Thanks guys- would really have no use for the gun so passed on the trade…I would have been getting the short end of the stick with the value you guys put on the gun anyway..

Approximately 1300 yards traveled total…

I’m not sure about the blood trail drying up…I’m guessing he was hit either back in the mid section or hindquarter…I was using a Howa 30-06 with 180 grain Hornady bullets… I don’t blame any of it on my gun or bullets…I shot at a running deer…got the fever at the time…we are allowed to use dogs but the time and terrain didn’t really make it a viable option at the time…second pic is the trail initially…first pic is the bed we kicked him out of…he left virtually zero blood after that bed..

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We were within 100 yards of him…unfortunately that 100 yards was 8’ tall cattails and 5’ of muck under them…ready to see him in person tomorrow…

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Thanks for all the info guys! I’m guessing the plots all together are going to be less than 5 acres total…not super interested in mowing with it…my cabin driveway is small but it’s some of my excuse to “need” a tractor with the boss…so some sort of blade or bucket would be nice…$2k isn’t my limit but will need to buy a few implements as well…seems there are quite a few of these mentioned in my price range…

Muzzleloader hunted the last couple
days with a buddy and my boys…my youngest got his first doe today..fun weekend but it was far tougher than normal to see any deer at all…

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My season has been a frustrating one as it sounds like many others here…Wounded the biggest buck I have ever had in my sights on opening day…looked for him for basically both weekends of rifle season…passed on a few small bucks including a tempting 8pt last night…been trying to shoot a doe all weekend and they are all of a sudden the smartest things on the planet…threw up a Hail Mary tonight and setup an old popup blind next to a big lone cedar overlooking the only standing food on the land we hunt…told myself the first antlerless deer was going home with me…the first couple came in behind me and downwind (which they never enter the field this way, just my luck) and blew out fairly early in the evening…then with about 2 minutes of legal light 4 came blasting into the field…picked out the biggest doe and literally yanked the trigger like a 12 year old…scope smacked glasses, glasses bloodied nose…deer just stood there…after about 10 seconds they decided they should leave and the doe dropped after about a 10 yard run…what a relief! First doe I have ever taken in about 40 years of hunting…

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Gimruis, yes..Drake pintail…it was a beauty for sure…

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Pretty good hunting still happening for my son…western Minnesota

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Current view…

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Super quiet for us so far…have the right wind tonight for our favorite stand…

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Awesome work boys!! Nothing much better than watching your kids shoot their first!

My son has the waterfowl bug bad…
pic from last weekend…

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My kid and his buddy had a quick morning today!

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Yep…my small plot in the woods is covered with acorns…got a bit of rain a couple days after I watered and some rain in the forecast tomorrow…fingers crossed…

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Yep…Riverruns, not sure where you’re coming from…my plots are green/growing into the first of November most years…here’s a November 1st pic from 2 years ago…

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Desperate times call for desperate measures!

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Happy with the one week growth!

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It’s along the drive into my place but not in the ditch…I have another small plot just behind it in the woods too…and cameras to make people pay if they want to do anything dumb…(:

Last pass

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Finished…

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Jeremy- I will try that…only used Gly up to this point in my short food plot history…thanks for the advice…got my sons buck back over the weekend that he shot in the plot in 2021…good motivator…

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Went back to check on the plots I sprayed a little over a week to see how it looked…most grass type stuff=dead….all thistles=laughing at me, looking healthy…round 2 coming next weekend…

I’m going to hit my plots with gly this week (rye is about waist high from last fall) and get ready for my late summer plantings…it’s raining pretty hard right now and been fairly consistent moisture the last couple weeks in my area…the farm fields on the property we hunt look really sad from the terrible dry spring…

I planted a big mix of stuff last August including rye, wheat, clover, etc…it was the only thing green in the area when I checked it last weekend…was getting hammered good…this is our 3rd year experimenting…super fun and rewarding…all I have is an ATV and some fairly marginal equipment…the deer don’t seem to mind!

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There are huge pools of deep water on every bay I drove by today on the west end of the lake…not looking good..

Michael Best wrote:

I have been fishing Long lake just north of Fergus Falls. It had 17” of ice and snow was minimal except a long the south shore. Someone plowed out the access and I asked my dad to open it back up after yesterdays wind drifted it in again.
The bite has been slow for some reason. Lots of <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleyes coming through but only able to coax a few to bite a day.

Drove onto Jewett and that was in very good shape to be able drive on.

Haven’t been on Otter tail but the report I heard was it was in great shape to get around on.

The guy that went through was over by the inlet in the NE corner of the lake. It was a foggy night and visibility was a factor in not being able to see where they were.

I also heard OT was easy travel…after getting stuck a couple times Sunday we found that to not be true…bring shovels and stay on paths would be my advice if on OT…

Awesome setup!

Was up in Ottertail county last weekend…plenty of ice…some hard drifts on bigger lakes with slush…got stuck a couple times going off trail…

I just pieced my livescope system together for the first time…had the 93sv on my boat for a couple years…ended up buying the 32 ducer and black box online for about $1100 this summer..put the Marcum lithium battery in and got the Garmin ice ducer pole setup used locally for $60 with a couple different mounts…$60 for a hard side case at harbor freight…they aren’t exactly compact but after my first use this last weekend sure are fun!

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