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Opening weekend reports


tunrevir

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Just south of Onamia, zone 157 side of the street-

Have yet to see anything but birds from the stand. Going to take a slow walk around the property this afternoon to see if I can find any sign at all or if I am truely in the Dead Sea

Things are looking bleak. With any luck the snow will hold this week and next week will be different.

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Had a doe and 2 fawns at 20 yards but all three were really small. The girl I bring out saw a big 8 chasing does and couldn't get a shot. Another guy in our group shot a decent 8.This is all not far from Stacy zone 227.

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Saw 3 does yesterday morning. First blasted by on the run and another was following behind. Was sure it was a buck chasing, but no. Never got a shot at the first and passed on the second. Another doe came in a little later in the morning. Nothing seen after 9:00 all day. This morning had a doe come through and bust my son and I in our ladder stand. About an hour later another big doe comes by and we decided it was time to put her on the ground. Big doe who did me the favor of running to within 40 yards of the road before dying. I have no idea how these deer do it. I put a 12 gauge slug through both lungs and turned her heart into hamburger. She went at least 150 yards before expiring. Looking forward to buck hunting the next two weekends. Heard quite a few shots yesterday morning and enough today to keep things exciting. Hunting 157 around Brook Park/ Mora area. Dropped the doe off at Corts processing in Braham. They seemed to have a lot of good sized bucks dropped off. I was surprised how big my doe looked next to all the bucks, not that much smaller.

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We headed back today lots of doe over the past couple days which is promising, saw one small fork horn doing a drive for my wife last night but he stood and stared at me instead of running toward my wife. We went 2 for 5 for the group one buck one doe.

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My son and I were near Pine river. Didn't see a deer in the howling wind of the morning sit on Saturday. Trying to take matters into our own hands we set out to stalk since it worked before. Had one doe 20 yards jump out of the swamp but quickly Behind the nastiest brush and no shot. Walk another 40 yards and see the flag of another deer running off. The afternoon sit became more interesting. We sat from noon to 520. My son slept for 2.5 hrs of that lol.

I was looking HIS direction and I see movement. A deer. I wake him up and say deer over there. It ended up being a spike but he sure was smart. Wandered through the edge of the thick stuff and no clean shot eventhouth he was only 50 yards away. We lost sight of him then I turn to focus on MY SIDE. I had a window about 10 yards wide that I could see for 75 yards. Well an ENORMOUS Buck walks through. I nudge the kid and say "monster monster buck!" The grey haired beauty disappeared and I just told him to be quiet and not move as we positioned him to get a shot. 15 seconds passed and I told him be patient he is coming this way. He raises his arm up to demonstrate something I have yet to figure out and BOOM the deer takes off. Couldn't even see it!

That is the last I will see of that deer I am sure. He was a beauty. I didn't care that it was the biggest buck I had ever seen while hunting, I wanted my son to have the first chance. I could have shot that spike but waited for him to get a good shot. Didn't happen. Well that may be our season but I wouldn't have it any other way.

"Dad now I know why you tell me not to move and be quiet" YUP!!!!

Today we didn't hunt much. Wife out of state and needed to get ready for snow so left early only saw a fawn. Still fun maybe another chance next weekend.

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I have to tell ya my trigger finger was itchy. Lol it would mean way more to me if one of my boys shot a deer any deer even if that means a bigger one than I have shot. I was sure hoping the big dog would make a mistake and we had a chance but like I told my son "that's why they call it hunting not shooting". He felt bad and was all apologetic. I said I have been there and done that but I was much older. I hope you are now better prepared. :-)

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Area 183 near kerrick in Nemadji forest. 5 guys, 1 fork horn seen and 1 wolf. Deer herd here may be in serious trouble, put 12-20 inches of snow here tomorrow and it will only get worse.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

Zone 172, heard maybe 15 shoots around us all weekend, Slow! Cold, windy, snow on Sunday. Went 0-7 guys. I did pass up two spikes at 5 and 10 yards which were the only deer our whole group had seen but we have two more weekends and no one wanted to party hunt in or group. Talked to 3 other large groups in the area, big O zero for all of them. Did hear Yotes and Wolf calls mornings and evenings.

Son did have about 25 Turkey's feeding around him for a few hours which gave him something to look at and we had lots of Swan's flying over head and one Bob Cat did a walk by.

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Area 240. Had my daughter with for her first hunt.

We saw 1 deer in two days. Not even sure what it was, just saw a deer in the brush and watched it disappear.

We shot no deer in a party of 5 this weekend. 3 does were passed on as we decided prior to the hunt that we would take none this year. Hoping trigger restraint helps whats become very poor hunting the past handful of years.

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Nothing for the weekend for us 0-4. Area 246. We did get some does and fawns around this morning, no doe tags though.

Talked to the nearest two camps(16 people) and nearest private owner (5 hunters) 1 young man (youth) shot his first deer, a doe. No other deer shot, between all groups.

Number of shots Sat. Was higher than I anticipated but well below normal. Today nearly non-existent.

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We hunted the Forest Lake area and finally saw some deer on Sunday evening. Ended up seeing two smaller bucks both wandering through the area, one at 430 and another at 5. My son didn't get any shots. Neighboring hunters got one of the two judging from the proximity of the shot. Snowstorm should get them up and feeding if not this morning then Tuesday night after the storm.

Tunrevir~

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I saw many deer, from Friday afternoon through Saturday I saw approx 50 deer with 10 being bucks. Was going to wait and go back up this week but plans changed with another chance to hunt elsewhere. So, I the the next 8 pointer that strolled by. Far as the rut, bucks were moving a small amount, few scrapes around but the majority of the does still carrying their fawns. This next week at least for the area I was in in North Dakota should have the bucks moving very well. Every year it seems the rut does not get going strong till mid November.

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As far as the weather Friday afternoon, wind was 30 plus with gusts to 50 but I still saw deer moving. Saturday morning was approx 29 with 8 mph winds. Saturday aft had winds of 10-12mph. Overall for the winds blowing, I though the deer moved very well. The North Dakota Game Fish have out very few tags due to the low deer population but I can say that with the deer I saw, numbers have to be much better than they realize. Soft winter or two and our area will have more than enough deer.

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SNOW STORM COMING BE CAREFULL

Saw a couple pickups this morning sitting in approaches on my way into work. About 2-3 inches on the ground so far but starting to blow pretty good.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Hunted in 156 near Rutledge. Lots of buck sign where we were hunting but almost no sightings. Buddy shot a nice 8 pointer. I sat stand for 21 hours and not a single deer seen and very few shots fired in the area. Hope things improve although I have to move my son to Thief River Falls next weekend. Maybe get out Sunday and most of 3rd weekend.

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There is plenty of corn available stacked on pallets for sale at the Fleet Farm gas station in Alex.

Hunted south of there. Deer numbers in my local area seem good, not sure about the whole permit area. There seems to be fewer shots and fewer hunters every year. I think the remaining hunters are getting more selective as well.

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Hunting in the Motley area. Saturday morning saw 9 deer on the walk in about 1 1/2 hours before shooting. I was amazed that they didn't bolt...just stood and watched from 30 yards away. At legal shooting I had a doe 10 yards away directly to my right. I was waiting for her to move in front of me when I heard the sound of a stick breaking to my left. It was another hunter 50 yards away walking to his stand. GRR! I knew it was make or break it time, so I whirled around to try to get a quick shot...didn't work. I saw one other deer mid day in the thick brush, couldn't get a shot on that one either. Hunting partner saw 5 throughout the day Saturday, but couldn't get shots on any. All told, 16 deer seen on Saturday, which is more than the last 5 years combined. Zero on Sunday morning.

My theme for the weekend was hunters coming from an adjoining piece of private land using a swamp crossing 50 yards in front of me. 5 guys made a total of 24 trips up and down that trail on Saturday. Every single trip was during legal shooting hours. Definitely won't be setting up on that spot again.

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Sounds like they're getting brave and hungry. That's a bit scary. I had mountain lion tracks on my tracks one day out in CO elk hunting. Never saw the cat but still puts a chill down your spine seeing big cat tracks in the snow on top of your tracks from earlier.

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An average opener for us by Leonard. Between 3 of us we saw 17 deer Sat. and 6 on Sunday morning. One took a small 8 ptr Sunday, and I chose not to pull the trigger on the numerous does seen.Had 14 doe/fawns in my field at 4 pm Sunday, but their my pets,so no shooting. Beautiful weather sitting in the woods. Those sitting on the fields had a chilly weekend. Good Luck. Taz

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Group of 5 we finished with 3 decent bucks and saw 25 does over the weekend. 246 public land we hunted lots of deer to be seen and I've never seen so many deer coming and going from the woods we hunt. Most deer we have seen hands down in 30 years of hunting the area.

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Seen around 50 deer Saturday morning...about 6 or 7 were bucks...one bigger one chasing the doe ground around in the center of the property. My son seen him the closest that morning but couldn't get a shot...came within about 150yds of me but waited. Seen around 30 deer Sat evening along with same bucks. Bigger one came by my son twice but he didn't get a shot. Then he came by stand I was in with a friend...around 25yds so he took him. 9 heavy points with one kicker...brute of a deer and all we could do to get him in the truck. Probably score around 150. Next morning we seen about 30 again. Sunday night the deer really came out and must have seed close to 60 along with some new bucks...there were 4 really nice bucks just out from me with a couple that were really nice. Son ended up shooting a 9 with a kicker...first buck for him at 12yrs old so he was pretty thrilled.

Was really fun watching the deer select different food plots. The one most liked was the forage radish plot mixed with Peas&Oats...they would were pulling the radish up with the root and then chewing down the root...they were specifically picking the radish out and working the stem to make sure they got the root.

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Zone 173. More wolves sighted than deer. One guy had one follow him just 20 yards behind him.

I hunted 173 as well. I hunted from Wednesday to Fri bow, and gun hunted Saturday and Sunday. I saw 3 does and one wolf that entire time a little over 50 hours on stand. I am normally looking at 15-20 animals in that time including some quality bucks.

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Our group of 8 hunted in 184. We saw a grand total of 2 deer all weekend for the group, one doe and and one fawn on opening day. I had an anterless tag but I am not into killing fawns so I let it walk. Pretty much takes the fun out of it when you aren't even seeing deer.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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