Minnesota 2018 Season

Good luck....I videoed a small 2 year old this last weekend at 8 yards I passed on. Was fun to watch him stare at me, nose in the air and not bolting off. Now if I can get his dad or big brother to show up life would be good.

[video=youtube_share;j2nixNhpUtU]https://youtu.be/j2nixNhpUtU[/video]
 
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The forecasted rain did not happen and Friday morning broke clear and cool. I was signed in and set up well before first light, and with the rut nearly here my excitement was high.

IMG_0781.jpg

Shortly after first light I caught movement on my right and turned to see a buck. He slowly worked his way around and eventually found himself in front of me, broadside. I had guessed him to be somewhere in the range of 30 yards and adjusted my sight accordingly. As he passed behind the small tree in front of me I drew and waited for him to stop. He followed the script and did just that, unaware of my presence. I settled my pin on his chest and released, watching as the arrow impacted high. As he spun around I saw the arrow still sticking about halfway out, not nearly the penetration I would have liked. He tore off through the brush and I was able to follow his sound straight away, then veering to my right. Shortly after, silence.

I sat for another hour replaying the shot in my head over and over. In that time I ranged where he stood and he ended up being 23 yards away. Using the 30 yard pin, it was no surprise that I hit high. I climbed down and made my way over to the impact site. There was no blood to be found, but I did have hair. Knowing the general direction of his travel, and positive that I did hit him I started slowly trailing, following what little sign there was; a broken twig here, a splayed track there. Some 30 yards from the shot I found first blood and my spirits picked up a bit. The track was painfully slow but blood was good in spurts; I'd find a good patch, then nothing for 10 yards or so, then another good patch. This continued for about 70 yards or so, and just as I was finding my groove the trail simply stopped. I had a good spot of blood, then just ahead of that a splayed track, another pin prick, then nothing.

I searched this area for a while in all directions to no avail and eventually marked the spot and went back to my car to eat and find help. Another hunter was gracious enough to come and help and we grid searched for several hours without turning up the deer. I returned on Saturday morning and continued searching, still coming up empty. Finishing out my obligation to the hunt I headed out Sunday morning but with winds gusting to 40mph there was no way I was hunting from my stand. I pulled my setup and called it a day.

Needless to say, a lost deer is a terrible feeling. I was and am super bummed about it, but am confident I did all that I could to recover that deer. I believe that my high hit coupled with the elevated shot caused me to enter above the lung, and the lack of pass-through did not allow me to do enough damage to the opposite lobe to bring him down swiftly. The biggest takeaway from this hunt is to make sure I range when I set up my stand so that if things happen quickly at first light I'm not guessing. I'll also be looking at a good fixed head rather than expandable as I believe that may have provided better penetration.

We've still got 2 months left in our season and I've got another park hunt starting next weekend. I'm hoping to shake this off and get back out there with renewed confidence.
 
It sucks when you wound one and it gets away! Hopefully it will survive it's wound and make it thru the winter. Glad you are the type of person that can admit his mistake and learn from it...some don't. That's what makes a great hunter, and knowing what I know from this story if you ever come to Northern NY look me up I'll hunt with you!!!!
 
MN_Bowhunter4 said:
The forecasted rain did not happen and Friday morning broke clear and cool. I was signed in and set up well before first light, and with the rut nearly here my excitement was high.

View attachment 89259

Shortly after first light I caught movement on my right and turned to see a buck. He slowly worked his way around and eventually found himself in front of me, broadside. I had guessed him to be somewhere in the range of 30 yards and adjusted my sight accordingly. As he passed behind the small tree in front of me I drew and waited for him to stop. He followed the script and did just that, unaware of my presence. I settled my pin on his chest and released, watching as the arrow impacted high. As he spun around I saw the arrow still sticking about halfway out, not nearly the penetration I would have liked. He tore off through the brush and I was able to follow his sound straight away, then veering to my right. Shortly after, silence.

I sat for another hour replaying the shot in my head over and over. In that time I ranged where he stood and he ended up being 23 yards away. Using the 30 yard pin, it was no surprise that I hit high. I climbed down and made my way over to the impact site. There was no blood to be found, but I did have hair. Knowing the general direction of his travel, and positive that I did hit him I started slowly trailing, following what little sign there was; a broken twig here, a splayed track there. Some 30 yards from the shot I found first blood and my spirits picked up a bit. The track was painfully slow but blood was good in spurts; I'd find a good patch, then nothing for 10 yards or so, then another good patch. This continued for about 70 yards or so, and just as I was finding my groove the trail simply stopped. I had a good spot of blood, then just ahead of that a splayed track, another pin prick, then nothing.

I searched this area for a while in all directions to no avail and eventually marked the spot and went back to my car to eat and find help. Another hunter was gracious enough to come and help and we grid searched for several hours without turning up the deer. I returned on Saturday morning and continued searching, still coming up empty. Finishing out my obligation to the hunt I headed out Sunday morning but with winds gusting to 40mph there was no way I was hunting from my stand. I pulled my setup and called it a day.

Needless to say, a lost deer is a terrible feeling. I was and am super bummed about it, but am confident I did all that I could to recover that deer. I believe that my high hit coupled with the elevated shot caused me to enter above the lung, and the lack of pass-through did not allow me to do enough damage to the opposite lobe to bring him down swiftly. The biggest takeaway from this hunt is to make sure I range when I set up my stand so that if things happen quickly at first light I'm not guessing. I'll also be looking at a good fixed head rather than expandable as I believe that may have provided better penetration.

We've still got 2 months left in our season and I've got another park hunt starting next weekend. I'm hoping to shake this off and get back out there with renewed confidence.
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It happens , keep your head up . Only thing I'll say , and not trying to be mean , cuz I've done this exact thing , but I think you should have given him more time . I usually hunt afternoons , and if my shot is at all questionable I leave it over night . Even if I make a great shot I give it minimum of couple hours unless I see him go down . Deer are tough , if you don't get him just right they can go a long long long ways
 
But hang in there ... you'll get another chance . The best is yet to come good luck to everyone!
 
If you're worried about penetration, look into upping your arrow weight for greater kinetic energy instead of switching to a fixed head.
 
Thanks everyone. Still smarting a bit from it but looking forward to getting back out there this weekend. We finally received our stand tag info for the park hunt this weekend so I'll be swinging by after work to drop a camera ahead of Sunday's set up day.

Vanish - I've always just bought arrows off the shelf. Your comment got me to googling and I found that I was definitely on the "light" side of light. I've since ordered a few supplies from 3Rivers and will be tweaking later this week to see what the heavier arrow does for me. I know I won't have time for a complete re-vamp but will be happy if I can get them grouping well at 20 and 30 yards. Needless to say, the numbers were eye opening! I'm a math geek so it should be fun to play around with different setups. Thanks for the nudge in that direction!
 
so where were you at weight wise and where are you at now? I am a big fan of fixed blade (mostly an archery elk hunter) and not the expandables. Personal choice for sure, but elk hunters tend towards fixed blade IMO while deer hunters use both.
 
MNElkNut said:
so where were you at weight wise and where are you at now? I am a big fan of fixed blade (mostly an archery elk hunter) and not the expandables. Personal choice for sure, but elk hunters tend towards fixed blade IMO while deer hunters use both.
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I don’t have a grain scale (it’s part of my order arriving later this week) but using a food scale that measures to the tenth of an ounce I’m somewhere near 393 grains finished. I’m looking to push it to 500-550 or so.
 
So I'm walking the dog with my wife and all of the sudden between the houses out pops a doe, dog is like what is that...She turns tail and goes back and I follow her, these houses are on a park....all of the sudden my wife says, hey, look at the buck...it's giant...he lumbers across the entire park chasing the doe...all at 3 pm.... It's on baby...Can't wait to get in the tree tomorrow through the weekend !
 
Tweaking supplies arrived Friday and I spent some time messing with things today. With the proper scale I found my arrows to weigh just over 400 grains finished. I beefed one up to by using 3Rivers weight tube as well as some brass washers to bring my FOC in line. The finished product tipped the scales at 558 and was dead on at 20 and 30 yards. I’ll finish out the season with this heavier arrow then use the off season to really dial in my sight.

Stand setup for the park hunt is tomorrow afternoon and I’m excited to pull my camera and see what’s happening! This hunt is Mon-Wed only for the next three weeks and I’ll be out of town next weekend. I plan to take Monday’s off and do what I can with the other days. It’s definitely the time of year to be in the woods here in MN.
 
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The time change has been kicking my butt this year and I was up extra early in preparation for Monday's morning hunt. I was on the road at 5:10 and to the parking lot by 5:30 with one problem; the gate that was to be opened at 5 was still closed. I called the deputy on patrol asking if and when the gate would be open and he advised that he just hadn't gotten to this one yet. After finally getting into the lot about 5:50, I was feeling quite rushed.

I made it to my stand and got all set up just prior to first light overlooking a white oak ridge with some swampy terrain interspersed. It was a great morning to be out, but no deer sightings. I sat until the rain started at about 10, then decided to get down and prep for the afternoon if the rain would hold off. My plan was to bring my ground blind and set up near where my trail camera was placed.

leb1.jpg

The weather looked like it might cooperate so I headed back to the park about 2. As I was walking to my ground blind location I ran into another hunter who was right near my chosen spot. Onto plan C, and I would be going blind. I'd been in this area enough over the last few years to know the layout and decided to make my way to a stand of pines, hoping another hunter wasn't already in there. I was fortunate to find that the spot was empty, but about an hour after I got set up the rain picked up and would make any blood trail tough to follow. I decided to pack it in for the day.

With work the rest of the week and leaving for a long weekend visiting friends I won't be out again until the weekend of November 17. I am hoping the weather cooperates for us the third and final period of this particular park hunt!
 
This has been a fun to string to follow as i'm also a MN hunter but have been gun hunting on private for the last 20 years. i'm interested in metro bow hunting and curious what the rules are after shooting a deer... can you leave a gut pile on public? how do you get the deer back to the truck?
 
walleyepro1 said:
This has been a fun to string to follow as i'm also a MN hunter but have been gun hunting on private for the last 20 years. i'm interested in metro bow hunting and curious what the rules are after shooting a deer... can you leave a gut pile on public? how do you get the deer back to the truck?
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Yes, you can leave gut piles on public land. My personal rule of thumb is to drag a deer away from any trails before gutting as a courtesy for other users. As far as getting it back to the vehicle...drag it.
 
Got back last night from spending a long weekend in Phoenix visiting friends. It was my first time in AZ and we had a great time. Saturday we drove up to Sedona and spent the day there taking in the sights. It was a beautiful area and I was really hoping to see some elk or mule deer along the way but didn't turn up either!

IMG_0787.jpg

It was great to get away and enjoy the warm weather, but I am really looking forward to getting back in the stand this weekend. It's been cold and snowy here at home so hopefully the bucks are on their feet. I've got the final days of the park hunt coming up next week and I'm hoping to hit another public land spot on Saturday morning. Good luck to those out in the field this week!
 
Set up for the final days of the park hunt was on Sunday and my plan was to get as far away from the parking lot as possible. After hiking all the way back in I was just about to drop my gear when I ran into another hunter and his kid. After talking to them, he mentioned that they'd been there the previous two weeks so I ceded the spot to them. I backtracked a bit and as I was scoping out a new area I ran into yet another hunter. Ended up backtracking all the way back to a spot I had scouted prior to the first week and found my self alone. Finally! This is a big park but they let 80 hunters in which means a lot of competition for spots; even worse than the majority of public parcels I normally hunt.

I'd had a trail cam watching my final spot for a few weeks and had a bunch of bucks on camera, but most of the pictures were at night. Not surprising as this part of the park sees a ton of human activity with all the hiking trails. I'd planned to hunt out of a pop-up blind since the weather was calling for lows in the teens overnight. I figured a blind heater would help me stay in the game longer. I set up my blind, brushed it in, and got everything situated for Monday morning.

Monday morning broke clear and cold, and I was in my blind with an hour to first light. That heater proved to be a good idea, as it really took the chill out of the air. The morning was dead with no deer, no squirrels, no living creature sighted. I packed up about 9:30 and decided I'd be back in the afternoon with my climber.

After getting some things done around the house in preparation for Thanksgiving I was back on stand by 2:00. The day had warmed up enough that I was comfortable with a few layers and some hand warmers. The evening hunt was just as dead as the morning, but sure beat being at work! The light dusting of snow provided stark contrast in the woods and I was kind of surprised to end the evening without seeing anything. Even though the park is open today and tomorrow, I won't be hunting it. I'll be getting some things wrapped up at work and at home ahead of the holidays. The weather looks like I should be able to get out again Friday morning...if I can manage to get out of bed after the Thanksgiving meal.

Happy holidays everyone!

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