I hunted this weekend in North Dakota where I have hunted for the past 25 years. Saw zero scrapes and not one buck.

Not sure what is going on but I am sure nothing is rutting much there.

Poorest weekend we have ever had for buck movement.

I didn’t even bother to hunt Sunday as it was that poor.

We have a 16 day season and I may go back towards the end of next week unless my son calls and say the bucks are runninf when they archery hunt for 5 days this week.

Never seen the rut so slow this time of the season.

My guess, gross 138

Spendy way to wash a truck!!

Prayers sent.

Here is a link to some photo’s.

The hunter Tyler was a 15 year old blind hunter. This is the second hunter who is blind that has shot a deer.

http://www.twistoffatend.org/

No big bucks but to the hunters, they are all a real trophy.

Click on the hunts on the left side of the page to get to some photo’s.

AT the bottom of the Home page, there are a few article’s from ESPN and the local news that might be worth viewing.

I have had no issues with the TC 250 grain Shockwave bullets. I was using 150 grains of powder. This bullet has cleared 2 deer for me and there was no tracking at all. Dead on the spot.

One was a 40 yard shot and the other approx 60-70.

Maybe just lucky.

I will have to e-mail the fellow that did the photo’s and get some photo’s.

Approx 6 years ago I purchased a 6x12ft I believe aluminum trailer for hauling my wheeler.

So glad I paid the extra as there is no wood to rot and no steel to rust.

I give it an acid bath every year and she still looks great.

Also very easy to move around by hand as it is so light.

Only issue I have had is with the steel pins that hold the two bi fold sections for the folding back ramp.

I now pull the bolts every season and clean them up with a wire brush and place some anti sieze on them and then it is like new for a season plus.

best money I ever spend for the aLL aluminum trailer plus I purchased the sides for it.

When I purchase this trailer, aluminun was cheaper than it is now so I might assume the price may be quite a bit higher.

I paid $1,300 for the trailer,sides,license and the spare.

Looking at both the taller ramp in the back and the bi fold, I would for sure go with the bi fold.

I have pulled both types many times to North Dakota and the wind drag and loss of mileage is much worse with the taller ramp versus the bi fold that does not stick up so high in the back.

One might think as I did that the taller wire mesh ramp would not be a drag on your mileage but from what I have found, it is for sure.

Long season for me as I am taking the year off due to my back and arthritis.

Too hard to get around in the woods so I will rifle hunt and call it good.

I believe this will be my fist season in approx 30 years that I will not be in the tree.

Good luck to Kolton.

x3

Here is a link to a story about one fellow that thought he would never hunt again in his lifetime.

Twist of fate the first year was grouped up with U.F.F.D.A.

Year 2 we went on our own.

You will be able to see that anyone can hunt again with the help of these fellows. It just takes a little extra effort.

http://www.fishingbuddy.com/articles/evolution_of_a_bow_hunter_part_two

here is a link to the Twist of Fate

http://twistoffatend.org/

I have belonged to many outdoor groups but the work that Twist of Fate does really sits high with me.

This hunt makes my whole fall hunting season Kooty.

I cannot explain the feeling one get’s when one helps another that cannot go it on their own harvest a deer.

After ones hunter harvest a deer, it can and does bring tears to a grown mans eyes every time.

I had a fellow a few years ago that had a terminal disease. He was from Wisc and everyone in his family had shot a deer in their lifetime. When he told me all he wanted to do before he passed was to harvest a deer, I felt pressure like never before.

That week he shot a nice doe and sad to say but 4 month’s later he passed. I did recieve a very nice letter from the family saying how much he enjoyed the hunt of a lifetime for him weeks after he passed.

Just trying to help give something back to another fellow outdoorsman.

Good luck on the bruin hunting.

It’s one thing to take one with a gun but much more thrilling with the bow.

Twisted my arm.

I have a pocket full of tags so I should be able to drop a few or more.

Now I will have to hold out for a bit larger buck. My usual spike may not score so well.

Nice squirrel gun. Wouldn’t stand a chance up a tree.

I heard back from our local CO in North Dakota and their wildlife biologist confirm that it is a bobcat.

This is the first confirmed bobcat sighting for in our area since our CO has been there. About 22 years.

Now if I only could get a few pic’s of the cougar in the area. My wife has seen them close to the building site but we have not seen it or them in the woods.

Very nice, congrats.

I am sure any deer hunter would be very happy with that buck.

Kooty, after just checking the ND Game & Fish website, bobcat is closed in our area for lack of numbers. Also closed to NR hunters.

I guess I will simply watch them on the cameras.

Here is a photo from a trail camera from this past May on our hunting land in North Dakota.

Look to be nice bobcat.

I would really like to get one and have it mounted.

Talking about the damaged decoys.

A few years back while rifle hunting in ND at the ranch, I left my decoy out overnight as I forgot to take him doen.

It was a doe decoy and I always take a sock and staple it to the rump and put doe in heat on the sock.

There was about 5 inches of snow on the ground and the next morning I walked out in the dark and got into my stand

The sun started to rise and I noticed I thought that my decoy fell over

When I got done hunting for the morning around 11, I walked over to my decoy and there was blood on the ground, sock and on the snow.

The decoy had about 4 spear holes I would assume from the real buck in it chest. I do not know if the buck tried to mount the decoy as there was alot of blood on the rump of the deer or if he cut his nose from sniffing the sock with the staple in the sock.

I like to attach something to the rump for a tail as when the wind blows, the tail moves and it looks more life like.

That’s the last time I will leave my decoy out.

Look like shooters to me.

Yep, that’s a shooter.

We are very selective in what we shoot for bucks. Our neighbors do the exact same thing.

We have always had good buck hunting but in the past 3 winters, we have lost many mature bucks due to the hard winters.

I took the one in my avatar about 5 years ago with my rifle.

If I remember correctly, he was scored at 180 and a few eights. Was a very even and clean 6×6.

We have a little over 2 sections of land along the Sheyenne river and the Sheyenne Nat. Grasslands about 60 miles SW of Fargo. It’s zone 2G1.

I have been hunting in ND for approx 22 seasons for rifle and archery.

The archery tag can be purchased over the counter but the rifle tag is by lottery only. Only 1% of the tags available in each zone go to the NS. Of that 1%, half of them go to the guides so yes, it is tough to pull buck tags.

I have a theory why I get drawn but it is just a theory with no proof or evidence to support it.

I get drawn way too many times for pure luck. I am not that lucky nor do I believe anyone is.

All I know is that thier computer likes me.

All the zones of course are different for the number of tags available and the number of people applied for in the lottery.

We have many that apply but with the economy and the hard winter the past 3 years, maybe the apps are way down. I will have to wait and see how many tags are left over after lottery 1 to know for sure how the lottery was applied for in regards to numbers.

If there are no doe tags left like the past 3 years, then many people applied.

Very nice.

I have 4 heads in the house and a few more ready to get mounted but my wife believes 4 of them in the house is enough.

At times she is right.

Cool pic.

Man I wish I could have my cameras out this early to watch them grow.

Just too far away in North Dakota.

Very nice scottb.