Saturday, November 7th. I sat south of the landing and we had a SW wind. after I got into my stand I realized that the wind was backwards. I needed more of an E wind for that stand. So I decided to move my stand about 50 yards to the E and get out of there. I went to the cabin for some soup and in the evening I headed over to the refuge to move the stand I have back by the big rubs. I hiked all the way in there (being pretty quiet) and realized that the last time I was in there, I took the tree steps out of the tree. So I couldn't even get into my stand. I walked to the West side of the spruce and sat behind a blowdown. The camera I have back there showed a decent buck with some palmation. Steph text me at about 4:40pm and said she shot a doe. My cell phone reception sucked so when I tried to ask if she was serious, it took forever it to send and get a response, but she did!
She shot her first legitimate deer. I packed up and left before dark. By the time I left the woods, the doe she shot... her two fawns passed by Steph too. Day One: Three deer.Sunday, November 8th. We had church in the morning and didn't get out until later evening. I brought tree steps and Steph and I went back to the West end of the Refuge and moved the one stand and hung a second for her to sit in. I forgot her harness and so I left her stand a little lower than I'd've liked. We made a lot of noise. Day Two: Zero deer.
Monday, November 9th. I sat in my permanent stand for a change of pace. I was sitting nice and early. I probably sat until 9:30 or so. It seems that in years past, if bucks cross there in the morning, it's usually early - before 8:30am. I headed back to the cabin and tried to collect my thoughts. The only thing I could figure out with this SW wind was to climb back into the stand in the refuge. So that's what I did. Day Three: Zero deer.
Tuesday, November 10th. Work Day
Wednesday, November 11th. Work Day
Thursday, November 12th. We stayed in Roseau Wednesday night. Mom was going to drive up to the hill after her half day of work, so Stephanie decided she'd ride with her and run some errands in the morning. I, on the other hand, woke up and an early 4:45am. I packed up what I thought I needed and put some gas on and headed up to the hill in the black morning light. I got there and realized I had forgot my laundry basket of clean base layers. I had to wear Stephanie's Minus 33. I was ready to be sitting early, but when I got to the cabin, dad thougt he might go with me down south of the landing. So, I agreed and brought an extra stand and set it up for him. At about 9:10am I had a yearling 6 point come crashing through at about 25 yards. He stopped to smell the CodeBlue doe urine that I dragged in. He headed up north towards dad. Dad saw a bobcat and spooked a deer when he stood up. The wind was perfect back there. ESE. It started to mist about 10am and continued throughout the day. By the end, we were both pretty wet. Day Six: One deer.
Friday, November 13th. Finally, the wind switched to a NW. The first colder temperatures of the season were trying to roll in and I had a spot all picked out. When I got up the tree, I realized that I was a tiny bit off the mark. I tried to adjust, but my view was just not good enough. On top of that, I started to fall asleep standing up in my stand, so I committed to making noise to adjust my stand higher. I got the stand all set and then I headed back to the cabin to try get some sleep before evening post. It was supposed to be a NW wind all day so I thought I'd just come back to the same set up. When I got back, I was pleased with the view. It just never happened. No deer. About 4:45pm a chainsaw fired up and that about ended my evening. Then at about 5:00pm a generator began to growl into the dusk. I climbed down defeated, but determined to keep hunting hard. Day Seven: Zero deer.
Saturday, November 14th. I crawled out of bed a little late to the sound and smell of sizzling bacon. I got dressed quickly and made my mind up to try hunting south of the landing. The wind was from the North, which was not good, but I thought to myself that that was where the most action has probably been and that maybe I could just catch a doe with a careless buck. I hiked in dragging my CodeBlue again. I climbed up my tree and sat down at 7:02am. It wasn't 15 minutes and heard the all too familiar sound of steps coming near me. Of course the deer was coming in behind me. Over my right shoulder I could finally make out a deer. It was a buck - and not just a yearling. I turned to reach for my gun and my stand creeked. The buck froze, and so did I. Luckily he was behind a bit of a blowdown. Instead of heading SW like he was, he turned South and was heading behind my tree. I got one last look at him before he went behind me and I thought it was a buck we know as Crazy 8. He looked like he had busted up another tine. As he walked behind me I clicked off my safety. Somewhere behind my tree he must have cut even more in my direction, because instead of getting my first glimpse of him at 20 - 30 yards like I thought I would, there he was - right under my tree! His head was slightly turned in my direction so I didn't move a muscle. As he turned away, and he was almost out of my shooting lane, I grunted to stop him, threw up my .308 and put the crosshairs on the back of his neck and introduced him to the frosty ground. Down he went! What a rush! Crazy 8 was down!
I text Steph, Mom and Dad with a picture of him as he laid, because he was so close to my tree. Mom and Dad responded, but no word from Steph. I climbed down and walked up to him and examined his slightly broken up rack. It was mor massive than the pictures made it look. His 5" dagger was busted completely off. His G3 on his left antler had about 3" broke off. I'm sure he crossed paths with one of the big boys. Now that I think about it. I have pictures of Crazy 8 on the 28th of October - fully intact. My one and only picture of Hanger was taken on the morning of Halloween and he has a broken G3. Left side. The ironic part is that these two were buddies during the summer. Coincidence? Who knows. Regardless, Hanger is going to have to find a new sparring partner next year. Unless I shoot him with the bow.
After I admired the 4 year old warrior, I got my stuff together and hiked back to the landing. I drove to the cabin still wondering if Steph's phone was on silent or if she really was sleeping that hard. I snuck into the cabin as quietly as I could. I heard her phone beep, which it does every five minutes after a missed call or an unanswered text. I sat down on the air mattress and kissed her forehead and asked her if she wanted to help me drag out a deer. As she started to wake up she began asking questions and I told her that I had shot Crazy 8. She was very excited for me. We waited until 11am (legal ATV use on public land) and walked down to get mom's tag. Dad felt he needed to help the gutting/dragging process and so he and I went out there. When it's not as far to retrieve, I can't wait for Steph to help me with that part. Anyway, we got a wheeler down to him and took a bunch of pictures and brought him back to the cabin. We took a few more photos and strung him up the meat pole.
Since it didn't look like we'd be coming back up after church on the last day, we decided to sit for the evening post in hopes of taking a doe. Between Steph, Mom, Dad and myself, not one of us saw a deer Saturday evening. Day Eight: One deer.
Sunday, November 15th. Mom and Dad were on their own. Dad saw and took a shot at young buck back in the brush, but he figures he missed. A pretty uneventful day, which wrapped up a fairly uneventful rifle season. It was slow. Total deer seen between five people was under 15. That's for sure. The weather was just too warm. The rut was happening, but after dark. The deer have become very nocturnal around Minnesota Hill. Whether it's from neighbors with dogs, kids in the yard, or me putting some bowhunting pressure on them...the deer were scarce. We know they were there, just not during daylight. I'm hoping things calm down in the next week. I'll try to get out a few times. I think the first solid cold front that comes in is going to fire up a lot of movement. Gotta be sitting. There's still a bunch of bucks that haven't been shot after hours off feed piles. Don't even get me started!
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