Way to go Tom, startin' us off right. Good luck to everyone else. I just got back from 8 days in Colorado chasing elk. Between the snow, hail, wind and rain every day the elk were held up pretty tight, not one bugle even heard. A frustrating start to the bow season. Minnesota opens this weekend so after some gear clean up, its back to it here.
Well no deer for me this weekend. Came about as close as you can to getting a shot at a couple does yesterday night but they didn't cooperate. I'm going to try to hunt tomorrow evening, Friday morning, and then the rest of the weekend too. We'll see.
Good luck Rory, plenty of season still to come! I'm getting ready to try and shoot one of my big bucks tomorrow, I will be in the stand by 3:15 (If I don't skip my last class lol). It is mostly a morning stand, but he comes by about every other night during shooting light, and I just can't help myself but try. Come Saturday I will be sitting all day where the big non-typical looking buck is, since im getting all my pictures between 11:00 and 2:00 pm. I have a good feeling
Good luck Cole! We'll both be in a tree tomorrow evening then! Luckily I only have one class tomorrow and it's over at 9:50 so I'll be in pretty early. Supposed to be a perfect wind for a new stand we got setup. Got a bunch of daylight buck pictures there last year so we'll see.
Almost got us some more points yesterday during the WI opener. Only saw one deer (1.5 yr old buck) during the AM sit, but had more action in the PM which is common on the property I hunted. Had a ol' grey doe sniff the entire base of my tree after she found a small branch I cut that fell all the way to the ground. I had her directly under me for 15 minutes until she walked straight away to the field. My only shot would have been a texas heart shot which I don't take. Even with whistling and clicking my tongue I could not get her to turn. I watched a group 4 bucks about 1/2 mile away thru the binocs sparring and grazing. One of those bucks was a complete monster. With my bare eyes it looked like a doe with 3 fawns. Thru the binocs it looked to be 3 2.5 yr old bucks (around 110-120 each) with this other buck. The funny thing is these 4 were literally all within 30 yards of a tree stand I was going to sit but changed my plan with the ESE winds. Damn. Anyways, the evening ended while I was removing my safety harness and I spotted movement to my right. This buck (in pic) was 15 yards walking towards the field. I grabbed my bow and drew, but it was too dark to make out a spot to shoot. I let down dejected and looked at my phone to check the time. I still (supposedly) had one minute of legal shooting left even though it was completely overcast. Damn #2. I was not going to drive back out there this coming weekend, but....
Went out Sat afternoon for the WI opener and had a doe and fawn come by feeding in the oaks. I decided to let them walk hoping the big guy I had glassed in the field the week before would come through but he didn't. Won't get out again until Friday afternoon. Good luck guys and congrats Tom on the big doe.
Sounds like we could be getting into some points soon. I will be in the stand by 1:30 tomorrow hopefully, I have already decided I can't sacrifice an hour to go to my last class lol. This is a great stand that I'm going to, but I think my best bet is Saturday when I sit all day where I have been getting the weird racked biggin around noon.
I see you got some meat on the table Tom, looks like a nice size one too. I'm heading to western Kansas next weekend for some pronghorn hunting, but i'll have my doe and buck tags with me just in case I see something worthy to shoot. I'm ready to get this season going!!!
Should have added ALOT of points for the team last night. Had an absolute GIANT running into the decoy in the rain he got to just over 50 yards and slammed on the brakes whirled and ran directly away from me. 2 minutes later a guy and his son walk in along the woods on the property line. Good luck everyone and Cole smack that MONSTER, I will be going back after him tonight.
Man, that's some rough luck. He'll be back though! Good luck this afternoon Tony and Cole. Just got back from my class gonna take a quick nap then hit the road.
man, this wait is killing me, even more so reading about your guys time in the stand. 11days 18hours 11 minutes till i'll be in my stand :P good luck guys!
Amen to that!! You keep the clock counting down... I'll just sit and fidgit impatiently until it hits zero LOL
I only saw 2 does and a fawn while hunting this evening, the wind switched and started swirling on me. I did see the crooked brow tine buck while driving through the pasture on my way home after dark, so they are definitely all around me. Its just a matter of time Saturday I will be sitting from sun up to sun down, and I have a very good feeling about it.
I seen nothing last night except a new quad trail running 44 yards from my stand. I talked with the land owner and he has no idea who is back there in the woods. Left up to me to handle it so I need to start hunting this spot on weekends to see whats up.
UPDATE: I just found out it was a neighbor who squirrel hunts the woods behind me which he shouldnt be on there either. IL company owns it and they dont allow hunting. Small piece but here is a map of it. Blue dot is where he parked his quad and red dots are my stands. His hunting pressure will ruin this very easily. Yellow lines are my boundries. This picture doesnt do it justice as their is some fine whitetail bedding and feeding areas.
Looks very similar to my hunting land, i know what ya mean about the picture not doing it justice on the way of great hunting land. Sorry to hear about the quad, hope things get better for ya!
Nothing walked past me last night.. Checked one trail camera on the way to the stand and got a buck that I think could really blow up next year. He'll get a pass this year from my family and I. Back at it on Friday morning.
Thank gosh I have a great relationship with the landowner as he is going to talk to his neighbor and tell his father he never gave his son permission to hunt. We both agreed once deer season is over the kid can hunt squirrels. I don't want to turn off kids from the outdoors so this route should help.
