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Location: Manitowoc, WI | Well, how did your season go? I'd like to hear the stories. I'll go first.
Opening morning started out unusually slow, as my stand is in an area away from people traffic, so I usually see alot of animals wallking in right away. Not this year. Saw my first deer, a doe fawn, at about 8 am. From 8 till 11 am, I had deer around me most of the time. I passed on two small bucks: one forkhorn and a small 6 pointer. At 11, a big doe came through by herself. Made a solid shot as she ran about 20 yards before expiring.
Got back on my stand after lunch at about noon. Had another small buck come through at 1 pm and some more does and fawns throughout the day. All tolled, I saw 16 deer on the opener, with three small bucks. The future looks good if these bucks make it through the season.
Sunday was a different story. With a steady rain falling, I didn't go out till about 8, as the showers began to lighten up. Hunted till 1130 and saw 8 does and fawns.
Between my Dad and brother, they saw about 20 deer, with 5 more being bucks. My brother passed an 8 pointer with about a 16" inside spread. We have seen this buck about 10 times this year and my brother had most of the animals he saw on video. We still have one bonus tag left, so we intend to fill that next weekend. Didn't see the 150-160" class buck we saw during the bow season, but I did get to see it on video, along with the 135" 10 pointer my Dad got bowhunting. Both are beautiful animals. If you haven't figured it out by now, we practice QDM. Over the past 5 years since we've owned this porperty, we have harvested 15 deer, with 13 being does and 2 bucks. The results are amazing as we are seeing more big bucks now than ever. |
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Location: Fond du Lac, WI | Saw only does and yearlings opening day. Sunday morning brought rain, thunder and lightning. Stayed in bed until 6:30. Got up to the woods at 7:30. Still miserable so I went and had breakfast. Rain let up around 10:00 so I headed back in. About 50 yards from my stand I saw 7-8 deer walking through, all does and yearlings. I waited until they were out of site and I climbed up in the tree. Sat for about 10 minutes when this guy came through about 40 yards out. 9 Pointer, 17" spread, 130 pounds. Makes me feel a little better after the brute I missed bowhunting.
Dave.
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| Wish I had better news to report from the opener. New land for us this year, and didn't seem to be very much shooting for the opener. Saturday started with drizzle and then wind. We did see about 15 deer, no bucks, but most were on the land south of ours. We did have 2 does come within range, but Eric had a hard time finding them in the scope before they continued off into the thick stuff. I think the wind kept the deer sitting tight. Sunday it rained hard for most of the morning. My nephew got a shot at a deer. We spent about an hour trying to find any trace of the knockdown and blood. Found none. No other deer seen on Sunday, as it seemed most hunters wanted to stay in and dry!
Back at it Wednesday. Was hoping to get the deer out of the way this weekend, and hit the muskies next Saturday and Sunday. Maybe Wednesday will bring better luck.
Nice one DaCoder!
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| Rain sleet snow and ice . That about covers it.
Did see 2 bucks one was to small the other was to smart. |
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Location: Jackson, Wisconsin 53037 | We had a pretty good opening morning. I had a doe come by at 7:00. She was milling around the area. I saw a deer off in the distance, so I decided to use my primos can. After I did that I had 5 bucks come within 50 yards. I took a ten pt.. My wife was sitting a couple hundred yards away and they ran her way. She ended up taking a 9pt.We were done by 7:30. A successful hunt, but a short one.
Edited by shink 11/24/2003 7:10 PM
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Good job Shink, and nice buck DaCoder!
Most of opening day was good. It took me 3 hours of still hunting to get to my stand, quarter mile from the road, and never broke a twig. Then sat until 3pm without making any noise and felt like anytime that brute would make its appearance.
Then, like a couple of proud Clydesdales, 2 clodhoppers came crunching through with their tree climbers strapped to their backs. One set up 100 yards from me and the other came in at about 30 yards.
So I climbed down and went over and talked to him for a bit. He apologized for not seeing me and offered to move on, but I had other spots picked out and decided the area was way to damaged for any big deer wanting to come this way (wasn't the only guy to have found that scrape line!), and left them have it.
Was nice of them to not take my tree stand when they left that night.
Then the very cold rain on Sunday, kept us from leaving our vehicle. We drove around the area and investigated every nook and cranny we could get the truck into (found some promising areas that weren't being hunted, and will be doing some serious scouting during a muzzleloader trip up in December). That afternoon we spent watching the Packers Bull-Rush through the 49'ers.
Monday was a terrific day. The snow made for a great hunting enviroment, and other than a few hours on the stand in the morning and late afternoon, spent the bulk of the day still hunting through my favorite hunting area.
Never saw a deer, but have great hopes I'll get a chance next weekend!
Edited by Rick Larson 11/25/2003 8:48 PM
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| Beautiful creek bottom Rick! Gotta hold a brute in there somewhere!
Good Luck
Tyee |
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Posts: 376
Location: Menominee MI, In Da UP Eh? | Great tale Rick!!
And the berries shot is my new desktop pic on the puter....
Your photos speak as well as your articles and stories! |
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Thanx Ralph! But you just saying that because your hunting my yooper-40! |
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Was out looking for a whitetail the last 2 nights with no success. Almost got me a nubby buck on the way home though. Slowed down and it still walked out in front of the truck.
Stopped in time, but only had a foot or two to spare.  |
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Was suppose to participate in a drive through the "40", I lease here in Manitowoc County. But woke up with an intense head and neck ache and didn't make it.
Felt better this aft, and did get out for an hour and a half. Coming out, met up with a young man who regularly hunts the area. He told me they got 2 bucks out of the 40, a nine and a six. Also reported about 30 deer were hustled out by the drive.
Another interesting bit of news he had to share; a friend of his saw a huge buck the night before deer season standing in the corn field, next to my 40. He was with a doe and as he walked, heavily favored his right shoulder.
Wonder if thats my bow buck... |
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| Congrats, Shink, Dacoder, Jerry and all that had a "successful" hunt weather you got your deer or just enjoyed the time with Friends. The season has wound down for us and I have to say it was a good one, not great but good, (I didn't shoot a buck!) Chase got his first deer this year a youngin but tasty, and I took 2 does, Josh got a beautiful 9 pointer and a doe. The other 2 people on our 140 acre plot managed a small racked buck that we are glad is out of the gene pool and a couple more does. Not much shootin this year and little pressure. We heard deer behind us in the swamp every morning as we went to our stands and the fresh snow from yesterday showed us that there are still dozens of deer on the land, they have just gone nocternal. Should be a GREAT 2nd bow season. Looking forward to Chase getting his first bow kill and taking a doe with the recurve!
Good Luck
Tyee |
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| Hunted pretty hard this year, and Eric, in his first year, got his first 2. They were does, and should be quite tasty! Both shot neatly behind the ear from 100 yards. Never saw a buck on our side, but did have a couple idiots shoot at a big buck just be fore it crossed to our side from 350+ yards away. One was using a 30/30! They said they shot at it because it was leaving their side!
Here's a couple pics of Eric and his first 2 deer.
Edited by Shep 11/30/2003 10:06 AM
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Location: Green Bay, WI. | Well Shep, I guess it's time to give Eric the keys to the truck & Boat and you stay home. First he spanks you with that GIANT Musky on Green Bay now he out hunts Ya. te he LMAO See Ya, Pat
Edited by rangerpat 11/30/2003 8:21 PM
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Location: Menominee MI, In Da UP Eh? | Well,
Our young friend Eric takes Nugents, "Whack 'em and Stack 'em!" theory to heart!! Congrats to Eric and congrats to an obviously proud father!
My gun deer season went off, not with a bang but a fizzle.....
Was out yesterday and saw nothing. Nothing but trees and brush and red squirrels. I heard a deer plodding through the trees to my left, breaking the ice in puddles as it walked, but saw nothing.
Too windy and cold even for them to come out in the clearing.
This morning was to be my last big chance, but momma was so warm and cuddly I slept in and spent the day with my wife, kids, mom, sister and her boyfriend.
I ended up with some venison without firing a single shot. The woman who works for my wife, had a friend give her a deer. She was looking for someone to process it for her, but was afraid she'd have no room to store it, or if she would eat it all.
Galantly, (  ) I offered to take it to the processor, while sharing the expense along with the venison.
To make a long story short, the deer fit in a lawn and leaf yard bag! It was 39 pounds before processing, and that was with the internall goo, the head and the lower legs removed!!! (Did you ever see a greyhound up close? That was about the exact size of this deer!)
The gentleman who did the processing and I had a good laugh about him cutting up the smallest deer of the season, and he even gave us a price break!
The upside was, the yearling wasn't something bagged on one of my tags and I got to taste some of the finest, most tender venison that has ever entered my pie hole!! (Had eggs and venison backstrap for breakfast) I was also privy to seeing a few decent deer and spending a lot of relaxing time in the Yooper 40 as it has been branded.
My hopes are firmly pinned on muzzle loading season now, and Rick, I'll need both a weapon and your excellent whitetail knowledge and guiding skills to accomplish the task.....
Edited by Nofish 11/30/2003 6:00 PM
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Ha! You out hunted me this year Ralph!
And good job Eric! Your the man!
Edited by Rick Larson 12/1/2003 6:43 AM
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Location: Rhinelander | We had a great season. Sue shot her very first buck, as did Brian's wife, Sarah. Brian got his, and Keith and I passed them all season looking for 'the one'. We saw 35 adult deer that were in range, and filled a few bonus tags. The cap and ball season opens today, so a couple huors a day will be spent looking for my first black powder buck. I won't be so discerning with the Hawken, any buck with horns is in trouble! |
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Posts: 2567
Location: Manitowoc, WI | Well, we went deerless this weekend. I was bound and determined to stay out all day Saturday, but at 10:30 I left to get a bite to eat. BIG MISTAKE!!! The guys across the street from my property decided to drive out the tree farm. The monster we've been chasing all fall got up in front of the only guy without a gun on the drive (11 year old kid). He ran back through the drivers and crossed the street, running under my stand. They say timing is everything......that's for sure!!! I was gone for 30 minutes and returned to my stand to see big tracks running within 15 yards of it. A little while later, two small bucks came through and I passed them. All tolled, a great season but not what I was hoping for.
I still haven't gotten the pictures of my Dad's 10 pt., but when I do, I will post them. I also have two DeerCam pictures of this buck we've been chasing coming soon.
Gotta work a 12 hr shift today, then I'm off till next Monday. Headed to Minnesota to get my Lund tomorrow, then it's either muzzleloader hunting or Bay de Noc for the next 5 days. |
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