Northern Minnesota Hunting Questions

[Iceman77]

A group of us are getting bored of the areas we hunt so we are planning to hunt in Paul Bunyan State Park over the weekend of the 17th for something a little different. I am a farmland hunter and have not spent much time in larger forest areas. I plan on concentrating on bedding and food areas which brings up my questions. What do deer feed on at this time of the year with little to no crops around? Bark? Fresh undergrowth? Berries??? When the ground is frozen do they primarily head into large bogs for bedding?

I plan on doing a spot and stock the first day we are there and following deer trails to see where they are coming from and where they are going. After that I plan on setting up a stand on something that looks very promising. I have my topo maps and aerial photos so I have a few areas I would like to check out while I am up there but I would really like to know what forest deer feed on to help narrow down my search.

Thanks in advance,

Russ

[Gofishleech]

I am no expert but I live near the Paulbunyan state forest. Your plan sounds good but its very hard to pin-point bedding ares as they bed in diferent locations, very hard to pattern big woods deer.

As for feeding areas, that is also tough, the deer are browsing all types of brush and tall dead grasses. You may be able to find some year old clear cuts that have some activity. We just got about 4 inches of snow so you should be able to find some trails. I can tell you that there are alot of hunters in this area.

Also the deer do not seem to be over the rifle hunting presure yet and are moving at night from what Ive seen.

Not to be a downer, thats just what its like in the north woods right now. But you may find something good and the deer may settle down by then.

[Gofishleech]

I am no expert but I live near the Paulbunyan state forest. Your plan sounds good but its very hard to pin-point bedding ares as they bed in diferent locations, very hard to pattern big woods deer.

As for feeding areas, that is also tough, the deer are browsing all types of brush and tall dead grasses. You may be able to find some year old clear cuts that have some activity. We just got about 4 inches of snow so you should be able to find some trails. I can tell you that there are alot of hunters in this area.

Also the deer do not seem to be over the rifle hunting presure yet and are moving at night from what Ive seen.

Not to be a downer, thats just what its like in the north woods right now. But you may find something good and the deer may settle down by then.

[PerchJerker]

I hunt the Big Woods not too far NE of where you'll be, and I'd say gofishleech gave a pretty good answer. Good luck - those big woods deer can be awfully tough to find after rifle season.

[nuts]

I’ll also put the ‘I’m no expert’ disclaimer on this, but I’ll chime in with what I’ve observed of big woods deer.

If you’re looking for bedding areas, start with or around the really thick pines. I would not go busting in on a bedding area during the middle of the day though, as you will spook them out and they may not return for days. Hunt near these areas and between this and where they go to eat and get water.

I think they mostly eat browse, but if you find an oak they love those acorns! In particular, white oak, but again, I’m no expert.

Big woods deer will travel through open areas, but it’s rare and if it is done at all it’s done at night. They like to skirt the edges of the woods (either on the clearing side or just inside the woods, but either way, along the edge). If you’re in a really thick area, pay attention to ‘transitions’ between coniferous and deciduous trees (where a big group of pines meet up with a group of birch or something of the sort). Deer like to follow those paths to and from bedding and feeding areas as well.

Something else I’ll throw in about treestands in the ‘big woods’ – for visibility, the higher the better. I bought a climber 3 years ago and swear by it. We hunt the Chippewa Nat’l Forest, and where we go all the trees are like telephone poles, so I can put the stand on my back and go wherever I want and as high as I want.

Good luck!

[jt24]

Hey Nuts what part of the Chippewa Nat. forest do you hunt?

I will also agree that finding deer in the big woods can be very hard, especially after the rifle season. I only bow hunt and do it before the gun season and even then it can be tough going. I have been bow hunting up in the Chip. Nat. forest for the last 4 years and i have finally found a good spot where i can almost see deer every day. Now one bad winter and that will change. Had a buddy of mine who usually sees deer every year and this year not a one on stand! He also is not very far back in so i think alot of traffic from grouse hunters hurt his chances. I recommend finding a area thats hard to get to or takes a good walk to get there and that will improve your chances of finding good deer sign.

[Iceman77]

Thanks so far for the answers each of you have given. I have only hunted a large forest 3 times before and I found a good spot about 3-4 miles from the nearest ATV trail, therefore nobody was even close to me. It was a transition area from a cedar bog to oaks, birch...etc. This was during rifle season and I saw many deer each day mostly moving between 10AM-1PM. There were white oaks in the area but no acorns for the deer to feed on, no fresh growth, no berries... just lots and lots of trees. The interesting thing I did find was they were chewing on some cedar branches when I did see some of them eating... is this common for northwoods deer. Do they really like cedar trees? Since I have never hunted this area before I plan on doing some walking outside of the bedding areas in hopes of finding some sort of food source that will get the deer up and moving from inside their bedding areas(if I find them). All of us in the group are trophy hunters and will spend the entire day from sunrise to sunset hunting and between us hopefully we will be able to key in on some select areas. The goal that I personally have on this hunt is to enjoy myself and the area that I am in. A trophy buck would just be the icing on the cake.

Thanks again for the replys.

Russ

[EXTREME]

You will find out that "big woods" deer hunting will be the most challenging hunting you will ever encounter. If I were you, I would look for fresh clearcuts and cedar swamps. Deer will also key in on Balsam thickets this time of year. Anything that is good cover, with a food source very close by. The deer will mainly browse as there stomachs shrink for winter. They will also eat cedar and deer feeders if people live near by. If you stick to low areas, you will find deer. I shot a doe last week in a balsam patch that was located in "big timber". The fresh snow will also help in finding them...good luck.

[PerchJerker]

I also hunt in the Chippewa National Forest, near Talmoon about 40 miles NW of Grand Rapids. Where do you guys hunt?

BTW, deer love white cedar and will eat all they can reach, to the point that white cedar cannot regenerate or be replanted in our forests.

[Iceman77]

Thanks to everyone for their replies. I just got back from the hunt and we had a great time.

Friday I did a lot of walking and scouted many areas and I marked some good places on my GPS and found a place to hunt for Friday evening near a road and snowmobile trail. That evening I saw 2 does and 4 fawns all within 30 yards but not what I was looking for.

Saturday I packed my gear and went 1.7 miles back from the road where I marked a large cattail slough and grassey area that I saw a ton of deer sign around the day before. I sat on a transition overlooking the area and stayed put the entire day. I saw 12 deer and 2 does were within shooting range and a nice large bodied deer that bedded down 65 yards over that was a buck that had dropped its head gear. Throughout the entire day I would see deer get up and move around for a while then bed back down.

Today I went to another area where I saw a good set of tracks in the snow and setup there for 4 hours. I saw 4 fawns and we decided to pack up and call it quits.

Between the 4 of us we saw about 30 deer but not what we were looking for. I did see a lot of fresh wolf tracks in the area and found the deer to be very skittish when moving around. Most of the deer I saw were in the open grassey areas while my hunting partners were all in pines about 60 yards from a major road. 3 of us had shooting opportunities at least once and had fun watching the deer and being in the surroundings so all in all it was a great time even though we didn't see any trophies. From this experience we decided that we will be going back next year during pre-rut to do some rattling in the different areas. Again thanks to all for their replies above.