how did everyone do

[DUCKJ]

i was lucky enough to get a 5x3 at 7:00 am.
walked up 30 yds away and stoped and gave me the perfect shot. didnt run a step.

good luck to all

happy hunting
duck

[Fisher Dave]

I got blind-sided by a doe & fawn ... about a second of trying to pull the trigger with the safety on and they hopped away into the brush.

My partner is still out .. hopefully they do better... but its only the 1st day.

[cliffy]

I got a 10 point buck at noon..my first deer in 17 years...felt very good to end that dry spell. It was chasing a nice doe and came within 8 feet of the mound of grass I was sitting inside of....It was sorta like self-defense...needed to shoot it or else it was going to run me over......!

[Steve Foss]

Nice fat 8-pointer off the Echo Trail about 25 miles outside Ely.

Alder swamp on the backside of a logging cut from a few years back. Swamp had grass around it and ridges and knolls with only a few scraggly trees left, but lots of shrubbery and deer sign.

Didn't get out until noon (of course, with a full moon and the rut, deer will move all day). Sat down on a log and started dozing about 1:30, came wide awake at 2 p.m. and a few minutes later the buck walked out of the swamp and walked by 30 yards upwind of where I was sitting. Picked up the 12-gauge and put a 2 3/4 inch 1 oz slug in the spine and down he went.

Of course, it was nearly a mile back to the road. Don't know how I survived that drag, through the swamp, up the rocky ridges, yadda, yadda, yadda.

He was a young basket-rack, either a yearling or one year older. Tasty!

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"Worry less, fish more."
Steve Foss
[email protected]

[This message has been edited by stfcatfish (edited 11-08-2003).]

[mistermom]

Passed up a decent buck this a.m. and a 6 pointer this afternoon. I decided to go for a trophy or nothing this year since none of my fambly members will eat venison (*&&^%# wife & kids) and I'm not gonna eat a whole deer myself (at least not in one sitting)

mm

[Gissert]

Got a 11 pointer at about 5:10 this afternoon. He went about 100 yards with the top of his aorta severed. We found the bullet while skinning. A Barnes 210 grain with the textbook mushroom. The thing still weighs 210 grains! That is the second Barnes I have recovered that has maintained 100 percent weight retention. I love handloads!

[Steve Foss]

Hey Gissert:

That's some retention. Have to remember that. What caliber?

------------------
"Worry less, fish more."
Steve Foss
[email protected]

[Gissert]

Stfcatfish-

It was a .338.

I know, a bit overkill for whitetails, but it puts the bullet where I point it.

[lip_ripper]

Came home with 4 deer while hunting with my son. He shot his first deer ( 2 doe ) with a rifle. I took a nice doe and 7 pointer. We passed on 4 more bucks. Forks and spikes. Had a great time except for the mile long drags!

[IceHawk]

Our group of ten shot 9 deer, 6 bucks and 3 does. There also were a few misses and gun malfunctions with the cold weather Saturday. All in all it was a great weekend we shot some real nice bucks and and enjoyed some good stories around the campfire, Can't wait till next year!!!!

[Steve Foss]

Gissert:

Doesn't much matter if it's a really big cartridge if it's a pass-through the heart/lung area. Then, a .444 Marlin does the same job as a .243, and no meat is ruined.

And that .338 lets you tackle elk and moose, too. Love that black and blue shoulder?

------------------
"Worry less, fish more."
Steve Foss
[email protected]

[RussDaBuss]

We are 3 for 3. 2 doe and 1 buck.. Going back on Friday to get the BIG buck .. Hopefully..

[Lunker]

My camp went 6 for 7 in 2 days. My father(his first in years) my nephew and I got does, my brother got a 12 pointer that green scored over 160(nontyp) his buddy got a nice 8, and my other brother got a fork. Great weekend for us. I did so much gutting and dragging this weekend I thought I threw out my back. Loved the snow, made everything way easier, and the cold didnt bother us too much. The season was sure short this year for us, but with the amount of deer out there I'm not surprised. We arent in a management area, so we all could get one, but we saw deer all over the place and it was great. I saw about 10 the evening of the opener, passed on a fork and some small does, and decided to take a doe that evening. Ran about 50 yrds lung shot. I'll post our result pics when developed if I can.

[USPENAMC]

Opening morning one hour of sitting down and I had the opportunity of my first deer a six pointer about 25 yards my gun sighted in at 100 missed him right over the top bunch of hairs havent seen him since. sunday I shot two does both shot in the neck quick clean kills dropped on the spot. actually one of the does turned out to be a buck with buttons that didnt show at all i feel bad for that if i would have known i would have let it go. we ate meat the first night already. I still have my multizone buck license need to find a buck doesnt matter how big its still a trophy to mount as my first buck. Ill say it if no one else does .............................................RUM RIVER STATE FOREST.......first parking spot on 280th about 200 yards in and sat both days same spot... now if ne one knows where to get a buck id greatly appreciate it there are lots of does in here its an intensive harvest area. i might hop to the other side of the road to the mille lacs wildlife area to find a buck

[deadeye]

Well at least a few people did good! I didn't even see a deer the whole weekend. (except the 10 point i almost hit on the way back after dark) I sat all morning saturday and then walked in the afternoon, and on sunday I did the same thing. So far I have seen lots of tracks and no deer. There is still lots of time though, I always see a lot before season so I have to see one during.
good luck
><>deadeye

[bucks-n-ducks]

I was lucky enough to take a 12 pointer on saturday afternoon at 2:45. Field dressed it weighed 226. Had inside spread of 19 3/4 and outside of 22 1/8. Nice deer and it just proves that sitting in a deer stand during the midday hours is a great time to catch a buck in the rut looking for a doe. Bringing it to the taxidermist tonight

[bucks-n-ducks]

I was lucky enough to take a 12 pointer on saturday afternoon at 2:45. Field dressed it weighed 226. Had inside spread of 19 3/4 and outside of 22 1/8. Nice deer and it just proves that sitting in a deer stand during the midday hours is a great time to catch a buck in the rut looking for a doe. Bringing it to the taxidermist tonight

[Guest]

Hey B&D - the limit on bucks is only 1 in Minnesota.

[BDR]

Well our group of 17 did our share of thinning the herd in Hubbard Co., we took 27 with 10 bieng bucks. Most we ever have gotten in 2 1/2 days. One of my cousins got an 18 point(6 are just little 1 inch spikes that branch off) off our property at 6:45 sat. morning. I took 2 does sat.Some of the guys are still hunting, I'm going Pheasant hunting if I can find a place not disturbing deer hunters.

[SouthernMinnyRookie]

What a weekend!

Background: The 450 acres we hunt for 5 guys we have been practicing Quality Deer Management for a few year. We have tried to harvest does for the past couple of years to let the bucks grow. Well, by golly, it worked.

Two 8-pointers both dressed out over 175
One 9-pointer dressed at 210
One 16 pointer dressed out at 235. B&C score of 180.
Two camp meat deer.

However, for being only my second year, I couldn't believe the number of deer we saw. For the group in 2 days we saw over 185 deer. Best thing, we even saw a couple of bucks that were a minimum of 12 points each. I am so looking forward to next year!!!

Best of luck hunting to those of you who are are going next weekend!

Jason

[Havin' Fun]

An adventure or two to be had any opener. Unfortunately they all occured to me!!! Our group of 5 shot nothing on Saturday, and shot 6 on Sunday. Lots of does. I saw nothing on Saturday in the 80 acre woods we hunting, and Sunday I stand hunted for an hour( gun problems over 2 does and a decent buck.....AHHHHHHH!
Got down and walked around the rest of the day and there was constant shooting. I shot two does just from jumping them, and others saw A LOT of deer movement. Too bad I had to track a deer over a mile, but did find it in the middle of the cattails!!!

Great opener. Done gun hunting and back to the bow. Will be out there hoping those of you on stand will push me a buck!

Oh yeah, forgot, got my first coyote!!! Shot at 9 am saturday morning. Might explain the lack of deer. What a mangy looking pile.

[This message has been edited by Hammer em' (edited 11-10-2003).]

[Ruttin' Buck]

Our party went 12 for 19. 5 does, 7 bucks one of which was a yearling. Biggest was a 9'er in rut mode...very swollen neck.

Unfortunately, I did not pull the trigger. Saw 6 deer on the opener and I have a doe already in the freezer from the bow season. I was looking for horns and saw none as the first pair of does passed by 80 yards away through a thicket at 11:00. 4.5 hours later I did get a look at a nice buck. He was following the exact path of the first 2 does. He was just out of range of my 7mm as the brush he passed behind offered only a look at his gleaming rack.

My call would not bring him in! This was the first buck I've ever had that I could not pull at least another 10-15 yards in with my call to get a clean shot. Goes to show that those bucks can wander their way along a scent path even 4.5 hours after it was created.

I'll be back up on Thursday night to give it another go. Good luck to all!

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"Aim small...miss small"

[Guest]

Our party of 5 did pretty good. Every one got to shoot their own deer. We got 5 for 5 with one 8-pointer and 4-doe's. Between all of us we saw 26-deer by noon on Saturday morning. Very few bucks spotted though. Area 249

[Hugo]

Our 1st weekend party of 3 shot 2 bucks (6 and 8). Saw 5-6 does but decided not to shoot any. Will have 2 more hunters for the second weekend. Hunted around Kettle River zone 156. I managed to get the 8pt (estimated weight around 220lbs) while still hunting and grunting. I think he wanted to do some bad things to me before I shot him.

Dave

[SCCO9803]

Had a great deer hunt this year despite not harvesting one. We hunt the buck only season in 3A. We generally take one small buck for the five in our group and spend the rest of the weekend trophy hunting. Opening morning I had a small six pointer under my stand at 6:35, about an hour later I had a nice eight pointer about tenty yards broadside but let it go. That night I saw a small buck with four does, and then 1/2 hour before quiting time I saw a nice set of white antlers coming through a thicket. I counted four points on the one side, not including the brow tine. He was chasing a doe, when they got about 30 yards she turned north and he followed. I couldn't get a clean shot through the brush. Saw several more bucks and does over the entire weekend. Never did get him, but we hunt on private land so he should be there next year.