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Walked today and yesterday, flushed 9, shot at two and got two. Hopefully next year I'll have a dog to hunt with. Still warm up here, skim of ice on ponds. Weather has been nice. Hopefully walk a bit more the next few weeks. Been pretty cautious walking for birds to not interfere with deer hunters. There sure are not the deer hunters there used to be

On the South Shore... The focus for many this week is the ongoing deer hunting season which is a big tradition in these parts, even for avid walleye anglers. There were some that either already harvested their deer or are more into catching fall walleyes than hunting. Those that are fishing are taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and excellent walleye and sauger bite that is happening across the lake. Cold weather is in the forecast in the upcoming days and weeks so that is also getting many excited. The best depths on the south end of LOW are 22-28 feet of water. Vertical jigging with frozen emerald shiners is catching most of the walleyes, saugers and jumbo perch. Depending upon where on the lake you are fishing, some slots and big trophies are in the mix as well, but most reports are talking about good numbers of eaters. Jumbo perch are coming in good numbers this fall which will serve ice anglers well. Watch out for an occasional pike or even lake sturgeon mixed in with the walleyes. There are good numbers of walleyes and saugers across the south shore which is setting up nicely for early ice. On the Rainy River... There continues to be good numbers of shiners in the river, and consequently, there are good walleyes in the river as well. Walleyes along with saugers, pike and some sturgeon are coming in up and down the river. Most walleyes are being caught in 10-25 feet of water in various stretches of the river. Jigging with live or frozen emerald shiners is the key. Some anglers are also still slow trolling crankbaits upstream to cover more ground and find fish. Both methods are producing solid results. Sturgeon fishing remains strong. The catch-and-release sturgeon fishing is open into the spring when it changes to the "keep season" on April 24th. Up at the NW Angle... As temps are getting colder, most are in the woods hunting and not fall fishing, however, for those who bundle up, fishing continues to be excellent. A nice mixed bag with walleyes, saugers, perch, pike and crappies being caught. Very good muskie fishing with the colder water temps and shorter days. Some big fish and some good numbers are being caught amongst the islands. Both casting and trolling is getting it done.

I hunt in the rifle zone so I don't have a need to use a shotgun to hunt deer, but I would be looking at this if there was ever a need to. There could be state legislation introduced next summer that eliminates the shotgun zone completely. It has bipartisan support. Wisconsin removed theirs years ago and MN is usually later to follow. They've tried to pass it more than once and it came up just short both times. Probably just a matter of time.

Oh, h e l l no!

Screw that, here's whatch need! Power-Shok Rifled Slug 10 Gauge 766 Grain Grain Weight: 766 Shotshell Length: 3-1/2in / 89mm Muzzle Velocity: 1280

20 ga has become a real popular deer round in the last 5 or so years. The rifled barrels are zinging those sabot slugs with rifle like accuracy out to 100 yards easily. Some go so far as dialing in for a 200 yard shot but really, by 150 they’re falling off pretty low. I have a single shot Ultraslug in 20 ga that shoots really well at 100 yards. Most everyone I know that has bought a slug gun lately has gotten the Savage 220 in 20ga. Problem can be finding the shells you want.

My son always bugs me about getting a nice light over-under 20ga for grouse hunting. I say Heck no, I'm getting a 3 1/2" 10ga so I can put as much lead in the air that I can!! So, I'm keeping my 12ga.

That’s almost exactly what I was thinking. Have slug barrels for both One for turkey and one for deer. I have a 20ga mosseberg as well. (Combo came with the scope but never used. I always liked the 12 better

Wanderer is right on the money and covered it well. I was wondering too if you had a slug barrel for one of your guns? If so you could make that your slug gun with a scope, and the other your turkey gun with the Red dot. As you can afford it.

Kinda depends on if you want magnification or quick target acquisition. More magnification options and better accuracy with a scope. You get what you pay for too so get comfortable with a budget for one. Tasco and Bushnell work but I find they lose their zero easier, have low contrast and don’t gather light well in low light conditions. That said, I’m still using one I haven’t replaced yet. Vortex has been the hot brand for the past several years for bang for the buck. Good products. Nothing beats Swarovski though. Huge dough for those. Burris is another decent option. There are some specific models for shotgun/slug hunting in the economy brands and bullet drop compensation (BDC) reticles. Based on experience I’d recommend not falling for that marketing ploy. Red dots are usually lower magnification and easier to get on target. Reasonably accurate but don’t do well with definition, like searching the brush for your target. I put a HAWKE red dot on a .22 for squirrels and it’s been good. For turkey, that’s probably the route I’d go. If your slug shots are normally not too far and too brushy, I’d think a red dot could work there too if you’re only buying 1 scope. You’ll be better off dimming the reticle to the lowest setting you can easily use to not over shine the target and get a finer aim point. If you don’t have a slug barrel, you might appreciate one of those. I had a browning with a smoothbore slug barrel that shot Brenneke 2-3/4 inch well. The 11-87 would well fitted with a cantelever rifled barrel.

Looking for recommendations on scope or red dot I basically hunt turkey and whitetail, live in southern MN. So it’s all deer/ shotgun looking to add a scope/ red dot as my eyes don’t work like they used to to with the open sights. my gun options are 11/87 12. Browning BPS 12 not looking for the most expensive or the cheapest pros and cons of one over the other

That's good news. I haven't seen any ice in Black Bay yet, but it looks like the small bays should start to freeze up this weekend. Hopefully we make some ice next week. Below is the forecast for Cook. We should have temps mostly below zero . The bottom section below shows that it should not be windy, and no snow is predicted. All good signs for making ice.

Go gettem.

Haven't heard that but have heard from several people they've seen wolves out hunting. Obviously I cannot harvest those but hopefully I'll get some coyotes and bobcats this upcoming trapping season

11/15/24 The ringnecks are finally here, and some mallards and gadwalls are starting to show up. We have decoyed some flocks of 30-50 ringers the past couple weekends, with one mixed flock of ringnecks and bluebills number around 100. Some new, more cooperative mallards have joined the bag as well. The cold coming up this week should get the late migration of the hardiest ducks (mallards, bluebills, buffleheads, goldeneyes, common mergansers) as well as big Canada geese and Tundra Swans started. Still worried the best mallard, bluebill, and goldeneye hunting will come after our early closure of ducks before Thanksgiving this year. Good luck, and happy and safe end of the season everyone.

Kettle, I ran into a local in the woods last week I've known for 30 years. He said t here's no shortage of wolves. He told me wolves took down a deer like 20 yards in front of the main door of the bigfork high school. You heat anything about it?? Guess the school is trying to pass it off on German Shepards.

Then your wife yelled, get up it's time for work!! And that dream was over!

I posted a report in the local Moose thread. I saw 52 deer last week, by far the most I've ever seen in a season. It was my 30th season. I did not fill my buck tag because nearly every buck I saw was a dink. I did fill a bonus antlerless tag with a plump corn fed doe, but I'll save everyone the waste of time looking at a doe since we've all seen one of those. The wildlife in general has gone off the charts, as I also saw about 60 wild turkeys and stopped counting pheasants at 200 by day 4.

I saw 52 deer in 6.5 days of hunting last week in zone 225 northeast of Princeton. Its by far the most deer I've seen in a season, by more than double. 16 of those deer were bucks. Unfortunately, 15 of those bucks were dinks being 6 pointers or smaller. I only saw one sizable buck that appeared to be a big 8 or 10 pointer briefly as it was bounding through brush/timber behind me, and it did not present a shot. I saw several mature does with triplet fawns. I did fill a bonus antlerless tag with a plump corn fed doe on opening morning for the freezer. I also saw about 60 wild turkeys and too many pheasants to count. Its obvious to me that the wildlife is flourishing like I've never seen before. I've hunted Central MN for 25-30 years and its never been like this on all fronts with the wildlife. One morning I thought a flock of about 40 mallards landed on the field and as it got brighter, I realized they were all pheasants, not ducks. I think it had to be the fake winter we had. There's no other explanation for the explosion in wildlife.

I have not heard of a buck harvested this year in the bigfork or Effie area

Dang, that kinda sucks. My deer sightings went way down this weekend. 2 Saturday and 2 today but those might’ve been the same 2.

Yea nope o seen 1 live deer all week during shooting hours, no headgear!

I have a hood friend that lives maybe 2 blocks from that Runnings to the east. He's right on the edge of a wooded area, I bet that's one of the bucks he feeds. I was at his place not long ago and seen 5 different deer, maybe that 8 but he said there's 1 bigger

It's bound to happen unfortunately, glad you're doing okay

It was. First one in a long time - but not my first one…