2015 Season Start

Success and failure can come and go sometimes without us knowing it.   Last year looked like a failure in the moment.  We had very few quality encounters with animals and no kills.   In the moment it felt like a massive let down over previous years.  In reality we made great strides for the future.  

The cabin purchase, land management, skill advancement, we're all things that mark the year as a roaring success.  The prospects for next year are sky high.  Let's face it, even if we have limited success next year, there are some exciting times coming.  We have building on a new property to do. New land to manage and master.  Fun family time just waiting for us to go and enjoy it.  

Turkey season will be our next big adventure.  This will be year 3 for us hunting turkeys.  We are still fully in the learning stages, and moving forward at a snails pace.  We will mostly be rolling with our set up from last years.  Let's hope we at least get a shot this year.  We will be updating when we can.

-Dennis  

Late Season Hunting

With the season coming to an end very soon, I have not done enough yet again.  Every year I have this idea that this is the year I will get out more after gun season and continue to push through the late bow season.  Every year I do the opposite.

It really is a combination of things that keeps me out of the woods.  First off my kids wrestle.  So every weekend there are tournaments to attend for them.  We try and start the season slow so I could mix in some open weekends here and there which plays into the next problem.......weather.  Living and hunting in Minnesota means we could get -10 degree cold snaps, feet of snow fall, freezing rain, 40 degree heat waves all in the same day.  While I enjoy hunting, it is hard to do in some of those conditions.

At this point I am doing my best to try and get out still.  My plans and hopes for future seasons will hopefully continue to grow as we move forward.  I feel like the cabin will help that a lot giving me a place to stay and hunt out of.

Deep Freeze

So far I have made it through the early bow season and rifle season with no luck at all.  The weather for rifle season was not happy at all.  One of the mornings it was -11 degrees when we headed to our stands.  I saw quite a few does, but as our great state has dictated this year they are off limits to me with my gun in our area.

The late bow season has not been my specialty up to this point in my career.  I have seen some guys have great success in the cold and snow, one of those guys has not been me.  I plan on a Thanksgiving Day hunt next week as the next time I get out.

Hunting Jacket Search 2014

My wife would tell you I have more hunting gear than I could ever possibly need.  From boots, clothes, guns, knives, ropes, hooks, hangers and binos, I seem to acquire quite a bit.  One thing I have been trying to dial in has been my clothing.

I started years ago with a bulky Gore-tex orange jacket and bibs from Fleet Farm.  I am sure I spent $150-200 on the pair and thought I was breaking the bank.  When I began bow hunting I invested in an early season camo shirt and pants, and a soft shell jacket and bibs from Gander Mountain.  For the late season I have been wearing many layers under the camo or switching to my orange jacket when it got to cold.  This year I am ready to step up and invest in a nice camo jacket that I can wear from Nov-Dec 31st.  

This has been quite an adventure in deciding which jacket to purchase.  It really has to be a hybrid of sorts in that I need quiet, warm, and yet still be able to draw my bow.  Instead of just running out and purchasing something I decided to research this purchase out a bit.  My choices are based off of personal observation, recommendations, and popular choices.  These are far from all that is offered, however some things are just a bit to hard to find info on to consider.  Here are some of my choices:

First Lite Sanctuary Jacket

First Lite is most known for bringing camo Merino wool to hunting clothes.  They introduced some outerwear in the last couple of years and have gotten great reviews.  The jacket looks to have everything I am looking for and more.  Unfortunately First Lite does not have a great distribution network in place.  I have emailed three different places who claim to be dealers and none have any stock or do not have store fronts.  This means I have to shell out the $350 for a jacket I have not seen, nor tried on.  I am having a hard time doing that.  Price:  $330

Cabelas Instinct Reliant Whitetail Cinder Tec Parka

Cabelas introduced its latest line of branded gear, Instinct, this summer.  It includes clothes, boots, arrows, and more.  This is the cold weather parka in that line.  I did get a chance to try on this jacket and I liked it.  My only question is in the arms.  The Cabelas website says the jacket has 100 grams of insulation in the upper arms and 150 in the body, there is no insulation in the lower arms.  I am a bit worried when we are talking frigid cold temps, this could be a problem.  Being a new product reviews are limited at best from users in the field.   Price:  $330  

Gander Mountain TecH20 3-1 Parka  

Most of my clothing and gear up to now has come from Gander Mountain.  I drive past the Forest Lake store on my way into work at Coates RV every day.  It is the easiest place for me to shop and make exchanges if needed.  I have been happy with things I have purchased there and feel like I get good value for my money when they are on sale.  I also feel like I am not getting high end product.  For most things the mid level is fine, but in this jacket I really am looking to buy once and be done for quite a few years.  The Tech20 jacket I have looked at for 2 years now and cant get myself to pull the trigger.   I feel like it would do but is not as nice as I would like.  It does get great reviews for the most part.  Price:  $129

Under Armour Gunpowder 

This was a tough one for me to add to this list.  I want to like Under Armour's gear but it always seems like it is made for warmer weather.  The Gunpowder is another new jacket to hit the market so the reviews are minimal.  Gander Mountain has started carrying the UA line so I have personally checked this jacket out.  If I knew this jacket would hold up in the cold weather I would probably own it right now.  Price:  $279

At this point my decision is probably between the First Lite and Under Armour jackets.  I feel the need to try on the First Lite jacket before making my decision.  I also would like to talk to someone who has worn the UA jacket in the field to test it.  

Anyone else have any recommendations for cold weather jackets to consider?

*********UPDATE**********

After getting feedback from this post I have decided to toss up another option in the discussion.  Many people have said I should consider something along the lines of a Heater Body Suit.  Personally I do not like the idea of wearing a sleeping bag in my deer stand.  However I found the IWOM version to be interesting:

IWOM XT

Basically this is a jacket with a leg and boot cover attached to it.  The system can be rolled up and packed in as a fanny pack or worn as a parka with the bottom part rolled up.  It has a built in face protector and hood, hand warmer pockets and breast pockets.  I feel like this would be a great really cold weather solution, however for those slightly cold days I still feel like a heavier jacket would be plenty.  Price:  $399

The Orange Invasion

It's that time of year again.   Every year we hunt the first two months of the Minnesota bow season with the knowledge that the first week in November our tranquil woods will be invaded by a swarm of orange.  I want to preface this post by saying for years I was part of this swarm.  The things I am about to talk about I lived, and therefore know full well the thought process behind them.  You can read about it in my last post here. If that disclaimer isnt enough and you still get offended, bummer, move on.

Lets look at some statistics,  In 2013 roughly 173,000 deer were killed by hunters in Minnesota.  An estimated $400 million dollars is spent annually by hunters.  60-70 percent of MN firearms harvest typically occurs in the first 4 days of the season.  Only 30-35 percent of firearm hunters typically shoot a deer in any given year.  An estimated 475,000 hunters hit the woods every year.

With all of that going on, most of it in the span of 4 days, you can see why we do not look forward to the opening day of rifle season.  There are also some personal observations.  Many rifle hunters do not appreciate any kind of scent control.  Spraying yourself down with no scent spray is not scent control.  Like the title picture, people wear their hunting suits into restaurants, gas stations, and as night out on the town clothes after hunting all day.  The next day they head right back out into the timber with their smelly gear.  This leads to deer being very skittish and jumpy in the woods.  I have seen deer step on a stick themselves and take off running from fear.  I like to have deer nice and close for my shots, that way I can assure a clean humane kill.  This is not from needing them close as I am proficient with my rifle out to 300 yards.  It is just what makes sense.  Getting them in nice and close becomes a lot harder with 475,000 stinky pumpkins in the woods.  The orange army also seem to use a "brown is down" philosophy.  They spend 5 days in the woods on average, so are willing to shoot the first thing that walks past them in order to claim a win.  In years past when we have been allowed to purchase multiple tags, I have listened to many hunters brag about shooting 2-3 does (some would be called fawns in my book) and they do so with bravado like I should be proud of them.

One would almost think I should stay out of the woods during rifle opening weekend, however I just cant.  The opportunity to have all of these people pushing deer to me, along with the buck rut that coincides about the same time as the rifle season push me into the stand.  This year was no different.  While I did see a few deer over the weekend, I did not take a shot.  Now its time to bundle up for the cold weather and see if we cant put a buck down still this season.  As I write this we are getting 6-10" of snow, so the next few weeks should be interesting at best.

****A little update for you, the MN DNR has reported a recorded harvest of 54,000 deer in the first three days of the season, which is down 30,000 from 2013.

Hunting/Life Stages

Yesterday was another very unproductive day in the woods for our group.  It's one thing to sit and see deer without getting a good shot.  Maybe even passing up small deer for the big bucks.  It's another one entirely for four guys to sit most of the day and see one little, small deer between the four of us.  That was our day yesterday and I'm not ok with it.  I woke up this morning with tons of thoughts pouring through my head.  Did we do all we could in the off season?  Is this just the October lull?  Do we smell?  Do we make to much noise getting into our stands?  Are the deer just not in the area?  All questions I couldn't shake as I got ready and made my way into work this morning.  All of this got me to thinking about where I have come from and where I am going within the cycles of hunting.  Some of these stages relate to some specific ages but mostly it is experience and dedication that moves me from one stage to the next.

Boy:

We all start somewhere and our hunting lives are no different.  With me it started like a lot of kids, sitting in the woods with my Dad.  We hunted deer during rifle season only in MN and grouse during the early fall.  My Dad had taken a bad fall out of a tree stand when he was younger so we mostly sat on the ground or in heavy duty constructed wooden box stands.  I remember the days being a lot more napping than serious hunting.   My Dad also liked to walk in the woods to try and "stalk" deer.  While I never witnessed this tactic produce any opportunities for a shot, he seemed to enjoy it.  There were many years of going home with no deer in the beginning stages but the few times we did get one, we were extremely happy.  

Teen:

During the boy stage of my hunting career I started to break out on my own a little.  I chose and set up some stand placements on my own, began to sit and hunt myself and even tried to stay awake most of the time I was in the woods.  My Dad and uncles became mentors to me during this time and my brothers/buddies started to form my hunting party.  To this day the biggest buck I have ever shot came in the form of an 8 pointer shot during this period of my life.  My mentors taught me to track wounded deer, take humane shots, anticipate movement and pattern deer.  It was fun and exciting time to be in the woods but the pull to branch out and do things "my way" was strong.

Adult:

Entering into this time of hunting was a stretch for me.  I had the draw to do things my own way but had no idea if it would work or not.  I feel like I am still in this stage, however looking to move up once more.  My small, inexperienced party, broke off on our own and started looking for places we could hunt the way we felt was best.  There were a few years I had to sit out a season because of a lack of hunting property.  We started buying mobile stands we could put up quickly and move if we needed to.  The lessons learned in the woods alone were critical to me growing as fast as I did during this stage.  I shot a lot of deer in this stage of my hunting life, most were small and should have been passed up.  Many times I shot deer just so I could fill a freezer.  I started branching out and bow hunting with Eric and Matt, soon we were followed by my Dad with his crossbow and that event brought him back into our party for most of the season.  

Hunter:

This stage I feel like I am ready to move into right now.  We have started to look at not just hunting deer, but managing a herd and hunting a more targeted animal.  I don't just mean shooting big bucks but mature deer, more consistently.  With the recent cabin and land purchase I feel this process of moving to the next stage has begun.  In the past we have consistently felt like we were limited with what we could do to improve our hunts by not having land we owned or had full rights to make improvements too.  Now all of that has changed and the excuses are gone.  The future is bright for our party and we have many great times to come.  

Moving through life has its ups and downs and hunting mimics those movements in many ways.  I have already started the process of teaching my oldest son many things he will need to know in his own hunting life.  Watching someone else start the infancy of their hunting life is an amazing experience.  

A Year!

I don't know what the criteria is for the worst bloggers in the world, but I think going a year in between posts may just qualify us for that prize.

The year has not been a wasted one.  We have been in the woods hunting, have some promising stand set ups and bought a cabin on 77 acres.  What!?  Yep you read that right, I took the plunge and bought a hunting place to call my own.  I am going to hug it and squeeze it and call it George.

It is a one room cabin on 77 acre mixture of high and low land.  We have a trail system started, 6 stands out and have been running cams at times.  The property we have been hunting is still in play and has gotten most of our attention this year in terms of hunting.  We got into our cabin late so scouting and what not was minimal.  We are relying mostly on info from the past owner and neighbors.

Over the years I hope to use this space to show you guys things we do to improve the property and what comes of that.  Hang in there, hopefully we are not the worst bloggers again this year and actually do some updating.

Deer Moving and Arrows Flying

Well the second weekend of hunting came and went and we finally have deer sightings.  Opener didnt go as planned as we had ZERO deer moving around us and some serious questions on our set ups.  Sunday was a different story and there were even shots fired.

As you notice there is not a victorious picture of me with a dead deer at the top of this post.  It wasnt for lack of effort or opportunity.  We started off early Sunday morning to the stands in a light rain, which is always nice.  I climbed into my ladder and got ready for a wet morning.  An hour into the sit I heard a crack and stood up.  A head popped out of the pines in front of me and to my surprise there were antlers attached to it!  It walked into my small opening and hooked off to my right.  The one trail I do not have a shot at is the one it was on.  I had plenty of time to take a good look and I didnt like what I saw.  It was a young 6 that we have pictures of from over the summer.  I decided I would pass even if it did present me a shot.  Of course the 6 decided to press his luck by turning around and stepping back out into my opening.  He stood broadside at 23 yards taunting me to shoot.  I stayed strong and let him walk.  He walked up the trail right under my stand and out of my life.

After an afternoon of being ripped by my Dad and Eric for passing, we were back in the stand with no rain.  The wind had kicked up and it was really hard to hear anything.  In front of me and to my right a doe stepped out and started eating in an area I have no shot.  She was a good size and I decided I was going to take her if she gave me a shot.  I stood and got myself ready while she grazed around behind some trees.  She slowly started moving towards my opening without a hint that she knew I was there.  Her front legs and head peaked out behind the last tree she had to clear before I could shoot and I came to full draw.

That's when she stopped.  She stood still eating, licking, flicking her ears, looking around, eating, licking, looking around, eating and standing STILL.  After what seemed like 10 minutes I decided I was going to have to let down if she didnt move forward.  My eyes were blurring from staring so hard at her and my arms were starting to get the shakes.  When she had me on the ropes begging for mercy she took that last step forward.  I tensed up and yanked the living day lights out of my trigger.

The whacking sound the arrow made when it smacked the tree above her head was really loud.  She jumped back a few feet, looked around and walked off into the pines.  I sat down in my stand and stared at my Lumenok in the tree in front of me.  It was glowing like a little beacon reminding me of where my arrow hit.  My first chance at a deer this year, early in the season and perfectly timed.....dead.  

Cant wait to get back out there in a week.  I have to redeem myself now.  Plus it cant get much worse.

-Dennis

We are on the home stretch!

Tomorrow JR and I are taking our families up to the property to pull pics from the cams one last time before the season starts. Not many times do we get up there with our wives and kids, so it will be fun showing them what we have done and what we hope will be the place where some excitement occurs!

This could result in some increased excitement (like we need any of that) or some additional anxiety over whether we made the correct stand choices or not.

Next week we will have a recap of the pics we have gotten over the past two weeks and an outline of the plan heading into the opener!

Keep checking back for new updates!

E

2013 Stand Preview

We are on the final countdown to opening day.  To say we are a little antsy may be the understatement of the decade.  Heading into the 2013 season I want to give everyone a preview of the stands we will be hunting this year.  Hopefully this should help as the season progress's and we continue to post updates with our success's (hopefully) and our failures (that's why they call it hunting and not killing).

Existing Stands 

These stands are all in areas that we used in the past.  For various reasons, mainly seeing and shooting deer, we have decided there is a need to continue our stand placement in these spots.  We have made a couple of adjustments with some new knowledge of what we believe is the deer pattern as well as some things we have learned about shooting our bows.

Girls Food Plot Stand - This stand was one of our original stands.  We moved it last year but have placed it back in its original location for this year.  Due to the sheer number of deer and the consistent number of bucks in this area that we have seen on our Wildgame Innovations cameras this season in we are very excited to see the results soon!

Main Food Plot Stand - This stand is still in its original location.  We have done some adjusting as to the exact direction it faces based on the sun, the direction of the deer in previous years as well as taking into account our "power zones" as shooters.  These changes have resulted in a quarter turn around the tree to maximize the area of shooting to the left of the person in the stand as most of us shoot right handed.

Muddy Stand - This was a new stand last year.  Although we did not see a lot of deer from this stand it helps us cover a corner of the property that is very difficult to hunt.  It sits about 60 yards above the top of the natural field that contains the main food plot.  Our cams over the summer have shown many deer coming and going from this upper corner, so hopefully with some good timing on our side this stand will be successful.

Matt's Stand - Also sometimes affectionatly refered to as the nursery, this is another original placement.  This year we did adjust to a different tree but the area is still the same.  Hopefully the change will open up some new parts of the area and better opportunities based on where we have seen deer in past years.

Double Stand - This was the killing zone last year.  All but one of our deer came from this stand which was new to us last year.  When choosing this stand we had scouted the area pretty hard and found what we believed to be a travel corridor and our hunch was correct.

New Stands

On to the newbies.  Based on what we learned last year in the woods as well as what we have seen on the cams, we have placed stands in 3 new locations.

Ridge Stand - The choice to place this stand on the backside of this ridge came from information we obtained while hunting out of the Double Stand.  Multiple times last year we had deer come out of the swamp and cross in front of the double stand, just on the opposite side of the ridge that splits the property.  Even during rifle season this does not allow a shot.  Once they hit the top of the ridge they are able to go multiple ways, many of which we did not occupy with a stand.  This new stand sits atop the ridge, overlooking an area where 5 or 6 heavily used deer trails combine. 

GS2.0 (Grandpa's Stand, new and improved) - This stand is a replacement for my grandpa's old stand.  We were unable to use my grandpa's stand any more as of last year due to unsafe conditions.  Because of this we had to move the stand down the ridge line a bit into a large pine tree.  Again there are multiple trails that combine in this area, as it is the major pass through across a large portion of the property.

Swamp Stand - Come hell or high water we were getting a stand back into this location.  Although getting here will be interesting if we get rain, this stand could hold the key to the monsters we are chasing.  As far as we can tell the big boys like the swamps on this property and this stand is on a small high land area in the middle of the swamp.  We did not place any cams back in this area so all of our hunts will be off of in person scouting and map research we have done.  

This year should be exciting.  We are seeing some large bucks and a very large number of does.  Keep checking back for updates to any last minutes adjustments and once the season begins.

As always, we love seeing your pictures and hearing your stories.  Please email any of us your pictures and stories and we will get them posted for all to see!

E

Stand placement begins!

This past weekend Sr, Mike and myself made a last minute decision to run up to the property and work on getting some stands in place for the upcoming bow opener.  Seeing that we have multiple weddings and all the functions that go with them upcoming, saying our weekends to work are limited is an understatement.

I have decided to place three stands this year.  The first is in my traditional spot off the corner of the food plot.  Last year produced my first ever deer when I shot my doe in the evening of opening day.  We are hoping that our continued work on the food plot will bring more deer to this area.

The second stand we were able to get up and ready for the season is in a new area that we have never hunted before. I have always wanted to get back in this area, as my grandpa's old deer stand used to overlook it and my took a very large, nice 8 pointer from that stand.  Due to age of the tree that stand is in it is no longer safe to hunt from.  We were able to find a nice tall pine tree that has some cover provided by other tree's around it.  There are quite a few trails that appear to be heavily used that all come together in an area right out in front of the tree.  One change we made when hanging this stand was we decided to go up about an extra 4 to 5 feet to hopefully keep me high enough and out of the deer's normal vision range.  I am always crazy about my scent control, but this stand will really put this to the test.

After getting these two stands done in the 90 plus degree heat and the massive swarms of mosquitos we decided to scout out the stand placement of my third stand but not actually hang the stand.  Once again I have decided to get myself into an area that we have not traditionally hunted.  It is on the backside of the ridge that Sr's double ladder stand is on, leading right out of the swamp and almost right behind the cabins.  My hope is that if the deer are continuing to travel in and out of the swamp but not crossing across in front of the double stand this stand will give us the opportunity we have been missing.  Over the past couple of years we have seen quite a few deer traveling this corridor so I am quite excited for this stand.

I am planning another trip around the 28th or so.  I plan on getting my last stand done as well as helping work on any of JR's stands that are not up yet. Hopefully the heat will tone down a little for the next trip, although I doubt it. 

E

12 Days Later

12 Days Later

Our work on the food plot was done and the waiting was killing me.  Crops do not grow over night.  That might be the only thing I know for certain about planting crops.  I have never had a garden of my own, my grass is probably average at best, and my food plots in the past have not done well.  These reasons are why the waiting was not going well for me.  

Day 5 seemed to come fairly quickly.  We had time to study our trail cam pics and discuss the upcoming success of our food plot growth.  The first week ended and Eric started calling me about going back up again to check on the growth.  We planned to go 12 days after we had first planted.  We had no idea what to expect 12 days later.  Would the field be flush and green with tiny clover and greens popping up all over?  We had plenty of rain, in fact maybe it was to much rain.  Can you get to much rain?  What if the field washed out and all we had was a huge mud puddle?  Do we need to fertilize?  So many questions and all hinged on what we saw 12 days later.  

Eric got to the property before I did and started cutting grass.  When I finally arrived we took the trusty Polaris out and made our trek to the field.  I can tell you I was apprehensive when we rounded the last corner to see what all of our work looked like:

Not exactly what we were hoping to see.  I wasn't entirely positive we were going to have lush green crops flowing forth from our field, but I was hoping to see something positive.  Now this may just be the growth cycle, I really have no idea.  The deer may have eaten all of our crops before they came up.  Hell it may be on the verge of exploding into a lush tropical jungle full of pizza trees and jelly bean bushes.  For this guy, 12 days was not the holiday I was hoping it would be.  

Stay tuned!

-Dennis  

Food Plotting

Food Plotting

Is that really what you call it?  I can't call it farming or even  planting because up to this point nothing has grown for us.  We have great intentions but limited results.  This year we went out of our comfort zone and found some help.  

Our help came in the form of a Fleet Farm ad for Antler King Mega Food Plot Starter Kit.  Senior found them on sale and bought a couple.  In the box there was an instant soil test kit, an array of seeds, dvd, some instructional stuff and assorted other information.  Past years of planting our own food plots have resulted in very little growth and a lot of work.  So following someone else's program couldnt hurt right?  The kits cost $15.99 so if it flops we arent out much.

This year we rented a disc from Hejny Rental to pull behind the good old trusty Polaris instead of hand tilling the ground or raking as we did in years past.  Cost a bit more money but saved us hours of time.  We gave the ground a good plow, put down some fertilizer and lime to raise the pH levels.  That sat for 9 days and we went back to plant.  

Before

I separated the area into thirds for planting.   In the middle third, I planted Honey Hole from Antler King Kit.  On the top third I spread a bit of Trophy Clover again from the kit, and the bottom third I tossed some Whitetail Institute Bow Stand blend.  The middle third took the tilling the best and yielded some of the best looking dirt.  Not that I know what good dirt really would look like, but the consensus was that it looked good.  

After

We will be looking for some good rain to come through and get our field going.  We will keep you updated!  

Round Two!

Last Sunday Jr, Sr and Mike and I took a couple hours in Sandstone to prepare our food plot for planting.  Jr will have some pictures and information up here shortly on the plot itself.  We also took the opportunity to once again pull pictures from our trails cameras.  All I can say is WOW. 

Girls Food Plot - 400 plus pictures
Main Food Plot - 300 plus pictures
Grandpa's stand camera - 50 pictures

This is a ton of pictures for a two week period and more then we have ever seen this early in the season.  Here is a recap of some of the results.

These first pictures all come from our main food plot area:

Three visitors

Sometimes you just need to relax

He is a big boy!

Ninja Death Kick bro!

Antlers!

These next ones are from the Girls Food Plot:

Look who came to visit

Gobble gobble

Antlers over here as well

This is what Matt's dreams are made of!

That is a big body deer in the back

 

The pictures from my grandpa's stand were a lot of passing does, which is normal for that area.  As the season progress's we normally start to see bucks traveling through that area and hope to see that again.  In the next couple of week we will be looking to get our stands up our areas cleared.  We are making some adjustments off of things we have found, seen and the experiences we had last year.  We will discuss some of those decisions and why we made them as we get the stands in the air.

 

Keep checking back for updates coming soon!

 

E

Trail Cam Season

TRAIL CAM SEASON

Part of the joy we get during spring and summer are the trail cameras we have been running.  Every couple of weeks we get to take stock of the deer on the property, and renew our excitement for the hunts to come. This May is no different.  

After turkey hunting, in which we had fun but did not shoot any turkeys, we put out the trail cams.  Four total put out with no bait in front of them to draw the deer in.  This first crop or pictures is just a plain inventory of the deer walking through on a regular day.  To say we are excited is an understatement. 

We pulled almost 200 pictures in two weeks.  That is a pretty good number for this property and no bait.  Even more importantly we had plenty of bucks mixed in with all the does.  Years past the bucks havent started really making an appearance until later in the year.  It will be interesting to see which ones stay around and how they grow.  We have seen some good 8 pointers on camera but never in person.  Maybe this will be the year the big ones walk by.  

-Dennis

Keeping Up

Apparently I cannot keep up very well.  I have every intention of updating this blog on a weekly basis, and then 6 months goes by and here we are.  Spring is finally here and the prep for deer hunting 2013 started last weekend.

Eric and I went up to Sandstone for the spring turkey hunt.  The weather was and we did some sitting a long with plenty of scouting.  Last year was a great year for us, and we hope to expand on that this year.  Some plans for the year include making our food plot even bigger and better.  Adjusting some stand locations and putting in some new ones.  Plus the great trail cam outings we love to take.

I will do my best to try and keep up on a more regular basis moving forward.

-Dennis

Things Dont Always go as Planned

As Dennis stated in the previous post I was fortunate enough to shoot a doe on opening weekend of the Minnesota Archery season.  As Dennis also alluded to, it didn't go exactly as planned. I personally think every hunt is only as good (and truthful) as the story that accompanies it.  Because of this, I am willing to put this out there for the enjoyment of all, at my expense.

The day had gone pretty well up to 6pm that Saturday in September.  We had seen some deer walking into our stands in the morning and after having lunch and getting back to our stands I had seen a couple more right away.  The deer seemed to be moving but staying just outside of our shooting range.

At exactly 6:09 pm I felt my cell phone buzz in the chest pocket of my GSX Sweet Spot jacket. Assuming it was Dennis with his normal update on random animals, facts or the fact that he is trying to solve all the worlds issues, I was surprised to see a text from Sr stating he had just shot a doe.  I was just as excited as he was the minute I read this. I quick sent him a text to stay in his stand and we would be over in a little while to get him.  Upon hitting send I closed my phone and looked up, and that's when the fun began!

Standing on the middle of the food plot that we had tilled and planted was a deer.  I hadn't seen nor heard her as she came in, she was a NINJA DEER!  I quickly stuck my phone back in my pocket and pulled out my Bushnell range finder.  This was the first time I realized I was shaking horribly.  I could barely get my hands to stay still long enough to get an accurate reading on the range finder.  She was at 37 yards.  A little longer then I would have liked for my first shot but I had practiced to 40.  Oh if I would have known what was about to begin...

Every time I tried to stand up she would turn and look in my direction.  I don't know if she could see me or if it was just my paranoia.  After 4 attempts to stand up I decided I was going to take the shot sitting down.  I had practiced this at the range, I could do this.  Slowly grabbing my bow I realized a second time that I was shaking uncontrollably with adrenaline.  I took one last look through the range finder, still 37 yards.  I hooked my release to my bow, took a deep breath and decided it was game time....sort of.....

Upon pulling my bow to draw I had trained myself to always start a bit above my target and drop my sight on to the spot I wanted to shot and then hit the trigger.  One issue, my hands were shaking so bad I hit my trigger prematurely!  To my complete surprise and utter horror, my arrow took off prior to me getting on target.  I completely cleared the deer by a good 6 feet, with my arrow landing on the ground behind her and skipping through the remaining portion of the food plot.  At this point the doe jumped and ran right at me.  She stopped behind a small pine tree about 15 yards in front of my stand, scanning the field for what caused the commotion.  I was able to get to my feet and adjust for what I hoped was going to be a better shot. 

I quickly got another arrow in the whisker biscuit and was clipped in and ready to go.  To my amazement the doe stepped out from behind the pine try for a perfect quartering away shot.  I took aim and let fly.  MISSED.  Or at least thought I did.  In the course of all the craziness and getting a second shot I didn't take into account my angle when taking a close shot of that nature. My arrow barely grazed her right under the front leg on the side of the belly and buried into the ground.  She jumped and ran into the field.  I thought for sure this time she would continue and be gone.  Or not.....

She stopped running and stood in the exact spot she was on my first shot.  I could not believe what I was seeing.  It is not supposed to happen this way.  I looked down and realized I had only one arrow left in my quiver.  I had to make this one count.  My adrenaline was starting to fade and holding for a steady shot was much easier.  I took a couple of deep breaths (Uncle Rich's school of breathing before shooting) and drew back.  Taking what seemed like an eternity I made sure that all aspects of my shot were completely correct.  Bow level, using the right pin, good broadside shot, all CHECK!  I let fly....

SMACK!  I nailed her right where I was aiming, right behind the front shoulder.  My Rage MeatSeeker broad head punch a huge entrance hole.  The doe took off across the field, leaving a nice trail of blood to the tree line.  I heard her enter the woods, crash, crash, crash, a very loud CRASH and then nothing.  She was down!

After meeting up with Dennis and getting SR we went and found his deer and then went to track mine.  After following the blood trail for about 50 yards we ran into an extremely thick area and though we had lost the trail and more importantly the deer.  Frustration setting in I shut off my flashlight to say some choice words to myself and that's when I saw it.  A glowing beacon of hope.  Somehow my arrow had not broken off but was sticking out of the side of the deer with the Luminok still shining, sticking straight up in the air.  At first I couldn't believe my eyes and had to ask Dennis if that was what I was seeing.  His response was "Gotta be a house light or something."

Normally I wouldn't have thought about it but i paused and said "we are like 60 plus acres from the nearest house" and started walking.  Sure enough there she lay. 

She wasn't the biggest doe we have ever seen or shot, but she was my first deer with my bow.  I would have loved for it to have gone perfect and for all purposes I could have kept the story to myself.  That's not me.  I don't care that the story is funny at my expense, I had a deer on the ground.  Needless to say the look on Dennis and SR's faces as I  told them the story was worth every second of my embarrassment.  We still joke that there was something mentally wrong with my deer to stick around while I flung arrows at it from everywhere.

Looking forward to this week we are heading up on Wednesday and will be in the tree Thursday through Sunday. We are hoping for some success on multiple days and hopefully something that we can seriously brag about.  Details to follow!!!

E

Successful Opener! 

Congratulations to my Dad (Sr) and Eric on their success.  Both of them put down a doe opening weekend of bow season in MN.  This was the first bow opener weekend we hunted and it was a good time.  

Sr shot a nice doe with his Ten Point Crossbow on Saturday evening about 4:30pm.  She came in and give him a quartering away shot that would have been tough with a bow, but his crossbow was on target and put her down after a 50 yard run through the brush.

Eric has quite a story for his doe.  Let's just say it didn't go down after the first shot....or the second.  I will leave that story for him to tell.  In the end we tracked her down and grabbed the second doe of the night on Saturday.  

I had my chances but didn't get a shot I liked, so I held back.  I still hope to fling an arrow or two before the gun season kicks off.  So far I would call this a very successful year for us.  It can only get better from here.

Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock

Time is running out on the off season.  We are 3 days away from the bow opener here in Minnesota.  The picture above is consistent with what we have been seeing for the past month.  Plenty of does all over our property.  Does, does, and more does.  I can tell you what our mission is going to be for the early season, and that is to fill as many doe tags as we can.  

The Frigad Forage Big-N-Beasty food plot is still a work in process.  We had plenty of rain all summer long, right up until we planted our food plot.  At that point we were cut off and the skies closed.  The weather forecasters have called for rain and storms every week for the past month and they have been wrong.  At best we get a sprinkle here and there.  We have some patches of things growing, but overall it doesnt look to great.  I put some fertilizer down last weekend to try and spur growth a bit.  We will see how it turns out.  

This weekend my Dad, Eric and I will be heading up for the opener.  Our goal is to put a couple does on the ground and get the season started right.  As a side note, we are also going to High Five Archery in Stillwater tonight for a deer butchering class.  We started butchering our own deer last year and are excited to learn more about what we are doing.  I will try and give you an update tomorrow.  

When time stands still...

Its been a while since I had a chance to post, but with all the prep work we have been doing and all the nice deer we have been seeing on our Wildgame Innovations trail cams I cant help but think hunting non-stop.

This is one of the toughest times of the year for us as hunters.  Not only does every day drag on because we know the end of the day brings us one day closer to opening day, but we start to think, rethink and second guess all the decisions we have made in preparation.

This year we have a handful of deer stands that are in new locations.  All of these locations were decided upon for various reasons.  Some are based off of pictures from the trails cams as we moved them around the property through the summer.  One stand is an adjustment from an old permanent stand that is no longer use-able. The last stands are based off of our personal experiences hunting the land in recent years and the improvements we have done to the land (ex: food plot).

We research, discuss, research some more, discuss some more, decide, adjust, place the stands and then second guess ourselves until hunting comes and goes. I think it is human nature to second guess your decision making when it comes to hunting.  The variables change every day if not every minute.  Some of these are controllable and some are not.

We have a couple final decisions to make and then it is go time.  We will finally get to see who wins and who loses. 

E