Last Sat

[Scoot]

A buddy and I went out hunting SW of Fargo last Sat evening. It was my buddy's last night in the woods for the year and might have been my last outing too (I'm still hoping for this coming Sat or Sun, but not sure I can swing it). I don't like to sit field edges very much, but the best spot I could find was on the edge of a corn field. I saw a couple dozen deer and had this guy at 100 yards, but he never got closer.

He was a pretty decent 10 pointer- not huge, but respectable. Next year he'll be a stud! I'd have definitely taken a crack at him if I'd been given a chance. However, he never came any closer and finally scooted away when a flock of turkeys about 200 yards got jumpy for some reason.

At the end of the night I headed for the truck, picking up my buddy along the way. When I got there he was just tearing down his stand and tree steps. He told me he'd hit a doe and was a little concerned about the hit- he saw a lot of arrow sticking out and didn't get a ton of penetration. He described the hit as maybe a little bit high, but it was around the back of the ribs on a pretty sharply quartering away shot. Other than the "a little high" part, it sounded good to me.

We got on her trail and could see that she'd fallen three times in the first 40 yards. However, there wasn't a speck of blood until about 40 yards after she was hit- not even a drop in the snow in any of the spots she'd fallen. She cut down a little hill and went into the bottom of a small sloughy area. We got a little more blood down there, but not much. My buddy had just made the comment, "Boy, this doesn't look too good", when he shined his light ahead to see the doe piled up just five yards ahead. Sweet! She wasn't a huge doe, but definitely not a fawn either. It was Jake's second deer he's shot with a bow and he was pumped (so was I)!!! I think you can see the excitement on his face in the pic below...

Rather than gutting her, we field dressed her with the gutless method, deboned the quarters on the spot, and hauled out the meat and all our gear in one trip. It worked slick!

I'm not sure if it was my last trip or not, but if it was, it was a great way to wrap up the year!

Congrats again to Jake on your second of many!!!

[harvey lee]

Glad to see you whacked one on the ranch Scoot. Too bad that 10 didnt come a little closer.

Were you hunting north of the river by the little field road to the east of the man gravel? There are some nice bucks running about out there.

If you are going out before the end of the season again, there will be three other locals there also. You are more than welcome to go out there again if it works out.

Did you hear anything towards nightfall for coyotes?

[maros91]

Congrats. Great late season action.

[DonBo]

Sweeeeet. Gotta love late season success.

[Scoot]

Were you hunting north of the river by the little field road to the east of the man gravel?...Did you hear anything towards nightfall for coyotes?

Yep, you know right where we were! Jake sat on near the little corner, just to the South of where the little field road comes into the field from the West. I sat on the Eastern tip of the penninsula, to the SE of Jake a few hundred yards.

I thought I might have heard a yote when we were cleaning the deer, but I'm not sure. I haven't heard nearly as many dogs out there this year. Last year- they dang things were like ticks on a deer! I can't say I've heard them much in the past few weeks though.

[harvey lee]

I was told the govt trapped 55 adults around the ranch last spring and summer. I also shot one and that one has the mange. Natures way of cleaning up the overpopulation.

[Scoot]

Holy cow! 55!!! That's incredible! I guess I shouldn't be surprised given how many I heard last Fall.

[harvey lee]

Last year one thought the choir started to sing about 10 minutes before dark. This fall I hardly heard any. Thats ok as the turkeys were up and should be on the up swing.

Seems when the yotes are low, the turkey population is very good.

Shoot those yotes.

The group that did the trapping run the goats in the national grasslands. They said many of the ranchers were losing many sheep.

I noticed that Jake owns the same safety vest as myself. They are nice.