Daughter went to a WI hunter safety orientation class just yesterday and is looking forward to her first gun deer season. Me, I'm trying to get a couple NDT scout sight mods to work on my K31 and 91/30...old eyes and irons not cutting it anymore :-(

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Carl Matson

I'll be heading into the mountains on opening day for caribou - gotta fill the freezer!

A week later a buddy and I are flying into the Brooks to look for sheep.

I got a lot to do to get ready. Have to reload some ammo - thought I'd done so, but it turns out that Barnes TSX and TTSX loads are not the same (despite what Barnes says on their website). I couldn't get TSXs and loaded up TTSXs instead - a quick trick to the range revealed that they are wicked hot: bulged primers and I could barely lift the bolt handle. So now I have to pull 48 bullets and come up with Plan B.

Good luck out there!

Wow, I really kept thinking, eh its summer, I got plenty of time and don't think about it much. Seeing this post I'm now thinking, Its August! I better start getting my head around and things in order.

I only shotgun hunt in November, but I always need to find land to hunt on, so I need to confirm I can go on the same property again or find new land.

My wife will be on her first deer hunt this year. We go to western MN which is shotgun slug.

Need to plan our South Dakota rooster hunt, will either schedule it so we can hit some open water walleye or ice fish late in the season.

I bought a 30# recurve to see if could hit anything and was thinking about getting a 50# and try for a deer with that. Too late for me to experiment with that so I will focus on ruffed grouse when the full hunting party is occupied.

I am tired of the summer heat and looking forward to cold nights, already hatching plans for ice fishing...

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How is everyone's seasons going?

My season starts in about 10 days. Rain/snow mix in the forecast. I'm really excited but:

1) I had to move my blind to a different spot from last year, more people on the hunting land. I actually think this will be a better spot, but time will tell.
2) I have not shot my shotgun (slug) since I killed a deer last year, hope it still sighted in and I'm just as accurate. I'll take it out this weekend.

I've got two trips to the grouse woods and have 2 grouse to show for 20 miles of walking.

Have made a couple trips ducking hunting with moderate success, haven't had a good day where they work the decoys like you want them to. I did shoot a really good looking gadwall, and hoping to get out this saturday too.

Where are you out of Andy? We hunt deer around Morris on public land. It can be either chaos or not bad at all. Sounds like the rut activity is starting to pick up.

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Bird numbers are way down in SD. I skipped opening day...first time in 30 years and will be trying this weekend. Deer looks to be good with strong numbers.
The dog is in a depressive state without hunting yet.

I haven't stepped foot in a pheasant field this year. We are skipping SD, my step dad is going to hunt Iowa this year. I have had fun chasing grouse for the first time.

I will hopefully get out for some late season roosters, never shot one in January...

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Snow for Big Cocks is a game changer.

I love chasing them in snow, that first 3" snow fall makes them stupid...

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I thought pronghorn was one of those easily spooked deer that have great vision that lived in the open plains. How do you manage to get one with a bow?

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

SE part of the state. We got CWD management in the area, so it might be a game changer over the next few years.

Game changer I see what you did there.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Ha! Without even realizing it!

Just got back from Idaho. Not hunting this year but got to listen to a game warden on a local radio show as I drove across on the 84. F&G reporting good numbers in Idaho this year. The Warden said the deer survived the tough winter quite well and the harvest looks very good. Was interesting to hear the Warden talking some smack about the wolves though. He said the re-introduction is having a very negative affect on the elk herd in the Trinities. His exact words were "We need to rethink the whole wolf re-introduction program."

Will be a Idaho resident next year and can't wait to hunt once again. Finally!

Started September with 4 moose (there were four of us) which always makes for “fun packing”. Just recently took a buddy out to get a Grizz (he had never hunted anything before but REALLY wanted a Grizz...so, I got him one). Now the snow is flying and I’ll wait a bit to head out after some caribou and set some traps.

Got a nice doe this past weekend.

First day of the season I see a nice buck in the distance, but not enough light to count antlers (4pt on one side rule). Two hours later, I'm shuffling through my backpack for a sandwich I see a doe 50 yards looking at me. Didn't get a shot off...stupid me. Then I saw nothing for the next 3 days sitting in 15 degree weather, I was ready to give up.

Finally Saturday I move to the north side of my hunting field because of the wind change. One hour in I see a doe 20 yards behind me (up wind). Thing almost walked into me. I shot her at about 10 yards bottom of the neck just before the front leg, she bolted for about 1/3 of a mile and died in a ditch. Took me 45 minutes to find her, then I had to call another hunter to help me haul her over the ridge back to my car.

Was fun and a good learning experience: Wait a bit till you go try to find them!!

Well, I didn't get one with the bow. Stalked into range though, at about 44 yards and was about to launch some carbon when the critter somehow figured me out and that was all she wrote. Spot and stalk pronghorn hunting is not for those who give up easily.

I did get one with the rifle, about 2 minutes after my mom shot her first big game animal. Anchored the biggest buck in the group with one shot. The herd was still hanging around a couple of minutes later so I took her gun and got mine.

Just got done cutting up a nice sandhills (Nebraska) mule deer taken with the bow, spot and stalk. That was a great trip. Will do that again next year.

So, for 17 I have 2 bow kills, bull elk and mule deer buck, and one rifle kill, pronghorn buck. I still have an elk cow tag that I may try to fill this weekend with the rifle but hunting season is definitely winding down.

I don't hunt but live right in the rural heart of the deer hunting area and you guys have no idea how much I fucking hate you during the first two weeks of November. I live near a conservation area where no hunting is allowed. I run or mountain bike with my dog on the trails and make a point for us both to wear orange for these two weeks. One year I was on the trail and came across three hunters who weren't supposed to be there. I politely explained they were not allowed to hunt in this area and the one asshole responded "what are you going to do about it". I was almost ready to fight the guy but with three guys with rifles I diplomatically backed away once again trying to explain it is a conservation area. And then there are the other assholes that come to the border of the conservation area and send their dogs in the flush the deer out. I don't get the hunting thing unless you're actually going to eat what you kill or for conservation purposes. I knew a guy in a hunting party that shot five deer tags and none of them eat veal. WTF? Just the "thrill" of killing a defenseless animal. How manly. I also don't get the "male bonding" thing of being shacked up in a cabin with a bunch of guys farting, snoring and drinking all week. One year we locally had five guys die - two shot by other hunters, two heart attacks and another lost in the woods and died of exposure.

Hunting is not my thing. I don't get it or have any interest but all I want to say is be responsible. You have a lot of assholes in your ranks.

What does eating baby cattle have to do with hunting deer?

In the free world of the United states it is illegal to hunt dear and leave the meet. Is that not a law up North? Or are you just uninformed anti hunter bashing.

BTW when you ride that mountain bike with your dogs, do you keep them on leash and pick up their poo? If not you are causing more harm to the environment than probably any other user. Off-leash dogs cause the most habitat problems for parks.

Yup, assholes can be found anywhere and I think it's a higher concentration in the hunting ranks. I'll agree with that. But I wouldn't lump all hunters in that group because of the experiences you've had. We (my family) are very dependent on the meat, and it is D-LISH!

Hunting isn't for everyone. Different strokes for different folks.

More than in Triathlon?

Nothing on bow so far for us either (though only the kids have tags). We'll miss opening day of gun season this weekend for a funeral, but spirits are generally high. Finally got the tree stand fully strapped up and ready a couple days ago. Didn't want to leave it that late, but life got in the way.

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Carl Matson

You might be pleased to know that most hunters despise poachers and meat wasters as much as you do. Lumping hunters into one group is no different than lumping all cyclists together because there are some who ignore the rules of the road.

"What does eating baby cattle have to do with hunting deer?


Uh, maybe you might tell me?

BTW when you ride that mountain bike with your dogs, do you keep them on leash and pick up their poo? If not you are causing more harm to the environment than probably any other user.


What an idiotic statement. Who picks up the wild animal scat? Next time think before you post.

I don't lump all hunters into that group and if any one read my OP they'd agree. If you eat what you kill then its ok imho. We eat very little meat and could can easily live without it and still get the same the nourishment requirements. But that's our personal; food choice. I just don't get the "manly men" who just kill animals because they can.

I think the majority of hunters are responsible citizens and obey the rules even if I don't get it, but living where I do I've seen a lot of assholes. But there are assholes in everything, cycling and triathlon included. Can't argue your point.

so a pretty cool thread by a guy who does it about as old school as you can do it and still ethically hunt.

A hunting thread for those interested in hunting.

But you just could NOT resist the temptation to flap on in and shit on the thread.

What a piece of shit you are

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Steve

Veal is baby cattle not deer meat. You said they don't eat veal.

If you knew anything about land management, park, management, trail maintenance, leave no trace, then you know dogs off leash are a huge problem for parks and their wildlife. wake up dogs are not natural for wild lands or even county parks. your dogs off leash disrupt the normal habitat. Their scat does the same long after you are gone. Educate yourself. Pack out your dog crap, and leash those beasts, or be ignorant of your damage.

It's regular rifle season here in GA but I'm still trying to get my first deer with my muzzle loader--and i will keep at it till i do

It would be super cool if you could post some pics of your hunting area in ID/WY/MT. I love that area for trout fishing and adventure moto riding.

take good care
/r

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Steve

Fuck off Steve. You're way over reacting.

We found our share birds and some heavy winds. My dog did well and shot limit both days. I don't think I could ever move out of the state because the hunting is so good

Well maybe patf will insist that you go into the swamp to pick up his poop. :-) LOL!!

I've always owned retrievers. They're great for birds. That's what they do.

You're obviously too ignorant or lazy to learn or you would have done a few searches and saw how wrong you are. For those that do care about the wild lands, wildlife, and local parks carry out your dog poop, or if backpacking bury it just like human waste in 6-8in deep cat holes.

https://lnt.org/...s-dog-poop-explained

https://www.pcta.org/...country-basics/dogs/

Well, you're not pulling any punches, are you? And I have to agree, to a point - as a group we hunters are our own worst enemy.

But let's address a few things first: if some assholes were hunting in a conservation area, you should figure out where they parked, get their plate numbers, and TURN THEM IN. And if hunters are sending their dogs in to flush the deer? I don't know about Canada, but in the US that's not legal anywhere that I know of. So TURN THEM IN. The guys shooting five deer are required to salvage the meat - if they aren't doing so, TURN THEM IN. Some of what you're describing is illegal and the ethical hunters (yes, we do exist) will thank you for any help in enforcing existing laws.

For me, and the guys and gals I hunt with, it's about spending quality time in the outdoors, and providing clean, healthy meat for our families. And nobody I hunt with gets a thrill out of killing; in fact I dislike the killing immensely. But it's a necessary evil if you want to put meat in the freezer.

I'm embarrassed by some of my friends who ride road bikes in a way that is inconsiderate of other road users. And I'm amazed at the number of asshole drivers that I have to share the road with. But those asshole cyclists and drivers, fortunately, are a fraction of the total numbers of cyclists and motorists. Similary, I'm appalled by the behavior of some of my fellow hunters. And unfortunately, their behavior is highly visible and leads the public to conclude that we're all assholes. But I'd like you to consider that there are a lot of us ethical hunters out here that you never see, because we do our hunting quietly, efficiently, and with consideration for other users of the outdoors.

And as far as the farting and snoring thing goes, I assure you it is has nothing to do with "male bonding" - the chicks keep up surprisingly well in that department!

You truly are clueless. There are a lot of women that hunt. This is at least the second post in this thread where you expressed that hunters are doing it because they want to be manly. The OP told a great story about his Mom getting her first. Do you think she was trying to be manly?

classless asshole and troll

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Steve

Wow, those tags in Montana would cost a fortune. Especially elk.

Good luck

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Jim
"In dog beers, I've only had one"
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Congrats to your mom! That is so cool. I can't believe you're bow hunting pronghorn with a bow. Kudos for even getting into range. Never hunted them, but from what I've read it's really hard sometimes even with a rifle.

Pretty impressive success at your age, bravo. I also bowhunt, but haven't been able to get a deer from the ground yet. If you don't mind, if you've written up that stalk on the mulie, I'd love to hear it. Or even a Reader's Digest version.

Do you do any bow hunting with traditional equipment? That's my favorite. I've still got my bows, just haven't had the time in a few years.

ETA: Please add a pic if you'd like. The troll will love it.

Agreed with others, your an idiot. You see people breaking the law, call your local DNR conservation officer. Their job is to find guys like that. Three in a row, hell the officer would love that!

Issue is your seeing people on public land, chances are they got kicked off private land. Not saying all are bad, but probably more bad apples than normal.

I personally do not like trophy hunters, they arnt manly men. For me its ethical organic meat. In fact my state is seeing record numbers of women hunting.

Oh and veal is baby cow. Venison is deer.if you had the polish sausage that my butchershop turns my venison into, you would eat a lot more meat...yum!!

My wife bought her first Minnesota deer tag this year, sadly it went unfilled, as did my tag.

The land owners in the area we hunt did some serious road hunting and it was pretty frustrating. So much so the local CO chatted with my wife and I for maybe 2 minutes before telling us he was gunna get these "damn guys running and gunning."

Thinking about giving a muzzle loader a try, and it is time to get the ice fishing gear out.

I will add to the sentiment, that if you encounter illegal or unethical hunting you should contact your local game authority. Here in Minnesota we have an anonymous "TIP" line (turn in poachers).

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First year bow-hunting and it's such a different animal than rifle. I could have gotten a buck and two does if I'd had my rifle, but I made a conscious decision that it would be bow-only that trip.

Lot's of great viewing of animals and learned a lot for the next trip. Someone on the same trip offered his feeder, but even though I've got no ethical problem with it, to me, it's not hunting - it's harvesting.

Perhaps next time, I'll take advantage of the feeder to get some venison, but I want my first one to be something I've outsmarted.

Good luck everyone.

Was hoping to get another hunt in this season but don't think it is going to happen at this point. Went out for archery elk back in September and came away empty-handed. I need to do a LOT more conditioning to be able to keep going in-state as the animals are few and far between and the number of hunters is pretty high these days. Didn't see or hear anything except bear sign, no bugles no scrapes no nothing! Did come across about 5 different camps of hunters, one set up smack in the middle of a meadow surrounded by cover that *used* to be a game trail highway - maybe I'm the one that doesn't know the animals though considering my success. Grrr, that is why it is called hunting not shooting though.

FWIW, I don't take Cerveloguy's comments personally. It's simple ignorance, and I say that in the non judgemental way. I have only been hunting for 4 years, and I'm 40 so I came into it at a different angle. People often have very strong opinions about hunting but very little understanding. The emotions involved in killing are understandable so I try to explain more than judge when confronted by anti-hunters (not that I believe that's what Cerveloguy was doing).

What Cerveloguy ran into was poachers, not hunters. It's likely hard to tell the difference when it all looks the same from the outside. We (hunters) are required to have a license, or "tag" for every animal killed. You pay for each one, sometimes up to hundreds or thousands of dollars. When you kill something, you notch your tag (litterally cut notches in it so it can't be "erased") and attach it to the animal before leaving the kill site. That tag has to stay attached, along with several other regulations. The meat processor needs to write down info from it, there may be game and fish check stations that check it, obviously game wardens can check, etc. It's a really big deal. Even though I am very conscientious of the process, I still get nervous that I'm going to do some part of it wrong. So far so good...

If you saw someone killing just to kill, and left the animal, then you saw poaching and it absolutely should be reported to authorities. At least here, we are REQUIRED to take the meat, at least all 4 quarters, backstraps, and tenderloins.

Trophy Hunting is something that is very different from what it is believed to be. Trophy hunters are still subject to all regulations above, including taking the meat from the animal, at least in the US they are. The difference is that they are much more selective about which animal they might be looking to kill, usually because it's an older or more mature animal with bigger antlers. They also tend to be the smarter and much more challenging animals to hunt as they've been around longer and they're really good at not dying, by humans or the various other ways to die as a wild animal. Trophy hunting, when a person understand it, is actually very good for conservation and good for the herds of animals. Trophy hunters understand that by being selective, it's much more likely that they won't kill anything and will simply have paid for the right to chase/hunt, rather than obtaining anything tangible. Trophy hunting is not simply killing and taking trophies/heads while leaving everything to rot... That would be poaching, and specifically illegal.

Meat hunting tends to be very much less selective about which animal to take. So the young and dumb tend to be killed in that case (my bull elk this year would qualify).

I really do not like rifle hunting. There's no question that it's the most efficient, and likely most ethical way to kill a game animal, but for me there are too many people, and it's too competitive, and it tends to attract the lazier hunter (not that all rifle hunters are lazy). I prefer to hunt backpack style in wilderness areas when possible. I rarely see other hunters, or humans actually, and prefer it that way. I'm willing to walk quite a ways with camp on my back in order to obtain this experience. Last year I had to carry a good size bull elk 6 miles (cut up and carried over 5 trips, 4 quarters plus head/antlers) averaging about 80 lbs in my pack. It's far from the beer drinking 4 wheeler hunting experience, which I sort of am a snob about I guess.

I struck out hunting elk with the bow for my first two years. Keep after it. If you really work at it, you learn so much more failing with a bow than succeeding with a rifle.

The Mule deer stalk was just a matter of timing. When in the rut, the deer are more visible, but the big bucks have lots of does with them. This particular buck had about 16 does, plus a couple of smaller bucks with him. That's a lot of eyes. With a rifle, it would have been a simple shot, and he was a hell of a deer. Probably approaching the magical 200" mule deer.

Where I was hunting there are absolutely zero trees, just grass and the terrain, which is very pocketed (not sure how else to describe it). You can use the little hills and cuts as cover but they also use them for safety in how they position themselves in relation to the wind. The deer will nearly always lay near the top of a hill with the wind at their back. They monitor everything upwind (behind them) with their nose, and use their vision to monitor everything else.

I was able to work around and at about 100 yards, the crawling began. My boots were making too much noise rubbing against the grass so I took them off. Then my pants were making too much noise so I rolled them up around my knees and kept crawling. I'd always mocked people for doing these dumb ass things when I read about them but as focused and intense as I was on getting into range, it seemed perfectly logical and necessary at the time. I was using gusts of wind and even an overhead passing jet as noise cover to hide my movements. It's amazing how acutely tuned you can be when trying to get close to a critter that avoids much better hunters than me (natural predators) for a liviing.

I tried 3 or 4 different approach routes, but nothing would get me close enough and had to keep crawling backwards and forwards. My final route took me within the circumference of the herd. I was between the big buck with his many does, all arranged on different aspects of the hill, and a smaller buck and doe that were in a pocket below me. I thought about nicknaming this buck "Bin Laden" as he was so well protected by the herd, but then I remember that I really hate when people give deer human names.

Finally, without boots and looking like an idiot, I got to 70 yards which is my max range. At this point, a spike walked by me and his gaze got the whole group up and moving. Even in the failure, it was probably the most exciting hour and a half of my hunting "career".

It took a while to find my boots...

Great story on the mule deer stalk. My most memorable turkey hunts are the ones where I didn't get the turkey but spent a lot of time trying to close the deal.

I haven't hunted in about 10 years, but I would rather chase a gobbling turkey for 2 hours without getting a shot than to kill one in a 3 minute hunt. It is the experience that is so memorable.

I guess that answers my question.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Can you go 2nd season? It starts Saturday. Not sure on the rules. Also might not be a bad idea to buy a cheap muzzle loader and try that season.

Thinking about getting a muzzle loader, we are a 200A zone, so it closed last sunday. Never had a chance at a deer closer than 100 yards, and all of them running...

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We finished on Sunday... 2 moose in 2 minutes. Loading the moose turned into an episode, we couldn't find a good ditch close by and my tailgate is stuck on it's hinge so it didn't come off. Ended up 1/4'ing the larger of the 2 and then used 2 come-alongs (hand winches to you city folk) to load it. 3 hours of f'ing around to get 'em in the truck. Now we have the rest of the week off so we're going to bum around the house maybe slide up to Edmonton for a day and pick up some sausage making supplies from Halfords.

I heard it was a crummy season from multiple people. As I said, I almost gave up on Friday. We still have a lot of corn in which doesn't help.On the bright side, no positive CWD tests!!

 
Both CWD and the physical workload of harvesting 2 moose are terrifying thoughts.

Another elk down this weekend, this one cow/calf, purely a meat hunt. As much as they frustrate me, elk are special. They are frustrating to hunt (finding them), whether hunting horns or just meat, and always give a good challenge. I am officially done for 2017 hunting (ok, at least big game). Lots of processing to do and we will be eating lean organic protein for the year.

Nice. I have spent a total of about 3 hours sitting in my tree stand in my back yard this season. Work and other crap keep interfering. I am also at 7.5 months of waiting for my PAL to be renewed so that I am actually legal when I go out.

I have had my camera set up by my stand most of the season. There have been lots of white tail does and cow elk, the only antlers have been very little spikes. In my area right now, all deer have to be 4 points, and elk are 6 point, so nothing shootable yet anyway. December 1 it switches to any white tail, but archery only. If I can find the time, I am allowed one buck (no point requirement) and one doe.

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Starting from scratch...

Spent a few hours over the weekend hunting with my friend. He has a few tree stands set up in the trees part way up the mountain behind his house, about a five minute walk. Friday afternoon, saw a little spike whitey. I could hear another one in the trees to my right, so I didn't shoot hoping a bigger one would come in. No luck. Saturday afternoon, nothing but squirrels. Sunday, we changed to a morning hunt instead of afternoon. Light rain, nothing was moving. We could hear shotguns down in the valley having their way with the geese, but didn't even hear any rifle shots. After a couple hours, my friend was getting bored so decided to rattle a bit. Less than 2 minutes later, a big-bodied 4x4 came walking in, looking for a fight. He lost. Single shot (by my friend), took out both lungs and the heart. Only made it about 20 yards. Rough estimate, 200 lbs pre-gutting, I get half.

I still have 4 days left to get a buck with my rifle, and then 20 days of any whitetail with my bow, and still have two tags to fill.

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Starting from scratch...

Looks like my hunting season is over, hoping to get one trip out for roosters around new years but we will see if that happens.

I bought a used muzzle loader online for $85, came with some bullets, powder a case and some breech plug grease. A couple nights after buying it I was giving it a good once over and found the set screw for the rear site was stripped. I ended up adding a scope to it as I could not find a replacement rear site. This is the first year scopes are legal in MN for ML season, the thing shoots really nice and has a good loud boom.

Any how, I got out for opening day and proved my incompetence with a rifle and how much holder over is needed. I couldn't make it out for the second weekend but I did take the last thursday and Friday of the season off to fill my tags. We didn't get anything during the regular firearms season, and I didn't do any hunting the year before so we were all out of deer meat.

I chose to hunt a state forest that has no motor vehicle access and is in a "managed" deer zone so I had one any deer tag and one antler-less tag. On Thursday I hiked out 3 miles to where I wanted to sit for the morning, on the way out in the dark I followed a lot of coyote tracks. These eventually gave way to some wolf tracks, which had to be pretty fresh as the snow fell on Monday. I sat for a bit Thursday morning and didn't see a thing. I figured the wolves probably had the deer on edge so I did some walking and exploring. I found a nice older stand that I sat in for a bit. Shortly there after, I had the opportunity to learn that the holdover @ 75 yards is not the same for a muzzle loader as it is for a shot gun slug.

Friday I headed back out to the same stand, but elected to start walking at sun rise, something about the fresh wolf tracks weighed heavily on my mind. I slowly worked my way out to the stand. After about an hour I had a yearling come running down the draw to my right. Then noticed momma was down in the aspens below me. They walked in and I shot the doe at 15 to 20 yards. The yearling ran off to where I had missed the day before. I reloaded the muzzy, texted a coworker confirming I could have 2 antler-less deer on my tags, the yearling still stood there, and soon it laid there.

That was when the work really began, I was 3.5 miles from my car and spent the next 6 hours getting my deer out of the woods. All that work for a doe and a button buck, but I got my deer meat and a full freezer.

WRT muzzle loaders, I am shooting 100 grains of triple 7 pellets pushing 290 grain Federal Bor-Lok copper solids. What a lethal combo, after shooting 2 deer and having them drop in their tracks all I can think is how unethical the slug hunting we do is. We found one of the bullets while butchering and it looks just like the promo photos of a perfectly petaled bullet.

Now it is time for ice fishing.

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Bringing this back up to the fore.

Minnesota bear season starts Saturday and I know many other states have seasons started or getting under way in September.

Who's got big hunts planned?

This year will be my first attempt at a black bear, after 2 weekends of dragging bait 2.5 miles back into the woods, I am questioning my decision making matrix.

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Pheasant hunting for me. I'm gonna take my father in law to some farm in WI. South Dakota would be nice but might be a challenge with schedules.

As far as deer hunting, not for me this year. I have tons of deer left from last year and with CWD in the area wife refuses to let anyone else but me eat it. So I have no reason to hunt.

I read an article that the local DNR is baffled by how much the deer are moving, several GPS tagged deer have traveled over 40 miles as the crow flies this summer. Not good for their CWD containment attempts.

The whole CWD thing is a head scratcher, so much is unknown.

We are almost out of deer, but just filled the freezer with halibut. Hopefully my in-laws can get settled into their new house before I am totally out of freezer space.

My focus this year will be bear, deer and ducks. Maybe some grouse in the mix, I'll chase roosters when its too cold to sit for deer.

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Dove starts in 2 days...then Grouse..then Deer and the Imports will start in Oct.

Dove is delicious, and you should have a good season, they seem to be very numerous this year up here. We are seeing more and more of the Eurasian collared doves, which don't migrate. I foresee them being an issue in our more agrarian areas, especially where wheat and other small grains are the cash crops.

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This season really snuck up on me. Work/family/etc has kept my head down for the past few months so just got my bow back from the shop the other day and I'm feeling good out to 40 yards or so. Opening day for archery is actually today and we have zero plans to get out of town over labor day weekend so I will likely be getting out 2 of this weekends mornings to chase white tails around north central idaho.

Looking forward to archery but really looking forward to rifle season (Oct 10) up here. Have plans to go out for 3 days with a buddy in the Saint Joe National Forest (knarly landscape and thick woods) to hopefully put some meat in the freezer.

We have those Doves here also.....Nasty sounding noises and slow fliers. No limit no season as they are listed as an invasive species.

Got in lots of bow practice over the summer. Bow Elk starts next week for myself, son and daughter. 15 year old daughter's first archery elk season. Elk bicycles all tuned up.

Springer spaniels just got their shave-down haircuts for pheasants.

Organizing the duck decoys as well.

Awesome time of year!

Today was opening morning for Muzzleloading (Primative) season here in GA. I was out in a ground blind well before BMNT and staid out there till about 1100 est. No deer worth shooting wandered in front of me but it was a GREAT fall morning sitting in the woods--and now its time for beer, venison sausage, and Football ! Yeah!

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Steve

No deer hunting for me this year, but the daycare's husband invited me out coon hunting which is his passion.He has prized coon dogs and his record is something like 20 in a single night.

Anyone here do coon hunting? I got a .22 which isn't sighted in, but I can either get it sited in soon or just go without a scope. Not sure what to expect, but could be fun. Not sure how I feel staying up so late to hunt (he works night shifts so is used to it).

Still not sure about shooting an animal simply for its pelt, but I don't plan on eating coon.

Well I went Coon hunting for the first time last night!!

7:30 I get the call from my friend to go out. 8:15 I have shot my first coon. It sure is fun, but there were times the brush was so thick that I wanted to let the coon get away. Within one hour I had scored 2 pelts, a yearling and an older one (~25lbs). Our dog was apparently much better than most coon dogs as he came back as requested if he got to far, heeled very well and never had to be on a leash. My friend has raised and trained many coon dogs so I am going off of his experience.

Still not sure how I feel about shooting an animal for its fur and not meat, but too late for that. The skinning part is disgusting (not to mention my thought of contracting rabies). Also wonder how many ticks I have on me. I think the roughest part is I'm not a night owl, we called it a night at 10pm but I was wide awake till midnight and now I'm hurting.

I think plenty of people eat raccoon. Funny story, an old fogey whom is long departed told a story about serving raccoon to his daughter in law. She was absolutely appalled to eat such a dirty animal like a raccoon. his response to this, "Raccoons wash their food before they eat, that ham you are eating came from a pig that rolls in its own shit."

Any who, maybe find comfort in knowing you might have saved someone a damaged quarter panel or a chunk of a farmer's crop with those raccoons.

Next weekend is Minnesota regular firearms season. I am pretty excited, we were out in our deer zone Saturday looking for pheasants. No pheasants were harmed. Modern farming practices are sad to see and its impact on wildlife is painfully obvious.

Yesterday my boss texted me and asked if I wanted to goose hunt last night. We saw a ton of geese but the wind wasn't in our favor and the used a different flight path that wouldn't bring them to the field we were hoping. Oh well, I did connect on a hen bufflehead which has to be the smallest duck I have ever shot.

Bear season was a bust, tons of work, tons of fun, lots of frustrations. We had bears show up within an hour of us leaving our baits, but never saw a bear in the flesh. That is in the same state forest I will muzzle loader hunt which starts the Saturday after turkey day. Might have a better chance of watching wolves than deer based on the amount of scat on the trails.

Good luck with the smoke pole Steve.

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I'm viewing it as a renewable resource vs stuffing someones jacket fill with oil based polyester. Though I don't know of anyone who has a raccoon jacket (or hat).

don't end up looking like Jimmer Megamanee.

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Opening day for WI gun season!

It's always a "race" between my son and I to see who gets on the board first. This year the boy takes it in a big way...with his first buck:



Browning X-Bolt Medallion, .300WSM
Bridgeport, WI

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Carl Matson

Resurrecting an old thread. Long post to follow.

September 1st was opening day of bear season in Minnesota. Last year was my first year giving it a go and was rather unsuccessful with regard to killing a bear, it was still shit loads of fun.

This year, I took a few things I learned from last year and had a little different approach. I hunted a state forest with no motor vehicle access and used a fat bike with a trailer to haul bait 3.5 miles back for the 2 weeks leading into the season. I had maybe a dozen different bears hitting my baits, so anticipation was high for opening day.

I got out to my baits around 11 am, got rained on for the ride out and was wet to the bone. Having a change of clothes was much appreciated, even though my boots ended up being soaked through. I walked the final half mile into my stand and got set up in a climber stand. After 30 minutes I decided I really needed clear a couple small trees to have a better view and shot if a bear came in. I was pretty sure this extra activity was going to spoil the day for me. At about 3:55 I turned around from looking off into the ether behind me to see a bear standing on the trail. The first actual bear I had ever seen while hunting!

I took a few minutes to watch and make sure no cubs were with this bear. Then I wavered on whether or not to shoot, I could tell it wasn't a huge bear, but was certainly legal and had the signs of a decent animal, small ears and not leggy. At that point I realized it was not quite 4 pm and I could be out of the woods by dark.

I touched off the first shot through my new rifle with out wearing ear protection (hello ringing ears). I had a good hit on the bear and it was stone dead in a few seconds, through and through double lung, no tracking required. This is when the real work began, skun and quartered, stuffed into game bags, it took 2 trips to get everything back to the truck. All loaded up and heading home almost 5 hours after the shot. Processing the next day was another 4 or 5 hours (there is a lot of damn meat on a bear).



Christensen Arms Mesa
6.5 creedmoor pushing a winchester 143 grain ELD-X
Hinckley, MN (Kind of)

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That...is...freaking...awesome! Nice work!!! 6.5 Creed? Ain’t that a little overkill? What do you think it weighed?

RE the 6.5, most people seem to think 30 cal is needed for a bear... 6.5 is pretty small, .264 cal and only running 2700fps.

I would guess live weight was around 220 to 250? Ended up with 40 some pounds of trim, a dozen packs of steaks, 2 racks of ribs and some ribs cut with the chops attached, mini tomahawk style.

Was quoted at least $1,000 for a rug...

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I would have used my 416 Weatherby.

That would have saved some expense on the rug I suppose...

Have you looked at the new 6.5 Weatherby RPM? 300 yard zero, -25" at 500...

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Please tell me you're going to do it!!!

Absolutely!!! Planning on tossing some ribs on the grill this weekend too!

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I already have a 30-378 Weatherby, 7mm STW, 257 Weatherby, and a 240 Weatherby. Not sure I need a 6.5.

Sure you do. Everybody needs at least one short action, and you don't seem to have any. :)

I appear to live relatively close to you...and I have been itching to bear hunt for a few years. I live in the northwest metro and frequent the Rum River State Forest for upland birds each fall.
On with the questions: Do you find bear meat to be gamey? Like woodcock, choke down each bite kind of gamey? Or is it really mild?
Which game hauling trailer did you use behind your fatbike? And why haven't you ordered a suppressor yet for your 6.5CM? They were legalized in 2015 for hunting in our state, and there is no good reason to lose your hearing!

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"Life is fragile - we are all just a slip or a car crash away from being a very different person."

Where in the NW metro? I graduated from park center in BP.

I’ve only had bear burgers before, I will report back on the steaks.

Grouse numbers aren’t great right now, and pheasants took a deeper dive yet again. Modern ag practices need a major reset.

I went to college in South Dakota, makes chasing birds at home less exciting...

I am too lazy to get the tax stamp and a suppressor is way too expensive to save 1 or 2 gun shots of volume per year. I think I might wear ear pro duck hunting this year.

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Elk River.
There are enough grouse in the Rum River state forest to host the state championship for pointing dog trials each year (and another tournament each spring as well). Numbers may be down, but they're still good enough in my book.
I went to college at Michigan Tech, chasing grouse and shooting diving ducks. Now I chase ducks and pheasants in North Dakota - and I always wear ear plugs AND noise cancelling headphones with the volume turned all the way up so I can hear ducks flying around. I also try to make a trip each year to northeast Montana for sharptail.
I ordered a suppressor last week - I may have it this time next year.

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"Life is fragile - we are all just a slip or a car crash away from being a very different person."

Funny I was planning on going to Michigan tech, ended up at SDSM&T.

I for sure can find more grouse than roosters within 2 hours of the cities. I’ve got a spot I think I could shoot a rooster, ruff and sharpie in the same day.

I have burned up some powder at the elk river biathlon range.

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I have another Lilja barrel in .243 so maybe I will build a rifle based on the 6mm BR.

This morning at little after 0900 this 8pt buck came out into the hay field I was watching as I sat in my hillbilly ground blind drinking coffee. He was chasing a herd of about 6-8 does that were out in the hay field and he wasn't thinking with his big head. 168gr MK BTHP .308 did the trick. Laser range finder says 65yds--which is point blank. When he came out, I was set up for a shot up the hay field anywhere between 200 to 350 yds so I was cranking on the scope to dial it back down to lowest setting and held under just a 'tich' since this weapon is zero'd at 100yds. Broke his spine and dropped him exactly where he stood. This is my third deer this season--the other two being does. So I'm keeping the big hams for roasts, the tenderloins and backstraps--all the rest is into burger 50%; hot patty sausage 25%; and hot linked sausage 25%.



Wife is up in ATL for a girls long weekend with friends--why does she need so many $1 and $5 bills? I'm all alone on the farm so I had to wrestle this rascal into the back of the Mule by myself. That took some doing. Weighed in at the deer processor at just under 170lbs which is pretty good for SE USA whitetail in these parts. We'll get many a good venison lasagna; chili; and some great crock pot roasts off this deer.

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Steve

Uh oh, you used one of those scary rifles!! Lol

Nice buck! Funny how you have those chip shots when your brain is always thinking worst case scenario. Looks a little young if trophy hunting, but perfect for some D-LICIOUS back straps! Well done!

Damn, Steve - nice deer!!

Took a small doe last week myself, although seriously fucked up a few things the few days before that: been a while since I'd shot in anger so think I'd forgotten how. Or I just suck. Either could be true...

Maybe I'll link some of game cam vids and throw it onto the youtube so you guys can see 'em... got some cool shit!

Not the least of which was me walking past in the rain right before dark last Monday, then 6 minutes late a 6 pointer coming out... you can watch him really spring to alert when I blow on my grunt call! And then walk right toward where I was at (can't see me, but I'm less than 60 yards). I got him to within 20 feet - yup, FEET - and couldn't definitively tell if he had any headgear, so let him go. [I'm in NH, you have a certain amount of days at the front end of musket season to shoot does, and then typically the same amount of days at the front end of rifle season. Then it's bucks only. This was the waning days of musket.]

So one of my plans for the next month is to have my eyes checked as it's been three years... very possibly faaaar too long...
- Jeff

Nice work, Hawley!

I got a deer this fall too. Caribou are deer, right?

You've got it figured out, driving the side-by-side right up to it. I'm not that bright. Packed this little guy 2 hours back to the truck. When I was younger it would've been 2 loads no problem. This time it was 3, 70 pound loads. Took me all day but what a beautiful day it was.

Very nice. Congrats.

That is awesome, congrats.

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boy that's some beautiful country to hunt in! Where is that? Yukon? Alaska?

/r

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Steve

Interior AK. I seem to remember you rode your motorcycle up here? You may have been within a few miles of this spot. Please remember that you are sworn to secrecy.

I'm sure packing that out fell into the category of "fine and pleasant misery." I'd also bet that you slept exceptionally well that night.
What you're doing is on my short list of stuff that will be tackled in the next 5 years.

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"Life is fragile - we are all just a slip or a car crash away from being a very different person."

For Christmas my wife gave me a meat grinder, and finally got around to processing my trim meat from the bear I shot back in September. This was my first go ever at making sausage.

I used that god forsaken metric system to measure out my pork belly that I added to the bear meat. For burger I did 100 grams of pork belly per kilo of meat and doubled that for the sausage.

I should have made more Italian sausage and brats instead of snack sticks. I ended up way overloading my smoker for the snack sticks.

Used a pack of ground to make stroganoff, damn tasty...

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When I used to deer hunt, I would save the backstrap and use the rest for sausage or hamburger. I miss deer sausage.

The brats and snack sticks look like a great idea. Enjoy!

Two thumbs up! Well done.

Our son and I made several batches of venison jerkey--using a dehydrator--over Christmas. Darn tasty stuff. Wife and i are having spaghetti tonight and I made the sauce using venison burger.

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Steve

That all looks delicious.

You're also getting me excited for my first spring black bear hunt which is coming up in a few months in the Selkirks.

Bears are incredibly dense. My bear was pretty small about 220 lbs, but I thought it looked tiny on the ground. I don't think I have ever had a deer where you couldn't just grab one hoof and reposition it to start gutting. This thing felt like it was anchored to the ground. I dragged it only a few feet instead of making a real effort to put it in a good spot to cut it up.

My next bear I will keep the roasts and shanks. You have to cook it to 165F so I might just grind the chops and steaks next time. But those big low and slow braising cuts would be sweet.

I can't wait to get my rug from the taxidermist. I had the skull beatled, that will be cool when it is finished.

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I kind of screwed up the snack sticks. The "drunk mix" package is all the over cooked/burned/dried out ends.

I told my wife when beef roasts go on sale next I am going to get 5lbs and give the sticks another whirl. I would rather screw up beef than game meat.

I have a back strap in the freezer I want to do a wellington with.

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If I have any..ANY..chance of getting my wife to eat bear (populations are very high around here but still no guarantee) it's going to have to be by the grinding/sausage route.

Pro/Con to her enjoying the Meateater show with me: Pro - she is watching a hunting/outdoor pursuits show with me. Con - she has seen at least a few episodes where Rinella talks about getting trichinosis from under cooked bear meat.

If I get an opportunity this spring I will take it but candidly I'm hoping for a shot during the fall season as I hear that is the bear you want to eat when comparing spring/fall variants.

That brought back bad memories. I used to make venison jerky. One time I didn't dry it out completely. I took some with me on a 3.5 hour business trip. I had to stop right before I got to my destination because my bowels were about to explode. I was a bit more observant and careful the next time I made it.

Ha! there's a lesson in there somewhere :-)

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Steve

I never mention trich, only that the meat must be cooked all the way to 165 (what screwed up my snack sticks).

In Minnesota we only have a fall season, and the hunting is almost exclusively over bait. It is the only real feasible way to consistently see a bear in our dense flat woods.

I ended up feeding a lot of bears, I had a sow with 4 cubs, another sow with 3 and 2 more sows with twins hitting my bait. All that 1.5 hours from Minneapolis.

We are going to start having some major bear problems around here. Their population is flat or down in their core range, but booming along the southern edge of their range. To the point that the DNR has a place to report out of range bears. Bear in mind they should be hibernating right now and there are still sightings outside of their range.

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/.../bear-sightings.html

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Yeah..you certainly are about to start having some major bear problems there...bizarre and I wonder what the leading theory is. I also wonder if this extends into SE Wisconsin as well (I'll google that later). I've spent a decent amount of time chasing German Browns through those miles and miles of limestone creeks in the Driftless area.

Since this is the hunting thread I'm wondering if you see much Chronic Wasting Disease up north in Minnesota? The numbers in SE Wisconsin are certainly picking up and causing a good deal of concern..can't imagine it is not an issue in your neck of the woods. Even here in Idaho it's starting to become more prevalent.

We have some "quarantine" zones. Some places the bones can't leave until the test clears. Some you just have to test, the zones I hunt don't have those restrictions.

I haven't heard of any deer testing positive this year. The MN DNR has been very aggressive, the biggest problems have been down in the driftless, Rochester area. Andystrongale has to deal with it, I think he even skipped hunting this year.

Where I shot my bear I do some deer hunting and the wolf population has really put the hammer on the deer herd. The DNR even culled a bunch because of the impact. I don't know why we still can't hunt them...

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I love the fact that you labeled it "Beary Hot Italian."
After deer season, everyone brings in venison snack sticks and I get my annual fill of them after 2 or 3, and I much prefer when summer sausage is available.
Which meat grinder did you wife get for you? We really enjoy making our own sausage and try to do it 3 or 4 times a year. A coworker brings over her grinder and it's on the wimpy side but gets the job done.

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"Life is fragile - we are all just a slip or a car crash away from being a very different person."

I'm relatively new to hunting since I started in my late 30's when moving back to Idaho but according to much more hunting experienced friends of mine the wolves have put a big dent in not only the deer population but also elk populations in north central/north Idaho. Speaking from experience I can tell you that we see wolf sign everywhere when out there. It's a big reason we see more elk/deer/moose closer and closer to populated areas and also why we have an overabundance of cats actually being seen. The food pressure on elk/deer/moose/cats must be immense as our wolves are not our native wolves but rather much larger/stronger/faster Canadian wolves.

The cats are what freak me out the most. A buddy of a buddy was heading back to his truck after solo hunting elk a month back and he kept sensing that something was behind him. After the 3rd or 4th turnaround he had a big ass Tom 7 yards directly behind him. Experienced guy so he had his rifle shouldered immediately and put it down while it was leaping over a log to get closer to him. The fact that this is only one example of cats not only being seen (rare) but also stalking humans is enough to keep my head on a swivel when out in the sticks. I can only imaging the food pressure they are experiencing to get to that point.

On wolves one of the spookiest experiences I've had so far is having a pack slowly work ridge by ridge closer to us when out in the St. Joe national forest bow hunting. Honestly we started heading back to the road once they started to sound like they were 1 ridge over (originally 3-4 away). Thankfully in Idaho you can put down up to 2 wolves (the past 3 seasons at least). I did not have that in mind when I was out on this experience but will act on it in 2020. That opportunity bothers a lot of non hunting/non conservation minded people but it's absolutely necessary for a number of reasons. If the opportunity presents itself I would personally consider it more doing a small part for conservation vs hunting.

We live roughly 5 miles from the border of ID/WA and the populations in WA are managed much like Minnesota - DNR. Frustrating model as those wolves are going to be culled anyhow it's just going to be on the back of tax payers vs enabling the hunters who are already out in the woods. I know I'm preaching to the choir but it's frustrating all the same.

The big cats are worrisome for sure.


You should listen to this:

https://www.themeateater.com/...6-hunting-with-teeth

Your wolves are no different than any other wolf. Wolf size is dictated by prey base, not unique sub-species etc.

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Thanks for this. Had a few hours on the road yesterday and listened to the entire podcast. I learned a ton about wolves and it seems I have clearly been spreading bad info. Never went down the "super wolf" route (that was a new myth to me) but had been under the impression that there were genetic differences between Canadian and "native" wolves to Idaho.

She did dodge the question around the differences between "our" wolves and Mexican wolves though. I think I caught her saying that there are genetic differences there (maybe breeding with coyotes?) but then she quickly stated that she would not discuss it further. Will likely give it another listen at some point to make sure I've got the history down pat.

Yeah I live near Sun Valley, Idaho, and we have been having a real issue with mountain lions this winter. Multiple one have been spotted (ring cameras and the like help here), and a handful of dogs and cats have been killed in people's yards. A ton of pressure has been put on them for sure.

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~Brad

I was just texting with a friend who lives on Moscow Mountain (just outside of Moscow, ID) and she has spotted 4 cats in the past few weeks around her property. Also pulled up the ID hunters reg book and learned that cat season runs to June up here. Picking up my ID sportsman's license later today and thinking I might go out with her next weekend to see if we can find some tracks.

Alright boys, fall is upon us and hunting season is calling my name. Bear baiting starts next weekend and opens 9/1/20. I am just finishing up last years bear (dang stuff goes faster than the deer meat).

Anyone have big plans for the season? Going to be a weird one this year, my step-dad isn't keen on staying at the shady motels we usually stay at so it may be a year of long one day trips. Opening ducks will be a leave at midnight home by 3 pm with a limit hopefully.

With a bird dog pup and one dog really starting to figure it out, pheasants and grouse will be the prime targets. We are visiting the in laws for the week of thanksgiving, depending on weather I might camp a night or two on the Fort Pierre National Grasslands. That late the prairie grouse might be a tough hunt.

Also plan on getting one other long weekend or two in South Dakota chasing birds.

Lastly, I finally got my bear rug from last season, dang covid even screwed up taxidermy.





ETA: Bear steaks, garden fresh green beans and garden fresh new potatoes. There is a lot of satisfaction in putting up you own meal from the garden and woods.

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Love the rug!

Plan was to get another one of my old war horses "on the board" with an opening weekend tag. The SMLE MkIII* has 3 deer to its credit, my K31 Swiss another pair, but the M96 Swedish Mauser hasn't been to the woods until now.

After a day and a half of backdoor frustration (i.e. every place I sat they kept coming in right behind me and never came around) this 9pt came straight down the hill across from me with 30min to go today. Bridgeport WI.



60yds give or take, with the granddaddy of my milsurp stable...production year 1900...6.5x55 Swede. NDT scout scope mount by BadAce, as my astigmatism prevents effective use of irons when it counts. Pictured below from zeroing day 5 wks ago.

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Carl Matson

I tipped over a cow elk in the last hour of the elk season. She was huge, great meat elk. Family processing day included 2 antelope (mine and my daughter's) and the cow elk. Might still hunt a late season deer with archery equipment, which would be an interesting mix of weapons. Antelope=crossbow, elk=rifle, deer=vertical bow?

I pulled the trigger on a bull elk with the crossbow only to have a nock failure. Arrow blew up and cut most of the string... Elk was unharmed but it was sure a bad way to miss out on an archery elk. The rut was late and somewhat weird/nonexistant this year in my area (and a lot of the Rocky Mtn region). Smoke? Heat?

The highlight of the year was my 13 year old daughter making a great shot to kill her first big game animal. That was one of those moments I hope I never forget.

Our deer season was odd with basically no rut activity too. I am in the black hills right now and the rut is full swing lots of bucks chasing.

Got out today for some good dog work, hoping to get the setter pup on grouse tomorrow.

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I was lucky enough to draw a Moose tag in MT. (Cow), shot an antlerless yearling, about the size of a cow elk. Super tasty. Got some upland birds with my dog too. Freezer is darn full. lean, free range healty stuff to go with the organic garden.

Yes!

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I saw this on a white board in a window box at my daughters middle school...
List of what life owes you:
1. __________
2. __________
3. __________