Don't read this, go hunting!
Posted By
Tim Filiowich
at
10/28/2009 12:00:00 AM
Its starting to be the time of year that we all have been waiting for. The bucks are starting to get on their feet and any time in the stand can be a good time. If you watched this weeks show you will notice that both deer that were shot were at times that a lot of hunters aren't even in their stands. Late morning and early afternoon were the times that these deer went down. With the hunting heating up its hard to write this without looking out the window wishing I was in the tree.
Over all the state we have been seeing pretty much the same thing. Scrapes are on the ground, rubs are on the trees and the bucks are closing the gap on the does. I hunted the Red Wing area the last two days and I actually didn't see any does but I saw small bucks cruising. Both times out I had small bucks within 15 yards of my tree just cruising the wood lines. I hunted over a bean field and to my surprise there were no deer feeding in it. I am also surrounded by oceans of corn so I am suspecting that a lot of the deer are in there. We actually saw one of the small bucks come directly out of the corn, walk a straight line to directly 10 yards from us and freshen a scrape and then he moved on. Its been fun to se these bucks cruising. We were seeing them before but it was always early morning and late evening and they were feeding, not the case anymore. Last week I hunted the Lino Lakes area and I had a few deer moving through the brush pretty quickly and then a moment later they were back again and one was a buckbeing very vocal. I could not tell if he was pushing a doe or cruising by himself but he was moving and was loud.
If you talk to any of the pro staff here in Minnesota you will hear the same stuff. Some of the guys were lucky enough to find shooters on their feet within range and some were lucky enough to at least see them. I know the Lauer's have had some great encounters with some BIG deer in the past day or two. Paul and John watched a large buck freshen a scrape and rub a tree and saw another nice deer on his feet cruising.
So as you can see this is the time we have been waiting for and I advise staying in your stand as much as possible right up until the gun season starts. If you wondering where to hunt right now I will offer my three favorite spots this time of year. If you can find a rub line going through the woods, not on a field edge, I would hunt it. If you find scrapes in the woods I would also hunt that if you can and lastly I would hunt any well traveled doe route. If you know where those does have been consistently moving or hanging around I would hunt that area. When the heat is on those doe routes are where those bucks will be cruising and checking.
Good Luck to everyone and hopefully on next weeks show we will have some more great buck action here in Minnesota!
