Empty opener!

[Monkster]

I got over my cold/flu enough to spend about 8 hours Saturday and 8 hours Sunday in the stand near Sandstone with my 12 year old son. WE SAW NOTHING! Not even a flag or a running deer. Now, I am not a professional hunter, but I have shot many, many deer in my life, both with bow and gun. I cannot remember another time when I didn't see anything! One thing I did notice was that there were fresh tracks every morning on the trail going into the woods. Possibly moving at night only, maybe a lot more pressure in our area than I thought. I feel bad for my son, and from the way he took it, I feel much worse than he does.

I have to hand it to him, not many boys his age can sit for 8 hours each day in a stand, not see a thing, then ask on the way home when we are going next.

Any thoughts on my lack of deer. Also, no sign of rut activity at all.

[Cheetah]

The reports I received from friends hunting near Ortonville and Benson said that it was slow in their areas too. Too much corn for the deer to just sit around in with no pressure.

[Chef]

Your Son is a real trooper. You too for sticking it out and not quitting. Sorry you didn't see anything.

[buddha]

Saw two, very depressing. Too much corn in my area in Southern MN. Hopefully this weekend will be better with the farmers working hard in the fields. There were some deer shot, just not by me.

[Monkster]

It could be the crops...among other factors! We heard lots of shots Saturday, but on Sunday, less than ten all day!?

Oh well, we'll have to give it a shot again in a couple weeks.

[fr0sty]

I hunted the New York Mills area Saturday and Sunday. I saw the briefest glimpse of a deer Saturday. Heard a fair amount of shooting around us.

[T.S128]

It was slow up here as well for me, as I didn't see one all weekend either. Last weekend i was seeing tons of deer though while bowhunting. Plenty of sign (rubs and scrapes) The warm weather did it i think. As it does not affect the time of the rut it decreased deer movement for sure. I think they were all just bedded down. A buddy of mines party did pretty good though... two 10s and 8 and a 6. im just prayin for it to cool off a good bit and we will start seein more deer.

good luck

[deerminator]

I didn't see a deer outside of New London but have seen plenty while bowhunting up until the past week. They just took out all the soybeans by us, though, so they may have moved to the corn a mile or two down the road. Still almost two months left of bowhunting. It theoretically gets easier if they fall into a pattern of feeding and you can get to them before darkness falls.

[analyzer]

We hunted 10 miles north of Lanesboro. My son shot a doe, but that was the only one we saw between 4 of us. Saturday morning I heard a respectable amount of gunfire, less than usual but not bad. Saturday evening was the fewest shots I've ever heard on opening sat eve. 3 shots within ear range. Sunday night I heard a couple volley's but it was slow too.

Oh, we did see 1 other dear, we nearly hit it with our truck

[FishandFowl]

All I saw was miles of standing corn. Mixed with the warmer weather no reason to move. I can count on 1 hand the number of shots I heard around me. I dont even think the deer knew it was deer season. If the weather sticks and the farmers can keep the harvest going things could turn around by next weekend but I heard that the corn still had too much moisture in it to harvest just yet.

fnf

[birdsbucksnbass]

Sorry to hear about the rough start. Ironically, this was actually a good year for us. We saw between 13 and 15 does from sat morn to sunday at noon, hunting near the osakis area. We did get lucky in that there was only one or two sections of standing corn with a half mile or so. We thought there was less shooting as well, but it could have been due to the fact that our area was a lottery area this year. Fortunately my dad and i drew doe tags and were able to fill the freezer with a couple. Good luck to anyone out next weekend, stay safe as well.

[tweedlap]

SW Minnesota....Saturday

From sunrise to sunset I saw two deer. In a two mile stretch, on the way home, I saw five.

Tons of corn and very warm temps had them napping safely all day.

tweed