how did everyone do

[Tim L]

Suzuki the best thing i ever did was buy a Cantalever barrel and put a scope on it. I can shoot 2in groups at a 100yds. the Sabot slugs are a little spendy but at a 100yds i'm not guessing where my slugs are going i know. I also shot my buck last Sat out in the Fog and drizzel at 3PM nice 6-point buck. just waiting for Muzzleloading season to start and try and fill my Doe tag.

[Iceman77]

Hey BB,

I actually work at Rosemount in Chanhassen. I just didn't like the cities life and a house is way more expensive in the cities area therefore I chose to drive further and live out by Hutch. I like the freedom, space, and cheaper prices, not to mention the hunting and fishing in the area.

[Ruttin' Buck]

That's funny Iceman...I used to work with the Vortex Flow group in Eden Prairie. I used to think Rosemount was a decent business until now...must have been hardup for eng's if they hired a Sioux!

All kidding aside. Know the routine. I now live west also, near Annandale.

[jlm]

I too do a lot of long range shooting and hunt in NW MN which has some similar real-estate as ND so I can attest to the need for being a good long range shot on the run. I use to practice with Jacks and letting balloons blow across the field. The magic distance for most rifles is between 300 and 400 yards. The trajectory decreases significantly over last 100 yards. For instance, Icemans 6mm (I am guessing at the trajectory here, I have never used a 6mm) would drop over 20 inches...that is probably pretty conservative especially with factory loads. This would mean you would have to aim at least the width (maybe a little more) of the deers body above the deer. The 6mm is fairly quick but you better get out in front a pretty good distance to connect at 400 yards. Now throw in the wind and you are REALLY talking about some changes in the flight path. A 10 mile an hour wind can throw your bullet a foot or more off at 400 yards and that too is a conservative estimate (especially with a 6mm). So, I guess what I am saying is that if you hit a deer at 400 plus running full tilt, much of it is luck. Sure some shooting skill comes into play but I would say most of it is luck. Most modern rifles with factory loads are capable of even less. I would suggest keeping your shots to 350 yards or less...you will wound far less deer. Just my two cents!

[Steve Foss]

Suzuki:

That's a gutsy shot. I put an 8-pointer away on opener from 30 or 35 yards with a Mossberg 500 smoothbore and 1 oz slug loads (easy at that distance, which is bow range) but passed up on half a dozen does at 100 yards, because I just wasn't confident I could use a bead to accurately shoot 100 yards.

Rifled barrel in the Mossberg and scope for me next year.

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

[spinach]

Tim L, How do plan on hunting muzzleloader season when you allready purchased a license for shotgun/rifle. In Minnesota you can only hunt 1 or the other regardless if you fill the tag or not, only exception is archery. I'm not trying to give you a hard time but just trying to keep you from breaking the law. Spinach... or maybe I misunderstood your last reply, If I did I'm sorry

[Mark Christianson]

Spinach

The All-Season license allows you to hunt all-weapon seasons and tag one buck AND one doe(excluding additional MP and IHP if you are in an area that has those).

If Tim L doesn't have an All-Season license, then...........

[Tim L]

I have a all season licence. The only thing i don't like about it your not allowed to party hunt. so after I shot my buck i couldn't carry a firearm. Try going on a drive w/out a gun. you may help drive,spot,trail, or retrive Deer but not carry a firearm. Sorta sucks.

[Mark Christianson]

Why couldn't you carry a firearm? You still had a doe tag available.

[spinach]

Thanks for the info guys. I didn't realize you could hunt muzzleloader also with the all seasons license. I pulled out the regs. and you are correct. That sounds like a pretty good deal, How much is the license? I assume you still have to pick a zone and area. According to the regs. it looks like Tim L could of still carried a firearm because of the open doe tag, unless he was waiting to fill the doe tag with a muzzleloader.

[Tim L]

The area i was hunting was Lottery so no anterless permit. So that's why i'm waiting for muzzleloading to start. during the muzzleloading season it's Buck or Doe. And i already filled my Buck tag so i'm allowed to take a doe with my bow or muzzleloader.

The price for a all-season Licence $79.00

[This message has been edited by Tim L (edited 11-23-2003).]

[Canuck]

Our group of 4 shot 2 5 X 5 on Monday, a 6 X 5 on Tuesday and filled out on Wednesday with a 5 X 5. They will range from about 140 to 160 under the B & C scoring. Cold but the rut is in full swing and sure helped. 3 of the 4 were shot in the neck and the other was in the bread basket and it didn't run 10 yds.

[Mark Christianson]

Canuck,

Where are you in the topic of "support a minimum rack size" debate????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[Coach Dog]

My group hunted southeast MN this past weekend. We went 3 for 7, which I think is pretty good considering the [PoorWordUsage]-poor weather conditions we had. I shot a spike (thought it was a doe, DANG!), and we got another nice doe and a smaller doe. Like I said, the weather sucked. Very windy and rainy which made the woods noisy. The deer just wouldn't move, man! We got until Sunday to fill our tags. Can't wait to get back out!

[BLACKJACK]

Went out on Sat morning and got a doe with my bow! Was happy considering that the deer had been chased the last two weekends by the gun hunters! Still have my buck tag to fill, hope to make it out over Turkey days, hope theres still a big one left!

I hunt 417.

[Havin' Fun]

Hunted south and a little east of Akeley.
Saw an enormous amount of deer sign, but never saw a deer. Rubs everywhere, droppings everywhere, tracks everywhere....just not a deer in sight. Even pushed a lot of brush to no avail. Hoped to just get some deer moving to see where they were but nothing. A very difficult bow hunt.
Back to hunting the metro!

[This message has been edited by Hammer em' (edited 11-24-2003).]

[wade22]

Two weekends ago I shot a basket rack 8 pointer. My dad used his tag (party shot 3 deer in all). Last Saturday I went hunting with my brothers-in-law on their private hunting land west of I.Falls. Shot a button buck at about 175 yards with a .308. Butchered it up and made sausage by 8 pm Sat. Great hunt, fun shooting, had a blast meeting new people. In my opinion, what deer hunting is all about. Best of luck to everyone else closing out the season! Back to pheasants for me over turkey day weekend.

[Canuck]

Biglakeba$$: Reference the minimum size. I have never judged what anybody else shoots. Any deer is a trophy. Myself I have always tried for a buck as our doe to buck ratio is pretty close to 1 to 1 in the area of Manitoba that I hunt. I saw 18 bucks in the 8 days I hunted and 2 were larger than my 6 X 5 but neither offered what I felt were were sure shot kills. (I shot mine in the neck at about 40 yds while he was after a doe.) We eat ALL our wild meat and find if we shoot the deer when he hasn't been chased the meat is no different from a doe or buck, many will differ with me but so be it.

With that said, if U shoot all the spikes and forks they will never get to be 5 X 5s. It is the does that is the producers but in my mind a ratio of 1 to 1 is a healthy herd.

I firmly believe the "Hanson" buck will be beaten within the next couple of years and Manitoba has a real good chance of producing such a deer. The area we hunt is heavy bush, with lots of cover, and the genes are there to produce heavy horns, and huntin pressure is almost nil. We do not have very many non-typical horns in our area. In the last 35 yrs I have only seen 2 deer with drop horns and maybe only a doz non-typicals.

[GregR]

I might as well chime in. I'm hunting right behind my house. Got a nice doe on Oct 15th, weighted about 140# dressed. Missed a non-typical forky (one antler up, one down) on Oct 14th. Not sure what happened, it was the exact same shot as the doe. Maybe it was the fact he bedded down 35 yards out for 1-1/2 hours facing me. Do you know how heavy your bow gets after that amount of time? He didn't even know he was shot at. Passed on a few that I now wish I would have taken. Oh well, that's bow hunting.

Hope to fill another tag or two over the holiday. Haven't seen a deer off stand in about 10 days but there's three in the back yard right now. Wife keeps calling me over to look. If she starts naming them there might be problems.

Greg

[Ruttin' Buck]

The numbers are in. Our group of 19 took home 21 deer. Of the big guys, we had 1 seven, 2 eights, 1 nine, and a ten.

I myself didn't pull the trigger. I passed up several does as I took one already with the bow this year. The group also passed up many management opportunities...only to shoot some of the wall hangers above. I had 3 bucks skirt around me. 2 I got a visual on, but I'm not a 'blast at motion' kind of guy. I pulled 2 of them in with my call, but none of the 3 exposed themselves enough for a shot.

Great season over all....time to get the white camo and bow back out!!

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"Aim small...miss small"

[honker23]

Just got back from 349 with my dad. He shot two bucks 7 & 8, I shot a doe. Had a Very Large buck walk between us in the cedars. Each of us only 40 yds away, but he was only shootable when he was between us so we had to pass. I can still see the white horns when I close my eyes. In the rain we found them bedded in the cedars and walked up to all 3 we shot. Back to roosters for me too.

[Guest]

Hey everyone, I hate to be picky, but comeon, we are all supposedly wise outdoors people....doesn't everybody know that WHITETAILS DO NOT HAVE HORNS? Horns are HOLLOW, whitetails have ANTLERS, which are made out of BONE...It bugs me to no end to read a great story here and in magazines just to have someone say "horns". Let's show the animal the respect it deserves. Thanks from a female outdoors person who loves whitetails and took a 7 ponter on opening day!

[uffdapete]

Tim L -
I couldn't agree more with your comments about the rifled barrel with a cantilever scope mount.

I plan on hunting with my bro in No. MN one of these years and will be very confident using sabots. The rifled barrel and sabots will outperform my abilities.

[can it be luck?]

wannafish2, that explains why deer are always hit by cars and cows aren't. The cows have "horns" to warn the drivers! Crows are never hit either, there's always one in the tree screaming "caw, caw, caw" (car, car, car).

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http://groups.msn.com/canitbeluck

[This message has been edited by can it be luck? (edited 12-02-2003).]