A Wisconsin Youth Hunt

[NEWHunter]

Due to life and lack of tags I haven’t spent as much time around here recently as I have in years prior. Checking back in a couple of weeks ago I was quite disappointed to hear about wllm and JLS moving on. @TOGIE inspired me to try and put up a good thread and it will be dedicated to those guys. Think JLS when you see the MR Beartooth (yes, standard issue kit on a rugged suburban midwestern farmland whitetail hunt) and wllm after every comma.

I’ll try and do this semi-live, but being solely responsible for showing my 11 year old and 9 year old a great time and posting might be a tall order. Don’t hold your breath if you’re waiting for some trophy shots from this thread - just hoping to share a quality adventure. Good luck to all those getting out this weekend!

Loaded for deer:

 

[tystash]

Hope to have my daughters out this weekend too.

 

[TOGIE]

Sub’d.

We need more Midwest adventures on here.

 

[Wyhunter]

I love seeing the kids get out there. Mine are almost to that age too. Good luck!

 

[beagle001]

Gonna be a lot of happy kids this weekend, I think, with this cold front. Good luck!

 

[Pahoundsman]

Good luck, I also think this will be a good weekend with the weather changing.

 

[Nick87]

Following....nothing better.

 

[SwaggyD]

Following. Good luck.

 

[NEWHunter]

Finished the final packing after swim practice and turned the truck north. We arrived at Grandma and Grandpa’s house around 10 pm and spent the next half hour getting ready for the morning sit.

The 4:30 alarm came early. I had to turn on the lights and give a few bear hugs to get them moving. They did well did well getting dressed and putting down their oatmeal and cheerios. We hit the road at 5:15 - right on schedule and arrived at the field 10 minutes later. In another 10 minutes we were ready to roll. Literally.

 

[NEWHunter]

The theme for this adventure is going to be “making a silk purse.” The spot we’re hunting is 35 acres of private land consisting of 8ish acres of woods wrapping around the NE corner of the property and the rest is chopped corn. The property is a long forty with an interstate to the west, housing to the north and south, and a creek bottom to the east that runs north and south. Our access is from the west and through the field, which makes morning hunts a questionable tactic.

Unfortunately, there is another person that has permission to bow hunt the property. He accesses from the east and he sits in the north east corner, which mucks up the classic midwestern funnel. We also have to be extremely careful with shot selection given all the housing around. Did I mention Walmart is only 5 minutes away? However, the price is right (a box of pro v1s and a bottle of crown) and it’s still a better option than all the national and county forest I hunted in my younger days.

 

[NEWHunter]

Flashback - earlier this week I asked my Dad to take a drive over to the spot and do some glassing to see if deer were using the field. He parked up along the service road and put his aging eyes and 12x Leupolds to work.

A few does and fawns came out at the back of the field near our spot about a half hour before dark and started picking around. A little while later two more deer came out with their heads down. Now my Dad seems to think that every deer that does a fair bit of moving around with its head down is a buck. While this is often the case, it’s not a rule, and his binos often show a more optimistic FOV than mine do. That said, he indicated he thought they were likely 1.5 year old bucks - we’re hoping he was right

Then, just before dark, he stepped out of woods on the north side. My Dad figured he was a 10 pointer 5 point with a spread outside the ears. He cut across the field moving SW and headed south into the next field at dark. My Dad noted he had a distinctly white rack.

Friday morning, in addition to a hundred or so geese, a few does and fawns and a 1.5 year old buck were out feeding. A short while later a coyote popped out and cleared the field.

Needless to say, anticipation for the hunt was building. Everything but fawns (I personally don’t want to mess around for that kind of yield) are fair game and my daughter is anxious to take something home. My Dad’s early morning view scouting from the truck.

 

[NEWHunter]

As you guys already know I went with the questionable tactic and we went out for a morning hunt. We got in plenty early; however, our inability to get the blind put out early was also working against us. Another one of the sow’s ear elements of this hunt unfortunately.

Things were uneventful initially. I watched things wake up as it started to get light - including my kids. Then the goose hunters started. There were maybe four different groups from what I could tell, and they all sounded like they were having a good time.

About forty minutes after light I noticed Mr. Coyote working his way across the field. With the blind set up there wasn’t any way to get the kids in position. Fortunately, I have a small game license and know how to use a .243. Unfortunately, he was to the west of us and never presented a shot with a good backstop.

When he hit the fence line @ 300 yards he pushed two does out of the fence line down wind of him. As soon as I saw them, I started moving things around inside the blind to get my daughter in position. Unfortunately the does worked across the field at over 200 yards, never settled, and then ducked into the buckthorn. A good solid shot never presented itself. We sat for another hour and fifteen minutes but they never came back out and nothing else showed. My daughter was antsy so we picked up and headed out, but not before getting the blind backed in to the brush a bit.



And a before and after on the blind work.

 

[NEWHunter]

All set for the evening hunt. About 2.5 hours until dark. And they’re both napping..

 

[NEWHunter]

 

[thomas89]

Tell me you got the cheese curds…

 

[Dougfirtree]

Good luck tomorrow! I'll be heading out with my son, as well.

 

[.270Rem]

Nice afternoon followed a rainy morning in VA. Dipping into the 40s overnight and i hope you see similar conditions. Stay at it and your kids will have better luck tomorrow.

 

[NEWHunter]

Did post #14 just go over everybody’s head because it’s not an IPA and a lager? Should I have posted a dimpled primer instead?

 

[Nick87]

Did post #14 just go over everybody’s head because it’s not an IPA and a lager? Should I have posted a dimpled primer instead?

Yes it did at least for me. Impatiently waiting now.

 

[NEWHunter]

Yes it did at least for me. Impatiently waiting now.

We’ll get there - maybe tomorrow. After the long night they decided now that they want to watch Haunted Mansion and sleep in. I figured the scary movie is OK because the three of us are in the same bed tonight anyway.