Lungdeflator
★★★★★ Legendary Member
I joined NDA after deer season this year so figured I would share how the 2016 season worked out. Actually turned into one of my best seasons, shot the biggest 2 bucks I have, one in MN and one in ND.
I have hunted MN every year since moving out here 5 years ago. Archery exclusively the last 4 years. The previous 2 years we noticed most of the mature buck movement was centered around Nov. 10-13. So this year I planned on a little later hunt. I had 8 days lined up to hunt. It started out slow, fairly warm weather which was putting a damper on the midday rut movement. Mornings were better, but still fairly slow. On the 5th morning, I took a canoe across a small lake to one of my stands. I like to get in early, 30-60 minutes before legal light. This morning as soon as I climbed up into the stand, I had deer coming toward me. I couldn't see anything, but it was very still and every sound seemed magnified. The first deer through must have been a hot doe, because it didn't make any noise except hard breathing. The next 2 deer through were bucks. One came straight behind the doe, maybe 10 seconds behind her. The other one came from a different direction, but quickly found the trail and continued on in that direction. It was exciting to finally have some chasing action, but at the same time dissapointing because it happened before legal light. I kept checking my watch waiting for legal light. About 5 minutes before legal, I heard a deer coming back from the direction of the chase. It was moving slow and seemed to be on the exact same trail the deer were on earlier. At this point it was getting light enough to see the deer, it was a nice buck. The trail led almost directly under my stand, I kept checking my watch and by the time the deer was under me on the trail, it was 5 minutes after legal light. Drew back and zipped an arrow through him. He whipped around, ran 50 yards and just stood there. I couldn't see exactly where I hit him and was nervous about his posture as he stood there at 50 yards. About 10 seconds later he tipped over and expired. Turned out to be a nice 10pt and the biggest buck I had on camera in that particular area. At that time, he was the biggest buck I had ever shot, rifle or a bow. Being able to pack him out in a canoe was awesome and a great memory.
I have hunted MN every year since moving out here 5 years ago. Archery exclusively the last 4 years. The previous 2 years we noticed most of the mature buck movement was centered around Nov. 10-13. So this year I planned on a little later hunt. I had 8 days lined up to hunt. It started out slow, fairly warm weather which was putting a damper on the midday rut movement. Mornings were better, but still fairly slow. On the 5th morning, I took a canoe across a small lake to one of my stands. I like to get in early, 30-60 minutes before legal light. This morning as soon as I climbed up into the stand, I had deer coming toward me. I couldn't see anything, but it was very still and every sound seemed magnified. The first deer through must have been a hot doe, because it didn't make any noise except hard breathing. The next 2 deer through were bucks. One came straight behind the doe, maybe 10 seconds behind her. The other one came from a different direction, but quickly found the trail and continued on in that direction. It was exciting to finally have some chasing action, but at the same time dissapointing because it happened before legal light. I kept checking my watch waiting for legal light. About 5 minutes before legal, I heard a deer coming back from the direction of the chase. It was moving slow and seemed to be on the exact same trail the deer were on earlier. At this point it was getting light enough to see the deer, it was a nice buck. The trail led almost directly under my stand, I kept checking my watch and by the time the deer was under me on the trail, it was 5 minutes after legal light. Drew back and zipped an arrow through him. He whipped around, ran 50 yards and just stood there. I couldn't see exactly where I hit him and was nervous about his posture as he stood there at 50 yards. About 10 seconds later he tipped over and expired. Turned out to be a nice 10pt and the biggest buck I had on camera in that particular area. At that time, he was the biggest buck I had ever shot, rifle or a bow. Being able to pack him out in a canoe was awesome and a great memory.
