Harlan Swehla's Iowa Monster - 2002

Mass, width, kickers, drop tines, this buck has it all!

In the fall of 2002, Harlan Swehla harvested this magnificent Iowa buck. Harlan and his hunting partner had spotted this monster buck a couple of times prior to the Iowa bow season opener. They knew it was an extraordinary animal but never full realized it until the buck stepped out into bow range at 25 yards…….

Harlan and his partner had hunted together, setting up stands where they had first seen the buck. Bowhunting near the cornfields made it difficult to pattern these whitetails, so over the next five weeks Harlan moved this stand three times, always closer to where deer were moving. On November 1^st, Harlan saw the huge buck again, this time following a doe across the now barren cornfield. Seeing this, Harlan was once again convinced to move his stand. The following day Harlan was nestled in his newly placed stand watching several small bucks come and go along the field’s edge.

About 4 p.m., a doe came out to the field from a trail about 30 yards away. As she strolled out to the field, Harlan heard a low and short grunt inside the brush to his left, then another. He thought it was one of the smaller bucks he watched earlier.

But then, out stepped the monster. The buck made his way along the field edge stopping at 25 yards right in front of the hunter, who was now at full draw. Harlan watched as the arrow zipped through the buck, but to his surprise the buck didn’t run. He took a few quick steps, and then he slowly walked straight away from him and into the open field. Out about 60 yards, he stopped. In the next 3 minutes, his head drooped and he became a little wobbly.

Harlan said,” The deer eventually lifted his head, turned 180 degrees, and walked straight back to me. It looked like he was moving in slow motion, barely lifting his feet. Before I shot him, I really didn’t realize how big he actually was. But now, watching a deer with an almost 26-inch inside spread walking straight to me, I got a very good idea.”

The monster buck kept walking directly toward the treestand, then turned slightly to enter the timber on a trail that would offer up a brief 10-yard window. Harlan was worried about his shot placement, which was a bit high and a little far backand contemplated shooting him again but to avoid spooking the buck, Harlan passed up the ten yard follow-up shot.

The buck stumbled a little after he passed the shooting lane, and Harlan watched as the fatally hit buck walked into the brush about 30 yards behind his tree and lay down.

Harlan could see his antlers moving a little as he tried in vain to stand. Harlan stated, “As I was watching, another buck came up about 10 yards behind him. The bigger one tried to get up again, but he staggered and fell. I couldn’t see him any more after that.”

Can you imagine the excitement!

The size of this buck was incredible. His body weight was a field dressed 241 pounds. He sported 22 scorable points and scored an incredible 245 6/8 points gross Pope and Young with a net of 237 6/8. This ranked him the third largest Non-Typical buck ever taken in Iowa and one of the most impressive bucks I have ever seen. Since taking this monster, Harlan has also taken a buck that scores in the 170’s.