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

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

Crazy Winter of Weather!

March 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment

What happened to winter?!? This has been one of the most fascinating/boring years of winter weather I can remember. I kept waiting for winter to arrive and it really never did. Sure we had some snow and we had some cold but neither the cold nor the snow could ever really settle in across the upper Midwest. For winter enthusiasts of course it is a major bummer; things like skiing, snowmobiling, and ice fishing had abbreviated seasons. And I am sure the lack of winter hurt a lot of people’s pocket books as well. There is a huge industry that revolves around the winter season, from plowing and shoveling to ski resorts.

I feel like I should take some of the blame. I left my career in meteorology during the fall and was REALLY looking forward to enjoying some stress free snow storms! Snow storms are easily one of the most challenging things to forecast when it comes to weather and over the last two brutal winters I was worn out! I know that one winter every major snow system struck on a Monday (not really, but it felt like that!), which meant I was all alone trying to forecast it on my weekend shift. So of course I leave the field and we have the most non challenging winter known to man!

All said I won’t be complaining too much. I know that the mild weather negatively affected my deer hunting this past fall. And it would have been nice to have a longer, safer ice fishing season. On the positive side is that after a couple of hard winters the pheasant population caught a nice break. Let’s hope for a dry spring for some good nesting and a nice population boost!

Now that the weather is warming I am looking forward to open water fishing. My favorite type of fishing is bass fishing and I am really looking forward to setting the hook on some lunkers this summer.  My next planned trip to the outdoors is in a few weeks when I travel north for the Minnesota fishing opener. I haven’t been able to fish the opener for several years because of my work schedule but this year I am excited to go north and enjoy the tradition.

Hopefully, you found some ways to enjoy this mild winter. Did you notice the affects of the mild weather on your outdoor pursuits this winter? Was it positive or negative? Feel free to share in the comments below.

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

Coyote Hunting/Ice Fishing Adventure

February 12, 2012 by 2 Comments

After being stuck inside since the last day of the deer season I was pretty excited to get back out to do some hunting and fishing. My buddy Clint and I made plans to go up and chase some coyotes and do some ice fishing up around my families land in the Lake Preston area.

Weather Details: The weather started cold! When we left Sioux Falls it was -4, and when we got to our first hunting area it was -7. Even a “light” wind in South Dakota is noticeable when it is that cold! Wind chills were around 15 to 20 below zero. Thankfully it was bright and sunny which definitely helps. Temperatures warmed into the high teens through the day and the winds shifted from the north to the west. It was definitely cold on the lake, and the post cold front conditions didn’t help us much with the fish. By the time we were sitting in the afternoon it was pretty pleasant. We finished the day with decent temperatures and a very light west wind.

Our first spot hunting spot in the morning had us working a couple of smaller sloughs near a lake. The lake sits south of the land we were hunting so with a north wind it worked out perfect for us to set up with the lake at our back so the coyotes couldn’t get behind us and wind us. We had two sets trying to call the ‘yotes out of two big sloughs. We didn’t have any luck. Next we went and tried to call some coyotes out of a monster slough. We did some calling and were able to move some pheasants and deer out of the slough but again no coyotes. The coyote hunting thing was new to me, Clint had an electric call that we used as well as a “decoy” which was a stuffed dog with a rabbit pelt on its head. He had a string tied to it and planned to give it some movement if we saw any.

With our first round of coyote hunting behind us it was time to head to the lake. We went to a lake north of our hunting spot called Lake Poinsett. I had gotten a couple of reports for the lake and thought it would give us our best shot. With several trucks on the lake, and several in the parking lot it was a tough call on whether or not to drive out. We decided to walk out, it was a lot of walking but after seeing open water 30 yards from where we were headed we were glad to be on foot. I am certain that we had enough ice to drive every where we went but it wasn’t worth the risk. We fished 4-5 different spots at different depths and never could find the fish. We did see one perch on the camera but that was it. Fishing is my absolute favorite thing to do, so I just enjoy getting out. It would have been nice to catch a couple but we will have to leave that for next time.

After fishing we went back to coyote hunting and were excited to head to our best spot for the evening. Before we went out coyote hunting we ran into some wild turkeys in the farm yard. Clint is a turkey hunter and started calling to them, it was pretty crazy stuff! I have never seen turkeys in this area. Hopefully, they settle in and I can add turkey hunting to my list!

Back to the coyote hunting! We set up on my favorite farm to hunt and started calling around 3:30.

We called and watched and called and watched and nothing moved except of course a ton of pheasants. It was great to see the numbers and it looks like they are enjoying our mild winter. In the mix was a white hen which was pretty cool. Once the sun went down we made a move to get closer to the slough we were watching. We called some more and didn’t see anything moving. With just a little time left in the day I saw some movement on the other side of the slough. It was a coyote! He took off running AWAY from us. Which of course wasn’t the plan. I got my scope on him but by that time he was on the edge of the neighbors farm yard and I wasn’t about to take that shot. It was very cool to see him and while he could hear us and looked somewhat interested in our calls, we couldn’t convince him to come down and see us. We closed the day by watching 20 some deer around us, it was an amazing day outdoors and we had a blast watching all the wildlife in this great state!

Filed Under: Fishing, Hunting, Slider, Weather Tagged With: , , , , ,

New Site!!!

February 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Welcome to my new site. I am hoping to dedicate this site to my two biggest passions in life; the outdoors and weather. As a meteorologist I have a passion for weather and love the science behind it however, I have to admit that what I love most is how much my knowledge of weather helps me when I am out fishing and hunting.

This site will be committed to a couple of things. The first is that I hope to share my outdoor adventures in this space. I have already pre-populated the blog with a bunch of hunting and fishing posts from my other blog. From this point on each outdoor blog that I post will have plenty of weather details and how I modified my approach based on the weather. I also hope to share my basic weather knowledge and relate it to your time afield.  As many outdoorsman know the weather can literally make or break a hunting or fishing trip. I am hoping the knowledge I share here can help you make the most of your time outdoors.

 

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