Can you top this?

[10 poyntr]

Last year one of the hunters in our group had his best hunts ever! He shot 2 10 pointers and an 8 pointer from the same stand in a 10 minute span! This was on opening morning from 7:15 to 7:25!! Can anyone top this? This was on heavily hunted PUBLIC land, not private, so no private property stories, please! And to think of all the time most spend in the woods looking for a flag!

[echotrail]

Can't top yours but it's a good story. Four of us hunt public land near Orr, MN. but we each go to separate areas. One of the group shot a ten pointer. The next afternoon he told two of us we could hunt his area if we wanted. We did and were hunting about 300 yards apart when I shot and 8 pointer about 4pm. About 15 seconds later my friend shot another 8 pointer thinking it was the deer I missed.

[FOOT]

That's pretty good. The best I can do is tell you about the time my brother shot 2 eight pointers fighting and a six pointer that must have been standing watching them fight. Before he shot they kept disappearing behind a big pile of tree limbs and brush. When they came out he shot each one and then saw the six run out from the opposite end. He shot that one as well.
This was over 25 years ago in SE Minn where shotgun with single slugs have to be used.

[EXTREME]

My best day that I can think of was 2nd weekend of 2001. At about 10 am I missed a 350yd shot on a monster...you know the ones that are trotting but their tracks are 10 feet apart. Could see the rack with the naked eye at first glance. He moved too quickly. I was bummed until about 4 pm when I grunted a 14 pt buck in with split brow tines. Dusted him at 40 yards. What a fabulous day of hunting. Ps also passed on 7 small bucks that day. They were really moving!!

[benelli_dude2002]

My best so far in MN is the first year I hunted back in '96. Opening morning I set up my hang on stand and I wasnt quiet about it either. I was banging the stand all the way to the top to where I was going to hang it. I didnt care I just wanted to get it set up. I had to climb that tamarac 3 times before I got to sit and hunt. One for the stand itself, one for my warmer clothes and one for the gun. I didnt even get cooled off and I seen a nice buck. As soon as I seen antlers I shot. He went down. 10 minutes later a nice 6 pt came outof the north and was walking in my direction but I let him walk and about 15-20 minutes after that a nice 8 pt come out from the west of me and got about 40 yards out and dropped him in his tracks. I thought COOL 2 deer down and its not even 730 AM yet. Turns out the first deer was a 10 pt. My father in law said he has never seen someone who shot 2 deer and seem so calm about it. Believe me I was excited but was still recovering from setting up that stand maybe cuz I was a little outta shape. He also thought that I was never going to see anything because of all the noise I was making. We were convinced the bucks were checking out the noise becasue the base of the stand was made of wood and a vinyl coated chain was banging on it and it may have sounded like rattling. Thats the only thing we can think of. Kinda makes sense huh. I have more stories. Brian

[hwalleye18]

How many tags is a person allowed?
Must be alot of party hunting going on.

[Bogsucker]

Yeah, I've never understood the party hunting concept for bucks. I'd certainly never shoot a buck and expect someone else to tag it and certainly wouldn't tag one someone else shot.

Who did tag those extra bucks?

[First Ice-Mike]

I wish more people would understand that deer hunting is not always about shooting a deer. In fact - I would bet most people would agree with me that being with "the guys" or the "gals" in some cases is the most important thing. Deer hunting weekend is the one weekend all the guys in my family get together and bs, hang out, talk dirty, enjoy some cold beers and dart games at the bar after the hunts, and shoot some deer if we're lucky. If we make a good drive or set somebody up in a good stand and they shoot a big buck it feels like we all had a part in shooting that deer. Nobody gives a rip who shoots what or where as long as its safe, legal, and we're having fun. I don't hunt to kill deer, I kill deer so I can hunt.

FI

[BLACKJACK]

Party hunting is a way of life guys, and is legal, just because you don't believe in it, don't be critical of others that do it, just go ahead and do your own thing. Keep it fun and enjoy the comraderie.

Several years ago my brother, dad, and I were doing a deer drive on 160 acres of CRP and low ground. Its shotgun zone, so we're all shooting slug guns. Dad is posted in a likely spot and my brother and I are walking. We're undermanned, we see a few deer that squirt out, finally this buck jumps about 60 yards away. Unfortunately theres another hunter on the fence line right in line (good thing he was wearing red!!!!) and we didn't get a shot. My brother and I met up and started walking the top of a dike and all of a sudden another buck jumped up at about 70 yards and we opened up on him. He was running broadside, then he reversed course and ran broadside the other way, reversed one more time and went the original direction - it was like one of those ducks in a shooting gallery!! The whole time we're banging away, reloading, banging away, we each shot about 8-10 times! Finally one of us puts some lead into him and hes gimping along. So my brother stays on the dike to watch where he goes, I start doing the 150 yard dash across this meadow (I had to borrow a couple of slugs before it went). I get half way across and ANOTHER buck jumps up!! I raise my gun but then remember that we only have one buck tag left and hes gimping away, so I don't shoot. So then I get to the spot where I last saw the gimping buck, don't see him, turn and look at my brother and hes doing the dog training point off to the right, I look and see the gimping buck and go run him down and finish him off. Then I just sit in the shade panting while my brother comes over. What an exciting 5 minutes!!!! When we caught up with Dad his comment was "all that shooting and only one deer"?

It still amazes me that those three bucks were sitting within 50 yards of each other. The only thing I can think of is that there might have been a doe in heat that we didn't see.

[danny berg]

We have anywhere from 8 to 11 people in our party and most times we all have 2 tags, The people who can't stay all 4 days get to tag out first. We shoot all the deer we can and split it up between everybody, plus each landowner who lets us hunt on their land also gets a cut of the meat, usually they take jerky and beer sticks. We also split the cost of processing between all members of the party. 3 years ago I shot 8 deer using only 16 shells, and we had a total of 10 deer for 16 tags, my cousin shot the other two, nobody else had a shot the whole season. when you split up 10 deer between 11 people and 3 landowners that isn't very much Venison for the freezer.

[bigbucks]

We party hunt with 10-11 hunters 1st weekend & 7-10 the second weekend. Some are not the same hunters, a few only hunt first, a few only second. We shoot deer & tag according to which tags will be good the longest, nobody cares whose tag is on who's deer. Sure if there's three deer to tag & we've decided to use my tag now & I shot one of the three I'll probably tag my own, but who really cares?

As far as the guy shooting 3 bucks. My cousin shot a 10 ptr opening morning 3-4 years ago. The next morning he shoots an 8 with one side missing, immediately followed by a 12, & then missed the "big" one. Nobody was mad at him, jealous, but not mad. You can't always predict who will see the deer & with lots of tags & a short season, why worry about who gets two & who doesn't get any, especially if the person who didn't get one has already missed one.

My personal best is shooting a small 8 pointer almost exactly at legal shooting light, followed by a doe 25 minutes later, passing on a couple more does & fawns, & then watching a doe run right under my stand that my cousin had just shot. This was all in the first hour of the 2nd morning of archery season about 6-7 years ago. Of course I could only bow hunt with people the rest of that season, because at the time we only had two tags each & both of mine were filled. The guys at work really didn't hardly believe me when I brought in two validated archery tags Monday morning, that was great.

[10 poyntr]

Nice stories, guys. It's only early Sept., and I'm getting the itch to hunt already. Everyone seems to use the party hunt and have worked out their own way to tag deer. We hunt with 10 guys every year and last year one of our "veterans" shot a buck, his first in the last 17 years! He's been with us all 30 years, also. But he has JUST as much fun huntin, without tagging a deer. I think I like these deer hunt stories more than any subject in this forum!!

[SCCO9803]

Here we go again! The old "questioning of ethics and legal talk" who gives a $#!^. These people are telling some pretty cool stories and then five posts later it turns into this. Unbelievable. I like hearing the stories, and have one of my own. A guy we hunt with was walking to his stand one afternoon of opening day about 10 years ago. As he crested a hill a he saw a buck and shot at it. It went over the hill and then it poked it's head back over, so he shot again. As he waited another six point buck walked by and he shot that as well. He walked over the hill and found the first buck a very nice eight point. He figured he got both deer and began to gut them out. As he was doing this, a guy from some adjacent land asked if he was going to get the other deer? To wich he responeded yeah I already did. Then the man puzzled was like, the one over there, pointing in the opposite direction. The man we hunted with went over to where the other man pointed and found a huge twelve point buck. What had happened was the original buck was the twelve point and he shot it the first time not knowing the second shot was at a different deer. So he ended the day, without even getting into his stand with a twelve (now on his wall) eight, and a six. *By the way they were all legally tagged!

[This message has been edited by SCCO9803 (edited 09-03-2004).]

[Stratosman]

We shouldn't criticize people for which we know nothing about. Maybe they all had an agreement about the tagging sitiuation. I think the stories are awesome, I wish I had the same problem of having too many bucks around me at once!

[Bogsucker]

So why did he not let the hunters who tagged them shoot them. What bothers me is that he (they) denied other hunters the opportunity to shoot a buck for themselves. Now if all the hunters in a group are ok with that, fine up to them but I find it a bit greedy for someone to shoot more than 1 buck. And considering the more recent desire of hunters to have the opportunity to shoot "trophy" deer the shooting of multiple bucks by one person does nothing good for the buck population.

[Stratosman]

I agree bogsucker, but like I said, maybe they had an arrangment, you and I will never know.

[simcox282]

We party hunt all the time. As a rule the person who shoots a buck usually tags it unless they havea doe permit in which case someone else tags it. It does not really matter who tags it as long as it is tagged. That is an amazing story all those deer at the same damm spot. the only one that I have is a deer that I crawled on my stomach for for about a 500 yards or so. When I kneeled up I was about 40 yards from him. I took aim, exhaled, bamm--missed. than I took aim and bamm missed. The wind was at my face so he was not able to geta good read on the noise and could not see me. That went on for 3 more shots. Than I fumbled around and got one more shell--bam missed him again. I am almost in tears right now. I grabbed another shell bam--he disappeared. I was very bummed --the worse was everyone was watching--I looked at them all and they were jumping up and down and pointig--I thought they were laughing. Turns out the last bullet hit him between the eyes and dropped him in his spot. It was the deer of a lifetime for me -- 15 points. Deer hunting hands down the best that there is in the world.

[Mark Christianson]

Our arrangement is simple.
Before we go in the woods, we come to an agreement of what we expect as a group.
A lot depends on what we may already have tagged earlier in the year or earlier in the hunt. Real simple. Its called teamwork.

Whats so hard to understand about that?
If my Dad wants to shoot his buck and tag it, and get a crack at a whopper later.
Go for it Dad!!!
I could care less if I personally shoot a deer, if it means my Dad may finally get a wall hanger(and use my tag on it), after 50 years of hunting.

Lets get back to stories, and open a new thread for the gripes about why its terrible to tag someone elses deer.

[Nitebiter]

This is on private land, not public but its still a story to tell..
About 5-6 years ago a guy in our party had a group of 5 bucks come in at about 35 yards, 2 10's, an 8, and 2 6's. Shot all 5 with 5 shots, had 4 downed right there and we wound up chasin the biggest of the 2 10 pointers for about 4 miles before it finally bedded down in an old abandoned barn and we cornered him down in there and finished him off! Anyone else ever heard of a deer entering a building like that??

[jblabsnduck]

For you guys that disagree with these guys, they are meat hunters. If they all agree on it so be it. I have never done it myself and never will. I bow hunt but the place I hunt has a group of guys that shotgun hunt there so I am not allowed there that weekend and I know these guys party hunt. Big deal IMO.
If you don't like it SO WHAT. Then we know you don't do it.
Have at it fellas, I would never agree to it myself. I like killing my own deer and don't want anyone killing them for me. These guys don't care who kills the deer as long as they get meat.

[bigbucks]

Yes I've heard of that before although not often. In Long Prairie several years ago, maybe 15, a buck jumped through a window at the hospital into a patient's room. It wiped out & slid under one of the beds from what I remember hearing. From what I heard it was injured, whether hunting wound or car accident I'm not sure, but I thought that one of antlers was twisted, so it likely had a head injury of some kind. I think it did eventually jump back out again & I believe someone chased it down & destroyed it, but am not sure.

There's been more development since then, but at that time the hospital was maybe a block from the edge of town. Seems like someone else in that area on the edge of town had a wounded buck bed under their deck one time too, maybe it was the same deer, I can't remember.

[morpho]

about unpteen years ago in the first season a large buck broke thru the front window of the minnesota moose store plumb in the middle of downtown noone saw it coming it just jumped thru the huge plate window caused havoc in the store then ran out... somtimes its weird like that

[HUNTER2]

We used to go up north every year to hunt and our group was around 35. We made a lot of good drives. The best time I had was when I was by myself and a doe started to run, and I put my scope up to only have it filled with antlers. I put the crosshairs on the neck and bagged a 15 pointer. 240 dressed out. Then the work started. I'm not sure if I'm right on this, but I dont think you can party hunt with the all season license if both your tags are used up.

------------------
Hunt&Fish tell you drop!
I.B.O.T's 250 & 249

[Mark Christianson]

I see nothing in the book that states an All Season license holder cannot party hunt after they fill their standard tags. Right from the book:

All-Season Deer License
• All-Season Deer Licenses are available from any ELS license agent,
the DNR License Center, by telephone, or by internet (see page
139).
• Two deer may be harvested with this license.
• It comes with a buck tag and an antlerless tag. A buck must be harvested
on the buck tag and an antlerless deer must be harvested on
the antlerless tag.
• Buck tag:
o Can be used statewide during the archery or muzzleloader seasons.
o Can be used in all regular firearms zones/areas except 3B.
• Antlerless tag:
o Can be used statewide during the archery or muzzleloader seasons.
o To take an antlerless deer during the firearms season you must apply
for and draw an either-sex permit in lottery or special hunt areas, or
harvest the antlerless deer in a managed or intensive permit area.
• Party hunting is now legal with this license.
• No other deer-hunting license (archery, regular firearms, or muzzleloader)
may be purchased in addition to this license, except hunters
may purchase bonus permits.
• Holders of this license may hunt in any open archery, regular firearms
(except 3B), or muzzleloader season and area, using the legal firearm
or bow and arrows for the respective season and zone.
• Bonus permits may be purchased and used in managed and intensive
permit areas.
• Bag Limits
o Can harvest a total of 2 deer (1 buck and 1 antlerless) using the tags
that come with the license in a lottery area if hunting during archery
or muzzleloader season or during the firearms season if successful in
the lottery.
o Can harvest a total of 3 deer (1 buck and 2 antlerless) using the tags
that come with the license and a bonus permit in one managed area.
o Can harvest up to 5 deer (1 buck and 4 antlerless) using the tags
that come with the license and 3 bonus permits in intensive areas.
Bonus Permits
Bonus permits replace the deer management and intensive harvest
permits. They are available to archery, firearms, and muzzleloader
hunters to take additional antlerless deer in designated areas. Bonus
permits are available for one-half the cost of regular licenses. One
bonus permit may be used per year in one managed deer permit area.
Up to four bonus permits may be used in intensive deer permit areas
1502_001_144 7/14/04 4:43 PM Page 63
and some special hunts. Deer taken under bonus permits are in addition
to deer authorized to be taken under Regular Licenses. The maximum
number of deer any individual may tag is 5 by any combination
of licenses and permits, except eligible landowners may take an
additional antlerless deer on a free landowner license.
Bonus permits are valid for archery, muzzleloader or firearms, but
hunters must have the appropriate Regular License for the area, season
and method they are using.

[bigbucks]

Hunter2, that was true of the All-Season license through last year when you could party hunt only to the extent of hunting with other people, but not to the extent of cross tagging. Even then you could still hunt if you had an open bonus tag that was good for the area you were hunting.

Now as I understand it that license is like any other for party hunting, if somebody you're "in the field with" in close proximity, has an open tag & your license is for that same season, which of course the All-Season is, you can legally hunt, & shoot their deer (assuming that's okay with them). Personally if I've filled all 5 of my tags I'd really mostly be trying to help someone else get a deer more so than shooting another myself.

[smalls]

When you're stand hunting, how do you know how many deer everyone from your party has down? If your shooting 2,3, 4 or 5 bucks, that's eating tags pretty quick!

I guess if others want to party hunt, so be it. I just get uncomfortable with the shoot now, find tags later mentality. Plus, I want to harvest my own animal, and if someone shot my deer and we had to track it four miles to an abandon farmstead so I could tag it, it would **** me off.

But, I won't tell you that you can't do it, freedom of choice!

[Stratosman]

Here's a hypothetical question, in regards to the all season pary hunting. If I fill my tags say in the first season and want to hunt with my dad and grandfather in the second season, is that legal, or can you only hunt in the season in which your last tag was filled? I've read the reg's and they way I percieve it is that it is legal.

[Mark Christianson]

Stratosman,
You can legally party hunt the second weekend, even though you may have filled your personal tag the week before.
Be sure to have your license with you though, even though you have no tag.

I agree that party hunting can have some holes. We have no care in the world to fill all our tags. We go in the woods with a pretty firm plan on what we want, and thats it.
Where trouble comes, is for groups that are shooting everything that comes by. I have no clue how you can party hunt within the law, when everyone has free reign to shoot whatever comes by, so all the tags can get filled.
Oops. Off topic. sorry.

[bigbucks]

I agree on the having a plan for your party. We know opening morning everybody's not going to fill their tags. Many of our stands are close enough if one guy shoots a deer or more when he gets down to gut it he then goes & talks to the next guy. Each hunter's allowed to choose what they want to shoot, we usually say don't shoot more than one small one (fawn), at least until we see what's been shot.

Most openers when we get together around 10-11am to see about making a few drives we've got 2-4 deer for 11 guys, occasionally as many as 6 maybe, but that's rare. Lot of times most people have seen deer, but some were too far or they missed, whatever. Very few stands will have opportunities at multiple bucks & most of the time those are the stands of the guys who've been bowhunting & will pass on the smaller ones anyway.

[mille lacs muskie bum]

my great grandfather once got over 17 deer in one season.