How was your muzzleloader opener?

[fr0sty]

I didn't get out at all, but had some hunters tell me they were see a lot of deer Sunday evening. 

[jerkin'm]

I can't comment on Sunday since my season didn't last that long...(:Sat with my 10 year old Saturday evening and got a decent 8. We saw more deer than ever this season and lots more bucks as well...this was the 5th buck we had seen in our half hour evening sit..

 

Edited December 1, 2015 by jerkin'm

[hockeybc69]

Was that up in OTC Jerky?

I wont be muzzy hunting this year up there. Hockey tourney last weekend. Headed to Fargo with my son Friday for NDSU registration and spending the weekend up there. Another hockey tourney the following weekend.

Any word from ChuckN? I havent yakked with him for a couple years I think.

[jerkin'm]

Yes it was in OTC....Chuckie got a nice 10 during rifle season. He "conveniently" stopped by with it when we were skinning and quartering one up....needless to say, he left with his skinned and quartered too..(:

[paceman]

I really haven't been out yet. Looking to get out the end of this week. With this fresh snow, it should be nice to hunt over fresh trails......

[O.T.C.]

Sunday night was it, saw 7, no bucks. Other then that Saturday and Monday were no deer seen in the OTC. It's what is normal muzzying, bedded tight, nocturnal except if a weather change comes. Neighbors field haven't seen a deer in it, it's combined corn 40 acres and the must be deer feeding there as everythings plowed around so I waited till about 8PM to go to town and coming out the driveway made a wide swing............ roughly 30 deer out there after dark, by 5AM my dad said there were none on his way to work. So they're around, but nocturnal and searching out their bedding spot for the day long before legal light, tough deal unless you have the right situation.

[O.T.C.]

1/2 hour evening sit and saw 5 bucks post rifle season. Do you got a bait pile or something lol. I must be in the wrong part(s) of the county lol. Pending rifle been hunting muzzy since the first year of the all-season tag on 4 different farms/swamps and I've seen 5 antlered bucks in legal light in all the years I've muzzleloaded. My trailcams haven't gotten 5 legal bucks in shooting light in my muzzleloader history. Need your set up acreage, food plots, why do you think you saw 5 bucks in legal light, I need to know.

[Gissert]

I know the area jerkin'm hunts. Lovely deer habitat. Cover, food, and water in close proximity. Once the weather gets cold around here the deer seem to move to different grounds in winter. I had deer all over me in rifle season. This morning I went and scouted around a bit and did not see a single track (other than squirrels, yotes and fox) that three weeks ago was saturated in scrapes. This property was not hunted hard either. One day and that was it.

I've seen this pattern year after year. If I go south two miles or east three there is sign everywhere. Once the snow melts in the spring, the deer come back. We've tried food plots to hold them a little longer but it has not helped that I can tell.

The night time activity thing - yep, no doubt about that.

 

 

 

 

[O.T.C.]

Winter ? We just had the mildest November ever Belinda Jensen was barking. Cold weather ? I think you're saying there is a migration toward this prime ground regardless lol, just like my neighbors 1/4 mile away they've shot dozens of head mounter class bucks , these bucks will not cross the creek my way unless frozen and even then they rarely do cuz he has alfalfa, corn, food plots everywhere, water, willow grass cattails etc and its locked by roads and water. 5 bucks sunny muzzy opener just seems tough tough to believe with my muzzy history why were they on their feet, rut, was it a long walk to or a short walk to a food source idk, definitely believe it cuz there is such prime time ground in OTC that can have that happen.    

[jerkin'm]

Like Gissert said....good habitat, large private acreage with plenty of food,  low hunting pressure and winter draws deer in from more marginal habitat around the property. Regardless of recent weather the deer know when to head to wintering areas... I haven't seen bucks like that before ever and I have hunted the ML season for as long as I can remember. The buck I shot was full blown rut appearance with huge neck and stinky...(: He was trotting towards a group of does on a mission and was inside of 20 yards when I shot..

[sportfish]

The weather sucks for muzzleloader ! Not cold enough and the little snow we got will be gone soon . I did see 5 tonight In a plot and my brother saw 9 way back in the oaks . The colder it gets the the better , but this year looks like a bust ! The forcast looks like a 36 deg average high . I have had my best years with  snow on the ground and cold 

[Gissert]

The severity of the weather does not seem to matter in my neck of the woods. Unless the corn is getting out late, those deer bug out by turkey day every year, snow or no snow. 

 

I suspect it may be the does and fawns pack up and leave, and the bucks follow. As soon as the snow is gone or nearly gone in the spring, they show back up.

I had 11 or 12 different bucks on camera this summer and fall. Before the snow came, I walked the woods on Sunday and most of the couple dozen scrapes had been neglected. 

[O.T.C.]

Sportfish you and your brother saw 14 deer in one sit each(muzzleloading) and this year looks like a bust ? I haven't seen 14 deer total since rifle opened and muzzy in 3 counties on 4 different chunks of land lol so my season was ? Hunt a 120, a 80, a 40, and a 240 with 9 stands lol. That's awesome jerk n and I get the bucks being around any hot female at this time of year. Last year hot doe on my cam and 4 bucks following her tracks in the mid day sun the first Monday of muzzy season. None of the 4 bucks ever walked that trail again through muzzy's end. Right on Gissert, I get that, I think that happens to me also had 11 bucks on camera, corn got combined and plowed in OTC, the does moved out, the fawns of course followed and of course the bucks then as well. Farmer guy is too efficient, plowed black the Wednesday before opener changed everything as the deer moved on to quiet food rich fields across the gravel in either direction. Many of my OTC relatives and friends report also by thanksgiving you can't find a track hardly, food or not really, just that seasonal migration thing that has patterned out over time. The deer head to thick swamps, river bottoms and creek bottoms and there were already quite a few deer in those zones anyway. I think like musky fishing, there's good spots and there's spot on the spots, jerkn has the spot on the spot and I have good spots that vary year by year accordingly.   

[O.T.C.]

2nd weekend a coming here we go, very concerned about the snow for AM hunts, I could hear my neighbor last night 500 yards away walking through his yard in the Styrofoam, and it's that time of year to gamble and move in as tight as possible to bedding ground, but wow I better set a 2:30AM alarm for tomorrow. Good Luck out there.

[paceman]

This morning I went for a short sit, the snow wasn't to bad. Just warm enough that it was soft for a quiet approach. Had a fat doe and fawn come through at 30 yards 5 minutes after I got situated. A bit to dark to shoot, but they really stood out in the snow! I wouldn't have shot her anyways. looking for a big guy......

[O.T.C.]

Huge intel paceman if you're truly in DL as I'm east on HWY 10 30 minutes, it was cold and crunchy here in east central MN this morning, but I'm not clear on how much snow the OTC actually got recently, we got 6" here. With you paceman, it's mature buck or eat tag I mean could've shot does, fawns, small bucks already but there's not enough challenge in that as old as I am so I leave those to others, got that 2:30AM monster on film and like so many others wondering if he could make a mistake which rarely happens outside the rut that's why he's on camera at 2:30AM and not 7:30AM lol. But boy sure could use some venison been too long now so a lone doe next wkd might get taken, would be my first doe since 1986 when I was 14 years old lol. Might not know how to field dress her lol and or how to drag her lol without horns. Good luck this wkd and be safe everybody, actually crunchier snow would mean colder, I'm worried it's too mild for solid deer movement and no weather that I'm aware of unless things changed to make em want to move in the legal light. Sunday AM I'm crankin the horns together and grunting as I'm forecasting deerless sits but my #11 will be on the Black Mountain Magnum TC with blackpowder and a 370 grain maxiball that will hopefully ignite lol.and connect ! Sure beats xmas shopping my wife thinks I'm intentionally not nailing one by rifle lol.

[SledNeck]

seen a bunch of deer so far, nothing the last 2 days. The closest a buck(spike) came to me was 20 yards away behind me with a timberwolf chasing it. Never seen that before while deer hunting. I wish I had a go pro on me.

[sportfish]

seen a bunch of deer so far, nothing the last 2 days. The closest a buck(spike) came to me was 20 yards away behind me with a timberwolf chasing it. Never seen that before while deer hunting. I wish I had a go pro on me.

I wish your gun got fired 

Edited December 6, 2015 by sportfish

[chevyracin8k]

seen a bunch of deer so far, nothing the last 2 days. The closest a buck(spike) came to me was 20 yards away behind me with a timberwolf chasing it. Never seen that before while deer hunting. I wish I had a go pro on me.

Your gun not fire, powder get wet?

[ANYFISH2]

Come on guys!  Let's not make us look like a bunch illegal arses.

Lets work at getting them delisted, and a season rolling again.  Leave the illegal suggestions for bar talk, where it belongs.

[ESSGuy]

Nothing illegal about shooting a spike. Maybe it's horns were less than 3 inches? 

[paceman]

Made it out both Sunday Morning before church and the afternoon after the first half of the vikes game. Snow was super crunchy as OTC feared, much worse than my trek in on Friday. Did not see any deer. A couple of fat squirrels and woodpeckers. Kind of surprising with lots of deer sign in areas...

[fr0sty]

This was my major action for the weekend. 

 

[Satchmo]

fr0sty,  That is the best grouse footage I have ever seen. Judging just by tail length, a mature bird too I would guess. Great job.

[O.T.C.]

Yes Paceman Sunday AM was nasty crunchy, idk why I got up really, every deer in the swamp heard me should've crawled idk lol, leave your boot tracks from before and they ice up at night so crack the ice on my old trail or crunch along on a new one, both deals were bad. Saturday AM was ok as it was melting all night long and stayed clouded up enough to keep it soft, even so it's hard to keep up the morale, last year saw 0 muzzleloading, this year 7 on that sunday PM, certainly this Wednesday is the ideal day to go out, man the bucks are pinned down. I saw a large 10 pointer chasing a doe Friday night by my dads at 6:40PM, headlights of my truck, just to rub it in I'm sure like they were waiting for me to leave the driveway and yesterday, had to investigate before the snow is gone have they been using trails 1-4? No,No,No, and yes trail 4 had a few tracks, I walked to fields edge, turned around followed my tracks back stopped and a really nice 3.5 year old 8 pointer takes off full throttle, no shot chance in that rathole, that's where they are hiding day after day, same ratholes that are human scent free, that's where 95% of the deer are bedding but boy there's little I can do to even make it happen knowing that, I can sit as close to where he is as possible but 5:10PM comes and that's that, then the gig is up so to speak, it's a tough battle.