Lil late getting this going... its been so hot I havent really been thinking about deer hunting. Its down to about 1 month out so I started getting stand sites prepped and hung one new one today. I did go to one of my sika spots last weekend but by 7:30am I was suffering from heat related issues and packed up early. Also pulled a few cards. Lots and lots of deer as usual. Heres the notable boys of summer so far. If the one didnt have a goobered up right side, he would be a stud too. Not sure what happened to him, its basically a spike on that side, lots of pics of him.
Always find the different hunting seasons interesting. Yours starts in about a month, ours won't open till the weekend before Thanksgiving, and runs ~3 weeks. Some states have a 1 week season, and anything goes, other states have delimited doe/buck dates. For NY, if you get a doe tag, it's good all season, buck is obviously permitted. Then there's bow and muzzleloader seasons, where (I believe) it's an "either sex" tag. I've always hunted shotgun/rifle season only, I have yet to make the time to get proficient with the crossbow or compound bow I have.
The sika have the same season dates but much lower bag limits. As for whitetail, I think its 3 antlered only all year, with APR’s after the 1st buck.... Im not super sure as I try to be strict on which bucks I shoot... Does... we can kill a lot, but we need to kill a lot. The population is pretty strong around here though Ive noticed some leveling out. I cant imagine what the herd would be like if we could only take 1 a year. The climate is much more favorable here for survival, and there is no shortage of food as this is an extreme agricultural area 12mo’s out of the year. Beans/corn mainly in spring summer, wheat/barley in the winter as the main production crops.
Took a PTO day and did some offshore fishing... captn took great pics, just forgot to include the angler “me” in the pic, you can see the tip of my crocs hahahaha. Glad it wasnt close to my first white.
Me too. I enjoy hearing about hunting in other areas. Our statewide bow season starts 9/14/2019 and runs through 12/31/2019. In the zone I rifle hunt we start 11/09/2019 and go through 11/24/2019. Some nice bucks in the pictures you all have here. Our deer don't often get that big in terms of racks, but they are often have heavy bodies due to severe winter and favorable genetics needed to survive the worst winters. We have lost up to 50% of our deer during bad winters, not to mention heavy predation from timber wolves. Many years we have very limited available doe permits. On the other hand I remember after a string of mild winters, we could shoot a buck, a doe, then buy up to 3 or 4 bonus doe tags for $12 or so. We don't allow baiting here, which I am thankful for. Some friends in Wisconsin are pushing to get that rule changed as it has really changed their hunting in NW WI. Here are some statistics from the MN Department of Natural Resources: Minnesota deer facts: News Releases: Minnesota DNR
I live in a state that allows baiting... Why would you oppose it, and why do you think it “really changes” hunting? The amount of trophy animals I have personally seen eat at a bait pile during legal hours? 0 Its great for young and dumb deer that need culled for population control. Older deer typically dont fall for it, yoir stank is all over it.
A few friends of ours from WI near the Gordon area have started hunting in MN out of our neighbor's camp. When I talked to them they have mentioned that some camps in their general hunting area back home haul in truck loads of corn, beets, etc. They noted that the deer movement changed, and that they would also have to use bait to pull in the does, and in turn the older bucks. They claimed that it changed their doe movements away from their traditional feeding, travel and bedding areas, which in turn impacted their buck movements during the day. In our northern states we rarely have years that any deer need to be culled because winter and wolves take care of that. If baiting mostly attracts small bucks during daylight hours I would oppose being legalized it our area because the deer that size face enough challenges to survive long enough to reach bigger sizes. I do have a friend that travels to Saskatchewan to hunt for big bucks over bait in December. The challenge is the stamina and patience needed to hold out for days to get a shot at a true monster.
Sounds like an excuse to me... Truck loads of corn lol.... Come on... Deer movements dont drastically change, making deer completely vacate a property because the neighbor had a dump truck of corn delivered to the back 40... If that was the case, id rarely see deer because people bait here 24/7/365...
An excuse, maybe, but I don't necessarily think so. These guys are good hunters with a lot of big woods bucks under their belts taken by still hunting. Their camp goes back generations before baiting was a big deal in WI. Their history of success prior to baiting was allowed was drastically different. I also know that they are not the only ones I know who want baiting banned in WI. The practice of baiting does shift deer away from their natural food sources in their northern forest areas were food is more scarce compared to agricultural areas. We do not have mast crops such as acorns either. Primary food is red osier and other browse. Corn up here is like a magnet for deer, and it is not a good food supplement biologically anyways. Not that everyone who bait uses corn, or a lot of it, but for others it is slippery slope whereby if a little works, why not use a lot. As far as truck loads of corn, yes that is the case I am told by reliable sources. The main reason MN has not bent to pressure from some folks to allow baiting is that it has the potential to congregate deer, and biologists are concerned about CWD being spread among the herd. MI is starting to take action: State bans baiting of deer in 16 counties to combat Chronic Wasting Disease At any rate happy hunting to all!
