As we enter the final phase of the, rut bucks
are now traveling further in search of the last remaining does. This can be an extremely
frustrating time of hunting a specific deer, but with it comes new opportunities. Jared Mills
is experiencing this trend first hand. Both the Big Ten and Marino have disappeared, having most
likely moved off the farms Jared can hunt them. Rather than chasing ghosts, Jared makes the move to a permission farm that's known to hold a
lot of does hoping to find a new target. All right it's morning on November 23rd. The
sun's about to come up here. We've been set up for probably a half hour, 45 minutes. Decided
to switch things up a little bit this morning. Came to a property that I have not hunted yet
this year. In fact, I really haven't hunted a ton in the past either. But it seems like a lot of my
target bucks right now for one reason or another are kind of m.i.a., not sure if they're just
with does and not- not really traveling much or on the other end of the spectrum they could be
traveling a lot and just on different properties somewhere so I'm not really sure but, that's the
reason we wanted to come to a new spot and try it. There is a big deer on this property that
we've had pictures of over the past few years. It's a pretty spot and a pretty morning. Uh,
temperatures in the low 20s. Hard frost last night. So, I hope the deer up and moving. I hope he's on
the property and cruising around looking for a doe. This property is tough to hunt. There's
a lot of covers, basically a big bedding area. That's our setup and game plan for
the morning and if nothing else, we'll at least enjoy some new scenery this morning. While Jared tucks in waiting for a
surprise buck, 167 miles to the southwest Lee Abraham is back on stand targeting GQ. 23rd, November, Monday morning. It's a beautiful morning
it's cold and crisp it's one of the best ones I've had this year. Um, 26 degrees and west-northwest
wind. Josh and I are tucked in this uh, this bedding area we hunted two mornings ago. This is the spot
where this buck uh, GQ came out of last night. This is a typical, typical cruising spot
transition to area between different bedding areas kind of coming together right here, so.
Expect to see some cruising in the morning hopefully that buck did not pick up a doe last night and
he's still in there on the move uh, works pretty good for calling but it's uh it's pretty tight and
when they're on you, they're on you. So, we're gonna Baby Crabs. All right well it's um, mid morning. Uh, we're in
the middle of it here. We have seen just lots of bucks cruising, several does being bumped around
but uh, several even dead groups which is kind of a good thing in the second phase at the end
of the rut. We want those bucks to come in and try to find those last does and we've seen eight
or nine different bucks and uh, they've all been kind of coming in single file either together
or one at a time with their nose to the ground. We had a five-year-old nine point make a rub-
rubbing on a post behind us with uh just snot dripping out of his nose and he was pretty
run down he's been hard at it. But again, no GQ um he's got to be close. Whether he's with
a doe or not but I think he's probably by himself seeing the fact that we've had other
mature bucks not with does, but we have some weather coming in and precipitation. Whether it's
going to be snow or sleet or kind of a wintery mix but, we've got some rain behind us. I'm not sure
what the afternoon holds but I think this is our last little- last little go at it before we have
to make a decision on what we're going to do next. Cack in eastern Iowa, Jared is
trying to create his own action. (Antlers rattling) I'm on him. He's looking. Walking left now. Get down wind of us. You on him? - Yeah. Smoked a branch. Well, that's unfortunate right there. I uh, I
thought I had a clear shooting lane and apparently did not. Connor and I can see the
branch that I hit, just skimmed the very top of it. And it was enough to deflect the arrow straight up
and it's sticking in the middle of the tree like 10 feet up in the air. So it didn't
even get close to the deer which for that I'm thankful that it didn't
hit him somewhere it wasn't supposed to. But, that's crazy it took that deer that long to come in. Around nine o'clock
I rattled. It's probably 10:15 right now and he came out right after the rattling
sequence, probably 130 yards away I would say. He was circling, you know, on the downwind side
of us like you'd expect. He disappeared behind some pine trees and we lost him. And the meantime,
this really mature buck came in uh, a deer we have a bunch of sheds too the landowners found a lot
of sheds to him. He's, I don't know how old but He came in to like 25 yards at the same
time we're waiting for this other buck to- to appear. Never showed up so we assumed he hit our
ground scent and just left. So, we get back, we filmed a big family group of does and fawns just kind
of hanging out, relaxing and Connor spots a buck down below us where we expected
this one to eventually show back up. But it was probably 45 minutes. He
stops and I decided to shoot there. One obviously I thought I had a shooting
lane, but two, I thought at any moment he was gonna bust cause he was right downwind
of us. So i didn't think we had much time but obviously hindsight's 20-20. I should've just
waited and see what he's gonna do and wait for him to come out in this clearing where
there's no chance of hitting a branch but it's one of those things that
you wish you could have back but he's a good deer. I don't know, I think we
might have pictures of him I don't know. Like I said before I haven't spent
any time on this property at all. There's a chance we could see him again but he's
definitely not the buck that we came in here for. Movement's been good hopefully I hang in a little
bit longer and might game plan for this evening. Well it's been a long time. I can't
remember when the last time I missed a deer was. I forgot
how crappy of a feeling that is. Hopefully, we can get back in the stand
and get another opportunity here soon. That same morning, 530 miles to
the east in central Kentucky, Guy Cole is trying to tag his first buck ever. All right, so it's the morning of November 23rd.
We're here on the riverbend farm. It's a place that my grandfather-in-law has permission to deer
hunt on and I've been following him this season. We've been trying to get him his first buck. So,
we'll see if it happens this morning. It's really cold uh, it's down in the- down around 30. Probably
down in the low 30s and uh, they might move, they might not. This is I think our fourth hunt and
we haven't seen a deer yet but, you never know what's going to step out it's that time of year
that anything can happen. Maybe today's the day. Gonna shoot him? Take your safety off. Take your safety off. Got him. I think. I think you got
him. talk to me what happened Talk to me, what happened? - I don't know if I got him or not, maybe I did. He was- He was a nice one, though. He looked
good. He looked good, he was a nice buck. Well he just come right up out of there. - If you got him there what would that be? That'd be your first one. First buck. - First buck if I got him. It definitely
would be. - At 77? At 77? - 77 years old. That's it. He was- he was that big one wasn't he, that big
buck? - Well he's- he's- he's one of the nice ones. - I see it right down there. - Go see if its- see if it's him. What do you see? - I see him right there. - What do you think about that? What do you think
about that? - I like that very well. I like that very well. Okay, well this is my first buck, 77 years old.
I seen this buck come walking up out of the edge of the woods into the field.
Sitting in a good ground blind up there Josh had set up for us. Fired down on him,
and got him so it was pretty exciting. Quite an adrenaline rush. Yeah he was a nine pointer and he
broke off four tines so, I'm still happy with him. So, that's a good experience for me. that's your
first buck that's pretty cool yeah first buck - That's your first buck. That's pretty cool. - Yeah. First buck. The first half of November 23rd is rock solid
and full of action. However, the evening doesn't answer the curtain call and neither
Jared or Lee catch up to their targets. With zero wind, Jared decides to sit on the
same farm as the morning tucked away in a Redneck Blind sealing in his scent, and allowing
him to accomplish some work. He encounters a solid buck but it's not the target and his quest to
punch his first Iowa tag of the season continues. I too had to attend to some work obligations.
And not wanting to miss out on a hunt, Lee took a similar approach to Jared, but without a camera.
He chooses to sit the Redneck Blind overlooking the long bean field and the precipitation he
mentioned arrives in the form of snow. GQ steps out and again he's locked down with a doe resetting
the 48 hour clock. Snow turns to rain and the following morning November 24th, finds Lee back on
stand grinding it out for the world class monarch. Good morning guys, November 24th. A very rainy morning and unfortunately
that has me tucked into a blind. Lee is toughing it out about 90 yards away in
the same tree that we've encountered GQ twice now. And where we're at with this buck, we
encountered him on the 22nd by himself. We figured that was the day he was going
to be off his doe sure enough he was and we ended up rattling him up and
of course i just didn't get a shot. Well yesterday, we sat in the morning in the big
timber hoping we would catch him looking for his next doe, but, by the time the day ended Lee
actually made his way last hour for this blind. It started to rain and snow yesterday and
so I decided to stay home and do some work. Well he saw GQ pop out of these beans with another
doe so you know he's locked down unfortunately again. But with that being said, with these rainy
conditions we know he's not too far off in this long bean field. This is his core I mean, I
filmed him three or four different times from this blind last year. We filmed the place
from the tree right over the leaves and then and what we're hoping is, you can hear it's still
raining, that in breaks between this rain that- that doe comes to this green food source and hopefully
he'll be right behind her, so. It's uh, I don't know. Lee's grounding it out there's no other way to put
it. We've got a bunch of deer moving I mean we've got ten does, a small buck, in the beans. I'm actually
watching another one pop out of the same bedding that GQ did with his doe the other
day. That's a little buck it looks like. So deer definitely are on their feet. Unfortunately,
so far they've all stayed in the middle of those beans and um, haven't made their way to
the greens but I will tell, like Lee said, we ain't going to kill him at home. And I want
nothing more for friend than to put this deer down he deserves it. Crap. We're back into a familiar spot back on this
uh. this ridge. This feeding destination ridge. It's the afternoon of the 24th. As you can see it's uh,
less than ideal for a camera or for deer movement. But um, yeah this- we've seen this deer
on this ridge uh three separate evenings so we know he's comfortable, here he keeps
finding does and bedding pretty close and feeding here out in the open, which he feels
pretty safe because again, he can see, he can get on the downwind side of the wind and protect
himself. But um, he has been relatively active and in daylight so, we had this encounter with
him two days ago here at about 45 yards. And again, the goal is we know he's with that doe. It's been
less than 48 hours so he's probably still with her. I'm thinking about a couple possibilities.
Either, one, she comes to this green we had a couple of does on here earlier today on
this green source that they are coming here. And then two, the other thing last night that um,
I think was possible watching the interaction is if that buck- another buck gets in the in the right
area they can easily push that- that doe and that buck this way or push the doe this way. They can
just by accident so um, if they covered a pretty good range yesterday just pushing those bucks
away and that would give us a shot opportunity just that alone if we get there and get lucky
and with this deer it's going to take some luck, with any situation, so. That's our goal. We've got a
great wind tonight, it's in our face it's been the best move we have for this set and that gives me
a lot of confidence. And the rain you know, it's a negative as far as deer movement. Has been raining
all day so, if we give a little bit of a break I mean, or even if, I mean, it's gonna rain through the
night, so they gotta feed at some point. So, lots of possibilities but ultimately you gotta be out here,
you gotta be where he is, and you know, I mean it's never a bad idea to be in the tree in November no
matter what the conditions so we'll get after it. We did see uh, some activity with that little
break in the weather um, saw that big three year old we call Baby Crabs come across again.
He was seeking for a doe. Saw two other uh, two-year-old bucks and uh several
little small doe groups but uh not a not a mature buck and nothing- nothing to target but
GQ. We have uh, maybe 10 minutes left we're gonna keep our eyes open if we see anything
else we'll bring it to you. - We just heard some grunting right over this hill. I haven't seen what buck it is yet, though. That's him. That's him. Coming there. Walking back to the left. The buck steps out with his doe exactly
where Lee expected, but darkness arrives before the pair ever comes into range and
encounter number four comes to a close. the following morning, November 25th,
finds Lee again in the same tree stand. Switching things up, he brings a decoy along
just in case GQ pops up alone searching. The morning rains persist and the
deer move but the buck is a no-show. Eventually, we decide to get down with
plans to dry out and to charge batteries. Finally, the rain is forecasted to stop midday and
when it does, we will be back to the same stand. 168 miles to the east, Jared Mills
is gearing up for the afternoon sit. All right it's afternoon of November 25th, the
day before Thanksgiving and it has been raining for the last day and a half pretty
much non-stop and it finally quit uh earlier today. And so for that reason, I
expect the deer to get up and move a little bit. We're out here on the property where
we've been chasing the Big Ten. And I mentioned, he's pretty much been m.i.a
just very random appearances on occasion. This is really close to where he spent a lot
of time last year and uh, it's actually one of the spots we encountered him this year
and actually the one in fact one spot that we when we spotted him the first time
there's two does and a buck right now bedded up on the side of a pond dam. So
I don't know if that's a good sign or not. I would tend to think it's not a good sign
that he's in there but I hope I'm wrong. If he's traveling different properties
or just been locked down with does we'll get into that time of year
where they're either going to be searching for the last available
does or searching for food so, hopefully we're in the game tonight.
We've got about two and a half hours left. He's so easy to kill. Why
can't Big Ten do what he does? He lives down there for sure. He's always in there. We need to come up with a name for ole' six by three. Another doe. Oh there's three bucks there. Shrek. l=Looks like corn is the food of choice tonight. The deer are moving well in front of Jared's
stand, but thus far the Big Ten isn't among them. Back in southern Iowa, Lee is
heading back to the long bean field. It's the afternoon of the 25th. We are back on this
uh, this bean ridge. Tried to access that um, that bedding ridge around noon once the rain finally
broke. It's been raining for about 48 hours now off and on. We know that buck is you know, obviously
mary ford uh the last four evenings so why wouldn't we sit here? We got the decoy again to try
to bring him in. Again, he's going to be probably checking for new does or with that same doe and
uh hope this buck will be either a threat or he'll we can call to him. He'll have a visual to uh to
trigger on so that's our plan. Um, obviously pretty confident we're going to see him, hopefully. If we
do we'll do all we can to get him within bow range. Walking away? (Antlers rattling) Keep going? Huh? Yeah that's good. Josh caught GQ coming up out of the bottom about
200 yards to our north directly upwind from us. Um, he was kind of quartering away and uh, so with the decoy we hit the horn trying
to get him to kind of check this thing out to get him at least come in our direction. Uh, he did
make his way up to the top of the ridge on the far end of this field and then kind of disappeared so
I don't know what his- he was interested or just curious but he wasn't charging for sure so
I'm not sure how to take that right now. But at least he's, you know, he's curiosity is up there.
We got him, kept him going the other direction so, um, we got a lot of evening left to hunt so you
know there's a chance he's going to probably pop out somewhere again. Hopefully it's he's trying to
get down wind of us maybe and then he'll come back in. Or he's just going to look for another doe but I
still got a couple hours left til uh, til sunset, so. Anyway, GQ: 47. Lee: 0. Out. All right, three o'clock we're going to
make a move to a plot I call Digits Plot. That's where I killed last year but um, this buck
GQ has been there in between does. He's been there between does on two occasions. At a rubbing
post before on an evening sit so we're gonna get down, scurry over there, climb
up and see if we can catch him coming there before dark. He's had that general
direction so hopefully he's checking a few bedding areas before he gets there and gives
it some time to get set up so, head that way. Here he comes. Here he comes. He's coming, he's coming. Stand up, stand up, stand up, stand up! Right on the other side where they came in. - He didn't get up. I know. He crashed hard. Hit him right here. All right well, we just shot him um, the shot was back when I stopped him, he crashed
not 25 yards from into a new ditch and never came out. I don't know what to think. - We just got here. - We ran over here, in the truck, made a
mad dash down this hill, got set up, saw a coyote. We hadn't been here 20 minutes, 15
minutes. We just get, really got settled in. I told you I just- I think, I think that
coyote just pushed them getting some air on the (inaudible) and he's behind him Unbelievable, I don't know. - That's what I'm thinking. That's
what I'm saying and walk up to the edge. - With it, with me drawn back? - Yes. - I don't want him to see him and then get up. - Exactly. That's kinda my thought. I have nothing to say, really besides um, I thank
my family, thank the lord above for this blessing. And um, my wife and kids, my family
sacrifices for the time here. But you know, I'm just so blessed he come
down that hill and presented a shot and and for that to be a lethal appeal like that I
mean it's just uh, let's go get our hands on him. Oh. My. Gosh. Wow. Wow, I had no idea. - We got so lucky coming here. - Just, just that's just lower
tank here ever seen. Dude, Josh. Well happy thanksgiving. Uh, a lot
to be thankful for on this day of family and friends, and this guy out here. A lot of luck involved, and I'm just humbled
that it worked out like this and grateful that I didn't have a wounded animal. I'm very grateful
and you know, to this, this farm, this piece of dirt. You know, it didn't come easy. I wanted to go with
this farm and this means a lot to me but also the memories of my wife killing a deal last year and
having the kids recover it my brother-in-law Tim Allen as you saw a few weeks ago um, that's that's
true- truly joy and truly a blessing and it's uh hard to put an emotion to. Now this deer, GQ, this
story starts about three years ago. My wife and I were in a second shotgun and he came out and she
said he's beautiful and pretty she named him GQ. So that's where this story started. Last year, he
was a, a very active animal. We encountered him a handful of times, I rattled him in twice. Josh
encountered him late season when he was doing some doe hunting and trying to target a, another mature
buck. From that point on we knew he was going to be a special animal. He uh, he had the width,
he had the frame, didn't have the age just yet but he was in the, in the core of the farm, we knew
we could protect him, and once we found his sheds our whole goal this year was to, to target him and
to put a plan together that would ultimately get him in front of us like we are today. Now did I
expect him to make this big of a jump? I did not. - Yeah these are, so these I don't know if you're
going to really be able to put in perspective but, that is his shed from the 2019 season and
as Lee mentioned I mean, I filmed this deer four or five times. All in the core area where
we've been hunting in the last couple weeks. And it just really, you know, growing up as a
kid in Iowa you always hear about "let them go, they'll grow". This deer is a true testament
to that. I mean this deer, he was beautiful last year. He was a deer that I would have shot
all day, but you know, getting to learn from all the guys that I do it really, proof is in the
pudding right there. I mean, everything got bigger. - Humbleness, gratefulness. Thanks to my wife, my kids
my family. Thanks to Josh for I mean, there was a couple mornings you know even last hunt that I
mean, the guy slept hour 30 minutes because he was editing all night. And this guy, I appreciate
what he does for y'all. Um, he loves bringing these stories to y'all, loves bringing him to life and
you don't understand how much he does in the wee hours in the morning to get the best product, to
tell the best stories, to give the the the best um, appreciation to these animals. And to the guys
behind him, I mean all the all the staff. I mean, The hours that go into it, and the extra you know
the extra backpack, the extra setup, the- the missed opportunities because he wasn't on camera. Yeah, it
went all the way we got each other straight a few times, we don't always agree but uh, that's just- that's just
a relationship when you're in the tree together. - Yeah it was, it was one heck of a week that I
know neither of us are ever going to forget. - Um you know, it's like I said, not a
person that could deserve it more. Appreciate you Lee. I appreciate you guys watching
and supporting us at Midwest Whitetail, you know. We're very humbled and proud to be able to
continue this legacy for the years to come and uh, you know it's like you said it's just a
true blessing to be able to sit behind an animal like this. Happy thanksgiving, hope you guys
have had a great season. - Thanks guys, god bless. Well I wish I could get a target
buck to do that. That deer I don't, I think we may have pictures of
him but he looks fully mature. I threw a few grunts his way just to see if we can
get him to come in and get some footage of him get a better look at him. But of course he comes
right in like it's nothing. Yet again, the Big Ten is nowhere to be found so I have no idea where
that deer is at. Tomorrow's thanksgiving so I don't know if we'll get out or not, but if
not we'll probably be back out on Friday. Josh Honeycutt and Guy Cole continued the great
season in Kentucky, experiencing a special hunt together that resulted in Guy's first buck ever.
Though not the result that Jared envisioned, his move to shuffle the deck and hunt a new property
almost paid off in a big way, providing us another example of how efficient calling can be at this
time of the season when a buck is alone searching. And finally, Lee Abraham got the opportunity he's
dreamed of his entire life, closing the chapter in the Iowa giant. A more than deserved triumph, this
saga will hold a special place in the Midwest Whitetail storybook for the years to come. We have
now entered the final days of November, and with under a week remaining the time to play it safe is
behind us. The number of does remaining in estrus will soon drop to nearly zero and the bucks still
participating in the rut are traveling further than they normally would in their search. Those of us
with tags understand the opportunity it presents. Now, we push the envelope. After all, there
is nothing to lose because in a short time we will be dreaming of when we
are once again, Chasing November.
