Iowa Family’s Love Of Hunting/Fishing Leads to National Recognition

A mid-September hunting trip turned into a day an 8-year-old Benton County boy and his dad will never forget.

The Lovell family of Keystone loves hunting and fishing, but it is deer season after all. On September 18, Clyde Lovell and his youngest son, Logan, were hunting on public land in Benton County. It was going to be a special day.

If you hunt with kids, you probably know that September 18 was the beginning of Iowa's youth season for deer hunting. The season had only been open for a couple of hours when Clyde and Logan spotted a group of six whitetail deer. There were four does, a four-point buck, and the buck above... a 12-pointer. What made it even more unusual and special is that it had three drop-tines. Mossy Oak says a drop tine is one that's growing at a downward angle.

Logan had gotten an 8-point buck in 2020, his first year hunting. He was about to up his game in 2021.

When the deer got about 50 yards from the tree stand that Clyde and Logan were in, Logan took his first shot. He missed. In an interview with the longtime hunting and fishing publication Field and Stream, Logan said,

Whenever I go to shoot at any deer, I get really bad buck fever. So that’s why I missed the first shot. I was shaking too much.

With his dad's calming help, Logan's second shot rang true but they didn't know it for sure. Thinking it may have been too far back on the deer, they waiting for approximately 45 minutes before beginning to trail the deer.

After going only about 20 yards from where the deer had stood when Logan shot it, Clyde came to a stop. Logan caught up, and after taking a look around, the boy got a big grin on his face. Clyde says Logan exclaimed, "Yeah, there it is!" Yes, dad had seen it but let Logan discover it for himself.

The week after Logan got his 12-point buck, his 11-year-old brother TJ got an 8-pointer. He harvested the deer from the exact same deer stand. Sorry, don't expect that location to be divulged. Would you?

Needless to say, Clyde Lovell, his wife Sabrina, and their sons all have a love of the outdoors. They also adore fishing, as you'll see in the photos below. You can also see more photos and read the Field and Stream story here.

Early muzzleloader deer hunting in Iowa begins this Saturday, October 16, and continues through Sunday, October 24. Specifics on dates for 2021-22 deer hunting in Iowa can be found here. More memories are just waiting to be made.