On the Board Early - MN 2011 Season

The 2011 Minnesota deer season opened up on Saturday morning with perfect conditions. The temp was in the upper 40's, cloudy skies and a southwest wind at 10-15 mph. I started the season in my Money Set like I do every year if the wind is right for the set. A SW wind can be a little suspect if the wind swirls, but I decided to chance it because of all the acorns dropping back in the timber.

I made it to my set 30 minutes prior to legal shooting time. I did jump one deer from it's bed about 15 yards from my set, but it only ran 15 yards then walked off without much commotion. 20 minutes into the season I heard foot steps approaching. Seconds later a doe popped out of the understory directly in front of me. She angled right towards my set and offered me a quartering away shot at 14 yards; arrow #1 of the 2011 was touched off. The arrow hit home entering just in front of her back ribs and angling up through the heart and exited the opposite side. The nanny ran right down an open trail and dropped dead about 50 yards from the shot. The 2011 Minnesota archery season was off to a great start!

Throughout the remainder of the sit I had 5 separate bucks come with in 25 yards of my stand. One of them was a pretty nice 2 1/2 year old 8pnt. that really had me thinking about punching my buck tag. I talked myself into holding off because of the trail camera picks I have of more mature bucks on the farm. A great morning sit! Below are pics of the two bucks I plan to hold out for until later in the year.




Saturday evening I wasn't able to hunt any of the sets I have been getting the good pics from because of a SE wind, so I sat over looking the inner bean field. Nothing came by my set but I did watch a nice 2 1/2yr old 8pnt. get bullied around by a 130" 8pnt. Both deer exited the field directly under one of my other stands that I couldn't sit because of the wind. Either way it was a great opening day. I have fresh venison in the freezer, and got to watch 7 different bucks. Below is a view from my Saturday evening set.

A Minnesota Mini Goes Down In The Fog!

I decided to sneak out for a quick afternoon hunt on Sunday. The temp was 51, with a light southwest wind (2 mph), cloudy, with fog, and spitting rain off and on. Other than the warm temp the weather was perfect. I ran over to my metro area farm at half time of the Vikings whooping of Seattle in hopes of filling my management tag.

I climbed up in a permanent stand that sits in the middle of the hard woods on the farm. Most of the crops in the area seemed to be out but a nearby farmer was picking a cornfield that deer in the area most likely used for food and cover. My thought was any deer in the area would either funnel through the woods to get into the corn field or the farmer would bump some deer out of the field if he continued to combine until dark.

I was settled into my stand by 3 PM. The first hour was slow and I spent most of the time catching up on the book I had started reading while in Missouri. The fog in the area became really thick around 3:45 and I could only see about 65 yards into the woods. At 4 PM I put my book away and settled in for the last hour of the hunt. This was a good decision on my part because at 4:05 I caught movement to my right. I saw a nice mature doe work out of some thick cover and start working her way towards my stand location. She got to about 25 yards and I prepared for my shot. Just as I was about to draw I caught more movement to my right. I glanced over to see a younger doe working a trail towards my stand that would bring her to 15 yards. I decided to take the younger doe since she was going to present a chip shot and the bigger doe was back in some thicker cover. I let the young doe get to 15 yards and released my arrow after grunting her to a stop at a slightly quartering away angle.

My shot was on the money, it entered 5 ribs back and exited out the shoulder crease on the opposite side. I could see blood pouring out both sides of the deer 5 yards after she took off. She made it 50 to 60 yards and took a header into the dirt. Lights out! Below is a picture of the boys and I before hanging up the deer. This will most likely put an end to my 2009 deer season unless I can sneak away to Missouri one more time before they close up shop.