How was your opener?

[tealitup]

I had the most awesome experience this weekend. First - I have seen wolves in the wild many times on my "up north" property. Every time as soon as they see or smell me they run away as fast as they can.

Two weeks ago my father was up north getting things ready for deer season. Early one morning while doing natures call he looked up and saw a jet black wolf looking back at him not more then 20 yards away. A second wolf (grey in color) came along -stopped and looked at him. They were not scared and wondered off.

Fast forward to last weekend. I made sure I was scent free as possible. Put some "doe in heat" on a rag and created a scent trail.

After 40 minutes in the stand three wolves with their head down followed my exact trail. They found the rag in a tree branch and tore it up (tug of war style). Then continued to come towards me. Well this jet black wolf came around and took two steps up my steps of my tree stand.

At this point I was a little excited - thinking.. do not move this is a one in a lifetime thing. The second wolf came over and started to drink out of a water cup I brought with (left on the ground). Now I know my scent was on that cup. About this time a squirrel ran 15 yards from the wolves. They were uninterested.

While I was up there I started to mess with them. I was droping water on their heads. Funny! Until I came to realize that they knew I was there the whole time. All three looked up and me and sat down!!!!

What would you do? Well I pointed my gun down the ladder and came down the stairs as fast as I could. They took off scared as can be.

These wolves have now became used to humans. Time to open a season. But WOW what an experience - it was better then shooting a deer.

[Hammer Handle]

I have heard that most people have not done well (in my area) and they think the deer forcasts are way too high.

Everyone by us seemed to do not-so-good, but we got 7 deer for 8 hunters. My niece shot her first deer.

I got a nice 6-point.

I seen LOTS of turkeys....

[bigbucks]

Pikeslayer I'm confused, you're going to burn the forkhorn rack in the fishhouse stove or actually attach the rack to the stove pipe. Please enlighten us...

I forgot about this, we found out Friday night that one of the trees of my brother's permananent deer stand had snapped off in the wind. I only live 4 miles from there & some of our hunting party was staying there, so we went out & put up a ladder stand for him on one of the remaining trees that night. We got done with that about 11pm. He shot a forky there at about 20 feet just past noon on Saturday. The stand had actually been down for at least a week, but we'd checked it earlier than that & the guy that saw it for some reason didn't think anyone sat in that stand. He should have known, but apparently wasn't thinking too clearly.

[Pikeslayer]

It sounds to me like you had a very interesting day!There are not many wolves around my area as a rule,so I was shocked to see a deer so close down wind of them,Maybe thats why he gave me the shot I had!

[RBuker]

My wife and I hunted west of Garrison. We are meat hunters so when a big doe came strolling by on Sat evening, I happily shot her. We'll go back up on this weekend and maybe fill one more tag.

We saw a few other deer but heard very few shots and those we heard were far away in the distance.

[walleyefisher87]

My party hunts west of mille lacs. The weekend went real good for us. We ended up harvesting four does and two fawns. Everyone saw deer. Am pretty excited, because we passed up a total of fifteen bucks, all little guys. One was a decent 2.5 year old eight. that probaly scored about 110 if he hadnt broken off his right main beam. I believe nine of those bucks were different deer, so a couple more years, it should be really good. The neighbors to the north ended up shooting a nice 12 pointer, and according to them they had seen one bigger than that, so hopefully he'll come past one of us this weekend. As for the rut and how far progressed it is, it was tough to say, some of the bucks we saw seemed to be running and checking does pretty regularly, while other 1.5 year old forks, and sixes, seemed not to interested, and where out eating in the fields with does and fawns. I haven't been out since this cold weather moved in, (College is always a problem) but ive got high expectations for this weekend. Good luck to everyone out there, and be safe. Keep the success reports coming. Oh ya, Saturday morning and evening, it sounded like a war with all the shooting, and then sunday it slowed down considerably. Amazing how those deer wise up. Although im glad they do.

[Pikeslayer]

Forget the rack!Its the meat Ill be frying while Im fishing and your WISHING!!

[roosterslayer]

My opener was great even though i didn't take a thing. I saw approximately 35-40 deer through out the weekend and probably 10 different bucks. all the bucks were small and i will wait on but it sure was a fun and exciting weekend. I can't wait for this weekend to get here.

[Fish&Fowl]

sorry I thought the pic was bigger than that. Here's a bigger one!

[Pikeslayer]

Nice rack,very tall. I wonder how old that deer is?

[bigbucks]

That's a dandy, nice job.

[bigbucks]

Okay, just didn't understand what you meant. While I'm WISHING what? I've pulled the trigger multiple times this year. I've got plenty of venison with more likely to come.

[Pikeslayer]

You were fishing!

[ozzie]

WOW!!!! that is a cool looking deer!! congrats....

[Steve Foss]

Sweet buck. Great character with that dark tall rack.

[Lunker]

6 of us hunting in Itasca County. Was good and and bad opener. First day was really slow, don't think the rut had kicked off much(actually we know it hadn't because a deer farmer friend of ours was letting us know about his does, and they were just starting to go into estrus, and weren't ready to go yet). Passed on a little spike opening morning, and was dissapointed to have other hunters who put up stands near me who are not usually there, also had a lot of road hunters around, even one who shot from his vehicle. Frustrating to say the least. Opening day only one deer was shot, a spike that our one first year hunter from the group mistook for a doe. Sunday was a bit better, my nephew shot a doe, and my brother shot a decent 8 pointer. Monday it cooled off and snowed a bit, and my brother took a nice 8 that was chasing. I passed on a couple of fawns on sunday and didn't hunt monday cause I had to head back to school. So for the weekend we were 4 of 6 with two 8 pointers, a doe, and a spike. I will be heading back up for third weekend so hopefully I will get a chance to fill at least one of my tags. While we were all out in our stands, our neighbor saw a 12 and a 6 pointer standing in between our cabins...Figures.

[Fish&Fowl]

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Nice rack,very tall. I wonder how old that deer is?

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Thanks. I am trying to decide if I should get a shoulder mount or just do a European. It's kind of an unusual rack and he had such a big neck and body that it would probably make a nice mount.

Just looking at the muzzle he doesn't look real old, I was guessing 4.5-5.5 yrs??

[Heartman]

F&F, that's what I'd say as well - 4.5 - 5.5 years - young deer tend to have the more upright antlers. They tend to settle down as they get older - what a great deer!

[Bassboy1645]

I did really well...On saturday I shot my pb a 7 pointer. His rack is equal with the ears and not too tall. maybe only a yr and a half. Hes my first rack buck though. Sun night I killed another buck smaller a little four pointer. The seven pionter I had just pulled my gun up to my second stand at noon when a stick broke." that cant be a deer..." it was I shot him at 15 yards. I WASNT EVEN ON STAND FOR 4 mins!!!

The four pointer I sat all day nadda. I climbed down early to get picked up. While waiting in the parking lot I caught the shadowy form of a deer moving close to dark. It ran across the road and I blasted it on my side just mins from legal light ending. TALK ABOUT LUCK!!!!

Monday the snow fell and I still hunted to 40 yards from a doe that I never got a shot at.

Tues night I climbed into stand at 215ish pm. At 230 I dropped the hammer on a fat doe!

Im getting soo much bull for being so lucky but I been hunting since sept bow with maybe 6 deer sightings to show and now I cant lay off my trigger

Id post pics but I dont know how to get off my cell phone or how to post on here.

[Steve Foss]

Bassboy, your 7-pointer is more likely 2 1/2 years old. Yearlings don't usually have that many points, though they can, but when a yearling has that type of rack it's almost always very small, way narrower than the ears.

These things vary widely, of course, based on genetics and food quality, so it's possible you've got a yearling. Just not likely, IMO.

I filled my buck tag today hunting with a fellow FMer.

We walked in with light just starting to brighten but before shooting light, and he showed me a ground blind/stand that overlooked several trails under mature red pines. The light north wind was at my back, but what was before me was 40 feet lower, because I was on a ridge, so I didn't have much to worry about with wind.

I'd made up my mind not to shoot anything but does for the meat locker or a big buck (with my two tags.)

That all changed about 7:10 a.m., when a fat pretty 3-point yearling posed broadside at 80 yards. Visions of empty freezers danced in my head, so up came the .30-06, and I found a hole in the brush to shoot through and dissolved the tops of his lungs for him with a 165-grain Federal silvertip.

He'll go into the freezer in a couple days. Boy, does gutting and dragging go faster and easier with two guys.

[snoozebutton]

Check out some of the yearlings on the top of this page. I realize they're from a deer farm with the best in feed and genetics but they're some reall monsters for young bucks.

http://www.fourcanyons.com/2007%20Pictures.htm

[Steve Foss]

That's amazing. Wish MY genetics and feed were that good.

[TRZ]

I hunted 156 with a few guys on public and private land. i hunted my public spot and got a doe and button buck sat evening. got a spike sun morning. Then hunted my own private 40 and got another spike. It was agreat year. Man we saw alot of deer. I didn't think either of the spikes were bucks it was very low visibility, one at 6:30 am and another at 5;15 p.m. but at least it will be a good winter with all that meat for me and my hunting partners. i think deer numbers are at an all time high in our area willow river/moose lake. between 4 guys we seen at least 20 deer opening weekend in the woods, more than half on public land. i think being able to shoot 5 in 156 is a good thing, they are everywhere!

[maros91]

Bassboy,

Could you give me your e-mail address. I need to ask you some questions about the area you hunt.

[email protected]

[Grant Pearson]

Quote:

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Check out some of the yearlings on the top of this page. I realize they're from a deer farm with the best in feed and genetics but they're some reall monsters for young bucks.

http://www.fourcanyons.com/2007%20Pictures.htm

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Those are definitely some huge bucks!!! I have to clean up all the drool now......

[vister]

fish and fowl, when i try to upload pictures, my result is the same as your first try, the postage stamp. did you enlarge it in photobucket or what? i've tried and failed, as i can enlarge it, but the picture is always small when sent to the forum. i've got a couple of brutes i'd like to post for you guys to see as well.

[Water Hazard]

Not quite along the same lines as the majority of the bucks in this thread, but here's my WI opener story:

Got to the stand at 6:15am. Climbed up to hang my backpack and then back down to put on my extra clothes for sitting. Two steps from the top, I heard some noise over my shoulder and saw/heard 2-3 deer on the path right next to my stand. I heard one of them baah like a sheep and then they took off. Actually, one ran towards my stand a step or two, before turning away.

As the sun started to rise, I heard noises off and on, but nothing definite. My stand was on a creek bed with thick trees to my right, an opening along the creek, and thick trees to my left.

At 8:15am, I heard a noise behind me and turned around to see a fawn staring at me from the trail that I took into my my stand. I wasn't going to shoot it, but I thought I'd see if I could shoot back there if need be for later. My movements scared the fawn off. On its way through the thick tree cover, I saw two other white flags up and bounding off. I tried grunting in case one was an interested buck, but no luck.

Around 11am, I was starting to think about the warm chicken noodle soup back at the house, but decided to stay on stand as long as possible.

11:30am, I heard the sound of a running deer coming from my right. I stood up and got ready to shoot in case it was a buck. It turned out to be two does that ran across the creek bed. Discouraged, I sat back down and told myself that maybe I'd get lucky and that they were running from a buck. Sure enough, about 20 seconds later, I hear another deer running in from the thick stuff on the right. I waited until I identified the deer, saw antlers, brought the gun up, put the scope on, and the deer stopped broadside right behind a scrawny Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I was waiting for him to take one more step beyond the tree before firing. All of the sudden, I hear my buddy yell, "Shoot it!"

The buck heard it too, wheeled around, and went right in front of me. I followed it with my .35 Remington and yelled, "HEY!" to see if I could get it to stop. When I could see that it wasn't going to, I knocked it right down from about 10 yards away.

It turned out that my buddy, who was hunting in a stand nearby, was coming to get my tag for another member of our party. He heard the deer running as he came up the trail, crouched in case one was a shooter, and then decided to let them go. When he saw the buck, he made sure I was in my stand and then took a few steps forward to push the deer back towards the creek bed.

After it was all said and done, I had my first antlered deer! It is a forky, which gives me something to improve on in the future, but it sure was awesome to get to see it all play out right there. It added even more to have my buddy there to see it all.

I don't have any pictures that meet the guidelines for posting. I didn't have my camera with in the field and once I had it, the deer was already hanging on the meat pole.