Area 601 Anyone Hunting?

[WingDing2]

We are still hunting until the 28th, but only one problem... We are not seeing any deer. Not even on our trail cams. Opening weekend we saw quite a few deer and harvested 2 but since then, the deer doing a good job of staying out of sight. So why would there be unlimited management permits available if there's not a deer behind every tree?

[John478]

I just think they want to keep the deer population as low as posible in the metro area with all to deer car accidents and what not. That's the only reason I can think of

[LightningBG]

I'm not seeing any deer either in 601 where I hunt. I see plenty of them nearby though. I also believe they are trying to keep them as low as possible to reduce accidents. The point of having unlimited is that there are very few places to hunt, so if someone does have a spot, they want them to exploit it, because there are plenty of deer in places with no hunters.

[HNTNBUX]

What lightningbg said. The deer will go where there is no pressure and deer reduction is the goal.

[jigginjim]

Another kick in the shorts is. Many would rather watch the deer, then give permission to hunt the woods, to accidental deaths of several of the deer.

[DonBo]

I've been seeing deer pretty regularly. Lots of tracks in my area, most are nocturnal now. I did shoot one last night. That was the third time in a about two weeks I'd seen deer.

[DonBo]

Last shot tonight. Saw one, but too far away.

[mrklean]

gfs bro shot a very nice buck in the metro zone this year 140"

[ANYFISH2]

Just got back yesterday from a LONG weekend of hunting down there. Our party of three shot 2 does, but ended up bringing home 4!. The extras where, we put down a buck fawn that another hunter had given up on earlier in the day (spoke to hunter as he gave up). The other was harvested with a ford F250 right in Ramsey on the way home.

I also had the most gut wrenching experience I have ever had archery hunting. After 13 years of bow hunting and passing numerous small bucks over the years I finally have a real opportunity walking my way, not just a shooter but the largest buck I have even had an opportunity to see while on my stand. He walks in perfect, down wind, with is attention fixed on something across the meadow, 35 yards out. As he leaves a small patch of alders I come to full draw, he has only less then 5 yards to clear all brush, then... ring,ring,ring... ring,ring,ring.. he freezes like a popsicle, then quickly trots off into the alders and out of my life. Darn phone, I didn't even realize it was with me, as I usually don't bring it with me, because of what just happened. To make things worse my friends wife is the one who called, by a misdialed number of all things. After all these years, it was devestating to my hunting ego.

After it all we saw a ton of deer over three days, most between 11am-3pm, I never thought I would enjoy coming to the metro, non the less to hunt, but I now look forward to this weekend every year.

sorry for the long winded sob story and report.

[DonBo]

then... ring,ring,ring... ring,ring,ring.. he freezes like a popsicle, then quickly trots off into the alders and out of my life. Darn phone, I didn't even realize it was with me,

Second time today I've typed this "Live and learn"

That's a tough pill to swallow right there. It's not a bad idea to bring the phone, but it's GOT to be on vibrate. What part of the cities were you hunting?

[LightningBG]

Well, I went out Fri, Sat, Sun. mornings. nothing friday and sunday. Saw a group of about 5 does/fawns. They were a ways out, but I had good light, no wind, and a good angle so I took a shot at one. It stopped there for a little bit, then trotted away. I waited a while then checked for blood. had a good amount of blood right off the bat. possibly coughing blood (from the pattern). Bright colored but not foamy. I figured it shouldn't be too bad of a track... I was wrong.

The blood trail went thin quickly. I was finding 1-2 drops every 15-20 ft. It was slow and painstaking. I thought I lost the trail about a dozen times. The trail took me darn near a mile, 3 hours, through 5-6 peoples property. After all this, the trail went completely cold. Nothing. I searched for another hour or so on the approx 3 acre area it went cold. Talked to the owners of the land. They said the area where it likely went was across the road where they have horses, no permission to continue searching aimlessly over there. Sucks big time.

[ANYFISH2]

We were hunting near of Mounds View.