3B all season license

[TrophyEyes]

Every year we take about 50 deer with 16 guys on muzzleloader opener. It makes for some impressive pictures. We really only shoot does during Muzzleloader unless the buck will score 140+ it gets a free pass this time of the year. Our record is 22 deer down in the first 2 hours.

[bassNspear]

we hunt the 3b also, and man we see alot of deer, but this year is a bit different, we are not seeing alot of deer like we have in the past.

My uncle and i have always shot muzzys during this season. But when we are driving woods, we will shoot the shot gun.

There is alot of deer around this area.

[bigbucks]

What part of the state do you hunt in that you see that many deer during ML season?

[TrophyEyes]

We have access to about 5,000 acres of land in the South East MN (sorry, not going to tell what town) for muzzleloader. Most is private. We hunt some of the apple orchards and do it to help the owners reduce the destruction of their trees. Some even get permits to shoot during the summer. One guy that has 90 acres shot 39 does this summer on his property alone. He donates all the meat. He got the permit because he was having less than 20% yield from his corn and beans due to deer. You should see some of the deer that we shoot. 200+ lbs does are common, 140+ inch bucks are the minimum for the group and any buck that is not outside the ears or is at least 4 years of age faces a group imposed fine where the money goes into food plots. We could shoot a lot more, but who wants to gut and drag more than that. I actually change my location so I can get a 4 wheeler to the deer I shoot. I had to pass a nice 10 pointer this year because he was no older than 3 1/2 years old. Muzzleloader is more killing than hunting for us. We "hunt" bow and slug season and pass on hundreds of deer for a chance at that monster.

The biggest suggestion and success we have found is knock on some doors, ask if they need any help managing their heard/property. We don't go out to shoot their trophy bucks. Many of our properties we agree to hunt does only. Let me tell you, when you can't shoot bucks, you see the biggest ones of your life. I saw a 190 class buck and couldn't do anything about it. After a few years you get to know these landowners and your privileges can change.

[bigbucks]

Holy dump, 39 does in a summer. I would guess he might have been a tad sick of shooting them. If he's like me it wouldn't last long, but many that's a lot of deer. We don't have that kind of population where we hunt. There's plenty of deer, but nothing like that.

[james_walleye]

How do you tell the difference between 3 1/2 and 4 1/2? Not asking too be a jack a__, I'd really like too know. My buddy shot a 145" 10 pointer that we thought had too be a 4 year old but sure enough it was a 3 year old. We were told 90% of the 140" deer in SE MN are 3 and alot of deer in the 150" range are as well. Thats how good the genetics are in SE MN.

[TrophyEyes]

I know the genetics of the area and I shot the almost the same deer last year and sure enough he was 3 1/2. I knew because of the mass on the antlers and that by 4 1/2 years this deer goes from a 10 to a 14 pt. if he is anything like his father, which ended up scoring 197 at the age of 6 1/2. I know that the deer in this area stem from about 3 master bucks, all very unique, so I kind of know what I am looking for.

[bassNspear]

that is alot of deer trophy. i dont see that many deer, but there is alot in the area that we are in. its a great time

[TrophyEyes]

Our group sits in our stands from 4am until 6pm straight, no breaks. I attribute a lot of our success to that as well. We rarely "jump" deer and if we do, it is on purpose. I have gone days where I didn't see a single deer, and then here comes the heard. 4-20 deer piling down the runway. It can be boring, but when they transition to and from the bedding area, it is pretty crazy for about 2 hours. The trick is that we have a sanctuary on every property we hunt. This is an area that we leave alone no matter what. No one is allowed to even walk near it. It is the thickest, narliest stuff on the property. It usually boarders or has access to the Apple orchard, corn field or bean field. We don't hunt the fields either. We hunt all the pinch points and funnels to and from the bedding areas. Most of our stands are 3/4 of the way up the bluffs and on the saddles of the ridges. That is where all these deer cross. I have had similar results up in Grand Rapids though. As long as you get in early and quietly you won't bump all the game. Especially down in SE MN you also have to be aware of the Turkeys busting you. I wrecked an entire morning because I set off 10+ turkeys roosted above my trail. My buddies heard the racket from about 3/4 of a mile away. All I saw was deer running full boar away from me blowing and crashing through the woods.

It will be interesting this year though because Thanksgiving is so early. We may hold off until Sunday to start shooting does. If the bucks are still moving, we may hold out. Out of 16 guys we have only taken two bucks this year.

Anyone know how the rut is progressing in 3B?

[DeanoB]

sounds like we need to see some of these impressive pics!!

[sticknstring]

Agreed!

[TrophyEyes]

I will see what I can find. I know there are pictures of the bucks, but don't know if anyone took pictures of the does piled in the back of the truck. I will take some this weekend for sure. I also want to ask all the other guys if they want their pictures on the web.

[hartner62]

As for the rut i saw 6 bucks this last weekend and everyone was hooked up with a doe one even put on a deer porn for me which was a first for me during my season. Did have one little fork come into a grunt call though.

[honker23]

As far as the rut goes, I'd say it's pretty much done with. I was there last weekend and mostly little bucks trying to get a little action, but very few actually with the does we saw. I saw a few button bucks with a 1.5-2.5 yr old buck, just hanging out alone.

Talking with the CO we met, we both agreed there is a big problem down there. Everyone wants to shoot the 180 inch deer (no brainer) but they restrict access to a lot of land or have doe only rules. Pretty soon the hunters doing all the work to "manage" the doe herd get sick of passing on bucks all day and they look other places. In that country it only takes one no hunting "sanctuary" to really limit success of the others in the area. I hunted near a such a spot for years and the neighbors always had permission to hunt the sanctuary. I would not see a deer for 2 days until they decided to push this spot and then in one hour I'd see 25-35 does and 6 bucks come running. Now they don't have access to it and the 200 acres around it is worthless because the deer figure it out pretty quick.

The worst part is for the guy trying to farm next to this has to feed this mini herd (pics of 200-300 in the winter) all year, yet no one can help thin them out. The first 6-10 rows of corn have 0 kernels left.

I'm all in favor of QDM, but that has to require reducing the doe population.

So I'm glad you are doing your part, but 30 deer in 5000 acres doesn't do much down there. Considering in the 160 acres we hunt, 8 bucks were taken in the first season, we saw 6 more different bucks and 20-30 does.

[james_walleye]

Alot of people dont realize that harvesting does is a big part of QDM. Either that or they choose too ignore that important part of it. QDM is more than just passing on small bucks.

[crazyice]

There are definately parts of SE MN that have serious deer problems. I have hunted in an area that is over run with deer, but also has one of these "sanctuaries" right next to it. The land I hunt is a combination of ag and wooded ravines, but I choose to hunt a field edge right next to the land that doesn't allow hunting. My father in law is the one who owns the land that I hunt on, and he has experienced many years where the deer totally ruin the corn crop just as described, and he actually rents the tillable land from the person who doesn't allow the hunting. All in all the non hunting land probably is over 250 acres, and there is only about 70 of it that is tillable, so there is a ton of habitat for the deer, turkeys, and ofcourse coyotes to hide in. But according to the land owner, you can't just go killing these "pretty animals". And as far as the destroyed crops go, she claims that the "bears" must have done that, because deer wouldn't do that in her opinion. It is people like that who are responsible for the over abundance of deer and ultimately in my opinion the demise of the herd, because if you can't thin the herd, they will do it their selves with disease.

[96trigger]

Ice, these sanctuarys are a real problem in some areas. We don't push or pressure deer very hard, where we hunt, but there are still a few areas where nobody is allowed to hunt. We will see less deer as the season goes on and then as soon as its over, my uncle is feeding 100 deer in the corn he has left, by these sanctuarys. One neighbor went so far as to say that there weren't that many deer, so he closed down his property. Sometimes I just don't get it. It's also a part of having two separate seasons. A couple of those pieces get hit during 3A, but then not during 3B and vice versa.

[TrophyEyes]

I had to cancel my trip down for Muzzleloader. The wife and son came down with the flu and I just couldn't leave. I will still see if I can get some photo's from the rest of the group.

My cousin called last night after bow hunting one of the doe only areas and he had to pass on a 150+ buck with his bow. His 7 year old son that was in the stand with him, kept saying shoot dad, shoot. It took everything in his body not to pull back on this bruiser, but by being a good example to his son, he let it walk. It does get frustrating to pass all the time on some of these nice bucks.

[bassNspear]

that would be awesome to get some pictures.

[TrophyEyes]

Well muzzleloading reports are coming in from my group. 19 on the ground as of 12pm today. They only had 9 guys this year. 1 buck shot this morning, which they are still trying to recover. I hear it was a dandy. Parts of the group already left with their deer as they shot 3 the first day. There will be no picture of the pile, but I am hoping to at least get a picture of the buck. The remaining group is starting a drive at 2pm.

I was in charge of bringing the trailer, so it I am getting calls about deer being stuffed into the back of Tahoe's, trucks and pretty much everywhere they will fit. Most of these deer are being donated so it won't be a long ride, but it sure will leave some explinations to the wives as to why there is blood in the back of the Tahoe.

[bassNspear]

im sure there happy that there is not trailer huh