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2014 MN Archery Buck

lungdeflator

By lungdeflator
in Deer Hunting-Bear-Elk-Moose

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lungdeflator Mentor

lungdeflator

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I had 2 weeks of vacation planned, and it only took 3 hours! Had an incredible morning Oct. 30th (as far as bowhunting the northwoods goes). I was setup on the downwind side of a narrow pinch point, with a big pine plantation on the North side that transitioned into hardwoods flat after the pinch and back into a pine plantation. The pinch is created by 2 beaver ponds on either side, the one side was wet this year and the other side was dry, which essentially widened the pinch allowing the deer to move through the thick swamp grass. We had a light misting rain the night of the 29th making the leaves and woods very guiet. From right at legal light I had 3 grouse flying around and making noise behind me and after awhile I started to ignore the noises. 20 minutes after legal light I heard what I thought was another grouse, but turned out to be a decent 8pt that I had pictures of over a mock scrape and velvet pics earlier this summer. By the time I grabbed my bow and started to stand, he was at 35 yards facing me. I think he saw me move and there was a brief stand off before he turned and trotted back into the plantation. Chances at a good buck like that are few and far between when bowhunting public land northwoods so I thought I had just blown my chance. Around 830 I caught movement in the hardwoods and had a doe browse by at about 60 yards. Around 945am I heard a commotion out in the dried up beaver swamp just off the pinch about 100 yards away. Looking out with the binoculars, I watched a nice buck tearing up a red willow for a few minutes. Deciding it was a shooter, but not really knowing what it was at the time, I grunted and snort wheezed at it. No response. It took 4-5 seconds of hard rattling to get his head turned my way, and then I grunted twice and snort wheezed again. And he must have been king of the forest, because he bristled up and came in on a rope! Coming through the hardwoods and brush he kept getting bigger and bigger, pretty soon he was at 20 yards, and I thought he was going to turn broadside and walk through an opening for a shot. But nope, he kept coming straight in and ended up right under my tree. I still can't believe that from 100 yards out and through thick brush that he could pinpoint exactly where the sound came from! Very impressive! I drew back when he was right under me and let the arrow go. The arrow ended up right between the shoulders and off to one side of the spine, it caught a lung and stopped halfway through the heart. He ran 40 yards and tipped over!

After trying to calm down for 20 minutes I noticed another deer out in the beaver swamp. This was a smalled buck, but I had time, so I grunted and snort wheezed at this one. And he came right in as well! Not on a rope and not as aggressive as the one I shot, but still a really neat encounter being able to call in deer. This was the first mature buck I had been able to call in and my biggest buck to date. First one to go on the wall for me!

full-26771-50757-2014mnbuck2.jpg

full-26771-50758-2014mnbuck.jpg

Now I can relax during rifle camp and do some scouting to try to repeat this experience next year!

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certified jumbo Mentor

certified jumbo

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That is a giant!!! Nice deer. Gotta love the northern Minnesota bucks. Dark racks and huge bodies(which are my favorite, btw). They don't always grow the rediculously large racks of the SE deer. But they make up for it in other area's.

That'll look great on the wall.

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lungdeflator Mentor

lungdeflator

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Thanks everybody!

I was out opening morning with the camera filming my dad. He ended up taking a nice 8 with tall brows while I was filming. Very memorable hunt, first time I had ever sat with my dad, and I am 25.

It was very slow for us around the Bemidji area. Number of shots we heard were down and the number of deer on the trail cameras was way down. All of our typical areas, where cameras usually take 300+ pictures between mid October and opening weekend, were slow with those same cameras taking only a max of 158 pictures.

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