How'd it go?

[eyepatrol]

So how did everyone fair this past weekend? My brother went out for the first time in a few years this year. His bro-in-law set him up in a stand on some land he owns. My brother shot a small buck by 8:00am on Saturday. He said there were some nice ones in the area....as big or bigger than the one he has mounted (8 pointer with 16.5" inside spread). I'm a little surprised he didn't wait it out to see if they'd come his way, but he wanted venison and took the smaller buck that was close enough to shoot (the 2 bigger bucks he saw were 300 yards away).

He said it was fun to watch the deer react to each other out in the field. A doe with 2 fawn came by and one was rubbing it's head against the other. There were two small fork-horn bucks that were butting heads when a bigger one came out, they stopped and looked at him, then the two small guys took off....didn't want any part of the bigger dude.

Hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable hunt. Any interesting stories to share?

[Sutty]

We had a good weekend. I hunt out west by Ortonville and we went 4 for 8. All decent bucks no doe tags. No wall hangers. We had a lot of does still with their young didn't seem like the rut was in full swing yet. I hadn't seen a thing from my stand at 8:00 by the sounds of gunfire I figured everyone else in the county had their bucks on the meat pole.

A buddy started walking to my stand looking for some help with his deer. I showed him how to gut it and while we both had our hands in the deer we heard a deer sneaking by us in the corn field. He made the mistake of poking his head up to take a peak and that cost him dearly!

[polarsusd81]

I shot my first buck on Sunday morning. A nice 8 pointer with an inside spread of 15". Saw a bunch of does on Saturday and a couple more earlier on Sunday morning. It dressed out at about 175 lbs. It was pretty exciting to see him come running in.

[harvey lee]

Slow bow weekend but we did stick one very nice 11 pointer.Next week the bucks should bw running for us and we will have bow and gun hunters wacking deer.

[Bubbadust]

Our season (my father and I) was over at 7:50 Saturday morning. I shot a nice big doe and her fawn just wouldn't leave. I started feeling a bit of guilt and was afraid it may not make it, so after a minute or two I dispatched it as well. 2 shots and 2 very quick kills. That's the fastest my season's ever ended, but it was a nice end to a 3 year drought for me. It was a bittersweet ending to the season with all the buildup and excitement of the hunt over in an hour and a half. The funny part was that I didn't know my father was sitting in the car at the time because of the rain and, at first, he didn't believe me when I told him that I shot 2 deer.

That makes 16 deer in 16 seasons for me on my family's 20 little acres.

[snapcrackpop]

Fourtown was slow for us. No one shot a buck and passed on a couple of does. I didn't see anything while on my stand.

At least my buddy's kid got his first deer, a doe.

[Outdoors_Junkie]

It was slow by URL (Waskish). We had a few does come by but only one buck. My cousin took care of him. Hopefully, next weekend will be better.

[KatoMike]

Shot a doe Friday afternoon with my bow and another with my slug gun on Saturday afternoon. Good weekend (other than catching a trespasser on my land with a 12 pack of Grain Belt and his shotgun, some people are so dumb its wonder they can make it through the day).

[BobberTom]

It was also slow for our group in 412. Not very many shots around us also. I cant wait for muzzy season now, I think it could be really good if we can get a couple of inches of snow on the ground.

[midwesthunter]

I saw more deer this opener than I have for quite a while. I saw deer moving from 6:20 til 10 am saturday morning. Saw two forkhorns, a small 6 pointer, and the rest does and fawns. My hunting partner shot a small doe at 6:50 and I shot a big doe at 9:55. I think we saw a total of 12 deer saturday and 3 or 4 on sunday. I consider this pretty good for where we hunt (178) for just the two of us.

[chris63]

We had fun but we did'nt even see a deer in/on stand.This is the first year in a long time we have not got at least a small camp meat deer.Oh well,I'm going back up for the last four days of the season.(Zone one)c63

[Northland Sportsman]

Rally slow weekend for us. I didn't see a deer from the stand from Sat-Mon. I don't know what it is but they just don't seem to be moving in our area. I hope that the weather changes and they start moving during shooting hours. My father in-law saw a couple but his slug gun missfired. I thought the amount of shooting slowed down from years past. I did hear the first shot at 6:00 on Sat morning, only a 1/2 hour before shooting time

[Borch]

Well we went 3 for 6 opening weekend with a spike, a 6 point and a big doe taken. Personally I just sat and watch the deer work through the area. Saw a few spikes and does. My son got his best buck to date, a nice fat 2 1/2 year old 6 point. Two more weekends left.

[CrappieAttitude]

Pretty slow for us in Blackduck. The highlight of my two days in the woods was teasing a forkhorn for about 35 minutes on Saturday evening. Using the primos "original" can call, I had him cross back and forth under my stand 7 different times. Each time he passed right under my tree not 3 yards away from the base. I didn't shoot, but it was one of my most enjoyable hunts ever. It always feels good to let the little guys walk. After seeing that, I am a true believer in the can calls.

[phishandpheasant]

When it is as bright as it was at night, they will be moving and feeding then. We were lucky and had cloud cover Friday into Saturday. Deer moving everywhere and I shot my biggest buck to date. We ended up shooting 6 bucks on Saturday including 2 tens, a nine, and 3 smaller baskets.

On Sunday as I walked to my stand, I could see plain as day. I know that I could have shot a deer at 6 AM(if legal). We saw only 1 buck and he was pushed on a drive. Does were moving, but not bucks.

[Tripleplay]

We are in area 245 and I would say the shooting was down a bit. We have two adults and three 12 or 13 yr olds hunting and my two 13 yr olds each hung their second deer of their lives. Daughter again at 370yds or so with one shot. Son missed a couple of closer opp's but finally connected late Sunday morning.

What little we saw this year was young deer moving. Saw three small bucks (spikes or forks) and none stayed on the hay field for more than 30 seconds although one should have been hanging from the tree (daughter didn't understand when I told her to shoot him before he vamoosed!). Only saw two decent does and they were long shots that were missed.

I sure hope the rut gets going as I think we saw as many deer in the hay fields in the dark as we saw sitting all day in the stands. (we never leave the stands except to field dress and hang em.) Including a buck in the front woods driving in on Sunday morning and never had a single deer come out of those woods in 2 and a half days.

All in all, both my kids shot a deer and they will be done being butchered by me tonight and we are back at it on Friday----not a great opening weekend but all things considered as the dad not bad!

[shae1986]

Hunted by Mahnomen. Didn't see a lot of deer but enough. Ended up shooting a good buck sunday around 1:30. Didn't hear a lot of shooting but some.

[Studer]

really slow for us...lots of missed shots but we had a lot of fun. A buddy shot a nine pointer and another a doe. I missed a nice buck Sunday night. and hunted all day monday. didn't see a thing but two small deer smaller than my dog. Keep going.

[MIKE IN lINO III]

"Daughter again at 370yds or so"

"Only saw two decent does and they were long shots that were missed."

Tripleplay, are you serious, 370 yards and missed some longer ones??

What the heck are your 13 year olds shooting?

Mike

[Whoaru99]

Pretty slow for our group just North of Benson. I've heard mixed reports around the area. Some doing OK, and others, like us, only 1 for 7 on Bucks - one guy shot, one Buck down (no Doe tags). The remaining 6 of us did not fire a shot all weekend.

Saw very few deer all in all.

Hopefully this coming weekend will be better, or if nothing else, will have to happen during smokepole season.

[Tripleplay]

We are on a big hay field near Itasca State Park. The corner in question is 408 yards away from our stand and I would move the stand but for safety reasons I want the other adult and his stand on the same side of the field as us so we aren't shooting at each other.

Two years in a row she has dumped a deer just out from that corner with her 7mm-08. She has the ballistics dialed in on this shot and has connected twice in two years. The drop according to the ballistics chart is 23+ inches (400yds) off a sandbag in my stand and I still can't believe it when she connects as I'm literally watching it through my scope usually. (we sight in at the long range numbers by shooting at 50yds but shoot for the actual raise for 200yds to zero in)

The missed shots were at the doe that was behind that deer closer to 390 yds and the other doe was in the same spot. Not much farther but a touch more. (I missed the doe so I didn't see her hit this one.)

I'd like to get closer to that corner but I trade the longer shots for being closer to the corner to our left offering shots at 100-200 yds or less some times. Especially with the kids shooting now.

I knew nothing about the 7mm-08 before buying them for my two 13 yr olds and with a 140gr Nosler Partition on the front of them they are much more than I expected. (Remington youth model rifle)

[MIKE IN lINO III]

That's some nice shootin' Tex.

I hunt in SE MN with a Slug gun so anything past 100 yrds is out of range for me. I just don't want to wound a deer, I want to drop it.

Mike

[FL SNIPER]

I rifle hunt near Sturgeon Lake. Saturday morning was great for me. Saw 7 different deer in hour and half before shooting a nice doe. Fork horns were chasing does around the field and under my stand. I had a small 8 point walk thru that I passed on a couple times. It was good to see deer active...as I've had a very slow bow hunting season thus far. I'm going back up to try for nice buck. Good luck to all of you still hunting!

[Ely Lake Expert]

We had 1 buck for 4 hunters last weekend. A little forkhorn by a first time deer hunter so he was pumped. It's not that we didn't see enough deer though. We must have seen at least 50 combined mostly does.

[Bassboy1645]

Tettegouche St Park on north shore was really slow.... 150 permits were given out i guess but there was harldy any shooting....i heard the first shot half an hr into opener and i heard maybe 15 shots all day. I only saw one deer and i dropped her at 50 yards wiht my brand new rifle My buddy got a doe as well wiht his new rifle and a big buck busted him by coming in 10 yards on the shoulder he had to move to shoot from. His bro and my other buddy shot a very nice six pointer....the biggest six pointier i have ever seen on sunday nite. father got a nubbin buck. With the full moon and niceish dasy it was overall slow and all deer shot those days were natural moving....very weird. Next weekend should be way better.