We finally got some cold weather for the MN firearm season ! I was excited for this year. Me and a friend were trying a piece of public land for the 1st time. We went over a mile back in to the far edge of the property. That's a long ways for this neck of the woods. We found great buck sign and the shed from a big 8 pt right by a scrape. So that's where I setup for opening day. There was very little shooting by me that far in and I didn't see another hunter all weekend. I had a doe and fawn come by right at sun up but it was too thick for a shot. Then I had a nice doe come walking right up to my tree at 9am and I couldn't resist. Boom. At noon I turned around in my stand and spotted a nice buck coming out some thick buckthorn. He was maybe following my drag rag trail cause he was nose to the ground. I just needed him to take 2 more steps for a shot but he spun to run and I fired quick ! Boom. He either smelled me or the dead doe laying 20 ft from him. I searched for 1 hr but I couldn't find any evidence of a hit. At 3 pm I had a spike come by and he spent 15 mins checking out my dead doe. I videod him. Then at dark I had a doe with 3 fawns come by. That's alot of deer for MN public land. It was an awesome day. Sunday started off great. About 30 mins after sunup I spotted a deer in the thick buckthorn but I didn't see it come out. About 1 min later a buck appeared following the 1st deer. I couldn't tell if he was a legal buck (4 pt rule). When I finally confirmed he was legal he was back into the thick stuff
So I grunted a couple times and he took about 10 steps towards me looking into the open for the grunts. He finally turned to leave and follow the 1st deer and I had to make a quick shot quartering away. Boom. He ran off limping but didn't go down. I was nervous. I waited 30 mins and got down. I jumped him about 100 yds from where I last saw him but no shot. But I did find good blood and started following. I was able to shoot him in his bed 150 yds later! What a great season for a MN public land hunter. Well now I know why I had the area to myself. It took me 3 hrs to drag the buck out and that was w using a cart for half the way. But it was worth it.
So I grunted a couple times and he took about 10 steps towards me looking into the open for the grunts. He finally turned to leave and follow the 1st deer and I had to make a quick shot quartering away. Boom. He ran off limping but didn't go down. I was nervous. I waited 30 mins and got down. I jumped him about 100 yds from where I last saw him but no shot. But I did find good blood and started following. I was able to shoot him in his bed 150 yds later! What a great season for a MN public land hunter. Well now I know why I had the area to myself. It took me 3 hrs to drag the buck out and that was w using a cart for half the way. But it was worth it.
