Moose's Report - Cambridge-Elk River-Foley-Milaca-Mora-Ogilvie Fishing Reports

[monstermoose78]

Anyone seeing any divers around?

[fishingstar]

My kid got some in the Litchfield area this past weekend. He said the wind and cold on Friday they will be gone.

[Wanderer]

Word from Baudette this morning was 1000’s in high gear riding the wind with no looks of stopping.  

[leech~~]

6 hours ago, Wanderer said:

Word from Baudette this morning was 1000’s in high gear riding the wind with no looks of stopping.  

Tons of Geese in the air.

Looks like some "Climate Change" is on the way!

[Wanderer]

13 hours ago, leech~~ said:

Tons of Geese in the air.

Looks like some "Climate Change" is on the way!

Yeah.  Perfect weekend for Ripley.  Wet again most likely.  I should be duckin’ but I gotta go camp instead.  Been a few years missed already.

Edited October 26, 2023 by Wanderer

[Wanderer]

The double file line in camp is at 1 mile now with a steady stream still coming in.  Waiting for some buds with his camper to help set up.  My down range truck is at about 0.1 mi from the front.  

[monstermoose78]

4 hours ago, Wanderer said:

The double file line in camp is at 1 mile now with a steady stream still coming in.  Waiting for some buds with his camper to help set up.  My down range truck is at about 0.1 mi from the front.  

Good luck  

[Wanderer]

Bad start for one crew.

[monstermoose78]

O that sucks 

[Mike89]

WOW!!!  bad for sure!!!   good luck bud!!!   

[leech~~]

4 hours ago, Wanderer said:

Bad start for one crew.

Dang, propane heater or truck go up first?  Wonder why they couldn't pull the truck out?  

Edited October 27, 2023 by leech~~

[Wanderer]

Cold and windy and it seems like everyone knows my spot! LOL!  Well except the deer!

 

One of the guys saw a spike but that’s it

[leech~~]

1 minute ago, Wanderer said:

Cold and windy and it seems like everyone knows my spot! LOL!  Well except the deer!

 

One of the guys saw a spike but that’s it

Bummer, no sad face icons on this drop down.

[Wanderer]

3 minutes ago, leech~~ said:

Dang, propane heater or truck go up first?  Wonder why they couldn't pull the truck out?  

Truck was down wind of the camper.  I couldn’t tell where it started for sure but it appeared to be toward the back.  Maybe by the water heater? Or furnace?

[leech~~]

1 hour ago, Wanderer said:

Truck was down wind of the camper.  I couldn’t tell where it started for sure but it appeared to be toward the back.  Maybe by the water heater? Or furnace?

Keys were probably in the hunting jacket in the blaze.  I would have thought it would only have taken a few seconds to jump in and move it other wise? (like a redneck on the Repro show) 

That must have lit up the night in the old campground.  Did the base have some of their fire crew come and put it out?  

[Wanderer]

I’m assuming it was the Camp FD that got to it but I heard it took some time.

 

Pic from someone else.

 

pic my bud took from near his camper

 

 

Had 2 deer flash by me like lightning at 10:30.  One was nice.  Sammich time now.

 

[leech~~]

4 minutes ago, Wanderer said:

I’m assuming it was the Camp FD that got to it but I heard it took some time.

 

Pic from someone else.

 

pic my bud took from near his camper

 

 

Had 2 deer flash by me like lightning at 10:30.  One was nice.  Sammich time now.

 

Wow, think about it. His and his bodies Bow hunting and ice fishing are screwed for the rest of this year and winter unless they got good insurance.  Think about all the stuff you would bring, sleeping bags, hunting clothes, boots, knives, etc all gone!  

 

Well good luck out there!  

[Wanderer]

We came back with a 3.5 year old doe.  Didn’t weigh her but the staff that does weigh deer put her at about 140 lbs.

 

They were busy weighing this 190 lb buck, which they guessed to be about 190.

[monstermoose78]

I do miss camp

[monstermoose78]

Hope you stick a good @Wanderer

[Wanderer]

3 guys.  No deer seen today.  Not even with 3 hours of driving between the morning and finding another evening spot.  Not even seeing much sign.  Numbers seem LOW.

[leech~~]

3 hours ago, Wanderer said:

3 guys.  No deer seen today.  Not even with 3 hours of driving between the morning and finding another evening spot.  Not even seeing much sign.  Numbers seem LOW.

Sounds like the good old days of having lots of bucks running around or deer with 3 arrows in it run by are done?  

[Wanderer]

16 hours ago, leech~~ said:

Sounds like the good old days of having lots of bucks running around or deer with 3 arrows in it run by are done?  

For now, seems to be the case.  Herd needs rebuilding again and may never be its former self?

 

Numbers are down a bit outside of Camp too so you might expect that in Camp as well but it was kinda ridiculous.  

[leech~~]

1 hour ago, Wanderer said:

For now, seems to be the case.  Herd needs rebuilding again and may never be its former self?

 

Numbers are down a bit outside of Camp too so you might expect that in Camp as well but it was kinda ridiculous.  

Two Q's

1) Are there wolves inside the fence?

2) Was the base always completely fenced in or did that happen after 911 and all the new security systems.  

 

Kind of going on the no new deer or new deer genes in the pool thought.  

 

Heck I remember just driving in and ending up by a bunch of lined up tanks about 30 years ago. 

Not happing today.  

[monstermoose78]

There are wolves in camp. The femce was always there but for some reason I remember barb wire 

[Wanderer]

2 hours ago, leech~~ said:

Two Q's

1) Are there wolves inside the fence?

2) Was the base always completely fenced in or did that happen after 911 and all the new security systems.  

 

Kind of going on the no new deer or new deer genes in the pool thought.  

 

Heck I remember just driving in and ending up by a bunch of lined up tanks about 30 years ago. 

Not happing today.  

There’s no high fence around the entire camp, like down range.  Animals can come and go as they please.

 

Wolves are always part of the conversation when deer numbers are down.  And doe permits.  Some are frustrated there’s a 2 deer limit and management tags can be used.  Shooting all the does!!! But the total doe take is maybe 1/1000 acres I’d guess.

 

Nobody seems to think maybe 2-3 tough winters might be to blame.  Like the same conditions that are affecting the herd outside of camp where there’s a 3 deer limit.  You’d have to hunt really hard to fill 3 tags/person or be really lucky.  The herd is just not that strong from here to parts north.

Edited October 29, 2023 by Wanderer

[leech~~]

1 hour ago, Wanderer said:

Nobody seems to think maybe 2-3 tough winters might be to blame.  Like the same conditions that are affecting the herd outside of camp where there’s a 3 deer limit.  

Why do you think I keep asking about slush reports?   

[Wanderer]

9 hours ago, leech~~ said:

Why do you think I keep asking about slush reports?   

Cuz yer skeered?

[monstermoose78]

Mother Nature controls the deer numbers more than hunters. Like where I deer hunt in Cook County they have had 5-6 hard winters and the deer population is so low it’s crazy. I seen more moose sign then deer sign. I seen one deer this fall up there and 5 moose. Wolves do eat deer but black bears kill a lot of fawns right after being born. Camp has a large bear population . 

[gimruis]

13 hours ago, Wanderer said:

Wolves are always part of the conversation when deer numbers are down.  And doe permits.  Some are frustrated there’s a 2 deer limit and management tags can be used.  Shooting all the does!!! But the total doe take is maybe 1/1000 acres I’d guess.

 

Nobody seems to think maybe 2-3 tough winters might be to blame.  Like the same conditions that are affecting the herd outside of camp where there’s a 3 deer limit.

 

I fully agree.  I don't know exactly where you're hunting but it sounds like far enough north where wolves are present in reproducing numbers.  Wolves are natural predators and benefit the ecosystem as a whole as an apex predator, but they need to be managed.  That's another topic.

 

If the population is down, the bag limit should clearly not be 3 (2 bonus tags I presume).  Winter has definitely played a role in recent years, especially last year.  It was near record snow fall in many locations around the state.  I can also recall at least two significant rain events in Jan/Feb.  Like an inch of rain.  In the middle of winter.  Of course that is going to re-freeze which creates a layer of ice on top of deep snow.

 

We could use a normal winter or a milder than average one this time around for wildlife's benefit.

 

I checked stands, cut branches, and trimmed brush last week south of Milaca where we deer hunt.  40 of the 120 acres still has standing corn.  But luckily I spoke with the farmer and he intends to harvest it this week before opener on Saturday as long as it doesn't rain for a couple days.

Edited October 30, 2023 by gimruis