Whitewater Day 2 - Sit 17 & 18 - River Crossing & Scrapeville

I borrowed some chest waders from a friend and they came in handy this morning. Although we got a late start and missed a turn on the way to Elba, we were able to cross the river with good light and got set up by 8am (only half hour after legal shooting light). I meandered into a slight bench against the inside of the southern most bluff within the four mile chunk. Saw no deer, froze my toes off (30 degrees when we left the truck - so about 25 at it's coldest moment), and had a few Asians walk under my stand. Got that on film anyway. We met up by the river bank at 10am and decided to go for a hike and hang a stand for Donny. We hiked up to the top of the bluff I was against, which was from 700ft up to 1125ft.

We saw some really good trails and eventually came across a pattern of bucks skirting the ridge top on the north end which led to a mouth of a draw that was littered with scrapes.

We eventually got Donny set up and began our decent and were back to the truck by about 1:30pm. With a S to a SE wind in the evening, we headed over to where Scot and I sat the evening before. I was excited to check the camera we put up to see what kind of activity had been at the scrape.  Dead batteries. It got a few pictures of a doe and fawn. That's it. Of course I didn't have extra ones with me and to make matters worse, my extra batteries were in Scot's truck, which was about 5 miles away. So we left it. I powered it down for the night, which sucks, but I'll get in there tomorrow to switch the batteries. I didn't check the Wildview. I didn't see the point. I'll check them both on the way in to the bottom, which will probably be either tomorrow afternoon or all day Monday.
I climbed up in the tree and sat until dark. No deer. Not much to say, really. We talked to a few locals in the bar for lunch and they said they've seen bucks chasing does in daylight, so it's about to kick off. We just need to find bucks on their feet during daylight. It's so intimidating or overwhelming to try to understand, let alone conquer such rugged terrain in just a few short days. I'm struggling to put the pieces together. That bottom is promising, but I realize two things: A) I have to go back down there to hunt and B) I only have two days left and therefore I can't be too picky with my wind direction. The difficult part is that the predicted wind has been changing DAILY. How do you plan your rigorous hunt, when you're not even sure that once you get to where you're going, that the wind won't be completely against your success?
I am determined to spend more time per day in the stand. That seems fruitless on the tops near the crops. That is unless the does are very near estrous and they have a buck hot on their tail. We're a week away from that.

Whitewater Day 1 - Sit #16 - Scrapeville

Well, I arrived in Red Wing on Thursday night at about 6:30pm and we got right into looking at the new map. We purchased a $90 topo/aerial map of the section of Whitewater State Park that we'll be hunting. The map measures 4' x 3' and it's quite a sight. After we himmed and hawd at the map for a few hours, we decided to get some sleep. Alarms were set for 4:45am and it was of no use - I couldn't hardly sleep a wink. I ended up driving to Scot's Friday morning and we had breakfast instead of hunting. He needed to finish up a report for work anyway. Donny joined us for eggs, sausage, and fried potatoes before Scot and I hit the road. We made our 42 mile trip to Elba, MN in about 50 minutes and checked the photo board before heading out to hang some stands.
First, we checked one of Donny's cameras and there "zero pictures" on it, but that ended up being operator error. Too bad.
Then we headed up to Melcher's Ridge. Both spots I wanted to check out were south of Melcher's parking spot. The closer of the two was only 350 yards from the truck, but I hoped it was overlooked by the uneducated hunter who didn't understand the importance of maps. Turns out there was great bucks sign - mostly scrapes - and mostly made at night, I'm sure. We hung the first stand (with my new Gorilla replacement seat) and hung my broken Cuddeback Capture over the biggest scrape in attempts to see what's been tearing up the ridges.
After we got that all situated, we headed east along the south edge of a privately owned cornfield. We saw a beautiful trail heading south down a draw from the cut corn field and I glanced down the trail and asked, "are those all scrapes?" to Scot. Sure enough they were - four distinct scrapes under one tree, so I set up my Wildview there. I know that I should probably have had two separate cameras in two separate areas, but I couldn't resist that kind of sign.
As we mozied our way down the ridges to the south and back to the west again, we kicked up a loan doe. We walked SW along this big clearing with tall grass. We eventually dipped down the bluff to the south in an attempt to get to the very bottom. This draw is known as Fabel Ravine and runs 3 miles from it's beginnings down to the actual river. The place we dipped down into really was one of the best spots I've seen for funnelled deer activity - steep bluffs to the north and a sturdy shelf to the south. Bucks have been tearing up the bottom with scrapes and rubs. The sign can only be as good as the competition for breeding rights. So, in other words, the ratio is balanced well. The effort it is going to take to get to and from the bottom is quite extraordinary, but could prove very worth it.
After a rediculous climb back out to the north, we headed back the 1.3 miles to the truck for a breather. We headed down to Elba for a pizza and then headed out to get dressed for the evening sit. Scot didn't have time earlier to set up another stand for himself, so we walked across the ridge to the south to look for a place for him. After a few failed attempts, he got into a tree that wasn't the greatest for cover, but offered him a 30 yard or less shot.
I really didn't have that eventful of an evening until the last 5 minutes of shooting light. Sure enough, a doe and two fawns, along with her yearling fawn from the year before walked by at 30 yards with their noses in the air trying to figure out what was going on. Scot was on his way over and so I sat still until he could spook them rather than me. There really was no light for filming at that point. When the deer finally spooked, they alerted more deer to the west up the ridge that I hadn't seen yet. Who knows what those deer were. So I guess that there were about 7 or so deer that were right in the same group - right at dark. This is probably going to be typical behavior near food sources on this high pressure public land. I need to drop into the bottom in an attempt to cut off deer heading back to bed. The wind had really died down. The forecast continues to change and so each day will be taken as it comes.
I believe that tomorrow (Saturday) we are going to attempt to cross the river. Should be very interesting.

Errands and Packing

So today Dad and I went up to the cabin to take care of some things that needed to be done before I take off down to Whitewater. I needed to move a few cameras, take down a couple cameras, take down two stands, help dad set up a stand, take down a ground blind and drop some things off in the garage and bring some things back to town. There are so many things that go into being FULLY prepared for a week of hunting. Since almost all of my hunting is done locally, I can just run this and that over to the next place and it really doesn't become labor-intensive.
I'm bringing two stands down in order to have options in different winds or morning/evening priority. I already have one down there at Donny's, but that will serve as a rover stand - incase a hunt needs to happen on the fly. I'll be washing all my hunting clothes, packing extra socks etc, and will need lots snacks in order to have an all day sit if necessary.
I checked a few cameras in today's process and was mostly disappointed. Twigs and HighRise were both in as usual, but the camera by the dump didn't see any action. The camera northeast of Pete's had two bucks on it and I noticed that most of the deer are using a far trail, so I moved my camera across the logging road. That should help get me some better quality photos.

I pulled my Bushnell camera down from northwest of Pete's and on my walk back to the road I noticed a willow that had been thoroughly thrashed. This was the biggest thrashing that I've ever seen. Some buck is getting his work outs in before the big fight.

The videos were basically disappointing. A few does and fawns, same two year old 8 point and a bunch of windy daytime pictures. I'm moving that new camera over a scrape on top of the hill and I'm going to try out my new bear safe and cable lock. Should be a struggle for someone to steal it. So that means I'm taking my Wildview down and bringing that along with my broken-cover Cuddeback. I'll just get them set up down in the brushy bottoms on the best bottleneck trails I can find or maybe over an open scrape near a bottleneck.
I'm guessing that most buck activity is still in the dark of night, but that's about to change. Hopefully I'm not too early in the season and I can use the right combination of locating doe groups and pinch points from buck bed to doe bed and catch something in the last hour of light down in the bottoms. It's going to be a decent time to find scrapes that are away from food sources - closer to bedding areas. The bucks know that the does aren't quite ready yet, but they will be on the move to find them. That's the biggest reason I'm hoping for cooler temperatures. If it's too warm, the bucks just will not move. The forecast keeps changing, but the wind directions haven't changed in the forecast. They're saying WNW to WSW on Friday, SSW to WSW on Saturday, WNW to SW on Sunday, straight S on Monday, and the wind jumps up to a North wind on Tuesday. The temps could be lower. The lows are around freezing and the highs are in the low 50s. That's too warm in my mind. Hopefully a cold front swings in. Otherwise, there won't be a big urge to sit through the middle of the day - could be a good time for scouting.
Well I've got jerky curing in the fridge and my new tires are being put on my truck. Lots of things getting done. I've got everything lined up for work and now it's just to relax, spend time with my beautiful wife (who's birthday is TODAY! Happy Birthday, Steph! Love you.), and catch up on a few pictures that need editing.
Now it's off to birthday lunch with Steph - chili special at Legends.

Sit #15 - An Attempt at Twigs or HighRise

We shot photos at a wedding on Saturday. We were contracted to work until the receiving line after the ceremony. We stuck it out until about 5 minutes to 5pm. We hurried home and got all our stuff together and headed out into the woods trying to get a glimpse of either HighRise or Twigs, the two bucks we've been getting frequent pics of. A few days ago, the forecast said that Saturday would be an east wind. Well, it wasn't. It was blowing from the south, if not southwest at times. Regardless, we climbed up for the 50 minute sit. My hopes were high of at least seeing a deer, but we were not so lucky.
That about ends the season for activity prior to the pre-rut, rut, and post-rut. From here on out the bucks will be acting completely different. Watch the scrapes get opened up and the vehicle/deer collisions increase. Bucks are not chasing does yet, but they're on the move to figure out where the populations are. So the best hunting tip I can give is to find the concentrations of does and spend your time on the perimeter of those bedding areas. I've got some chores to do before I take off down to Red Wing/Rochester this week for some promising bowhunting. I'll try to keep up with each day's events on here in detail.

Sit # 14 - The Shed Stand

Steph and I tried to figure out which night would work better to hunt, either Monday or Tuesday night. Steph had a girls evening on Monday and in hindsight, it probably would've worked out better to hunt Monday, but the wind was going to be perfect on Tuesday. So I stayed home and edited Monday and Steph graciously let me go out Tuesday, even though she wanted to go to the volleyball game with me at 7pm. I told her I'd be back as soon as I could and I was. We even made it to watch all of game three. Roseau lost to TRF in three straight games. They all were super close though.
Anyway, I had a photo session that got over at 4:15 and I picked Steph up from work and had to get everything lined up. I got into the tree and was sitting quiet by 5:37pm, which was about an hour later than I'd've liked, but I'll take sitting over not sitting. At about a quarter after six I saw a nice doe headed through the tall grass towards the road/tilled soybean field. I really was on alert knowing the deer were starting to move. I sat until legal light ended (6:59pm) and climbed down. No deer. I swapped cards on the new Bushnell camera and high-tailed it out of the woods to get the volleyball game. The only bad part about sitting in this spot is that there is no quiet way into the set. The dead willows that were dozed down two years ago are so loud and there's no way to avoid it. I guess it's just a place you'd have to sit in all day. That's what makes this a dynamite pre-rut stand. I'd say the 25th through the 4th would be a great time to slip in there early. You could hunt it in the morning, midday, or evening - as long as you have a NW to a NNE wind. It sets up best with a NNW. For rifle season, the stand should be backed off 125 yards to the south into another group of tamarak trees. I may set that up for dad and I. It's a sweet view.
So I get home after the volleyball game to check the video clips on the memory card and there are 18. I'm super excited and then I see that they're all wind. I thought that's odd that they didn't catch anything at night or anything else in the last four days. Turns out my 4GB card was full because I forgot to erase pictures from VBS that I put on there to transfer to the church laptop. AAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!! Idoit!
Well, I'll leave it for one more week and move it before I take off to Red Wing/Rochester. I'm super pumped for that hunt. The weather's supposed to be cold (although the forecast is slightly warming now), the moon is a new moon, the feeding times are hot, everything is lined up for some great action. Can't wait. Stay tuned.

Sit # 12 & 13 - Some Hope Restored

I went up to check a camera and place some bait out for the bear on Thursday the 13th. I hiked in north of the road up to the "Shed Stand" and checked my brand new Bushnell Trophy Cam HD. It had a bunch of video and the very first deer was a buck that I haven't seen hide nor hair of since June 16th - SPLITBROW! I kept scrolling through the videos and a day or two later was Pencil!

Both bucks have been very hit and miss this year. According to my old guesses, I suggested that Splitbrow would be five this year. That is till possible, but if so, he didn't grow at all. If anything, I think he may have shrunk up in height. Pencil looks good - just super thin as usual. He decided to be an 8 again this year. His G3 on his right mainbeam is very short, but then again, he decided not to grow one at all last year and was therefore a big 7 point. He's right in the area where I've picked up his sheds from the last two years.
I sat Saturday morning in the ground blind overlooking a watering hole in the gravel pit. It's kind of an odd set up, but sometimes it takes unorthodox measure to locate the deer. At about 10 minutes before legal light I had a nice big doe come in for a drink. She came from the opposite side that I anticipated action to come from. She didn't stay long and I was hoping she'd wade through the water and offer me a shot right at legal light. Nope. She turned around and went back to where she came from. I climbed out of there after filming a seasonal update for Midwest Whitetail Minnesota. I checked a few cameras and ran some errands around the woods. While checking one of my Cuddbacks, I broke the cover right off it. It was really gummed up with sap and I don't blame them at all. It just means I have to figure out a way to secure it to the camera so that it stays water tight. I got more pictures, but nothing new and nothing indicating rut behavior yet. We're on the verge. The two bucks in the Lake Bottom have started sparring a bit more and have been rubbing a bit. That tells me that their glands have begun secreting and it's only about a week away from beginning to scrape and seek out doe populations (23-30). Then comes the chase phase the following week (31-6) and eventually the breeding phase (7-14).

Dad and I put in one last sit for the bear and had the bigger buck come in from the north and wind us. I had been watching pretty intently to the east to see where they were coming from. At about 6:40, I hear him blow to the NNE of us. I turned around and saw his flagging tail and one jump through the cattails. It was a nice buck that's for sure. I hope we didn't bust him too badly. I'm hoping that he just got wind of my truck and that he'll be back during daylight hours.
This fall has been one of struggle so far. Getting a camera stolen, breaking one myself, having a bear break one, losing permission on one of the sweetest pieces of land, photography consuming our free time. It's just been difficult. I know that things will slow down and the wind will cooperate, but I just need to be patient. There is hope for 2011.

Sit # 11 - Losing Hope

Dad and I sat again this morning and saw nothing. The wind has officially switch from a predominant southerly wind to a northwesterly. The forecast shows it being some type of northwest to southwest wind for weeks! Yikes. Not all bad, just opposite for what we need to kill either of the two bucks we've been seeing and you can only hunt a spot that works with those winds so many times. My guess is that the last week in October, when I'll be hunting down south, the wind will finally break and do something stupid like NE, E, or SE. I really hope that we have a cold front come in around the 29th-31st.

I'm really looking forward to hunting some different terrain than the flat swamps. Not only is it valuable education, there is significant opportunity to take a true giant of a whitetail. These deer are the beneficiaries of sound habitat and wildlife management. It sounds odd to say this, but the DNR are doing a great job in the southeast part of the state. I wish I could even imagine the same for the northwest. In the southwest the DNR farm out their tillable acres to local farmers who harvest about 1/2 of each crop and leave the rest standing. Win-Win.

So these deer are raised on beans, corn, alfalfa, acorns, clover, you name it - they've got it. It's a true buffet for whitetail deer. The herd health is better off and consequently, the genetic potential is more likely achieved. Anyway, I'm looking forward to bringing a few stands down, a camera or two, and enjoying some time with the brother in laws.

Sit # 10 - Still No Bear

I understand that I am likely missing opportunities with whitetails while trying to get this bear, but I have to trust that the risk is worth the reward. Joe and I sat again this morning with no sign of any bear. I checked the camera and we had 71 pictures in 24 hours. Same two bucks. Twigs came in at about 6:45pm in the pouring rain and stayed for about a half hour. I'm optimistic that we can get an evening sighting of one of those two bucks if the wind cooperates here in a couple weeks - before they totally disappear during the pre-rut.

After Joe and I sat, we pulled my camera that was set up just off the sunflowers and I have to say that in a month and a half and only about 75 pictures total, that was a total waste of time. I think the bucks are going to start using trails to cruise looking for does in about one week. Maybe even less. I put that camera over a big scrape over by the dump. I'm super anxious to see what The Big 8 looks like this year if he survived. He might've been a 3 year old last year and I think he would've blown up into something huge this year.

I'm going to pull my camera from my permanent stand and bring it up northwest of the bus and hopefully catch something in it's annual habit. I'd like to move the camera after a morning just in case there are deer that are using that area and I don't disturb them too much on my first time in. I'll just need a SW wind next week.
Lastly, it's hard to believe where the time has gone! We are just days away from the peak of scraping and literally three weeks from the first does coming into estrous. Crazy. We've been so busy with photography this summer and fall it seems like our time is being swallowed up. I really hope Steph can have a chance at a deer in the next couple weeks.

Sit #7, #8, & #9 - Windy Weekend

After the encounter with that big bear, I was determined to kill it. Steph wanted to hunt that spot one time before we turned it into a bait site, so I agreed and chose not to sit there Friday morning. We both sat together Friday evening, the 7th, and boy did we find some wind. The forecast said winds out of the SSE at 15-20 mph with gust up to 40 or so. Well, they were off a bit. Once we were up in the trees (some of the only trees in the entire section), we were getting nailed by the wind. It was out of the SSW and switching to SW at about 30 mph with gust of 65+. Steph kept trying to convince me that the deer wouldn't move (or bear for that matter) when what she really meant was that she wanted to climb down. I don't blame her. Those winds were nasty. I've never been in a tree that's bent so much. So we climbed down at about 6:20 or so and took off.
The next morning, I picked dad up at the cabin and we brought a bait station sign and some apples and hunkered down for a morning sit. It wasn't quite as windy, but it was still about 15 with gusts of 30 from the SW switching to W. We sat until about 9 o'clock and checked the camera.. We drove up into town and got dad's chainsaw and picked up some rolled oats and corn mix to throw out on the bait pile. We dumped bait at about 6:15pm and there were 41 pictures on the camera since we were there that same morning! We were pumped and hoped that it was the bear, but it was just a buck we call HighRise. He came in three different times during the day: 10am, 3pm, and again at 5:30pm, basically until we showed up to dump bait.

Now this bear had grain and so we figured he'd stick around a little longer each time. Mom and Dad stayed up at the cabin again and I asked dad if he'd throw out some more bait on his way home. He said sure and he checked the camera just to see how many pictures were on it and there were 103 pictures in 24 hours. Nice! Now were getting somewhere. He didn't have a memory card with, so he left the one in there.
This morning, my friend Joe and I sat there with a perfect SE wind in hopes to have that lunker of a bear come in. I poured out the rest of the buck jam and checked the camera first thing. 188 pictures (36 hour total). Joe and I got settled in and browsed the pictures. The bear came in on Saturday night at about 12:30am and stayed for about an hour. He laid down in the oats and I got a bunch of great pictures of him. Otherwise, he did not come in at all on Sunday or last night.

My hopes were high that he'd stroll through while we were sitting. Nope. Joe and I dumped some more bait. We've only got 6 more days to kill this bear. The wind direction is becoming less and less important. Hopefully he starts coming back in during the day. Why didn't I just shoot him when I had the chance? Video, video, video!
The same two bucks - HighRise and "Twiggy" (Steph named the bigger 8 point Twiggy because his legs look like twigs in comparison to his body) came in multiple times in those 36 hours.

I'm still hoping an even bigger buck comes in. The more pictures I get of Twiggy the bigger I think he is. I think he will net P&Y and possibly 130". Both are great bucks for Steph and I'd be content to shoot Twiggy, but we'll try to give Steph a crack at them first. We'll have to kill this bear first now. Joe and I are going to try it again tomorrow morning.

Sit # 6 - Close Call

With a stiff SE wind this morning, I ventured up to one of my new spots in the Lake Bottom - the same spot where the bear broke my camera. Last I knew, I had a few pictures of HighRise out of velvet on September 12th and one video of a new 8 point that I thought was also a 120" 3 year old. I took the camera down from Haglund's north of town and moved it back out to the Lake Bottom on Tuesday during my lunch hour and had no idea what was on it until after my sit this morning. I got in nice and early and hung my stand (a little too close the anticipated action) in the dark and settled in. I need to say that it is absolutely unbelievable to have overnight lows of 60 degrees on the 6th of October. So, I was very comfortable as I waiting the cracking of daylight. At about 7:30 I had a pine martin scurry behind me scent checking his way through the tall grass. Then at about 8:05 or so, as I was re-judging the two bucks size on my iPhone, I heard a loud stick break about 30 yards to the southwest of me. I turned the camera on fully anticipating one of these two bucks to stroll through and really make me think hard. All of a sudden a black blob appeared as loud as could be through the tall grass. Granted there were a lot of dead branches all over the ground, but this bear was not being his sneaky self. I got the camera on him for a short bit, but before I could reach for my bow, he sniffed enough to know there was nothing there to eat and so he turned to leave. I realized I wanted to shoot the bear and so I left the camera and reached for my bow. He slipped away through some thick nasty brush and tall grass until I couldn't see or hear any sign of him. From that 30 second encounter, I guessed him to be around 250 or so. After I got home and checked the camera and watched the little video that I got, I realize now that this bear was well over 250. I'd say closer to 325 if not more - dressed. So now I'm on a new mission. I'm going to start baiting this site and hopefully have a better outcome than I had this morning. If I can kill this bear soon, I'm pretty sure the spot will still be good for deer in the next month leading up to the rut. It's so crazy that the rut is only a month away.

So I got home and checked my memory cards and got a few more pictures of the nice high 8 and also the buck I call HighRise. It's now very obvious that HighRise is 3 years old and this other buck must be 4. His body is much bigger, his chest is deeper and his mass is very impressive. As an 8 point I think he would net about 123, which is great, but some angles he looks bigger an some angles he looks smaller. This truly would be a phenominal buck for Steph to kill. Either of these bucks would be a great trophy for her. Tall 8:

And HighRise:

I got my Bushnell Trophy Cam back from Trailcampro.com and let me tell you, the customer service was nothing short of fabulous. Thanks again, John. I set the camera up about 30 yards away from the "Shed Stand" - the stand I set up when I found that old dinosaur shed last week. it's on a heavy trail that's got an old licking branch in the frame. It should be really interesting. Only two weeks left until the cameras will get moved over scrapes. I will need to really place them selectively to optimize the results. It's a surefire way to get buck pictures, but I am always curious what's cruising on field edges at night, etc. Now the newest problem is THIEVES!

Sit # 5 - The New Piece

Steph was able to get out for her first sit of the year and we chose to test out the new property we got permission on. There had been some slight activity with just does and fawns chewing on clover, but I'm sure it'll pick up as the bucks start to cruise. It seems like a temporary holding spot for deer. It's odd that every season there is just a wicked trail cutting across the wide open to this piece. So they might winter in there. Who knows. Needless to say, we didn't see anything while sitting.
The weather has been nuts. Today is supposed to be a high of 85 degrees or more! October 5th! That's the most rediculous thing ever. Do you think the deer are going to want to move when they're busy putting on their winter coat and trying to fatten up?
It's not long now and I'll be shifting cameras to the usual fall spots and then eventually to scrapes. I did get one picture last week from September 15th that's of a decent buck, but because the flash wasn't quite smart enough to go of, it's a poor picture. Looks to me like a younger deer, but it's too hard to be sure.

Morning hunts are really the only option with temps this high. I need to draw blood.

Midwest Whitetail - Minnesota - Our Hitlist Episode!

Well we finally got our Midwest Whitetail - Minnesota - Hitlist Episode together and they used the footage, so now the pressure's on to actually knock one of these great bucks down. It will take a lot of hard work, and a lot of hours in the tree. It sure is exciting though.

Sit # 3 & #4 - Gravel Pit & Border Scrape

On Thursday afternoon, I had a couple hours and a strong north wind and so I wanted to hang a stand in the area where we found a couple sheds last spring. On my way in, I walked right into a burried shed - a pretty nice one. It must've been shed before they bush-hogged that area as there was plenty of debris on top of it and the G3 was cracked. I'm guessing it was driven over by the skidster. That was a pretty sweet find on a day when the last thing on my mind was looking for sheds. It measured 58" with a 24" mainbeam. I believe that it's my biggest shed from Minnesota Hill. Too bad the tines are so short. I got the stand hung and cleared some branches out. It's ready to hunt for one person, but it would need a bunch more branches cut to hold two people. It's in a dynamite spot for the early rut. Just need some kind of North wind.
On Friday the 30th of September I had a free morning, but once again I was plagued with a north wind in the morning. I kept trying to think outside of the box. My conclusion was a gravel pit where there has been a watering hole throughout the summer. However, to my surprise, even through all the heat and drought, the deer never really used it that much. That simply tells me they knew of other water sources. No big deal.

So I sat in the ground blind until I couldn't sit anymore - I forgot my long johns. I saw one young fox at about 75 yards. Fairly uneventful. I checked my cameras afterwards and didn't really get much for pictures. The camera that is north of Pete's hadn't been checked for 25 days and my hopes were high. I got one buck, but the picture was a dark blue tint to it, which only happens in a  small window of time when the camera doesn't think it needs to flash yet. I wish it would have. The buck is deceiving. His body looks long, but his rack looks thin. It's not Scabby 9. But it could by the Wide Heavy 8. He has a G4 on his left side, making him a 9. Hopefully he stops by again when the camera is ready to flash. The biggest upset of the day came as I checked the last of the cameras - my brand new Bushnell Trophy Cam HD XLT. It was hanging upside down and I immediately knew that a bear had gotten a hold of it. I first thought, that'll make a sweet video. So I wasn't too upset, assuming the camera was working fine. I got over to the camera and turned it off and exchanged memory cards and when I went to turn it back on, nothing. Dead. He must've smacked it hard enough that before it could write his video to the card, it just stopped working. There are claw marks all over it. I'm guessing he grabbed it with both hands. Anyway, right before that last video, I got a video of a decent 3 year old buck that I think is very huntable. He strolled through at 8:30 on Wednesday morning and hopefully he comes back.

Friday night was the family service for Stephanie's Grandma Lily Stoskopf. Saturday morning was the funeral and both were very well done and extremely well attended. Steph's brother Donny had another day in town so he and I loaded up our stuff and went for an evening bowhunt. We sat up near the border in the Refuge by a community scrape.

It took us a while to pick our spot and once we were settled in it looked really good. After we filmed an interview segment I was messing around with the camera and Donny goes, "Over here." He heard some steps and by the time I heard what he was listening to, the deer was racing right towards us. It flew under the tree and stopped at about 15 yards. It was a nice mature doe and so I tried to get the camera back in the mount and swing it over to Donny. By the time he was ready and began slowly reaching for my bow, she took off at a dead sprint again. She never blew. She never flagged her tail. She was acting very odd. There was a fresh timberwolf track on the border that she may have crossed, but her behavior did not fit the scene. That was pretty much the end of our hunt that evening, but it was really good to get out and it makes me look forward to hunting down in Redwing/Rochester area at the end of this month. Between Donny, Scot (Steph's oldest brother), and myself, we should be able to see, kill, and hopefully video something big.