2018 Live from the tree

Post your live updates and pics from the blind or treestand here.
DT

Good luck to everyone this year!

Anybody out there with the bow this morning in MN?

It’s so damn hot and humid here in the Cities, I can’t imagine staying in a stand past about 9.00 unless you had a stand in deep shade.

I’m going to guess the deer at my place will be out in the last 15 minutes of light tonight. That appears to be the pattern on hot days.

Grouse

I didn’t make it out this morning, but I just crawled into the stand for my afternoon sit. Good luck every one!

I was fishing at 7:00 am this morning and sweating. Very hummid and hot. Here I thought we were going to have a mosquito free archery opener. Crazy how things change in a week. Good luck to all.

Looks like next weekend will be perfect.
DT

Went out on Saturday morning per tradition but had to be in by 9am. 7am rolls around and 4 coyotes come running through. One stops, I stick it right to the dead log it was in front of and snap my CE Maxima Hunter…great…Starts yelping and his buddy comes to help, I stick him too…With all the commotion, and me not being able to be out much longer anyways, I decided to toss them in the sled and call it a day.

I guess I can’t complain since I thinned the herd by 2 on opening morning, but not exactly how I expected my morning to go. I’ve only got 1 buck consistently on camera over 100″, so it looks like I may be calling it good until late season already.

I spent the day looking for some good acorns and I found it! The deer have this bench tore up deep on public. With a little help from mother nature I’ll be back in the stand tomorrow morning taking advantage of my week off work!

After dislocating a rib 2 days before the season and having to sit out opening weekend it sure feels good to be in the stand tonight for the first time. Went to the Chiro after work and he gave me the all clear. Got a buck and doe tag in my pocket.

Made it out for a few hours mid morning yesterday shot a coyote trotting towards me at 7yds first time I’ve made it out this year I was hoping to catch something moving between the rain

Time to watch some fields

Meted out yesterday evening for the first time. Beautiful evening to be in the stand. The high winds die down right at 5 and made for a really nice sit.

Had three does, two fawns, and then Mr. 8 Pointer showed up. He snuck behind me and in the wind I didn’t hear him until he was too close and I couldn’t turn on him fast enough before he was out of sight in the brush.

He entered the plot about 50 yards from me and fed/moved upwind away from me. Very close to getting a shot.

Grouse

First sit of the season for me. It’s like a buck parade tonight.
DT

Saw a total of 5 bucks. The biggest cut the corner across the field at past light. Didn’t have my binoculars but had a very big body. It had the belly sag like a mature deer.
DT

It’s a beautiful evening in NW MN. Sitting in the same area only I out up another stand 5 feet from the ladder I was in yesterday. I was too exposed in the ladder. I also went up about 8 more feet.
DT

Took a doe for the freezer this evening very nice night in the stand

Nice work Dan!!

Nice job Dan!

I sat in the oak bordering some native prairie grass last night, looking for a doe to fill the freezer. Right at last light a doe and a fawn snuck up behind me and busted me. I am hunting from the ground no blind as I have some sort of desire to do this which is proving to be difficult.

Not a lot of sign in the woods, but did get rain on Monday and yesterday morning so that could have washed a lot of sign away. Saw a lot of woodcock and grouse though. Most deer sign was seen deep in the woods along thick cover, so I may need to stop targeting edges and fields. With all the acorns on the ground I am assuming they are going to stick to the woods where food and cover are plentiful.

Didn’t have time to post from the stand yesterday evening, so here’s the belated report.

The reason I didn’t have time to post a report was because the whole farm was crawling with deer. With bad weather on the way and no moon, I had a feeling the deer would sense the weather change coming and be on the feed.

I checked the wind after I got camoed up at the shed. Tricky wind, NE, then straight E, then SE. Every test gave a different direction and it was gusting. Hard to decide which stand, but I decided to sit on the south end of my soybean plot in hopes of catching deer coming in from the north.

I had to bump 4 does out of the plot to even get to the stand and another plot that I passed on the way in had 4 deer on it as well.

I got up into the stand and within 30 minutes the deer were coming in and out. The most I had in the plot was 7, but the deer were feeding quickly and leaving as if they wanted to get home to bed before the rain started.

And suddenly all the deer are looking at the trail that enters the plot just to the east of my stand. Almost directly behind me. I heard movement, so I stood up and looked around the tree and there came Julius, the 8 pointer.

He came to within 12 yards and stopped on the opposite side of the tree. All I could see was his nose and his rear end. 2 more steps and he’s totally exposed at 9 yards with a totally clear shot.

Then it happened. I felt the wind on the back of my neck. NE gust. I had just enough time to think to myself, “Well sh!t…”

He was gone in a flash.

OK, so note to self, Julius loves coming in on that trail in the evening so don’t hunt it in a non-favorable wind. But still, this is the 3rd close call with this deer, so his luck is going to run out sooner or later.

Nice night in the stand. My dad was sitting in a ground blind just watching deer in another plot and he had 7 or more deer there all the time, so between us I’m sure we saw 20 or more deer in a couple of hours of sitting.

Grouse

Only my second sit at home, trying to dodge the rain and get a good hunt in. Should be a good night with a cold front coming.

Freakin rain!!!

I went last night, thought the cold front and snow would have them moving. Not a sign of deer activity. Maybe they’ll move tonight.

I ended up having a nice 2.5 year old buck within 3′ of my stand at 6:45pm, but no shooters.

I’m sure that was cool to see! I have to figure out the deer in my area as I am not seeing many.

Here’s a picture from my Sunday sit at the edge of my bean plot. Man, you think it’s tough sitting still when there are deer in the plot, just add the 12 turkeys and you’ve got eyes on you all the time.

BTW, the deer are all over the soybeans right now. I think the wet pods make it easy for them to get at the beans so there isn’t going to be much left of my Eagle Forage Soybean plot by the time I next get up there.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Here’s a picture from my Sunday sit at the edge of my bean plot. Man, you think it’s tough sitting still when there are deer in the plot, just add the 12 turkeys and you’ve got eyes on you all the time.

BTW, the deer are all over the soybeans right now. I think the wet pods make it easy for them to get at the beans so there isn’t going to be much left of my Eagle Forage Soybean plot by the time I next get up there.

Grouse

If I were you I’d plant more of them next year

A familiar friend again so far this season. A stiff WNW wind but low 30s on the thermometer this time. Probably a better morning location but easy to access with the wind. We’ll see…

sticker wrote:

If I were you I’d plant more of them next year

If you’ll notice in the background of those pictures, there’s that strip of green and then a weedy, overgrown strip before the woods.

Those represent the last 3 acres of the land we had cleared 5 years ago this December. We’ve been slowly working up the ground, picking the rock, and dragging it level to remove the dozer ruts. Every year we’ve done about 1-2 acres, so another summer and I’ll have all of our plot areas into production.

As you can see from the pictures, I’ve got a couple of challenging areas in these plots that need some drain tile installed. We’ll leave that for the summer after next…

Grouse

In stand again. High winds cool temps and pressure on the rise should have them on their feet. Going to hold on to the tree and hope for the best.

Hang on and good luck!