Prime Time!
Posted By
Mike Versland
at
11/1/2011 12:00:00 AM
The rut is here!
With overnight temps in the 20s and 30s and bucks searching for does the Midwest Whitetail Prostaff are making the best of it as most are in the woods and were not able to write a blog this week. Good luck to all of you that will be hunting the Minnesota gun opener! On behalf of the Midwest Whitetail prostaff I would like to wish you all the best of luck, have a safe and successful season!
Mike Versland - Metro
Hopefully everyone had a great time in the woods this past weekend. I had a great weekend in the woods of Camp Ripley, but unfortunately I did not shoot a deer. I still had a great time and I am very thankful that my friend Mike invited me to stay at his camp. When I arrived at Camp Ripley on Friday afternoon I was blown away by the huge line of what must have been nearly 1000 trucks waiting to pull through the gate on the first day of the hunt. Luckily we were in the front ½ of the line so we got to our hunting spots before anyone could take them on us on Saturday morning. Over the course of the weekend I saw 13 deer, 10 of those on Saturday. All of the deer were running and all were out of range. The biggest was a spike buck. I was told by more than one person that I had a great spot since I saw more deer than most people. However, I disagree. I was looking for quality, not quantity of deer. Also, I could see or hear at least 5 other hunters from where I was sitting each morning. A bit too crowded for me. Although there are more than 2,000 people hunting Camp Ripley at one time I am convinced there are some areas that must be void of human activity. Places that deer will go to hide and bed down for the day, or better yet pinch points lead to these areas where deer will walk through and not be running as fast as they possibly can. Before I hunt this vast piece of land again I am going to do what I can to study aerial and topographic maps in order to potentially find several of these locations. I will then do my best to get setup in one of these areas the next time I hunt Ripley. Hopefully one of the other 2,000 hunters will not beat me to the spot that I choose!
Between emails and Facebook I am getting a bit jealous of the many people that have arrowed a nice buck in the past week. I have also been hearing more and more reports of rutting activity heating up across the Midwest. I hope this will be the week that I’ll be able to post pictures of my own buck! On Friday I am heading back to the metro park that I hunted in mid October. Only this time I will be able to shoot buck, and the bucks should be on their feet! I am very optimistic that there is a great buck in the area that I am hunting. I have a great setup and should be able to capitalize on any encounter that I have. In addition to my own hunt this weekend I am also very excited about the youth gun hunt that one of my students (Sam) will be participating in. This past weekend he set up his stand in the park where he will be hunting. If I am able to fill my tag on Friday I may get the chance to hunt with Sam over the weekend, otherwise he will be hunting with my friend Jason. For sure this is my most anticipated weekend of the year. I hope we get it done!
Good luck and hunt safe!
Mike Versland
Kurt Amundson – West Central MN
We had a nice hunt in NW Minnesota (Minnesota Youth Rifle Hunt), my son Justin was able to take his first buck ever. It was a healthy fork buck. Shortly after he shot a nicer 8 pointer walked up to within 25 yards of our stand. Since then we have been out about 4 times. Each time out we have seen between 9-15 deer, with quite a few being bucks, although no wall hangers.
I am expecting it to pick up later in the week, November 4th will be my last day to try to arrow a buck. Then the gun season starts. We hunt the shotgun season as well, but every year, the movement shuts down after two or three hours of shots around us. Hopefully my two sons who have not filled a tag will get the opportunity to get a shot at a decent buck, we will see.
We will have the video camera with us.
Last Week’s Blog.... CLICK HERE
