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So how was everyones muzzy season opening wknd?


Realtor Boy

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seen a fawn and two does tonight. The first two were doe and fawn were moven no shot the second doe about 3 min later came in runing to then stoped and was looken back had the bead on her then grunts start comeing from were they all came from she takes off again and no buck comes out that was at 3:30 sat till dark he never showed.

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They aer moving, but either really late with the full moon and or they are staying in the corn. The last week I have hunted a corn field. They come out of that to go to the bean stubble and beet field.

Deer in our area are in the corn. We pushed some woods and saw few deer, like 2-5 per woods, which is terrible in our area. But i sit and watch corn and see 10 coming out of it. With the fresh snow I only see tracks around corn fields, or going to them.

I don't believe we have the numbers of deer and we have had, but the best areas of numbers are in the corn fields.

So are you just hunting the edge of the cornfield hoping they will come out? I have all hardwoods around the corn field I hunt.

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I sat all day Saturday, Sunday(until game time), and Monday until about an hour before sunset. Saw nothing in the woods. I had to go to town to get propane and gas and as I was leaving I could see in the neighbors field across the highway that there was about 100+ deer standing out in his alfalfa field. Well I guess I at least know where all the deer were. So I went pheasant hunting on Tuesday with better luck. 2 birds by 12:30.

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Yes- they are bedding in the field and some come out right before dark to feed on a bean stubble or the beet field next to it. They are 1/2 -3/4 mile from any woods. There is a big woods to the east, west, and north, but they rather stay in the corn. Biggest reason for this is that nobody can bother them in the corn.

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Shot this one at 3:30 tonight 130 yards across a open swamp double lunged it and it went farther then any deer I have shot before.

deer09012.jpg

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16.5 inside my wife is very happy now I'm tagged out but I did tell her I might do some party hunting now.

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the 1st sunday moring of the season I missed a small 6 or 8 pointer. I went out monday and friday moring always saw deer out there. and it was always before I could shoot. but today the 2nd sunday I have a herd of deer trotting by me and I took a doe i lunged her. and this is my 2nd deer I ever shot and there was lung meat all over the place and she went less then a 100 yards. there was blood every where very clean kill.

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Looks like tag soup for me this year. 1st year since 1997 I haven't put meat in the freezer.

I was out Friday and Saturday near Grand Rapids. Only saw a doe and fawn about 300yds away.

The deer werent moving Friday. Walking around I found found beds melted down to the leaves with no snow on them (and it was snowing) so I must have jumped the deer but didn't see or hear them.

Judging by the tracks, the deer moved Friday night but Saturday was slow again (and cold).

Saturday afternoon we heard a dog barking like crazy and he ended up chasing several deer through the property we were hunting but there were no opportunities to shoot deer or dog.

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Was out near Cromwell this weekend. COLD, and no movement on the deer end. Had some movement due to pushing/ walking. I got one doe on saturday morning due to a nice little push from some friends. Other than that, it was a bust. Big woods and lack of designated food areas makes for an adventure with a muzzleloader. Lots of big swamps for them to hide in and get food, shelter, and safety all in one... Better luck next year. Sure was nice to be outside!

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Last weekend hunted public land in no man's land here up north. First time ever in approaching 2 decades of muzzy hunting saw more muzzy hunters than deer. People competing for spots. Saw 28 hunters and 2 deer and 2 Conservation officers! Trucks/ATV's pounding the roads/trails scouting for sign. Any decent sign concentrated the hunters in those areas. At least this year no one came behind us to tell us to leave "their" spot of public land like we had happen last year. Muzzy for us on public land has morphed into another rat race firearms season. Hopefully people will be nice as the competition/crowding increases. Afraid opposite is more likely based on recent experiences.

lakevet

Note to self: work harder/smarter to buy enough land so kids/grandkids will have a quiet place to muzzy hunt.

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ive hunted every day but 2 of the muzzy season on public land and I have not seen 1 other hunter nor have I heard any shots.

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ive hunted every day but 2 of the muzzy season on public land and I have not seen 1 other hunter nor have I heard any shots.

Have you seen any deer though?

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Originally Posted By: SledNeck
ive hunted every day but 2 of the muzzy season on public land and I have not seen 1 other hunter nor have I heard any shots.

Have you seen any deer though?

not as many as I would like!

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Deer tend to bunch up/ concentrate during muzzy season and move less to conserve energy. Fewer areas that are "hotspots" than earlier in the fall and you have to hunt closer to the hotspot. Hunters concentrate on these bunched up deer, resulting in one seeing more hunters.

lakevet

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I finally got a nice doe this morning.first shot I have had this season

mossy

Nice job.. Any pics?

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November 30th connected on a mature buck, 7:54 AM running wild until I stopped him. Only mature buck I've seen during shooting hours since the all-season tag began so roughly a decade to see 1 shooter. Got 1,200 acres of private farms,river,creeks to hunt so basically they are nearly completely nocturnal every season in my area and we won't like usual start seeing daylight deer until January kicks in, depends a lot on the cold and snow though, usually the colder it is I get to see a few staging deer, the scary thing is about 700 acres of standing corn to hunt, we almost walked every row of it last weekend and saw no tracks, few chewed on cobs, and saw 0 deer. We assumed from rifle that must be where they are, we didn't realize the population is as low as it is in our area. 5 Years ago the farmers wanted us to blast them out of season almost there were so many, now they ask me what happened etc. 1st time in 20 years we saw nothing combining ? Oh well, they'll bounce back again.

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yeah too bad to can't shoot 5 deer again this year like we did a few years ago. That was the dumest thing the DNR could of ever done.

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It's a combo of the 2. I never thought I'd see the day as a kid where you could tag nearly as many deer (5) as you could geese (2), pheasant (2), northerns (3), get my drift ? We had the early doe, 5 for years, and I haven't seen a doe in 3 seasons and haven't shot one since 1986. You'd think well the bucks must be really running because there aren't many doe opportunities around but that's not the case, the few does maybe are attracting many suitors. It was hard to see my dad not at least buy a license this year, he burned his tag every season basically since 1991. He was an old Muzzy guy that skipped rifle for solitude, those 10,000 voices weren't enough, now instead of 2 days of pressure the people have propaned their deer stands and can hunt or be in them enough to screw up what little chance you have for 25 mornings and evenings surrounding your property lines. Dad wants no part of it.

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I completely agree with you --- But if a person loves the sport its hard not to interact in it. It would be very tough for me to sit out a season..

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The new muzzy hunters feel the season is great because they are used to the zoo of the regular firearms season. The muzzy hunters who experienced the muzzy season as it was originally intended to be see it eventually heading in the direction of becoming the zoo they so desperately wanted to leave behind . 10 years from now the muzzy hunters who started hunting the past couple years will be talking about the good old days back in 2009 when muzzy wasn't so crowded. All depends on what you are used to. Deer are moving less and definitely go nocturnal more with the increased hunter opportunities to be afield. Deer aren't going extinct and will rebound. Hunters who prefer to spend time hunting deer and not spend alot of hunt time strategizing around other hunters they compete against for the deer will steadily drop out of hunting even if deer numbers rebound. My Dad would have quit hunting over 15 yrs ago if it weren't for the muzzy season. The headaches of the regular season far outweighed the enjoyment and passion.

Hopefully cold weather and new ice will thin the number of people in the woods these last 2 days.

lakevet

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still havent seen another muzzy hunter this year

I was suprised I didnt see one this morning. It was -15F and the deer were really moving.

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I have only seen 2 muzzy hunters this year and I have hunted every evening from last fri until today. Im on state land too..

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I hear ya, my dad just can't take any more of the craziness. The muzzy hunters really dropped after the opening weekend with cold etc. and lots of them likely bagged a deer before it opened anyway so why cont. to go out. Couple friends bagged 2 brutes this weekend, persistence paid off. I wish I could post the pictures of them but they didn't want me to, one was 4 1/2 or 5 1/2 with a very thick rack. The other buck looks 3 1/2 meaning you can tell it's not a first or 2nd year buck, they wonder if the ones they got if they've passed on them in the past, I said well if you didn't someone else likely did. Between the 2 guys they saw 11 bucks this rifle/muzzy season counting the 2 they got. Both Ottertail County and both in that kind of terrain you'd expect old bucks to live in and have the chance to get old in.

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