Deer Hunters

[McGurk]

Feel free to report in afterwards, deer or otherwise. I'd love to hear some response like we had last year. I'll be out from Saturday through Tuesday.

Also, any wolf sign, sightings, or stories would be welcome, too. Good Luck and Be Safe out there!

[slammer]

Walked public land today. No deer and very few hunters. Not much for deer sign either. Will try again tomorrow.

[McGurk]

Hardly any sign by Vining. Went 3 for 9. One 8 pt and 2 button bucks. Not many does seen.

[bak2MN]

Me and my two boys got three bucks! two small ones and my oldest with a very nice 8 pointer. Another party shot 12 bucks and no does in a day and half.

[hunter3]

And people wonder why we don't have any big bucks around any more. One party alone shoots 12 buck no does and I am willing to bet 9-10 of those bucks where small bucks. What is wrong with passing on a small buck and shooting a doe!!!!!

[hockeybc69]

Another Vining area report here.

0 for 5. We decided this year that no does would be taken, as the last handful of years has really gone sour for deer sightings. 3 antlerless deer were passed as well as one 6 pt.

Had my daughter with for her first deer hunt and we saw the outline of one deer in the brush for the weekend.

Neighbors to east didnt see a single deer(2 guys).

Neighbors to the west shot 2 for 7, including a dandy 9 I had on camera. They claimed they only saw 2 deer for the group for the weekend.

Another group north of us a couple miles that I know, they went 3 for 8.

[BoxMN]

Granddaughter and I didnt see anything Saturday (excpet when we "Helped" friend vaccinate some cattle, then we did see doe and two fans). A buddy shot a nice buck Sat morn, and told us to use his stand Sunday morning in a slightly different area. A doe and fawn came in perfect, but her shot at doe was a clean miss at about 70-80 yards. We will practice more with shooting without a rest this summer.

We had a great trip though and she did great, not complaining once despite staring into the NW wind the whole time.

[jerkin'm]

We saw more deer in 240 than we have seen in a long time - we were 6 for 7 after Sunday morning- 3 nice bucks- 3 small bucks- nobody shot any does. We had kids with and that's generally why small bucks will go down in our group, not that I need an excuse to shoot what I want anyway....

[Gissert]

Good opening day in 239 for my nephew and I. He missed a big 10 at 7am the first day. Found where the bullet plugged a 5 inch tree right in front of where he was standing. He got an 8 pt a half hour later. I got a doe in the afternoon. It was sighting #12 when I pulled the trigger. Were hunting 65 acres of oak woods, pines and a smallish plowed corn stubble field. Does were not standing, and at least three bucks were pushing all day long. I saw more deer in a few hours than I had in the last several seasons combined. That said, a crew of 7 just across the road took two does for the weekend, and they saw very little movement. Local reports have been very spotty as far as success.

[McGurk]

And people wonder why we don't have any big bucks around any more. One party alone shoots 12 buck no does and I am willing to bet 9-10 of those bucks where small bucks. What is wrong with passing on a small buck and shooting a doe!!!!!

No big bucks vs. no deer at all, I guess.

small herd= shoot a buck

large herd= shoot a doe/antlerless

[hoppe56307]

small herd= shoot a buck

large herd= shoot a doe/antlerless

That the way I see it too. I would have no problem passing on a smaller buck if I know that there is a chance of a big doe is going to come by, but with the deer sightings down and deer numbers down I have no problem shooting a small buck.

[bak2MN]

I was hunting with my 14 year old and 17 year old. I shot a spike which I thought was a doe. My oldest shot the big 8 and the 4 pointer. I will not limit my kids a shot a deer. Buck or doe I don't care.

[hunter3]

I sorry I should have clarified myself. I do agree with you kids should shoot what they like. we need to keep kids involved in hunting and telling them to shoot is not the way too do that.

[Tripleplay]

New lease up near Butler. Son and I saw a ton of fawns on opening day! He saw a dozen deer of which he took the only big doe he saw and he caught just a glimpse of a big deer out in the swamp so 10 little ones left for next year. (He wore chest waders out to his stand!)I saw eight total on opening day of which I also caught a glimpse just on the neighbors property of a big deer, and I saw the big doe he took and one other big doe that I apparently missed right at the end of shooting hours Saturday evening. (pretty sure that we saw four of the same deer in our counts) Sunday morning I took a very big doe at 7:05AM and our season was done.

Let a buddy hunt the lease after that and his small group took a big bodied spike and another doe. All in all a very successful season with abunch of fawns we hope make it through the winter for next year.

[tacklebox7FF]

yeah hopefully not as hard of winter on the deer...it'll be real tough on fawns along with the coyotes and wolves

[O.T.C.]

No doubt on doe harvest Hockey, my tcams in area 240, 3 different farms, not that I catch em all but 1 cam had 0 fawns, 1 doe, and 12 different bucks. Cam #2 had 2 does and 4 fawns and 9 bucks. Cam # 3. had 5 bucks, 4 does and 3 fawns to the best I could tell the does and fawns apart. I put them out October 16th that MEA Thursday and I collect them after I sit the stand(s) closest to them once rifle is underway so the tally was 26 bucks, 7 does and 7 fawns. No wonder there was so little to none buck chasing does in my areas, there weren't many to breed where I'm at and how many were bred b4 rifle opened ? Must not have been much to sniff in the dark fields where the bucks connect with estrous does, few were available and they had to have been bedded down or someone woulda saw some chasing someplace, in our truck lights late we saw some bucks running around on our gravel etc. but by legal light forget it I guess, saw maybe some wolf tracks too idk, are the deer used to wolves in 240 or how or does it change things some idk.

[McGurk]

Welcome OTC! Nice writeup, and I too think the scrapes dried up in our woods before opener.

[O.T.C.]

One final report, the more I play it in my mind, certain wolf sighting south of NYM thankfully a tall loner Friday AM at 5:38AM. My uncles in the leaf river bottom reported wolves on trailcams but that's normal now, not unusual. The run is from Bluffton to Deer Creek to Henning, that's wolf territory now I guess. The first certain wolf track I ever saw in that river bottom was in 2008. I know I wish the NW quota wouldn't have been met so quickly. Will get a full report over x-mas from likely the best source of wolf information in that area.