October Heat
Posted By
Mike Versland
at
10/11/2011 12:00:00 AM
Kurt Amundson – West Central MN
It has been so warm, I have chosen not to do a lot of hunting. That being said we have been out a few times and we have seen deer every time. I had a little problem with my new camera, but we do have some small bucks and does on camera. My oldest son Andrew who is a freshman at NDSU passed up two small bucks on opening weekend. Another son, Justin, had a close encounter with a big mature doe, but it closed the distance as shooting time expired.
We have trail cams out the deer are hitting our food plots and really nailing the acorns on our oak ridges. I am hoping for some cool weather and a little rain might help.
Here is a new buck that showed up on camera (the date on the camera is off by a year), we call him “short brows” and he is on the hit list. Not a real high scoring buck, but he is mature.
We will keep you posted….
Thanks, Kurt Amundson
Wade Christopherson - Northwest/Southeast MN
Wow.... what I week I had bowhunting. I don't ever remember having so many encounters with whitetail deer this early in the season. All of last week I used my Double Bull ground blind on many farms and a tower blind on another. The reason for using the ground blind is the weather has been so warm. I have many stand sets all hung for North/Northwest winds. With the warm temps comes southerly winds and a different hunting strategy. With all the farmers harvesting their crops my food plots have been getting pounded by the deer.
So with that, I grabbed the Double Bull and set up on the other side of my food plots with the wind in my face and waited for the deer to come and feed. I had from 5-10 deer every evening coming to the beans and the deer never knew I was there. The only problem with ground blinds in warm weather is you get very warm and sweaty. I carry a bottle of Xecute scent control and spray down every so often to eliminate and human odor that comes from the warm weather. Most deer were does and smaller bucks. None of the bigger bucks I'm after came in during shooting hours. They are entering the food plots after dark.
Jill and I hunted in the ground blind again this past weekend and saw 10 deer on both sits. Jill had a doe 14 yards in front of her with a clear shot and decided to not shoot as she wanted a bigger doe with her bonus tag. I had the camera rolling the whole time and got some really nice footage of that encounter and was proud of her for passing on this doe as we saw many mature does in the area including a few smaller bucks. Although I could have let the air out of many deer this past week I decided to give them a pass and can't wait for the action to heat up here in a few weeks when the bigger bucks will be on their feet chasing. This week sounds a little cooler so I will be putting some serious hours in my treestands this week to see if any of the bigger bucks will move earlier. I love this time of year. Until next week.....
Stay Safe, Shoot Straight and GOD Bless all of you
Wade Christopherson
Mike Versland - Metro
What an awesome weekend! The fall colors are amazing right now which sure made it easy to enjoy a beautiful weekend in the woods of Wisconsin. I left Friday afternoon and drove 300 miles across the state so that I could hunt the Wisconsin youth gun season with my two nephews and my niece. As expected with this record October heat we really did not have a whole lot of luck in terms of hunting success, but I did get just what I wanted, quality time with my family! I spent the first part of the hunt with my nephew Jack and finished the hunt with his younger brother Mack. It was amazing to see how different each of the boys was when hunting. I really enjoyed their company and loved to hear the stories they shared with me. When we were not in the woods hunting we took some leisurely drives through the beautiful forest roads and shot some targets with our rifles. What may turn out to be the most memorable part of the weekend occurred Saturday evening. While I was cooking dinner for the boys I had them look through my parents’ cupboards in search of the most outdated foods they could find. They found several things that were 5 and 10 years outdated, but first place went to a full liter bottle of vanilla extract that expired in 1981! Hopefully when my parents return home they won’t find out what we were up to.
I am really starting to get excited about my next few weeks of hunting here in Minnesota. I know I say this all too often, but I am really confident I am going to finally get a kill for Midwest Whitetail this weekend. A few years ago it seemed I could easily shoot a deer on just about any weekend of the season, but for some reason since joining the prostaff I just haven’t been able to get it done.
Knowing that there are some great hunting opportunities found throughout the metro I applied for several of the metro park hunts this fall. This weekend I will participate in my first ever park hunt. It is a “doe only” hunt but nonetheless I am excited to be able to get into the stand and see what happens. I have scouted the park several times and I feel I have a great spot to set up in between a ridge top and an Oak flat. Hopefully I get into my spot of choice and tag a few does. In addition to shooting some does I am also curious as to what bucks are in the area as I will be heading back the same park in November with a buck tag in my pocket. With any luck I will find what I have been looking for.
Good luck and hunt safe!
Mike Versland
Last Week’s Blog.... CLICK HERE
