Minnesota Rifle Season

My season is cut severly short by me taking a trip to Wetaskiwin, Alberta in pursuit of a "real" buck. Never-the-less, I thought it would be beneficial to log my hours in the field for 2008.

Opening Day: Steph and I sat on top of the hill in the groundblind in hopes of seeing a doe in heat or one of the bucks for her to shoot. We sat uncomfortably until about 9:30 and headed back to the cabin. Steph sat tight and warmed up and I ventured out to my ladder stand from about 10:30 to 12:30 without seeing a deer. There was a few fresh rubs, a wolf-kill, and a couple of fresh tracks. It snowed friday. I made a loop around the strips, brought steve out to my stand, put out some molassess, moved the trail camera, put out some buck jam in the shack field, and switched the memory card in mom and dad's Cuddeback. Steph and I went back to the groundblind and sat until dark. Zero deer for opening day. Mom saw a few does and fawns and a spike, dad saw a few deer too. Steve saw nothing during his one day season.

Sunday, Nov 9: Church in the morning and then rehearsal with Bob and it was back out to the woods. We sat at the 90 back in the cedars northwest of the landing. There was a few scrapes made the week before on the south trail, but not a peep. Zero deer for day two.

Monday, Nov 10: I grabbed my groundblind and headed to the refuge. Steph walked down to the shack with dad going to his stand. After getting set up in a completely unscouted place, I rattled and grunted once at about five minutes to seven, I saw a deer crossing the canada pasture from east to west. Looked to be a doe. After her I saw a second deer that was obviously a buck. He looked pretty good. 120s-130s? He was pretty heavy and narrow. I didn't want to shoot him in Canada, so I waited to see if he'd cross the border strip. I held my scope on the strip waiting and he didn't cross when I expected him to so I looked out of my scope. I heard a loud skid and crash through the ice. Then he started blowing. I don't know if it was another deer that was blowing or if it was him. Regardless, I should've stepped out of the ground blind for the shot. I was sitting too low. The cattails were too tall and I missed my chance. Crap. I saw one doe behind me before this and then I eventually saw another doe by itself go from south to north. Then I went back to the hill and went down to get Steph out of the shack. We both went back and sat on the border in the refuge in hopes to see another buck. We did see one deer (doe) cross really quickly. We could barely see it the grass was so high.

Tuesday, Nov 11: I don't know why I had my mind so fixated on hunting that same border spot. I guess nobody was seeing many deer at all at the hill, so I wanted to find a spot that I didn't think other people would be hunting at the refuge. Anyway, I sat and saw one little buck and again, he crossed so fast, I don't think I would've been able to take a shot if I wanted to. I packed it all up and came back to the hill for a bite to eat and then I went out to my ladder. I sat from 12:30pm until dark. It was about 4 and half hours of nothing and then finally I heard a crunch over my left shoulder. I knew that I would need to stand up in order to take a shot. As I stood up I thought I spooked her cause she took off running a few more steps. I thought I blew it. Then she stopped and I heard more footsteps from the same direction and then a loud grunt. This quickly painted the picture of what was going on. Buck chasing doe. Perfect. I got my gun up immediately. I saw the doe jump through the tiniest opening, so I put my gun on the branch and tried to get the opening in my scope. I waited patiently, safety off and finger on the trigger. I wasn't going to mess this up again. The buck took a couple steps and stopped what must have been just shy of the opening. I took my eye out of the scope to look what was going on, and I saw the dirty bugger scurry across the opening. I missed my shot so I grabbed my grunt call and let 'em have it. Nothing. I was so ready for the steps to turn and come in my direction. Instead there was a sound coming from the place I first heard the deer. Coming around some brush and skirting me, I lost him. Finally, I hear a twig snap right in front of me coming close. Stopped behind a tree, I thought to myself that this was it, this was the same big buck. Nope. He moved and revealed his two year old head. 7, 8, 9, I dont know how many points he had, but he was not the buck I hoped for. So I tried to relax and take in the show. The hot doe was long gone, but this buck didn't care. He was stupid. I grunted as loud as I could at him at 15 yards, he froze and didn't move until I snort-wheezed at him. Entertaining at least.

Now, it's off to Albert - the land of giants. My hopes are through the roof. Stay tuned, I'll write in a week or less.

The Pre-Rifle Season

Well, Steph and I sat last night in the same tree I killed my buck last year. With hardly any light left we heard grunting and a few deer milling around. I grunted back at him and eventually he turned and came towards us. I could only see a silhouette it was so dark. He stopped at about 40 yards and would not come any closer. He started making a scrape and raking a branch overhead. It was pretty frustrating to be able to hear that and not even see the buck. The real bummer is that Rifle Season opens in four days and there's no chance to get back in there and hunt before the chaos unfolds. Oh well. I guess we'll have to wait.

As far as patterning deer, the day after my last post, I checked my one trail camera I put over a scrape and got some immediate results. Seven different bucks were using it. We found the scrape on the 4th of October (six days after the new moon) and at that point, it was already fairly well used. The majority of the pictures went until the 10th or so (almost two weeks after the new moon). Then there was a big lull in getting photos. The nights of the 27th, 28th, and 29th brought two of the three bigger bucks around again. The October new moon was also the 28th, so that could have something to do with it, but the other bucks did not come back through the 3rd of November when I took the camera down. I need to spend Monday over there walking and scouting for the newest sign.

Bucks were out last night nudging the does around in the fields, which means there are a few about to come into heat. The first bucks I saw nudging does was on the night of the 27th and the morning of the 28th. Both were young bucks, but it was promising that we were about two weeks away. Now, one week away in most places. November 11th is usually the peak by our hunting land, but more like the 13-16 at the refuge.

I've only seen a couple new rubs as most are made in pursuit of does not ready to be bred yet. So Im guessing they're making some right now, but this next week will be the beginning of a lot.

I need to piece together some the bucks at the hill. their range seems so irratic.

Rifle Season is at our doorstep. I'm anticpating a lot of young buck activity, but I think I can change that.

October's Palette

I've been out a few times in the last four weeks. For the life of me, I have not been able to pattern these deer when compared to last year. The only real differences between this year and last are an abundant soybean crop nearby and no frost in September. As far as dates line up, the moon phases from last year to this year are all backwards. So I have to figure if things are two weeks ahead of schedule or two weeks late. I'm leaning towards late.

I've tried moving a few cameras around but still haven't had that much luck. I brought my Wildview up to the hill to check on a buck I had seen from the road. So I've really only got two cameras functioning in the search. I think the strategy for the time being is to locate rubs and scrapes and try and monitor them. I've neglected parts of the refuge that make me really curious now because its likely that the bucks have picked up on the fact that they remain undisturbed areas.

I've got a few hunches to the west, a few to the north, and still a few more to the far northeast. The bucks have started making scrapes, but I'm doubtful that they are anything more than territorial. Unless, of course, I believe that the 'October Rut' holds any validity. If I buy into this, it would suggest that only the best of the best of the most healthy does are able to be bred in October (or that they enter their estrous a month early). If I believe this to be true, then that would mean a few things: there would be fierce competition for mating rights for these few does (or none at all - depending on how you look at it). The bucks should still be in bachelor groups, unless the best of the best of the dominant bucks split off from the group because they know there'll be no competition for those few does. Bottom line is I need to find the bachelor groups.

Go west young man.

Opening Weekend

Well, saturday morning came faster than I could expect. Stephanie got first dibs to hunt a spot I had a really good feeling about. I was with to film and for some light encouragement. We got settled in just before light and at about 15 minutes to 8, we had a doe and two fawns come right beneath us. While I was filming them, Steph was trying to get my attention. Finally, I looked down, mostly wondering why she was moving around so much, and she looked at me and said, "Buck!" So I turned around and could see a deer's body. His coat was fully gray, but I couldn't see his head yet. I was hoping for something huge, but nope. It was a young little 8 point. Steph said that there was a second buck with it, but I never did get a chance to see it. I only got a bit of footage of the buck, because I was trying to lean over to talk to her. She's right, our stands should be closer together. I adjusted them later. But overall, it was a great opening morning and Steph's first bowhunt was a success, without even shooting.

That evening we sat in the rain in my groundblind hoping to get a crack at a buck making his way down to the bean field to the southeast. Didn't see a thing.

Monday morning was my birthday and so I wanted to hunt, obviously. We went back to the same spot that we sat opening morning and didn't see a deer. Maybe Steph needs to be hunting in order to see something. Well, maybe we'll shoot one Thursday morning. We've got plenty of decent bucks to hunt, it's just a matter of getting in the right spot at the right time.

My First Bear

A week ago today, I shot my first bear. Well, actually, my second bear, but the first that I found. The friday before (September 5th) I shot at a small chocolate bear and we tracked him for over 1000 yards before he bedded up and quit bleeding. We filmed both hunts and were able to watch the shot placement over and over. I think I only got one lung on the first bear. So, although I was dissapointed, I got back out in the woods and we had another decent bear come into the bait station. this one we guessed at 250, but he had a nice white V on his chest, so I elected to take a shot. A little further back and a few inches higher was my shot this time. He only ran about 50-60 yards and started his death cry. I was thinking, maybe he's growling cause he's ticked and he's gonna come out of the brush and head right for us. But that was it for Mr. Bear. Over all, it was a really exciting hunt. We're going to head out there today and try to get my friend Benji a big bear. So maybe I'll be writing again.

18 Days

I have been busy this summer. Sadly, I've become completely neglegent of this blog thing. But, since bow season opens very soon, I imagine I will have more significant things to write. Steph and I have been out a few times throughout the summer, checking trail cameras and just going for drives some evenings. We've laid eyes on a few good bucks..."Perfect 10", "Crabs", and "Hanger" just to name a few. It's so funny to name deer. It seems cheesey and I'm still not all too comfortable with the idea, but it does make for easier communication. Anyway, I've picked up two Cuddeback Captures this summer and for a few days now, have had three cameras of my own and one other of my parents' getting pictures. About a week ago, a bear put his paw on my Wildview camera and dented the clear plastic lens cover. So that camera's on its last leg. I've gotten two bucks on camera that will be over Pope & Young, but otherwise, not much yet. Hopefully as the cooler weather continues in the night time, more bucks will be up on their feet.

Last year on the 28th of August, I saw a bachelor group that had two bucks completely out of velvet and had their grey coats, while the other three (including the biggest one) still were in full velvet, with their red summer coats. It was odd to say the least. So that's just around the corner.

I got a call today from the DNR asking if I wanted to be put on a short list of hunters to hunt a 'nuisance bear'. I said yes, and so if the landowner calls me, I have a chance to take a bear the easy way. It'd still be fun, I think. I'd just have to get it on video. I'll write more and more as days grow closer to fall.

Independence Day

It's been quite a while since I've written a blog. Partly because summer's been more about fishing (and I'm not sure if that needs its own blog - in which case I'll have to just wait), and partly because it's just been checking one trail camera and setting out a few more... we'll call them mineral stations. So far, I've put out a 25 lb bag of antler king mineral salt, three trophy rocks, a 25 lb protein block, lots of molasses, and a couple jugs of deer cocaine.
I've only been watching one trail camera this entire winter, which has shown lots of different bucks. Finally, on thursday I was able to get to the refuge and hang up another camera overlooking a molasses stump/trophy rock.
There have been two times where I've went to check the first camera and the rock has been out of place or off the stump. Just this last time, the trough-like log was rolled all the way over. I only got one picture of the bear. The camera has been set on a video mode that I think I'll take off next time I go out. I think what happens is the camera takes a video, and after the video, it takes a photo. The videos have been set on 25 seconds, then I think it has to wait one minute to reset, then it takes the photo, then it needs one more minute to reset. When you watch the videos, it's evident just how much can take place in 25 seconds, let alone 1 minute. So needless to say, it's easy to miss stuff.
The new Cuddeback Captures are on backorder due to a 'delay in manufacturing', so I cant get my hands on one just yet, but I hope to have two more camera's up and running by the end of summer. Stay tuned.