October 1st here... For as food plots, have not put out any in years. I hunt just over 360 acres along the Mississippi River. All which has been covered by flood water the past 4 years. The ground basically runs due north and south. It is very hard to hunt with a favorable wind. This is the first year after all the flooding. The farmers have planted the entire "bar ground" this year. The first time in over six years where they've planted that much ground inside the levee. I scouted last week and with no rain it's hard to see much sign. Access trails throughout the woods are no longer recognizable. Plan on getting a dozer and opening up some new ones and also clearing out old existing food plots for next season. So it doesn't look to promising for Oct. The week of Haloween I will be making my yearly trek 3 1/2 hrs. north to "Heaven" where I will be hunting non stop to Thanksgiving. Heaven is what I call public land I've been hunting in Brown & Adam County's since 1988. This place has made so many memories and stories over the years. I plan on getting my camera out this weekend but like I said it doesn't look all that promising along the river this year.
And the death continues. I went to replace the batteries in one of my cameras today and found another dead buck. This one was a young 6x6 who would have scored about 125 and would have been a brute next year. One of these days I have to see a live buck, right? I also threw in some pictures of the does I found last week. F*cking EHD.
Sounds like a challenging season for you man! Hopefully you'll be able to make some more good memories in "heaven" this year.
If you get close to one of the carcasses, the smell is incredible. If it is a turnoff to me, I cant imagine how that goes over with a deer. I dont expect a lot of traffic down there until some rutting starts to happen.
havent gotten anymore big buck pictures but getting some bucks and does but the real big ones show up late october through the rut then leave around the end of the season but how is everyone else doing?
Boof, I sure hope a few deer left to hunt come opening day. That really has to make you sick finding all those deer on your hunting property. I've heard they are finding a lot of deer Deer in Calhoun County, ILwhich is just across the Illinois River from my property. So far it doesn't seem to bad around my place. We just got 3 inches of rain from the remnants of Isaac, so that might help with the EHD.
The drought is still holding strong here with no rain in the forecast anytime soon. This is the most helpless feeling I have ever experienced in hunting.
Man that is terrible Boof! I herd the midges that cause EHD propagate in the mud so maybe this drought might keep the outbreak down. Good luck to you.
My hunting season does not start until Oct 1st so I will be slow posting for awhile. My trail cameras are only showing deer 125" and under right now and tons of Doe/fawns. I have seen at least 4 bucks on this property last season that will go 160"+. The bigger guys don't usually move in till late Oct. JMb this is your year for a slammer bud. I got a good feeling about this team this year.
Good news! Got selected in a lottery for a special hunt at camp Ripley. This place routinely produces some of Minnesotas biggest bucks. Here's my chance to post some major points! Sent from my phone. Spelling was not a priority.
SeasOn opens on the 7 th! Will be out trying to get one of those bucks i posted pics of earlier! Still getting good deer on camera though! Will keep everyone posted
Nope. Here's the DL on the hunt... Camp Ripley is a 53,000 acre army reserve/national guard training facility. It's entirely enclosed and the vast majority of it is wooded land. Every year, the MN DNR holds lotteries for 3 seperate, 2-day, special bowhunts -- one of which is youth only. The rest of the year, the taking of ANY wildlife is strictly prohibited. Early scouting is not allowed. In short, it's the white tail holy ground of the Midwest and this guy is huntin' it! This is my third year in a row hunting this lottery (maybe it's less lottery and more charity?) and my first year I saw 20+ deer during the 2 day hunt. One was the biggest bruiser I've ever seen and he keeps me coming back! So, I thought yall might be a good resource this time around. If you've got some spare time, please do a little map recon with the links below and help your teammate find some prime stand locations! Let's win this thing! Some details: -Hunt is October 18,19 -Entry is through the south gate. -The east boundary is the river. No fence. -Some areas are restricted but are indicated on the map. -All roads are traversable with my vehicle. -Camp Ripley had near normal rainfall this year. -Hunters are required to pack in/out all property both days of hunt, but I'm pretty able bodied (for this one at least!) DNR Hunt Info: http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/rlp/regulations/hunting/deer/ripleydeerpacket.pdf My google map with roughed-in boundary: https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=211213550935330076484.0004c8d43e94dc5817d87&msa=0&ll=46.189338,-94.43161&spn=0.059419,0.169086 (Feel free to mark this one up) Thanks boys!
I had a similar oppurtunity last year. My advice to you is get there ASAP and get off the beaten path and hopefully when everyone else shows up they will be driving the deer to you. Also if you contact them they may have harvest locations and suggestions. They are interested in deer being harvested for the sake of the undergrowth pines and I'll bet you anything the environmental scientists running this thing would love to help.
Know exactly how you feel Boof....Experienced that feeling 4 years ago when it was devastating in my area. Luckily even though it has ben dryer here this year we have not seen any dead deer thus for.
Got rain today.....seeds that I have down will be popping. Check this updated avatar. We owe thanks to MGH, he's the man.
