How did everyone do?

Well, you got two days to hunt. How did it go?

I took my wife out for her first time this weekend in the ground blind. We had several baskets come by along with does. This one came through at 9am and she wound up putting a perfect shot on him! Not a wall mounter but for her 1st Deer I was happy.

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That’s a great first deer. Congrats!

I’ve seen lesser deer wallmounted!!

If that was my wife’s first deer, it would be going on the wall. Pretty deer with nothing busted up. I would at least do a european on it if nothing else.

If I see one that size on Wi opener I wont hesitate. I’m not opposed to taking a forker if it looks manly enough. We’ll see. I always say I will still shoot the smaller bucks because I AM a meat hunter and NOT a bone hunter but I always seem to pass them up. More out of respect for the property owner I think. Since I have refused to shoot any does the last few years I may take anything legal.

John Schultz wrote:

Pretty deer with nothing busted up. I would at least do a european on it if nothing else.

X2 Congrats.

Still hard at it in NW MN.
DT

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deertracker wrote:

Still hard at it in NW MN.
DT

Looks like you could use some more of our snow.

Unbelievably low numbers of shots heard and reported deer seen. Almost absolute silence both mornings in an area that usually sounds like a war zone. I counted 4 shots heard between legal shooting start and 10:00. 10 years ago it would have numbered in the hundreds.

Coming back south on 35 last night I saw ONE deer on a trailer. That was the ONLY deer I saw in 90+ miles of driving. Again, that is astonishingly low, in years past it would be dozens of deer seen in truck beds, trailers, hitch racks, etc.

Dad and I both spotted our resident groups of does and a small 4 pointer. Nothing else.

An huge number of camps and properties are empty this year. On our road there are 5 properties ranging from 40-120 acres that are just hunting properties, only one of them was occupied. I have never seen anything like this before, perhaps 1 would be unoccupied because the owners had a schedule conflict, but never 4 empty properties on opening weekend.

The kids in the party next door both missed, it was two 14 YO girls on their first hunt, their fathers sitting with them. Which was very entertaining, btw. Just after first light one of them snapped a selfie to post to Facebook and the flash of the camera scared the beejezeus out of her dad and he damn near fell out of the stand. Both girls missed within about 30 minutes of each other. The whole thing was pretty entertaining, let me just say that hunting with 14 YO girls in the year 2014, well, this is NOT your father’s deer camp, that’s for sure. Unless your father has his own live Twitter feed going from the stand and does minute by minute updates…

The Zone 1 deer numbers have fallen off a cliff. My estimate is that the harvest will be 35-40% lower than last year.

Grouse

I get your report of fewer hunters, fewer deer seen, fewer deer strapped to the hoods of the cars on the way home.

What I’m not sure of is your report of the 14 YO girls hunting with their dads? Hats off to the dad’s and daughters for being in the field. To the dad’s for introducing them to hunting, and the girls for agreeing to go. 14 YO girls are often interested in the exact opposite of what a 14 YO boy would be. In my experience, not concerned about bagging a deer, but love to be along for the experience of hunting with dad. And girls now days record such events on their phones.

Thanks for the report and here’s hoping that my now 17 YO daughter will again be with me in the stand in WI, but the temps aren’t looking great for that to happen. I might need to figure out how we can hunt from a shelter and find a way to heat it.

Eric

Eric, using caution with a buddy heater, we have had no issues with it in my Shappell treehouse 360. That ground blind is pretty spacious compared to average size of pop up blinds. Also, just cutting the wind often helps

One small 8pt for us over the weekend up by Motley. I took the boat out to a island on the river today with high hopes. After still hunting my way around one island and not seeing any tracks or signs of life I tried running upriver into the wind to check out a few more islands but sleet/snow was hard on the face. After a few tries and a set of tire chains I got my boat back on the trailer and out of the access.

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My experience was closer to Grouse’s. We had the unique situation this year where the wolf activity far exceeded the deer activity. We’ve had wolves in the area for at least 20 years but this year has been unlike any other. With winter kill, hunting pressure and wolf pressure it’s made the local hunting extremely tough. Deer have used the area but sparingly (commonly between midnight & 2am). I bow hunted 12 days from the start of Oct thru opening firearms weekend and never saw a deer while hunting. It seems the deer activity picked up a little the last two weekends which is to say I saw a doe/fawn grouse hunting, bumped a fawn while on the ATV & saw a few deer in the yard at night eating crab apples.

The one thing I will say is the grouse numbers have been a lot better than I thought. No coveys but groups of 2 & 3. Just about every deer stand had some grouse activity. I’m looking forward to the next few years. If deer activity looks the same next summer I’m not going to bother. This deer season was a complete loss and I’ve put a fork in it.

A friend from Rochester and I tagged a pair this weekend. A 9 pointer was the larger of the two.

Eric least I be misunderstood, I think its great when any new hunters join in. The girls decidedly 21st century enthusiasm added some much needed humor into a tough year otherwise.

Eva’s reading of her twitter feed from the stand had us in tears.

One of them will exchange her dads 300 Savage for 243 of mine next weekend. She is probably 80 pounds soaking wet and the savage is too heavy for her. She liked my 243 much better weight wise and she will shoot it on Friday which should give her confidence that it wont kick like a mule.

Our weekend up near Huntersville state forest area went much better than planned. My expectations were really low with the winter up there last year and the amount of wolf sign in the area. Add in the fact we went 0-5 on doe permits and our expectations were rather low. One of our party shot a small 8 Pt. buck just minutes after legal shooting time. Around 8:00 I had a doe coming trotting out of the woods and across the swamp I was sitting on. That got me fired up because there was no reason she should be moving that fast unless a buck was chasing her. About 5 minutes later I hear another deer coming from the same direction as the doe had. I was almost certain it would be a buck. He made it real clear he was a buck when her grunted several time while approaching the swamp. I had the gun up and on the spot the doe had come out and when he stepped out in the same spot I got a good broadside shot on him ( Medium sized 6 Pt rack ) . He made a nose drive run out into the willow swamp and out of site. I did not see him come out the other side or hear much crashing so I thought he was down not to fat in. About 5 minutes late I hear another deer on its way on the same path as the 1st two. Like the 1st buck he was grunting as he came. I make almost the exact same shot on him ( small basket 8 Pt. ) as the 1st buck. He ran a few yard into the swamp and turned and came toward me. I took a second shot that was probably not necessary but I wanted to make sure. He dropped about 20 yards from the stand. Then the work began. Getting buck #1 gutted and out of that swamp was a lot of work. With water near the top of my boots and those camel humps in the swamp it was slow going with only moving him a few feet each pull and having to rest every few pulls. ( lesson for next year – Get in better shape ) another member of the party messed up on a nice 8Pt buck just after my shots. So we should have been 4 for 5 in the 1st few Hr’s of opening day. We decided to spend Sun. getting the deer cut up and wrapped. With the storm that was being forecasted I decided to head home Sun. evening. Heading back up Thur. night to get back after them. Several guys who could not hunt last weekend will be up there this weekend. With 2 shot already and Muzzleloader season still ahead I will be monster buck hunting only.

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Not a Wall Mounter?? I would be tickled to get a deer like that!!

Congrats on her first deer!!!

Thank you!!

That’s a great deer Gunsmith!

Thank you!

It’s a crappy bright sunny day so I called it quits for the day to butcher up our two so far

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Nice deer Randy!!

Bright and sunny, Randy? Been mostly cloudy all day in the Fox Valley. Had deer in my sights before shooting hours both Saturday and Sunday but only long distance sightings during open hours on Saturday. Going out early in the morning for a few hours before the kids’ early release. Hopefully, the 5″ of snow we got last night will alter their patterns enough that I get a daytime shot.

:Did ok got this one on opening afternoon of WI gun opener. 140 yards across the valley . 7 mm wrecked him. Twenty minute walk to my stand. Took dad an I a hour to drag him out. Sorry for sideways pic doesn’t show that when I load it and I don’t know how to fox it.

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WOW.!! What is the inside spread on that pig.? … …rrr

nice, ozzy! on my way out right now.

Nice deer ozzy.

@winnebago down here by richland center the sun came out early and went to bluebird skies. I’m ready for the next front to come through

20 1/2 on the spread. I have some better pics on actual camera will try to get them up eventually.

3rd day out 3 in the field…saw deer before shooting hours but none during. At least I’m in the right area. Back at it Friday.