Before I tell you my hunting story, I would like to introduce myself and my family. My name is Zachary Dean, and I am from, of all places, New York. There are six of us in my family, and we are all avid hunters. My story really starts about nine years ago when my parents bought a row crop farm in Southern Iowa. After some trial-and-error hunting trips to our farm and two bouts of EHD, we finally got things clicking. In 2020, my dad, Rob, harvested the first giant buck off of our farm. My brother, Mathew, followed with another giant buck in 2021. The next year, my sister, Krysten, kept our streak alive with a toad of her own.
Here is where my hunting story actually starts. My brother, Justin, and I drew Iowa buck tags for the fall of 2023. We both drew late muzzleloader tags and planned on hunting during our school break at Christmas time. We had been running trail cameras since early November and had each picked out a target buck. As hunting season wore on, Justin’s buck became quite regular coming to a crop field that we had a permanent blind set up in. My buck, that we started calling “The Big Eight” was not as regular. We would get him on a camera from time to time, but it was never the same camera. Ourplan was for Justin to hunt first, but the wind was completely wrong for him to hunt the heavy 10 that he was after.
The next day was Christmas Day, and the wind was wrong again for Justin to hunt. While the wind was wrong for Justin to hunt it was perfect for my setup. At this point, we decided I had better hunt before Justin instead of letting another evening pass by. Dad and I went to the north end of the farm and got into another permanent blind. Over the next few hours, we observed many does, fawns, and small bucks coming and going into the cornfield. Then, like Christmas magic, my buck entered the field with a lot of shooting light left. After four or five minutes of vigorous movement, he finally settled down and started to feed. I waited until he was perfectly broadside and gently squeezed the trigger of our muzzleloader. Luckily, the smoke cleared quickly and we were able to see The Big Eight laying right where he was when I had shot. I was jacked! My dad watched him through the binoculars to be sure he was dead and give me time to calm down. Dad was confident The Big Eight was dead.
We gathered our gear and went to check him out and get a tag on him. He was even bigger and more impressive than we had thought. It was a late night by the time we got back to the cabin with him. I declared this my best Christmas present ever!
Several days passed as we waited for the right wind so Justin could hunt his buck. Finally, the wind was right for Justin to hunt. Justin and my dad headed out early to hunt the heavy 10. The buck was very regular and did exactly what Justin had hoped for. After an easy 50-yard shot, the heavy 10 was dead also.
I have always loved Christmas, like any other young kid, but this will be a Christmas I will never forget.
My story is not over yet as I am waiting 60 days for my giant to be officially scored. At 171 1/2" green scored, I believe it will make the B&C awards and likely be one of the largest 8-points harvested in Iowa this season. I want to thank my mom, Aimee, for helping make everything possible for my family. Hopefully she will keep our streak going next season.
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