My 1st Hunt Since 1974...

[stetto]

...Is done as of 4:00 pm Central time yesterday afternoon. A helluva time was had by all.

I sent the Honcho a pick of the first deer, a 145 lb. spike buck that practically walked right up to me within 45 minutes of the start of the season last Saturday. One-shot kill to the throat with a Savage Model 11 .243. I could just as easily lost him, as in my excitement to get out there and get situated I failed to check the scope--It was set at 9X--A hell of a scope power in heavy woods. He kept walking towards me until, when he was about 50 feet away, I finally found him. One shot kill.

In the part of MN I live a second (antlerless) tag can be purchased if the first is filled. I done just that.

Sunday was a bust, saw three decent-sized does, again in heavy woods @ <100> yds, wound up splitting a poplar sapling.

The customer I work for right now has 23 acres of woods and thicket, and he told me I could take all the deer I wanted, as they're thick as prairie dogs out there. So I was bringing my rifle to work with me. Monday morning one of the landscapers came up and asked if I minded if he shot my gun, as he saw a 10-pointer in the sumac on his way in and he hadn't filled his first tag yet (he lied). I let him take the rifle, and two hours later heard the shot. Nice buck that I didn't shoot and the guy later asks me if I want him because his buck tag was filled--What a jerk...Bastige just wanted to kill something.

Yesterday I took off from work and went out around 1:00, found a nice tree to sit against and proceeded to sit still for 3 hours. I was 100 yds above a heavily used trail on the side of a hill that linked the deeper woods with a grassy clearing. Sun and wind both in my face. @ 4:00 the school bus went by, about 500 yds to the west, and it was seconds later that a flash of tail bounced through the woods. I didn't get a good look, but the animal stopped behind a group of trees directly in front of me, giving me time to raise the barrel and put the tree in the scope (now dialed in @ X3  ). A head poked around the side, then the rest, facing right at me and I believe looking right at me as well. I got a good look, no antlers, but no real idea of size either (next year I mark the trees), and nailed him in the throat--Yep, a velvet buck, what I thought was a medium-sized doe was a fawn buck, around 100 lbs. But that fits in the "antlerless" category, and when I took him in to the processor he took one look and said "VEAL!" He said it would be a sin to grind any of it...

So, overall I think I did OK, considering that nobody wanted to go with me but PuddinFace, who can't hunt til she's 12 (two more years). Mamma got a new upright freezer out of the deal, and I get to fill it with venison.

The state is filthy with deer this year. If I'd had just a little more patience (and had an idea of size) yesterday, I would have waited another half hour for dusk, when the herds migrate to the open. I might have got that big doe I was eager for...

So, Honcho, Carl, anyone else in earshot, if you want some sweetgrass-eatin' venison and a warm friendly place to bunk in a foreign land next year, lemme know. You're all invited up...Sort of a "Gathering of the BLAM!" 

...Oh, and Eric, feel free to post that pic I sent you if you want. I know he's not a trophy, but heck, I don't embarrass easy...

[Onepoint]

   I never even noticed the pic attached in the email until I read this.  BTW you guys can attach pics in posts, its under the "additional options" under the text box when you are typing.

Congrats on a successful hunt, both of them.

[jetmex]

Hey Stetto, that orange camo jacket and the park bench are nice wilderness touches.....

[wtxsflyr]

Sweet,  both of those will eat great.  I just picked up my 1st deer of the year from the processor.  I like the idea of coming up and doing some north land hunting.  I will have to check into what non-resident tags cost.

Carl

[stetto]

Right now a nonrez in MN is $140, Carl. Dunno about the bonus tag, it's different all over the state. Residents paid $26 for the first, $15 for the bonus. I know, that sounds like a hefty difference. MN is killing the outstater fishing trade as well with it's ridiculous fees.

But like I said, we'll bunk ya and feed ya and coffee ya up in the morning and beer ya down in the evening.

We also have a small number of "intense" zones, where up to four bonus tags are available.

My doc is a great white hunter, in fact moT posted a huge rack on these very pages somewhere with Doc Riddle standing between a massive whitetail hood ornament. He's been threatening me with a trip to Wyoming for mulies all summer, but with the spine surgery and all I lost touch with the guy.

I'll post a reminder next summer, maybe some of us can get together and share a fresh backstrap or two.

Jaime, the pic is in my dad's front yard. I am, however, thinking of using the bench as a stand next fall...

[wtxsflyr]

That would be a hoot Eric.

Here are a couple of pics of the deer I killed last Saturday, opening day of the Texas gun season.





Carl

[stetto]

Nice, Carl! By the way, what do whitetail eat down there (we don't got no sage up here in Minnesnowta  )?

[wtxsflyr]

We have sage,  but the deer generally don't eat it unless there isn't anything else. We actually have quite a bit of native grasses that they eat.  And in the fall, they have acorns, and wild plums.

[stetto]

Pretty much the same here, I guess, but for the sage. The farmers will cut corn while their neighbors stalk the cleared rows, a lot of corn-fed venison is harvested that way. We live in the midst of the open farm country, but I prefer the woods to hunt in.

A couple decades ago some numbnuts from the DNR decided to stock wild turkey up here, without regard to the consequences. Turkey and deer compete for winter forage, and the turkey population has exploded. I haven't eaten any yet, but I've heard both good and bad from those who have.

Of course, we now have turkey season, spring, fall and winter.

[wtxsflyr]

Stetto,

Ya gotta get ya some wild turkey brother.  Just breast them out,  the legs ain't worth messing with.  Cut it into strips, season to taste, dredge it in flour, fry it up like chicken strips.  Make ya some mashed potatoes and gravy,  oh man I can hurt myself on it.