How goes the scouting

[monstermoose78]

I have been watching does and fawn and some turkeys out at my old mans place. I have not seen a buck yet. I have another place to deer hunt this fall and I need to get a stand up out there. The land owners have told me about a big buck they have seen for 2 years now and they fairly sure it is the same big buck. Last fall he was slightly bigger than the year before.

Turkeys they seemed to had a good hatch this spring lots of little ones with the hens at both places.

Duck numbers seem to be up my dads pond has a good number of bluewings, woodducks, and even 2 groups of mallards. Geese have been in and out of the pond all summer, but have now moved to the neighbors pond like normal.

Pheasants have been seen and heard. I have seen one brood of grouse behind my dad's house before the pond. There is 5 or 6 they did not stand out in the open to long.

Just getting pumped up for hunting and was wondering what you all are seeing?

Good Luck and may your freezers fill up with game.

[MJ1657]

Lots of deer sign my way between Cambridge and Bradford. I'm regularly seeing 6 bucks on my trail cam with one being a real bruiser.

[certified jumbo]

Deer sign around Cambridge and isanti looks decent. Obviously not as many as five years ago. But regularly seeing a fair amount including a few decent bucks.

[Archerysniper]

I still haven't seen a buck this year and I may see one deer every other week around here. I'm glad I have a elk tag because hunting around here looks poor.

[monstermoose78]

The bugs seem to back in full force. Saw 2 does and 3 fawns and what looks to be 2 yearlings in the clover patch. The ducks are still in the pond. The number of geese in town seems to be growing.

[monstermoose78]

Well for the reports I have heard so far the goose season has been great. 4 of the 5 groups of guys have shot close to limits of geese. I can say I seen a few flocks flying around and some loners honking like mad. There seems to be good number of ducks still around, however it looks like it will get cold next week and could push the bluewings and some woodies out of the area.

O the deer front my sister started seeing a nice 9 point she said it is bigger that my brother that he mounted but it has a broke point. This deer has been coming into the back yard around 7 to 8 pm for the last 3 nights. I hope this deer keeps this up for another week.

No pheasant reports or grouse reports. One guy I know has been having a blast on doves. He said they are hard to hit and he shoots about 2 boxes of shells when goes out.

That is all I got so far\.

Good Luck !!

[monstermoose78]

It is to bad the city of Princeton will not let people shoot in the city limits. There must be close to 150 geese in the softball fields at Mark park this morning. Sandhill cranes have been using the fields as well. If I was thinking I would get out the goose call and practice calling. I have been seeing lots of teal and woodducks and fair amount of mallards in the area.

I have not been out in the deer stand yet. My sister did tell me yesterday she seen a very nice buck eating acorns in the back yard at my old mans place. If I can knock out my house work and homework I will make my way over to my old mans place tonight.

[monstermoose78]

Well tomorrow morning will bring the duck season upon us. I have seen a good number of ducks around the area. Bluewing Teal are still around which should give most groups some fun targets to shoot at. Wood Ducks seem to be every where in the family groups. Mallards are around I have seen them in fields and some ponds. If you can find some wild rice you should have good hunt. I will be out in the heat with my old man. I am not worried about to many ducks being hurt during our opening day hunt, because we are not good shots and that is being really nice to both of us. Good Luck to the fellow duck hunters out there.

The buck that was eating the acorns in my dad's back yard does not like to come and eat them on the days I go hunting. I think in due time this deer and I will cross paths.

I have been seeing more pheasants on my way to St. Cloud lately. Today I seen 4 roosters and 3 hens.

[monstermoose78]

Well my scouting paid off! Kind of any ways. My dad and I got set up and were ready for the ducks about 15 minutes before legal shooting time. Time to relax yeah right the bugs was were so bad. We cracked out the bug spray and therma cell things were okay with the therma cell going until it ran out of juice. The bug spray was being reapplied on a very regular basis. 5 minutes before shooting time the first flock of teal buzzed our heads. My dad did not see them until buzzed his head. 3 minutes to shooting time 4 wood ducks came by my dad says today will be a good day. Shooting time comes and nothing for 15 minutes. My dad starts looking in the direction I am watching and bingo some more teal do a fly buy but they came for the direction he should have been looking. I see a group of wood ducks coming towards us. Just as they got into range I yell take em we shoot I get two shots of and jammed, so get the stuck shell out. My dad fired all 3 times and nothing. Ducks 5 us nothing. I reload and see a pair of wood ducks coming to us. This time I wait until they are 20 yards from us and yell take em. Bang goes my gun and jammed my dad fires 3 shots again and no ducks fall. Ducks 9 us nothing. I look at my gun and the ejector broke looks like I am duck hunting with a single shot and I have to pick the shell out. Great. Well we buzzed again from the direction my dad was watching and did not see them coming. I gave him more dump for not seeing the ducks and asked if he needed new glasses. We had flock of 7 wood ducks coming at us again we do not get any ducks to hit the floor. Ducks 13 us nothing. My dad is digging in the cooler for ham and cheese and here comes a flock of mallards I get off one shot and he says what are you shooting at. Then he sees all the mallards. Ducks 14 us nothing. My dad goes back to eating his ham and cheese and I looked the way he needs to watch and see 2 wood ducks coming at us. I wait and wait and do say a word and stand up and bang down goes the drake wood duck. I would have a picture of the prize but it was not a pretty thing. I ended up shooting almost a box of shells and I don't know how many shells my dad used. We ended up with just the one drake wood duck. I enjoy making the ducks smarter for the next hunters. I was great to hang out with the old man and we laughed at our ability to hit a duck. It was a great hunt. Good Luck to the rest of you.

[monstermoose78]

Well I heard not so good reports about ducks and some great ones it is a mixed bag. I have been to busy to hunt ducks with homework. I might make it out this weekend.

I am praying we get a good frost to kill the bugs. I need to get out and try for a buck with the crossbow.

I have seen a few roosters around. Mostly on my way to and from St Cloud, but I have seen some on the back roads. I have not seen a grouse for a while.

[monstermoose78]

This morning tried different spot with the cousin's future husband. It looked good saw about 3 groups of ducks far far away. About 830 we got buzzed by hen wood duck but it kept flying. As we were packing up a wood duck just above tree top flew over and I was ready just in time for shot rate over my head. As normal it kept going like I was shooting blanks. It was nice to hunt with him. We will hunt together more in the future. Once we loaded the boat the geese started flying around, but our ladies wanted to meet for breakfast.

After breakfast I went over to my dad's and found a scrape and rub and lots of deer tracks. If it stays cool I will have to go try and get a deer.

[MJ1657]

Sounds like a fun day. I've got my layout blinds setting in some corn stubble. Mollie and I are going to see if we can get some honkers to visit us in the morning.

[MJ1657]

Well the geese didn't cooperate. I hunt on the east side of Lake Elizabeth and they decided to get off the lake and head north. It occasionally sounded like the military was practicing.

Going to finish the roof for my deer stand and start getting the walls put up on the platform. I'll probably go do a little scouting for deer sign at some point today.

[monstermoose78]

I was hoping you would have got a few geese.

It seems the strong winds took most of the local wood ducks and teal out of here. I will check out the wildlife drive on Thursday. I like to drive it just to see what kind of ducks are in the area. It helps me decide where I should be hunting.

Pheasants are still showing themselves along highway 95 but not in to many other areas.

I have noticed some woodcocks around.

Good Luck out there.

[monstermoose78]

Well there are still some ducks around but you need to find them. Some divers are trickling in. The geese seem to know what is going on now and are flying before legal shooting hours or after for the most part. If we had a sandhill crane season around here. They seem to be around in fairly good numbers.

Deer are starting to show some more pre-rut activity scrapes and rubs. The one buck I have mentioned before has been seen making a scrape in back yard. I just do not like the idea of shooting a big buck from my old man's deck. Plus I am holding off because I did get drawn for Camp Ripley for the last weekend with my dad.

Thats is all I have for scouting and hunting reports for now. Good Luck

[monstermoose78]

Well the wood ducks were in my dad's pond today. I sneaked down and saw one drake sitting in the closest corner to me. I so I got ready and got that that one only to be surprised when about 25 to 30 wood ducks also jumped when I shot. I do not know how I missed them but I did. They might have been 10 yards away. I waited for the wind to blow my duck to the shore and I had few more wood ducks come banking into the pond but I missed them at less than 20 yards. However my Remmington Sportsman 58 was working awesome. Thank you Gordie! Now if I could hit what I shoot at.

[monstermoose78]

Ducks are still around but you need to look for them a little harder. The little holes are still holding a fair number of wood ducks. The bigger bodies of water are where you will find some divers. Starting to see some green wing teal around and they can make for some fun hunting.

Deer are starting to show more rutting behaviors. Scrapes are popping up and same for rubs. I have not seen a deer that is what I want to harvest as of yet seeing I will be going to camp ripley and do not want to burn my tag yet. There is a pair of yearlings does I have been seeing. The buck that was feeding on acorns is now in the neighbors beans. He must have moved his bedding area, which means the neighbor could get this buck come slug season.

Pheasants have been being shot north of Princeton by some of my friends.

For grouse I did take a drive up to Mille Lacs wildlife area and saw 2 grouse while driving around looking at the fall colors.

[monstermoose78]

The ducks are still around in some areas. I have seen a few wood ducks on my dad's pond and I will jump the pond before I head to Camp Ripley today. Drove around and some some divers looked to be redheads and ringers. The odd thing I noticed today while loading the the truck was that the geese were flying around noon. The Sandhills are around in good numbers.

Pheasants I seen a few roosters north of Princeton the other day. I only saw 2 on my way to and from St Cloud this week on 95.

Deer are getting ready for the rut. Seen a couple little bucks running around.

[monstermoose78]

Well the deer are moving and if the rain stops I will be out chasing them later today. Seen a nice buck on my way out duck hunting this morning.

Ducks well they are around in good numbers from what I saw this morning. They must been following the rain, because as it started to rain the ducks poured in. We missed some of the first shots we had and figured out we were behind them. Once that happened we had a flock of buffies come in and none flew away.

Geese we heard them but never saw them.

Pheasants my dad seen 2 one rooster and hen when went out to hunt after he voted yesterday and let the buck I have been watching know where my stand is. Thanks Dad.

[MJ1657]

Great job on the ducks Monster!

[monstermoose78]

Thanks MJ lots of ducks flying over while I was deer hunting. I had a doe come up to 10 yards with a buck 40 yards behind her. She busted me and the buck stopped, but when she turned board side I let my bolt fly. I found lots of hair and a little blood, but heard a big crash on the edge of the swamp. I decided to let her lay over night. I am pretty sure on my shot, it might have been a hair high.

[monstermoose78]

Well it seems high was low. With the low light I did not see a little branch 5 yards in front of the doe and there is a cut on the bottom of the branch with I believe deflected my bolt low giving the doe a hair cut. I found the bolt today and no blood and no blood to be found. I will be going out again tonight seeing the buck freshened up all the scrapes last night or this morning.

[MJ1657]

Lots of geese coming off Lake Elizabeth yesterday morning. I can hear them making a little noise down there right now. Had 9 swans fly over us when we were on stand last night.

Saw a total of 7 deer yesterday. 3 bucks and 4 does.

Edit: There is one very angry hen mallard on Elizabeth this morning.

[monstermoose78]

Well the duck boats of most of my friends are put away and so is mine. There is so many ducks on the lakes WOW. It would be a crazy hunt if you can do it, but the landings are full of snow and slick.

Deer I have not been out for 2 days now. I am sure the deer are still moving around.

In the next few days the ice will form and I will start checking the lakes.