FIRST NIGHT IN

Mike Mancl - Iowa - December 27, 2022 

By: Brennen Nading (@nadingbr)

Mike waited until after Christmas to begin his late muzzleloader hunt in Iowa. After filling his bow tag back in November, he spent a good bit of time scouting public land around the state and locating potential food sources to focus on during the late season hunt. After placing several cell cams around, he would monitor them closely and come up with a game plan for when he began hunting. I joined him on December 27th and we headed into a particular piece that he had gotten a good buck on camera during the daylight the evening before. With similar weather conditions we felt like we had a really good chance of seeing him or one of the other good bucks that had also been showing up on the cameras. With light fading, a group of does worked through the timber past us heading towards the corn field. Following behind was the same buck that had appeared the night earlier and Mike was waiting on go!