Minnesota Deer Hunting Season

December 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Now that a little time has passed I feel like I can share some of my experiences from the Minnesota Deer Hunting season. The season ran for 10 days starting on November 3rd. Because of our zone we are limited to hunting with shotguns. I hunted with a my 20 gauge slug gun. My father-in-law graciously worked out a lease for a piece of land near their place north of the Twin Cities. The farm is 68 acres and is highlighted by a massive, nasty swamp in the middle of it. We knew deer were in there so we targeted and hunted around that swamp.

Weather Report: I hunted opening weekend and then again for two days (Friday and Saturday) for the second weekend. Typically during the deer hunting season you hope for cold temperatures and maybe some snow. We had neither. The first weekend consisted of temperatures in the upper 30s and lower 40s. Overnight lows were in the upper 20s and lower 30s. When it is that warm, deer don’t want to move (they have their thick winter coats on), nor do they need to move (cold temperatures force deer to eat to maintain calories). Conditions were nice with fairly light east winds and partly sunny skies. For the second weekend it was even warmer with temperatures in the upper 40s and 50s! Same story on the deer movement, plus it rained over a half inch on Saturday. Yuck!

So to recap my hunting it comes down to missed opportunities (aka missed shots). Opening day was pretty quiet in my stand, I had it set up in a pretty sweet spot but didn’t account for some obnoxious neighbors and their loud dogs. I actually had a woman stop on the road near my stand and start yelling at me asking if I had permission to hunt. There is nothing I hate more than dealing with other people when I am hunting! On Sunday morning of opening weekend. I sat in a different stand, I called a doe out of the swamp and took a 60-70 yard poke at her (missed). My comfort zone is definitely within 50 yards. That being said I felt like I should have made the shot, and this began my battle with the Red Dot scope I was using. Later that morning my father-in-law pushed the swamp and chased out a couple of deer including a nice little buck. I took a shot at him while he was running but didn’t connect. The deer of course came out exactly where I DIDN’T expect them too, and I had my back to them. The deer stopped for me but I couldn’t get my gun up in time to get a good shot. Later that night I sat in a different stand and had deer all over me, but I couldn’t get any shots. Of course the deer were all milling around under one of our other stands.

Some pictures from my deer stands:

Deer Hunting Spot 1

Deer Hunting Spot 2

Deer Hunting Spot

I saw deer during the second weekend as well. I saw a few on Friday and passed on a couple of marginal shots. After my hunt on Friday night I decided to take down my stand and move it to another small property. The problem was it was pitch black dark when I decided to do so! It was pretty freaky and the hair was standing up on the back of my neck the whole time. I am fairly familiar with the woods and walked in to where I thought I should be. I found a good tree and set up my stand. As I was walking out of the woods I tried to remember landmarks but as I walked out of the woods I had some serious doubts that I would be able to find the stand in the morning. Sure enough on Saturday morning I walked out in the rain and couldn’t find my stand anywhere. I leaned against a tree and waited for first light so I could look for my stand. After finally finding my stand (it wasn’t really close to where I wanted it!) I climbed up in it and sat for awhile. The rut was in full swing so I decided to do some calling and did several sets of bleats and grunts. My brother-in-law and I had a plan to meet that morning to do some walking on the other farm so I was getting ready to pack it in when I turned to my left and saw two deer! It was a buck and a doe and they had clearly responded to my calling. I can admittedly say that a little buck fever set in at that point. I knew I had to move quickly as the deer were walking behind me and about to get downwind of me. I turned and brought up my gun, the combination of rain on my glasses and both ends of my scope made it nearly impossible for me to see anything (UGHHH). Even at that the deer were only 20 feet away and I thought I had enough of a sight picture to take a shot. I fired once and clearly missed. As the deer ran I was able to stop the doe two more times and MISSED. Needless to say I was VERY frustrated. I felt like a good hunter but a bad shooter. I just couldn’t seal the deal. After confirming that there wasn’t any blood I took my stand down and got out of the woods. With my gun issues and complete lack of confidence that was the end of my season.

That hunt was also the last hunt for my Red Dot scope. I just didn’t trust it anymore and wanted to get back to open sights anyway. The very next weekend was the opener for the Wisconsin deer season, I swapped out my barrel on my trusty 12 gauge and went to the range to get it sighted in. I will be taking that and a lot more confidence into the deer woods in Wisconsin. I will be posting a recap of that season soon.

This trail camera was under my original tree stand. 1 hour after moving that stand this deer was there posing for the picture.

This trail camera was under my original tree stand. 1 hour after moving that stand this deer was there posing for the camera.

 

 

Filed Under: Hunting, Outdoor, Weather

Night Trolling for Walleyes

October 3, 2012 by Leave a Comment

My buddy Jason and I went out on a gorgeous full moon night for some walleye trolling the other night. We tried a new pattern to me which was trolling Rapalas through channels and under bridges.

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Weather: We had temps in the 60s falling into the 50s. We had a little breeze out of the north and the moon was big and bright in the sky. The little wind we had created a nice current through some of the channels we were fishing which is key for this tactic. Our fishing was pretty slow which was likely due to the warm weather and still warm water temperatures. The fish turn on the fall but this warm pattern may have them fooled!

In any case we did get on a few fish. I caught a chunky largemouth bass. Not the species we were looking for but a good fish to break the ice.

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On literally our last troll of the night I nabbed a nice walleye. The fish hit as my Rapala was suspended. That may have been a good clue for us that the fish were in a more negative mood.

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We have a big front coming through tonight. Hopefully, that will kick the fishing into high gear for the fall!

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Fishing Trip to the Lake

September 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Elias fishing at Sunset

Eldest son Elias doing some “fishing,” at this point he is just holding a rod
(and dipping it into the lake to touch the weeds).

I had another chance to get out on the water the other day as we made a little weekend trip up to my in-law’s place on the lake. The trip started in frustrating fashion as I was on the search for fish and not finding much. Due to family stuff I was also pretty limited for fishing time initially. So the first two days I was skunked! I should mention a few other factors, first, it was Labor Day weekend and the lake was hopping. I have fished the lake enough to know that the fish turn off as the lake activity increases. The second negative factor was another wicked algae bloom. Water clarity was terrible! Because of the poor water quality I tried to switch up my tactics to get a little more vibration, thus throwing a big spinner bait and fishing topwaters. It didn’t work!

Thankfully, I had a fateful moment on a family pontoon ride. We crossed through a small channel into a smaller lake and the water clarity improved dramatically! That part of the lake hadn’t had an algae bloom, and I was pumped to get over there and fish. I also saw a floating mat of weeds that I was anxious to try out.

Weather Update: The weather was HOT and very sunny. We had pretty light winds and a steady barometer. I expected the fish to be biting. The algae bloom was because of the warm water temperatures and ample sun. The bloom greatly affected visibility in the water which hurt my chances. The weather was very steady through out the 4 days I fished.

First chance I had I ran over to that part of the lake to get some fishing in. Right off the bat I got bit on a green craw shaped Havoc bait (I think it was the Bobby Lane design?), rigged texas style. I picked up 4 more fish in a short stretch of shoreline pitching my bait into inshore targets like clumps of weeds and docks. Then I got to the floating mat and things really took off! I caught 5 or 6 more fish off the edge of the mat. The fish were incredibly aggressive! I got the same fish to bite several times (after I missed him!) on a few occasions. I fished until I literally couldn’t see anymore and called it a night.

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It was awesome to finally put it together and catch some fish. The challenge of putting together a pattern and the successfully catching fish is my favorite part of fishing. I caught all my fish on that same craw shaped creature. A contributing factor to my success with the mat is that it was sitting over the deepest portion of that section of the lake at about 8 feet. I went back the next morning and caught another 8 fish off of the mat in about an hour and a half. It was a blast!  This time around I caught a couple on a top water and the rest on my creature.

 

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I also wanted to share that I got a BOW and have been practicing with hopes of doing some bow hunting this fall. I told myself that I would get back into it when we moved back to Wisconsin/Minnesota. I got the bow used on Craigslist and put together the rest of the pieces and parts for my birthday. Looking forward to another excuse to get into the woods!

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Filed Under: Fishing, Outdoor, Weather Tagged With: , , , ,

Fishing and Deer Scouting at the Lake

July 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment

We took a fun trip up to my wife’s families house on the lake a couple of weekends ago. I did quite a bit of fishing, the bite wasn’t real hot but I did find a few good ones. The fish pictured below measured 3.4 lbs, I caught him using a technique that is fairly new to me. One of my goals as I fish more is to try new stuff. So I was “punching pads”, that involves using a heavy weighted plastic (for me it was a Yum Creature bait), you peg the weight so it won’t slide and then pitch it into the really thick pads and scum. The thought is that with the heavy weight your bait will be able to make it through the weeds to the more open water below. I would say my luck was only so-so, I don’t think my weight was quite heavy enough to really punch through so I was getting hung up a lot. I did catch the nice fish above doing it so I think there is some potential!

I also threw my old standby the scum frog a fair amount and fished the outside weedline with a creature and jig during the morning hours.

Weather Report: The weather was HOT and humid with tons of sunshine. The wind was never really a factor, and the weather pattern was pretty stable.

I targeted the pads because I knew the fish would be seeking shade from the bright sun. Plus, I have always found fish in the pads during hot, sunny weather. With more time I would have pitched to docks a little more, and one of these days I would like to target some deeper fish.

Largemouth Bass

We also spent a little time scouting a chunk of woods that we will be hunting this fall. It was a family affair! It was me, my FIL, my wife and our two boys. It was hot and a little buggy in the woods, but overall it was a fun and informative trip. At first glance the woods look awesome, lots of potential. I will need to spend a little more time exploring before I decide where to hang my stands.

The family on our deer scouting trip

Sorry about the smile, I was pretty focused on getting everyone in the picture! :)

I carried Elias on my shoulders for most of the trip which was quite the adventure, especially when I accidentally stepped into a completely hidden creek, TWICE! We were walking across a deep grassy area, and I had NO idea the stream was there! It was about 2 feet wide and a good 3 feet deep, and the grass had it completely covered. The first time I went down to my hips, Elias did freak out a little bit. But on the second unexpected plunge into the creek, I fell all the way in and he got a little wet too. He latched onto my face and pushed my hat down over my eyes. He had a finger in my eye with his death grip which made it a little challenging to climb out! We ended up OK, and he has been telling everyone who will listen about our adventure!

Elias perched on my shoulders

Elias loves riding in the boat and he got to come along with dad when we took the boat to the ramp to load it on the trailer. Fun to see him enjoy the boat, fishing and the outdoors. Hopefully, I am planting the fishing seed that will grow in him for a lifetime!

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Filed Under: Fishing, Hunting, Outdoor

Stormy Trip to Mille Lacs

June 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Let me start off by saying that I absolutely love fishing Lake Mille Lacs. In my opinion it is one of the best walleye fisheries in the country and it is close enough to access it on a more regular basis. As a bass fisherman, Mille Lacs is where I cut my teeth and learned to enjoy walleye fishing, most notably anchoring on a piece of structure and fishing lit bobbers while the sun goes down. It is an amazing feeling to be 7-10 miles out on the middle of a lake like that. When we were back in MN visiting over Father’s Day I was pretty pumped to get to Mille Lacs, as it turns out I was maybe a little too pumped!

My father in law, Dan and brother in law, Bjorn and I made plans to hit Mille Lacs on Saturday but after the weather looked a little stormy and the winds were strong we decided to wait until Sunday when things looked better. So Sunday comes along and I am of course watching the weather all day. We have family over during the afternoon with plans to get on the water for the evening bite. On Mille Lacs the most important thing to consider is the wind, out on a big lake like that a little bit of wind can cause big problems. As I watched the weather there definitely were some storms around with the greatest threat of storms coming later into the overnight and the winds looked relatively calm around the lake.

As we dropped the boat in on Sunday evening, the lake was clearing out and we did get some strange looks as we motored past the parade of boats coming in, we soon found out why. As we drove out of the bay we were in onto the main lake the waves grew to the point where we were fighting 4-5 foot waves. My father in law has a nice deep boat and we were getting tossed around pretty good and of course quite wet from the spray off the waves. Our target was 7 Mile Flat, which true to it’s name is 7 miles out on the lake. When we got there we were the only boat that we could see, pretty crazy for a busy lake like Mille Lacs. We got rigged up in the big water and started to do some fishing. After about 20 minutes it became clear that boat control was a major issue and we weren’t fishing effectively. I also checked the radar to find a cluster of tornado warned storms just off to our west. So in defeat we headed in.

Fishing for Walleyes on Lake Mille Lacs

Me on Lake Mille Lacs

As we were fishing I was still pretty perplexed as to what was going on weather wise. Even while on the water the wind sensors around the lake were reading sustained winds of 5-7 mph, which shouldn’t have been an issue. Then I figured out what was going on. As we went out on the lake there was a large cluster of storms to the north of the lake, the storms were moving away from the lake and shouldn’t have affected us. They did however affect the wind as we were caught in the inflow field from those storms. The storms were drawing in warm, moist air from the south right over the lake. As I looked at a few more sensors I noticed that while the sustained winds were very light many of them were showing wind gusts over 20 mph.

Bjorn on Lake Mille Lacs with the big storms to our North behind him.

Bjorn on Lake Mille Lacs with the big storms to our North behind him.

It ended up being a wild trip on the lake, but never did I feel like we weren’t safe. Although, I did feel some sea sickness. :) I of course wish that we could have caught a few fish and had better conditions on the water, but sometimes being outdoors becomes more about the adventure. As men I think it is important to get out of the domesticated world and feel your heart beat in your chest and fight the elements. It also reminded me how powerful weather can be, and how important is to always be prepared for the worst!

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