stockchopper

please send pics to nicole56232@yahoo.com

I'm pretty sure not eating roadkill isn't wanton waste. And also there is no law against cutting off antlers. It would be a good idea just to let someone know so you don't get accussed of poaching if it's real huge. Local law enforcement and CO's have better thing to do than watch some guy cut off antlers on road-kill. Highway patrol on the other hand are real pricks, and you must have met a lying [commercial-or-naughty-word].

Your buddy should call the conservation officers boss and let them know what happened, he should have been able to take the deer. He did everything thing right, the CO must be a [commercial-or-naughty-word]. Next time just chop the horns off, there is no law against doing that.

riverrunner, my dad got a 13 in I shot a little baby one, I had trouble hitting the bigger ones, found out when I got home my guns bolts were loose and the barrel was moving around, no wonder I couldn't hit anything. We didn't hunt over by the river, looked more like deer cover more than what antelope like, plus we didn't see any antelope when we scouted. I'm going to wyoming Wed. mule deer hunting, hope I get one.

Got our antelope, went looking for whitetail friday. Didn't see any around. I'm sure there is some, but you'll have to work hard and be lucky. Also I found a mulie shed in that area by indian creek.

I agree mostly with Chucker34, . Slugs don't travel very far, but I still wouldn't take the shot not that in any way it would hit the house, just on the fact it would not feel right shooting at a target with a house right behind it. We also know deer move and a few yards would put it out of line with house. It would be like pheasant hunting and a pheasant is standing out in the open between you and the poster directly a 100 yards away. The bird is 20 yards from you. Now we all know pheasant shot can't go a 100 yards but to pull the trigger when another human being in line with target just ain't right. Safety first, Big deer second. [This message has been edited by stockchopper (edited 09-29-2004).]

No way it could have been gut shot, it was way to forward. I saw the fleching before it hit. The grass was over knee high so I couldn't see exactly where it hit, but if anything it could have hit him in the armpit and hit bone, I can't find the arrow and I couldn't see the side I shot him on since he ran with other side facing me. What I meant by dark blood was that it wasn't pink like a lung hit and it was a dripping wound not spraying. It's a lost cause now since it's warm out and when I was out today the blood was really hard to see. Last night we crawled on are hands and knees to find blood. At the end of the trail all we could find were specks the size of this period. He never laid down either in the 1 mile that we trailed him. He also ran into a state park that you can't walk on. I'll make a mission to finish him off since he isn't that bright and I'll let you know when I do.

I'm, sure the arrow went through most of the way or all the way, I didn't see it hanging out when it ran off. It stopped and walked off after it ran 50 yards in the open grass. Think I hit a corn leaf and that slowed the arrow down enough for it to hit low. I had the yardage right and i'm a pretty decenct shot so thats the only explanation I got for the arrow hitting 6 inches lower than I aimed. Arrow headed right for the heart, and since it didn't die right away and the blood was dark red I'm sure I didn't hit the heart or lungs. So I hope he lives and I'll just shoot him again next week. I had him walk by me the last 3 times out, so I should see him again if he lives.

I shot a 7 point buck last night at 25 yards. I shot him from the ground. Shot looked good and I found blood right away, but no arrow. Let it rest and went home to get light and fried to help. We tracked it a mile and the blood trail started to dry up. Spent 3 hours looking but couldn't find it, and I looked 2 hours today but no luck. My shot must have been a little low and just hit the bottom of his chest, I think he'll live since it clotted up.

I've been seeing more birds lately while bowhunting. Not as many as in years past, saw a ton of them last year. But it still should be pretty good compared to 6 or so years ago.

I'll be going out there Oct. 1, if I see and whitetails running I'll let you know. Last year we hunted for a total of 3 hours before we filled our tags, so we never bothered to venture that far west, since you saw antelope over there I'll check it out when we scout. Thanks for letting me know there antelope over there also.

What part of the badlands. I hunted antelope just south of wall last year and this year I'm going again. Didn't see any whitetail just alot of mulies.

Saturday a couple guys were also hunting the public land I was on, so me and my cousin had to move to a different spot. Set up his tree stand along a cornfield, and I set laid in some tall grass on the edge of a different cornfield. Saw a 8 pointer 40 yards behind, unfortually he spotted me first and ran off. We went sat. night, I saw nothing and he saw a doe and three fawns, and a 7 point buck. All at 60 yards. Sun night I went by myself and didn't see a thing. It was way to windy both days the deer were moving in the dark. Hope I have better luck tonight after this rain. Been watching a huge buck all summer.

Western Mn can produce the biggest bucks in Mn. A 3 year old buck is huge out here. That is that point of a new buck management out here. Lot of bigger bucks are shot out here than people know about.

jlm said it better than I could. By the way this is federal law and our state CO's enforce those laws. From what you wrote and I assume alot of ears didn't get picked it's clearly baiting, according to federal migratory waterfowl laws, that prevent mostly southern states mnipulating crops to attact waterfowl. I do agree there should be a change in the law as far Giant Canadians. But the CO is just doing his job.

Thunderchicken I've seen the same thing your talking about. I hunted around Correll for 15 years in a group of 10 to 15 guys and hunt a couple thousands of private land and of course the public land around marsh lake. We killed lots of deer but it isn't like SD. Everyone kills all the bucks. After the season you can drive around and see a couple hundred does and maybe if lucky see one buck who made it through the season. I think thats terrible. As I said earlier the northwoods is different I'm talking about western Minnesota. And if any of you guys still don't think its better to limit buck tags call a friend in SD or Iowa and ask if they would rather have it our way or better yet go bowhunting in eastern SD. They love it so much they don't want to share.

Have you guys hunted in a different state besides Minnesota?

I party hunted for many years, its not all that great. The change won't be that drastic. Your trigger happy cousin just wouldn't be able to shoot all your deer. The threat of dropping so many hunters from our dwindling ranks just don't make sense. Intrest in Mn deer hunting would actually increase. People love mature whitetails. Nature lovers would also be very happy. Almost everyone hunting wants to shoot a nice buck, not just the diehards. In fact more bucks would be killed in the 2nd year of the change, plus half the bucks would be 2 years old and older. And less young deer to hit with cars is always a good thing. The 70's were bad because of bad winters more than deer management. The plan was to bring the population back, I think we have accomplished our goal. Times change, smart people adapt.

Why wasn't the corn harvested? They could bail it or combine it. If someone just mowed it and disked it, that sounds like baiting to me.

Bigbucks, All good questions. Which all have answers. It all has been done before. My idea of deer management comes from a combination of SD, Iowa, Wy, and CO. Have you ever hunted these states or understand their regulations. I also like to do away with going to gas stations and registing deer, and useing a system like SD with mail surveys for each area. I'd also hire more Co's, and raise the price on buck tags, and offer multiple doe tags through a drawing at a reduced price. So if you hunted in a party you could buy up to 4 doe tags and shoot them yourself and 1 buck. All depending on the number of hunters and number of deer available. Also offer private land only deer tags.

Bigbucks Why should one guy be able to shoot more the one buck? I call it greed. I've been guilty of it myself. When people can kill only one buck maybe they'll think twice before they pull the trigger. I still think people should be able to hunt together after they fill their tag. The biggest problem I believe is guys who buy tags for people not hunting. Bowhunters do this often. I would reduce the adult doe population by a third to half the current population. Which would reduce the number of fawns running around on the roads. I would replace the does with bucks not shot in the previous season. Its hard to explain, but trust me it works. More and bigger bucks to shoot. I'm mostly talking about the southern half of the state. We should manage each part of the state differently. Up north there is more cover and the fact that one hard winter can kill most of the deer. In the southern part of the we can still kill most of the bucks even without the rut.

I don't know about other parts of the state but in LQP county, where I live, its going to be rough year. It rained alot, and was really cold. I walked through a WMA scouting for deer and kicked up one young rooster. That was it, most years I would have seen 20-30 birds. We had alot of hens coming into spring, but the hatch was terrible. It would have been better if all the chicks died, then they could renest but from what I have seen 1-3 lived. Most good years I see groups of 5-10. I'm going to miss my first opener in 20 years, going after mulies in WY, looks like I won't miss much.

I agree with SD having far better hunting, their state actually manages the deer herd. Our state just gives unlimited tags and expects to manage itself. It's clear that this system is not working. We have far to many deer, and are buck to doe ratio is out of whack. I don't know if anything can be done since traditon is hard to end. But these things need to be done. 1. Start gun season the 3rd weekend of Nov. 2. Limit the number of buck tags. Drawing. 3. Increase doe tags. Drawing. 4. The state needs to manage the deer herd. We know this already works, other states do this. And they are very happy with it. I read something pretty funny last month. Mn is doing a study to find out why the deer hunting in NE Iowa is so much better than SE MN. Can anyone quess?

I would like to get rid of pary hunting. I know guys who have shot 4 plus bucks in one season. I got 3 once. I don't think it's fair to others. We will sooner or later have to go to a drawing for bucks, it works. I hope sooner.

I would of quessed worse. I haven't been seeing any young birds. Last year I saw hundreds. It will be tough season.