Iowa Man Uses Rattling Antlers to Captivate 218-Inch Buck

Iowa bowhunter Matt Mogensen had been pursuing a large buck during the 2023 deer season. It was nearly a mile-long stretch of property he hunts that parallels a river where the buck called home.

"I ran trail cameras most all of the summer and had gotten multiple daylight pics of the 160-class deer," Matt explained.

Thought he was actively hunting the deer, he didn’t catch up to the buck during that season. Matt did, however, end up going to another part of the state to hunt where he tagged a nice buck.

But with the 160 still on his mind, Matt wondered if the deer had made it through the 2023 season unscathed. A day after deer season closed, he got the answerer when he got a trail-cam picture confirming it was still alive and well.

Matt and friends looked hard for the deer’s sheds in the spring of 2024, but came up empty. One day while visiting and talking to the landowners wife, she mentioned to Matt that her dog had drug up a deer antler from back in the yard and brought it up to the house. When shown the antler, Matt couldn’t believe his eyes — it was off the buck he had been after the previous fall.

Running multiple trail cameras during the summer off 2024, Matt was able to locate the buck once again. Astoundingly, the buck blew up even more, putting on nearly 70 inches of antler from its previous rack.

The buck liked to frequent one spot in particular more than anywhere else on the property.

"The river made a bend and created a small pinch where deer filtered through from soybeans to standing corn," Matt said.

Assuming the buck was bedding in that nearby corn, Matt placed a standin the pinch weeks before the Iowa bow opener.

When October 1st arrived, a much-needed cold front came with it. Matt was in the stand waiting for the buck, and though it was a good sit, the big one was a no-show. Matt was back after the buck on October 10th, trying a few early rattling sequences in the same location. Again, the buck never appeared.

"I’d no sooner than gotten out of my stand that evening when I got a notification that my cell cam had taken some pics of a deer," Matt said. "It was him. He had to have watched me climb down from my tree and exit. That’s the last picture I got of him at the pinch." 

That notification came just three minutes after he finished his hunt that night. 

"I figured the buck had relocated bedding areas after the cornfield next to my stand where I was getting regular pics had been harvested," Matt said.

Knowing of another standing cornfield about a mile away, Matt placed some trail cameras and was again able to locate the buck. Once again, however, most of the pictures were at night.

On the 18th of October, he went to the last location where he was getting pictures of the buck.

"I didn’t really expect much," the hunter explained. "Besides, I didn’t have much else to do that day.”

Sitting in his new spot, multiple does began congregating in the picked cornfield. Deciding on a bit of calling, Matt grabbed the rattling antlers and banged on them as loud as he could.

"I’d just set my rattling antlers down when I heard something from behind me walking," Matt said.

Looking back and locating the source, Matt instantly saw a wall of antlers and immediately knew it was the buck he was after.

"I was so nervous," he said. "I didn’t know what to do."

The buck actually spotted Matt in the tree and watched him grab his bow, all while standing within 20 yards. Matt kept his cool long enough to draw his Hoyt RX-5 and send a G5 Megameat broadhead toward his intended mark. He made a perfect hit!

"I instantly got on the phone to call my dad and friends to tell them the good news," he said.

Matt's central Iowa giant bow kill carries 19 points — including two droptines that are 9- and 12-inches long — helping the buck to gross an impressive 218 inches.