Spot-And-Stalking Whitetail Deer
Spot-and-Stalk on a 150-Class Buck
If you had told me that my 2026 bow season was going to go the way it did, I would’ve laughed. I would have said, “That’d be sweet, but there’s not a chance.”
A Season of Change
My family and I relocated almost two years ago. We’d spent the last 19 years living in northwest Iowa (between Carroll and Fort Dodge). Needless to say, I had great connections with landowners and hunting buddies in the area. I’m not against cameras, but I don’t run them (yet). Only one of the permission farms I hunted with one of my buddies had a food plot. Again, I’m not against them; I just currently don’t have the resources to make them happen.
With my work and family schedule, most of my bow seasons in northwest Iowa consisted of taking a week off to hunt the rut. All that being said, during those 19 years, I had some awesome hunts. I made great memories, and I harvested a couple of mid-140” deer. I did (and still do) always strive to use the resources I have available to be a good manager of the habitat and herd. That meant some years I didn’t harvest a buck.
Now my family and I live in central Iowa (Poweshiek County). I still don’t run cameras. I’m working on building relationships with landowners to gain access to permission farms. I’m building new relationships with hunting buddies, and I’m learning new public ground. Most of the permission farms I currently have access to are ag fields that have small pockets of CRP and timber on them.
Spot-and-Stalk
When I moved, I joked with a couple of my buddies that I was going to move away from stand hunting and start spot and stalking deer. Somehow, that joke turned into a challenge that I accepted and became addicted to. In the 2024 bow season, I still sat in a tree half a dozen times, but I had four spot-and-stalk encounters. All of the encounters were thrilling. One of the encounters had me lying on my stomach within 20 yards of a mid-140” buck for 30 minutes. That hunt didn’t end with tag filled; however, it left me more stoked for more spot and stalk hunts. I met up with that same buck 13 days after the belly crawl encounter. This time, I punched my tag, filled my freezer, and put a memory on the wall. With the close of my 2024 bow season, I WAS HOOKED!
Starting Over
During the offseason, I gained a better understanding of the public pieces of ground near me. I picked up some permission farms (very similar to the rest of my permission farms – primarily ag with some small chunks of CRP and timber). I’d made plans to hang a couple of stands, but my focus was still to spot and stalk. I hadn’t purchased and hung cameras, but I thought that this year might be the one I started using them, especially to gain more eyes to know what deer were around the spot and stalk permission farms. One of the big “wild cards” I was dealing with going into the 2025 season was a new job.
My official start date was November 17. Because I didn’t really know the demands of my new role, I made it my goal to have my tag punched before my start date. My thought was that even if I couldn’t harvest a mature buck, I’d be okay eating tag soup. I could always harvest a doe during late-season muzzleloader (plus my oldest daughter already filled her youth tag, so we had meat in the freezer).
November 1st
Even though I had the goal to fill my tag before I started my new job, and I wanted to do it by spot and stalk, I’d only been out one time (October 30), and it was in a tree stand. I typically don’t get too excited to start bow hunting until the last week of October. For me, the weather and my schedule that week were crazy in 2025. Some things aligned on October 30th, and the farmer had taken the corn out a few days prior, my schedule opened, and we had a slight cold front moving in.
So, I grabbed a hang-on and did an evening hang and hunt. It was fun, but uneventful. I watched two young bucks chasing a handful of does around. On my way to hang the stand, I got some good intel from a rub line that there was a mature buck in the neighborhood.
I couldn’t hunt on the 31st, because I’m a part of our local Pheasants Forever committee and we hosted our banquet that night. After cleaning up from the banquet Saturday morning (November 1), I planned to chase pheasants in the morning and go back and scout/hunt the same area I’d sat on the 30th. Unfortunately, the only thing that happened as planned on the 1st was the banquet cleanup. Mother Nature wasn’t cooperating well enough for me to chase birds or stalk deer. It drizzled and then poured off and on all day. I had plenty of time to hunt and fill my tag, so I wasn’t losing sleep.
Because my plans changed, our family’s plans changed. We decided we’d take advantage of having an evening together and go out to eat. Since it was bow season and the rain had appeared to be done for the night, I told my family we were going to take the long way into town, and so we could see if any deer were out and on their feet. After a couple of “Ah, but we’re hungry” complaints, they realized I wasn’t going to avoid the opportunity to scout.
Within minutes of our drive, I laid eyes on a buck that made me stop my truck. He was nice. I quickly grabbed my binoculars. I stared long enough that my deer-harvesting-daughter said, “Let me see”. Then she stared and commented to the point that I couldn’t take it, so I asked for my binoculars back. I counted at least 11 points. Earlier, I mentioned he had to have a doe bedded down the way he was standing. I sighed, “I hope I run into him sometime this season”.
The Ultimate Spot-and-Stalk
After all of my drooling and commenting, my two daughters and wife, bless their hearts, told me to go hunt him, and we’ll go out to supper. I confirmed they meant what they said. When I found out they did, and I made sure they didn’t need to tell me twice. I turned the truck around and went home. Once I jumped out, they headed to town, and I threw my camo on, grabbed my bow, and jumped into my Polaris Ranger.
I really only had two directions (east and west) from which I could make my move. Fortunately, the wind was in my favor. On my way to the field, I spotted the doe he had pinned down. The wind was calm, but coming from the north. Based on where they were in the field and the topography, I decided my best bet was to come in from the west. From where I could sneak in and park my Ranger to where I last saw them was about 250 yards. Fortunately, I could sneak into the timber and work the edge slowly with the intention to periodically peek out to see what they were doing.
When I got to roughly 125 yards from where I last saw them, I poked my head out to glass, and they were gone. I felt confident they hadn’t left the field. But there were two details I didn’t feel confident in: which way did they go, and how many other deer were with them? I hadn’t seen any others up to this point.
There was still a lot of foliage on the trees, and the timber floor was thick, so I couldn’t see inside the timber very far in most directions. I decided to pause my stalk so I could watch and listen before I made my next move. After a few minutes, I had no more clarity than when my “pause” started, so I decided to slowly keep creeping forward. I wanted to close the gap at least another 25 yards, because I knew the timber edge bent back to the north, roughly 100 yards past where I planned to stop and listen, and I felt like that’s where they were holding up.
Closing the Distance
Once I closed in the 25 yards I planned, I crouched down to observe, and I was spotted. A doe that was within 50 yards of me on the other side of the creek let out two loud blows. I thought my opportunity was over. Maybe I got too close and the hot doe spotted me, or she at least heard the alarm. I thought there was no way any deer would stay put. I didn’t hear or see any deer move. Because it was so calm, I thought for sure I would (hear or see them) if they did move.
In a quick reaction moment, I thought, “What do I have to lose?” I stayed put. Grabbed my grunt call and gave it 4-5 short grunts. I thought, if he’s still here and he hasn’t pinpointed me, maybe I can convince him that another buck showed up and that bossy doe didn’t like it. I had no more than put my grunt down when I saw movement about 60 yards in front of me.
Zeroing In
IT WAS HIM! He had about 15 yards to clear before he was out of the timber and back in the field where I originally spotted him. When he hit the field edge, he turned on a dime and started walking in my direction. I shoot a single pin, so I didn’t draw back. I didn’t want to risk having to let down to adjust my pin if he changed his path.
He didn’t change his path, and in a few short moments, he was 10 yards from me, just about to be perfectly broadside. I knew I had to draw back. Even though the wind was faint, he was about to be straight downwind from me. AT TEN YARDS…ON THE GROUND! I knew I risked him reacting to me drawing, but I knew I risked not getting to draw at all if I didn’t do it, NOW! I had my pin settled on him and went full draw. As I drew back, he picked up my movement. He spun around and stopped broadside 20 yards out, and I sent my arrow.
Hard Word Pays Off
The shot was lethal. Within 80 yards of impact, I watched him pile up and expire in the field right near the spot where I first laid eyes on him. I couldn’t believe it. It worked! I had just spotted and stalked my largest deer, and I did it with a bow. Immediately, I called my family and was ecstatic. “I DID IT AND I LOVE YOU! I HARVESTED THE BUCK WE SPOTTED! HURRY UP AND EAT SO YOU CAN COME CELEBRATE WITH ME!”
Even if the buck wasn’t my biggest, the hunt would’ve still gone down as one of my favorites, if not the best one yet. I might not harvest all my future whitetail through spot and stalk, but I’m going to try. I’m more than hooked. The mid-150” that’s on my wall is my daily reminder.