and I'll touch on all of that soon. But today, I wanted to take you on my hunting journey this past year through a series of photos, and reflect on it that way. There were a lot of great memories, and no words can quite explain what you get from a few photos.
By Alex Comstock
Last year, I did a blog post where I covered the topic on how far a whitetail buck might travel throughout the year. What really got the gears turning in my head on this topic was when my buddy Joey told me of a buck he had been hunting called the "Split Four", and he documented him traveling over ten miles. Well this season, Joey was able to write the final chapter of the buck's life, and I was able to catch up with him on how he was able to do it.
By Alex Comstock
I'm constantly fascinated by learning from other's hunting stories. One of my favorite parts of listening to someone's hunting story is learning from how they were successful or what they learned from a "failed" hunt. Today, we talk with Tyler Jones from The Element Podcast on a recent success trip he had to Kansas, and how he was able to put down a slammer of a buck. Enjoy!
By Alex Comstock
Earlier this month Clifford Martin was able to put down an early season giant in Iowa and I wanted to get the scoop on the hunt. Clifford is one of those guys that always seems to harvest a mature buck with consistency. I wanted to get an idea of the story behind his buck, and how he was able to send an arrow through him in October. Read on for the story of his awesome buck!
By Alex Comstock
Hunting mature bucks is never easy. Throw in the fact of hunting a highly pressured state such as Pennsylvania, and it's even harder. Nick Kravitz defined the odds a few days ago, and harvested a beautiful mature buck in a highly pressured state during none other than the "October Lull". To read about how Nick was able to succeed on this hunt and what he learned that could help you in the near future, read our Q&A below.
By Alex Comstock
One of the most cliche sayings in the world would probably be along the lines of "Man, time flys." But let me tell you, it sure feels true. It doesn't seem that long ago, I was posting my first "through the lens" blog post, uploading photos of sheds, and scouting spring sign.
By Alex Comstock
Every now and again, I want to take a look back on moments, special times of the year, important memories, etc. and instead of write a story about it, simply let the story tell itself - through the lens. I think this could provide some interesting content for not only me to enjoy, but for you as well. Maybe it will help give you a little extra motivation to get through the work week and into the weekend, or get you a little more excited for deer season. Either way, I hope you enjoy! And with that, here are the many beauties of this past spring...
There are always going to be the bucks that get away. The ones that keep you up at night, wondering what you could have done differently. I find myself thinking about these encounters, and occurrences often. Even at the young age of 22, I've had more mishaps, and bucks that have gotten away, than ones I've been successful harvesting. But today, I wanted to share a story with you of the first buck that truly "got away". The first buck that left me stunned, and down in the dumps. It's a buck and a moment I'll never forget, as that deer taught me how to handle failure, and grow from these disappointments.
Growing up an avid bowhunter in Southeastern Iowa, I came to the University of North Dakota for college and figured I was leaving my passion of chasing whitetails behind for a few years. My first few years of school were extremely busy and resulted in only a few days of bowhunting back home in Iowa. Fortunately, I was still able to have amazing encounters with large whitetails over these few hunting days, but this only reminded me of how bad I wanted to spend more time in a tree. Every year I told myself, “next year I’ll actually have time to bowhunt, and I’ll even try and hunt in North Dakota,” and every year was the same. There was no time for me to scout with my brutal schedule, and I surely didn’t have time to hunt hard. This past summer, I figured I would find a day or two to go out no matter what. September crept up quite quickly, and a few days after the season opened, I finally found time where I could get out and hunt for a day.
In the summer of 2014, I decided I was going to start hunting Nebraska. I have family that lives there, and I wanted to hunt another state than just where I lived. It was going to be my first out of state DIY hunt, and I was really excited about the opportunity. My buddy Ben and I went down early in the summer and put up trail cams, and scouted the property I had permission to hunt on. It looked awesome, and our expectations were high. Later in the summer we went back down to check cams, and what we got on camera pumped us up even more.
Targeting one specific buck is always a challenge. It is exponentially tougher to find success when doing this, rather than just trying to shoot a deer, or even a mature buck. During the 2013 Minnesota archery season, this is what I did, kind of. It wasn't the type of hunt your probably thinking of, I wasn't hunting a deer I had years of history with and was obsessed about. In fact, I didn't even know this particular buck existed. I always have multiple properties to hunt, and 2013 was no different. One of my properties I had permission on, I had to share with two other guys, and it was only a 40 acre parcel. We split it up into three sections, so I had roughly 13 acres to deal with. I didn't set foot into this property in the summer or early season. To be honest, before I even walked it, I had written it off. Besides the guys hunting the same property as me, there was an abundance of hunting pressure all around. I simply never gave it a chance.
2010. The thought of that deer season gives me goosebumps. It was unreal, no other way to put it. It wasn't just the fact that I shot my first buck that year when I was 15 years of age. It's the fact that in big woods northern Minnesota, where it can be rare to see a buck over 2 1/2 years of age, our deer camp harvested four, yes four bucks over 135" in the matter of a week. All of these bucks were at least 3 1/2 years old, and they all were probably over 4 1/2.
By Josh Smith
“The Struggle”
As the 2018 whitetail season draws to a close and I take a few weeks to reflect before scouting begins, I find myself at a crossroad. Close encounters with quality bucks and a pair of empty post-season hands leave an unsatisfied hunger to burn for nine months, while the overwhelming sense of pride from the experience of my first team sit with my two young sons wells up in my eyes almost daily. There is much to digest from the last few months in order to both lock in a plan for next year, and to embrace the changes as I define the husband, father, and hunter that I am determined to be.