Just wondering what all my Minnesota brothers have been up to? I hunt up in nw mn. I have 80 acres of private land and also close access to public riverbottom and cattail swamps. Been seeing a fair amount of deer, and passed on a couple small bucks, along with several does. Seems like there must still be alot of acorns left because the deer are hitting the fields pretty late. Perfect still hunting conditions today, after a quarter inch of rain last night, so I'm going to give it a shot......figure if nothing else, it will be a good day of scouting. I look forward to hearing some reports, and meeting some guys from my home state. I missed out on 20 years of bowhunting whitetails due to living in alaska, but this is now my third season, so I have alot to learn. Good hunting, Frydaddy.
I live in the west central part of the state. I have been seeing a lot of deer each sit but nothing huge. I'm seeing a few rubs and scrapes also a lot of small bucks tickling their horns together. All the tassel glands have been pretty white still on the deer I have seen. From the looks of it I would say there is definitely more deer this year than a couple years ago. Then I could sit for a whole weekend during the rut and not see a deer.
I live north central and have not hunted, doing plenty of long range scouting watching and waiting till it is time. Deer are still hitting the acorns and there is still more green than normal so still plenty to eat. Winter wheat is not in the ground yet but still the deer have more to eat this fall than most. Another two weeks and it will be close to time.
In SE Minnesota there is a lot of doe movement. Some bucks starting to move around and a few people have killed bucks.
Was back home for a week, now back in PA. Hunted for about five days: 2 in the northeast suburbs of Minni and three up in the northwest. Looked like the suburbs were still holding deer to their summer patterns (from what others have told me), although I noticed a couple of historic scrapes start to liven up around the outer edges of some fields. In the northwest, I didn't see as many deer ALTHOUGH, like AdamC already referred to, I saw more deer than I probably did all season; a couple of younger bucks and does. I'll be interested to see how this deer audit turns out for us, but what I have seen it already looks better than what last season left us with. I'll be back on Oct. 24th and going straight back up to the northwest for a week. I'll be excited to see if I can't catch something bigger on his feet as rutting activity picks-up. I'll keep y'all posted on what I see; hopefully you'll do the same.
I'm in NE MN. Only been out twice thus far, but I'm seeing tons of does on my cams. Just waiting to the big boys to move in late Oct.
SW MN. Hunted two times now and have seen 9 deer on foot for both hunts. Very active compared to most years. One decent buck and rest were small. Have 3 shooters on camera at dusk but still shooting light. Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
I ended up walking up on a couple 3 foot wide scrapes on top of an oak ridge that's running down from a cornfield and winter wheat field to a creek bottom with shallow running water. The scrapes didn't have a leaf on them and they were steaming fresh. Didn't want to push into the bottom, and risk blowing everything out of there. So I figured what the hell, and went back out and grabbed my climber. Sat there from 11:00 until 8 ish.....sore ***. Had 2 separate adult does feed down the ridge, stopping to eat some willow tips and chomping the heck out of the acorns. Both were around 20 yards away in my scent cone, but didn't even know I was there. Thought it was interesting that the does didn't have fawns with them. Just wondering if they started kicking them out already? Didn't see any horns, all day. Stayed out today, but I'm going back tomorrow before light, if I don't see anything, moving the climber a bit close towards the bedding area.......can you guys believe how hot it will be this weekend? 80+ is nuts......Sunday evening would probably a good day to hunt a secluded pond. Good luck, everyone.
Seeing some movement in SE MN. Still mostly bed to food, but a few bucks showing up on multiple cameras like they are starting to move around. Looking forward to the cold weather at the end of the week. Hopefully the first hard frost for us will kick them into a little early pre-rut action for a couple days.
Hope so! Forecast changed since yesterday though and it's not supposed to get quite so cold. I've still got a couple shooters moving during shooting hours and multiple bucks and does hitting my scrapes not too far after hours and all through the night. Hung a new stand on my plot yesterday so it's all ready to roll when the time comes.
Sheesh... Seems like I'm the only one here not seeing activity like you guys. No scrapes yet... Two decent sized rubs. No shooters on any cams. Think this Saturday will be my first morning hunt of the year.
Still waiting have not checked the chip this week yet, lots of does and fawns in the pasture so should have plenty of live bait come rut time.
We finished combining last night but have to wean calves this weekend so hopefully I can get a sit in Saturday morning first. Perfect S SE winds for my best stand too.
On paper, I don't think circumstances could be any better for the weekend. I doubt I'll get anything, but I'm going to damn sure be out there......also, there is a wind change forecast for Friday night right before dark. They might be up and moving a little early if the timing is good.
I'm out of state for the next week, but I'm telling ya, I would have called in sick this morning and sat all day into Saturday. Good luck to anyone that gets the chance to hunt this weekend.
I sat tonight and had 6 does and a small buck come through. Most action was the las hour of light but deer were moving early.
I'm in north central mn, I grabbed a couple cams, lots of does but not much for bucks. Also, I didn't see much for buck sign, no rubs or scrapes. I was thinking Id see a few rubs at least, but I did stay focused...I was in and out of the area as I didn't want to spook. I'm excited to see the does though, now it's just waiting for dating season so the can bring the boys in for me!
Sparring, fighting, rubs, scrapes, and 12 buck sightings during daylight in the last 8 days during 4 evening sits. Also seeing new buck sign in areas they haven't been using for the last month. Driving by my land last night and saw a nice 8 point with a big doe standing in a little patch of trees in the middle of a half mile section.......only one thing they could've been doing at 3:30 in the afternoon. NW MN.
Anyone been out in the last couple days? Really windy here this morning but will be in the stand around 2 as the wind dies down. New buck on camera Monday that showed up at 5pm scent checking a scrape in my food plot. Not a shooter but love seeing new bucks show up.
