4 days and counting........

Discuss all of the great hunting opportunities in Minnesota

Postby goalie on Fri Nov 03, 2017 6:54 pm

Good luck guys.

Drive safe

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Re: 4 days and counting........

Postby yukonjasper on Mon Nov 06, 2017 7:18 am

Well? How'd you do? Still hunting with no results.
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Re: 4 days and counting........

Postby smurfman on Mon Nov 06, 2017 8:15 am

Saw several does and one scraggly buck Saturday. I considered shooting the buck the first time by but he didn't offer a clear shot. When he came by a little later I noticed he had a large patch of hide ripped from his right hip near his back. It was rectangular in shape with a black center. He was acting pretty normal but passed the shot as I didn't want to risk his having an infection and the meat being bad. He later showed up with an older doe and what appeared to be two yearlings and two fawns.

Saw plenty of other wildlife too. A great horned owl sat near me for 10 minutes or so, pileated woodpeckers, and a ruffed grouse wandered by. I had a saw whet owl calling near by for the last hour or so of hunting time. It is a new resident as I first heard one here a couple weeks ago. I had a coyote pass by and was able to mouse squeak it within 10 yards. It was in too much brush to get a shot but it was fun calling it in. Two other coyotes came in along the same route as the first leaving me with no shot.

Sunday was a bust- saw a red squirrel chase a grey squirrel and had the great horned owl visit me again. Suspect the doe seen earlier went into heat as the younger deer wandered by but not the doe or buck.

Today, didnt go out as I packed up to go home. Left dome light on in the truck and am waiting for the battery to charge. Cant wait to get home and eat something besides microwaved meals.
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Re: 4 days and counting........

Postby Holland&Holland on Tue Nov 07, 2017 6:29 am

Son shot a spike buck opening morning. I passed on 2 spikes waiting on something with a bigger basket.

Sunday am filled our doe tag and passed on another doe with 2 fawns.

Monday passed on 2 more doe an another spike. Might be the same one just still wandering around.

Home now cutting up deer. Going back next weekend to keep chasing the 10 point on the game cam.

Had 2 grouse roost in my tree. One was 5 feet away. Monday got busted by a red squirrel. He came and screamed at me for a good couple of hours.

Saw the usual woodpeckers, crows, eagles, blue jays, owls, hawks, geese, swans, chickadees, juncos, red and grey squirrels, grouse, Turkey's. Did not run into the bear on the game cam though.
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Re: 4 days and counting........

Postby Jack's My dog on Tue Nov 07, 2017 9:06 am

We are hunting a new property for the first time this year. While I have not shot anything yet, we have seen a decent amount considering the weather has been less than ideal. It is kind of fun to show up to a property and just pick a tree to sit under, and see what happens. I had a yearling doe stand 15 yards away from me for 5 minutes and stare while I was sitting on the ground. I was on the fence about shooting, she must have heard my thoughts, cause when I finally decided I was going to raise my gun once she gave me a chance, she busted immediately without me making a move. I quietly built a makeshift blind out of some downed branches, hoping a little bit of cover is better than nothing. We will see next Thursday.

Definitely weird to have to bundle up for the deer season in SE MN.
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Re: 4 days and counting........

Postby yukonjasper on Tue Nov 07, 2017 9:28 am

Classic last sit experience. 10 minutes prior to my "fold up the tent" time, a smallish doe pops out 20 yards away. Alternatively broadside and quarting away but Looking over her shoulder enough to signal amorous male may be trailing. Cross hairs tracing vitals while watching for unseen companion. Wandering around the area in front of me but working away and into progressively more restrictive cover. No boyfriend presents himself. Calculations of time to gut, drag, rinse, hang and skin the carcass and how that time will cascade the rest of the day and the relative size of the doe. The last broadside presented was passed on.

My hope is that she will bear a male fawn who will become my future 12 point quarry. Is Karma real, I will find out.
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Re: 4 days and counting........

Postby hard h2o on Tue Nov 07, 2017 12:07 pm

Lots of deer seen in the fields to and from the stands.

Hunting new area so still figuring things out.

Put my tag on a small doe. My buddy put her down. Someone had shot out one of her rear legs. My buddy did not have a doe tag. The left a good blood trail prior to my buddy shooting her. He gutted her and waited most of the day hoping someone would claim her.

We still have my son's tag we hope to fill on Saturday.
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Postby goalie on Tue Nov 07, 2017 9:12 pm

Shot a large 8 and a doe. 4 deer for my buddy and I, just got done skinning and quartering.

Hunting Monday and Tuesday was a lot better than Saturday and Sunday.

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Re: 4 days and counting........

Postby Holland&Holland on Tue Nov 07, 2017 10:20 pm

2 deer deboned today. Making my annual run to Osseo meat market for pork. Sausage making starts tomorrow, still planning on this weekend for round 2 of hunting :D

Gotta love deer season, best time of the year!
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Re: 4 days and counting........

Postby smurfman on Wed Nov 08, 2017 5:19 am

Hunted behind the house to fill a bonus tag and maybe the regular tag if the opportunity offered. The wind was not ideal for that stand but I still had some travel lanes open.

First deer came in an winded me. A doe and two yearlings it appeared. They must have been confused as they came back around to the up wind side of me. The doe trotted by fast enough I could not shoot. The two yearlings stopped when I grunted but the only two trees in the lane covered up the vitals of each. They then bolted running about 200 yards beforecoming back once again. They came along the same path but veered off just before I could shoot. I lost sight of them through the trees.tr

Seconds later I saw more movement with another deer following the path of the others. No shot again. Then two of the deer broke from the brush and began walking across the pasture. A fifth deer, a fork horn buck, then trotted past me attempting to catch up to those does. I hesitated to shoot as I really did not want to use my buck tag on such a deer there are better bucks around and it is still early.

Other than a pair of fox squirrels I ndidnt see much else on stand. I headed to the house around 10:30 as I had things that needed doing. Walking back I unloaded the gun as I neared the house. Naturally, the two does picked that moment to pop out of the grass at the base of the hill. I was able to get a round out of my pocket, into the gun, shuck my pack, and drop to a sitting position just in time for them to hop the drainage ditch and reach the safety of some brush. Normally deer shelter in the spruces of the front yard near the road but they teased me this time.

Finishing up breakfast and will be heading out in a half hour. Wind is almost perfect for the stand so hopefully my luck will change.
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Re: 4 days and counting........

Postby Jackpine Savage on Wed Nov 08, 2017 6:51 am

My buddy took a doe Saturday morning and I took one Sunday morning. We've seen does and fawns every day but no bucks until last night. I'm in a ladder stand near the front of our property, not an area I normally hunt but the neighbor has a small corn field across the road and the deer have been making use of it. Our farm had soybeans this year.

There's a small meadow near the road with a small patch of brush about 75 yards from the road. About 4:30 a decent 8 pointer stands up on the edge of brush away from the road and spends 15 minutes watching cars and buggies go by. My DW drove by too and didn't see the deer, though she was probably focused on me sitting in the stand. Then a doe gets up and trots to the creek and the buck follows. It would have been a 300 yard shot and neighbors deer stand was directly behind the deer so it wasn't a shot I was going to take, but it was fun to see one of the unlikely spots that deer choose to spend the day.
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Re: 4 days and counting........

Postby OldmanFCSA on Wed Nov 08, 2017 8:30 pm

Many years ago, I setup a shooting position on the roof of my farmhouse in Bayfield Wisconsin for deer/coyote/bear hunting. This way I could keep track of young kids and livestock, and while in hide could watch about 300 degrees around house. West and East I could shoot out to about 400 yards, shooting North had areas of greenhouse and quonset hay storage blocking the view a bit. Watched many deer from there but never shot one. Coyotes were a different story.

Had a conservation officer tell me my setup was not legal, but to keep shooting coyotes = something about shooting within a distance of a home. (My 600 yard range was setup right outside back door.) My children own that property now - all 425 acres. My mobility prevents me from enjoying hunting anymore. I miss it but won't use the Disability provision that WI Law provides to allow shooting from vehicle.

Have FUN with your hunts, Be SAFE, and please teach the Youth how to hunt properly.
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Re: 4 days and counting........

Postby smurfman on Sun Nov 12, 2017 7:47 pm

Wednesday was nearly a bust, I saw a very large bodied and tall tuned 4 pt but I couldn't shoot as the neighbor's barn was about 300 yards behind him. I had gotten down from the stand and walked to the end of the tree line to warm up and check things out. The buck came out of a finger of brush and into an opening about 20 yards wide. The buck hit my trail, stopped, and looked directly at the stand I had been sitting in. If I would have stayed there I probably would never have known it was there as the buck would have been behind me. I had him in the crosshairs hoping he would slink back the way he came but he lit out of there at full speed leaving me no shot.

Thursday and Friday I changed things up. I went duck hunting as a lot of shooting was coming from the lake. Both days a buddy and I limited out on mostly divers but had a few mallards and two Canada's in the mix. I haven't hunted ducks over water in a while and it was a nice refresher. I wish swans were legal in MN as we would have had several opportunities on them.

Saturday had me back on the stand to no avail. Sunday was do or die as I decided to do something besides hunt next weekend. I chased a deer out on the way to the stand and figured that I blew my opportunity. When nothing showed after a few hours, I decided to try my buck grunter. A short series, wait 15-20 seconds and a few more short grunts was my tactic. I heard a rustle in the cornfield just in front of me just before a small 6 pt came into view. I couldn't move as it was so close and getting closer. It walked up to my stand and gave me the stink eye but did not bolt-yet. He walked behind me and must have heard me shift trying to get the gun to bear. He took off but stopped about 80 yards away. I was able to get the scope on him and fired.

I nearly fell off the stand as I was not well balanced so I did not see the buck's reaction to the hit. He ran off normally and I had a sinking feeling as I saw some branches shaking in the tree. I walked out to where the deer had been standing but found nothing. I followed its hoof marks as there was a little snow. I finally saw a speck of bright red lung blood and soon found more. 30 yards with relatively little blood had me worried I might be mistaken on where the deer was hit. 40 more yards had me more concerned. Looking further out I noticed a patch of blood and a bit further, the deer. And miracles of miracles the buck headed for the picked bean field and not into a morass of prickly ash, buckthorn, and burrs!

Being able to load the deer onto the trailer after a 5 yard drag was a nice way to cap off a frustrating week. I still have a doe tag to fill but that will likely have to wait for the muzzleloader season as I doubt I will hunt deer again this week.
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Re: 4 days and counting........

Postby Jack's My dog on Mon Nov 13, 2017 9:34 am

Thursday, headed back to SE MN. I was able to take a doe with an off hand shot walking out to my deer stand, I have never had that happen before, pretty darn fun. Tough to keep the cross hairs still after walking up 200 plus vertical feet and then getting the adrenaline dump. I clean missed at 50 yards, but she only went about 15 feet and stopped again, dropped her on the second shot. (I will take a clean miss over gut shot any day)I clearly need to spend more time off hand shooting the slug gun. My buddy picked up your typical SE MN antler restriction 8-9 pointer on Saturday night. Overall we had a solid time. Heading out to finish the butchering now. Back to the pheasants next weekend.
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Re: 4 days and counting........

Postby Vlad on Tue Nov 14, 2017 9:29 pm

Our crew tagged out with 16 deer. Only three Females( two does and a fawn.) rest were males, 7 of which sported headgear. One really nice 12 going to the taxidermist. 8-). Fully half the crew were using AR pistols. 300 BLACKOUT /WTF being 3 out of the 4. Very fun year and I am happy to be eating fresh, organic meat...
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