Pinning Down 6x5 And We're Getting Close, Trail Camera Paralysis Thoughts

[@JoshSparksMW]

Merry Christmas to all of you guys and just want to say I appreciate the support through this season. Hopefully we're in for some exciting hunts over the course of the next few weeks and these few scouting missions pay off big. If you have any questions, please drop them below and I'll do my best to answer them!

[@hvlineman5227]

Good luck Josh! I agree with your trail camera consensus, all I did was put one of my cameras on the opposite side of the tree to see if I was missing something, it was a game changer for my season. Have a great Christmas brother 🇺🇸✊

[@cowman540]

best of luck Josh .hope you all have a great Christmas

[@JoshSparksMW]

I sure appreciate it and will take all of the luck you can send. Merry Christmas to you and yours too sir!

[@danmccauley6626]

Good luck to you Josh! Merry Christmas to you and the Midwest whitetail team 🎄

[@mitchellgenz1373]

Merry Christmas Josh, keep at it.

[@greenmandan]

Happy holidays to all Midwest Whitetail family

[@JoshSparksMW]

Greenmandan, I know I can speak for the crew when I say thank you! It's been a fun year but hopefully we can finish it out strong. Lots of close calls for so many of the guys! Merry Christmas to you and your family!

[@jasondiaz7611]

Get after em Josh. Good luck

[@huntrealoutdoors]

Keep grinding my brother.

[@ryanfarmer5155]

Where did drop tine go? Someone get him? And why are you not hunting opening day of gun season? Not sure on iowas tag regulations

[@JoshSparksMW]

Ryan what's up man! Hope you and the family are well and that season sent many great memories your way. Going through the list, I'll start with Droptine. Unfortuantely, my best guesses are that Droptine is dead and that EHD claimed him. He was all over in September early and when we hit that warm spell, he vanished. Doing a brief walk, I found two other bucks dead. Is there a chance that he just dispersed? Absolutely there's a chance but based on the 3 years of shed antlers, his behavior as a dominant buck in 2023, and nothing substantial changing in 2024, it tells me he died. When the 6x5 buck started to scrape early on, that really drove home for me that Droptine was gone. I never did get any rut photos like last fall and now at this point, I've got every buck back on camera from the summer recently except him. I hope I'm wrong and that someone else was able to shoot him. He's a dang cool buck and time will tell when we end up shed hunting. Moving to the question pertaining to opening day of gun seasons... in Iowa we cannot use our bow tag during shotgun season 1 or 2. If I bought a shotgun tag, I still couldn't use the bow so I elect to wait until late muzzleloader to buy my 2nd tag. Tomorrow bow season opens up as well so we're back in the green. We will see how this weather impacts things but I feel good about at least laying eyes on the buck. It's just deciding how aggressive to be and risking blowing him out to bed elsewhere. Appreciate you following along man!

[@chadholmes7186]

My money is on you Josh Sparks!! That 6X5 will be riding in the back of that Chevy before season ends!!👊🏼👊🏼

[@JoshSparksMW]

Don't go buying any lottery tickets anytime soon!

[@Jay-hu1pc]

Little less talk and alot more action 😂😂😂

[@JoshSparksMW]

Thankfully we’re able to get into the woods starting tomorrow!