I don’t even care how you got it. It’s a nice deer. I wouldn’t be bragging about your long shots though. That’s all I’m saying. My first post was defending Scratcher, not criticizing.

Oh, Whatever man. The hole is barely ahead of the back leg. You are in no position to preach.

While those truglo sights might be good, I can fully recommend the clamp on sights from Williams. They work really well. https://www.amazon.com/Williams-Universal-Slugger-Hunting-Supplies/dp/B0000V2BBA

Bearcat89 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>The SCRATCHER wrote:</div>
I got this 9 pt tonight 180 yards 12 gauge

180 yards. Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever shot more then 60 or 70. Woods are to thick. Usually it’s under 20

Yeah, and he gut shot it too. But hey, deer died all the same.

I wish I could say it has been all good, but I’m not even sure it has been mostly good. Wheel houses I definitely enjoy for what they are. I’m not old enough to remember a time when there wasn’t a city on most lakes, although when I was a kid it was mostly skid/homemade shacks. Now they are mostly drop down wheel houses. It’s rare to see a home built hard side house (excluding home built on a wheelhouse frame of course.

I can think of ways to make portables better, but cost is always a factor. When I was a kid, it was mostly suitcase or folding houses. For a long time it seemed to be flip overs were what the cool kids ran. Now it seems we almost went full circle. The old fold ups seem to be replaced with hubs, and suitcases have made a comeback. I personally love a Canvas Craft suitcase, and still use one. Maybe long ago someone made one, but I think you could improve on the design by making the floor from aluminum, but I never got around to building one.

ATV/Snowmobiles are definitely a huge asset, however, I’m not sure I’d consider them a recent development. I know my dad talks about taking the snowmobile all over back in the 60’s. I do appreciate some of the advancements, but I’ve ran 70’s sleds, and there’s no reason they can’t be just as good ice machines as a 2021 sled. Maybe even better, as they were all air cooled back then, now you can’t hardly find a fan cooled.

Rod’s and Reel’s. Yep, 100%. We used to use what we called jiggle sticks. Basically a stick with an eye on the tip, and a couple wood screws to hold some fishing line. Why they were popular, I’ll never know. I ended up simply fishing with the line in my hands. Maybe with a bobber they made more sense. Then they started making them with a semi-flexible fiberglass or stainless steel rod on them. I say semi-flexible because they were beyond what we could call extra-heavy now. You could actually feel bites with these, and they did work. I’d never go back to them instead of a modern fiberglass or graphite rod. I will say my steel Emmrod is ok too for what it is.

Reels are a whole different matter. The jiggle sticks were nothing but screws you wrapped line around. Then they went to metal or plastic spools, which did the job in a rather convenient way. Jumping WAY ahead to when “straight line” reels became a short lived fad a few years back, they were nothing but an incarnation of these old spools mixed with a fly reel. I don’t know exactly when spinning reels came to be, but they are easily one of the biggest advancements in ice fishing ever. It’s hard to imagine a time where we did not have reliable, smooth reels, that also had drags. Now I see more bait casters showing up on ice rods, but they never became as popular for some reason. The big one for me was the drag. It used to be you had to pay big money, otherwise most reels had a drag that was only slightly better than your fingers. Reeling backwards was a common technique. Eventually decent drags found their way into cheap reels.

Electronics sure, flashers have come a long ways. I started with an old green box, and it did kind of work. You didn’t see solid bars like you do now, you would see flashes because they were simply not as strong as they are now. They didn’t work good in deep water, but did the job under 20′ deep if you really learned them. Vexilar definitely changed the game. I still use an FL-8. Suddenly fish were a solid mark on the screen, you could see a fish separate from the bottom (before you MIGHT see the bottom flicker when a fish was down there), and they would clearly see fish in even very deep water. They have advanced since then with multi angle transducers, better hardware, and better screens. Those FL-28’s are practically silent, you can see them way easier in the sun, and are crazy precise. You can see individual weights on your line, although I’m not convinced that is an advantage to fishing, it is cool. For pan fishing, it’s hard to imagine fishing without a flasher anymore. Walleye too. For pike fishing, you can definitely get away without one, although they do make getting your depth right far easier, whether its tip ups or jigging. For pike fishing, I definitely like underwater cameras. Being able to see what is around a hole as far as rocks, weeds, or whatever are a far bigger advantage to me than what a flasher can do. Old school pike fishing meant you pull your coat over your head to look down the hole. I still do it, but a camera lets you see far more. It is a ton of fun watching them smash baits too.

Augers, yeah, they have came a long ways. Not long ago I found a spoon in my grandpas shed. I couldn’t even imagine trying to drill a hole with a sharpened spoon auger. There was a time I was so poor I couldnt buy an auger, so fished early season with nothing but a spud bar which I cut holes with. By the time ice got over 8″, it wasn’t much fun at all. As a kid, I remember cutting holes with an axe more than once. I sure do love a sharp auger though. Gas augers have been around forever, and not much has changed to the engines. The older augers seem to be geared much faster, you could really burn holes with them, but they were heavy iron tanks, and sprayed ice and water everywhere. Then came better auger designs, and lower gearing. Now you hardly think about you new auger which piles shavings in a neat cone at the hole, barley any water, as it chews through 12″+ of ice in seconds. My Eskimo probably goes through 2″ of ice per second. The Strikemaster lazer’s even faster, although they go from sharp to dull with hardly any warning, and when they dull, well, good luck. I tried to get on the electric auger bandwagon, but I’m not impressed. As a kid, dad got an old strikemaster that you hooked to a car battery. It cut holes, but it wasn’t that good. The new ION’s and similar are ok, but still not that great to me. It seems wheel house guys appreciate them a lot more. Dad uses a drill adapter, and his Milwaukee drill with a Mora hand drill is an animal. It is faster than the Ion, and he already had the drill. Instead I think the real advancement has been lithium Ion batteries. Before, cordless anything sucked. Drills were weak, and batteries always dead. Now you can leave a Milwaukee M18 in your truck for weeks in the winter, and it will still work as good as they day you put it in there. 0 degrees, no problem, they still drill. Batteries are kind of expensive, but two of them gets you a long ways. All that said, I went back to a hand auger when I’m not using my gas. I’ve got no problem burning 30-40 holes by hand through thin to moderate ice with my 7″ Mora. If it’s thicker ice, I take the snowmobile and gas auger. A dirt cheap Mora hand auger is a thing of beauty. They weigh nothing, work in any conditions, and cut like mad.

Footwear, I’m going to say we have gone downhill. You can still get as good, possibly better boots, but they are crazy expensive. When I was a kid, you could go to the local bait shop and buy a set of made in USA boot, I think La Crosse made some really good ones and they did not cost an arm and a leg. They didn’t have any of the fancy jargon. They were rubber foot, with a leather upper. You put sno seal on them, and they were waterproof enough, the liners were great, they breathed, I prefer the feel of leather and laces, to todays slip on boots. For a while La Crosse made some crazy ice boots, I think called ice kings. They had the thickest insulation of any boot I’ve ever seen before or since. I don’t care what anyone says, nobody has ever made a warmer boot to this day. They weren’t great for everything, not even ice fishing, but if you wanted a boot to put on in a deer stand for a 12+ hour sit below freezing, they could not be beat. They do not make a boot like that anymore. I wear a size 15 myself, sometimes 16 depending on the toe box. It never was easy to find large boots, but most companies made them. Now it seems everyone stops at 13, maybe 14. I’m simply not impressed with boots today, I wish we could go back to how they were.

Heaters the same thing. It wasn’t that long ago you could buy a made in USA sunflower heater that you hooked to propane and it would light instantly, and burn hot. They would last many years of regular use. Now it seems sunflowers are hit or miss, mostly miss. It seems the elements on them burn out in a year or two. Buddy heats suck. You have to modify them to make them usable, and they still aren’t very good. I’ve had my last one 3 years, had to modify the heck out of it. I pulled it out today, and spent half an hour getting the stupid thing to light. Click, click, click. Finally it lit, ran for about a minute and went out. I took it and threw it as hard as I could into the garage. It doesn’t work anymore. That’s the second big buddy which got smashed. Who on earth thinks these things are good in any metric? I’m going to buy a sunflower later, at least I know it will light.

One thing I don’t like what has happened to ice fishing is all the little plastic bits. I know we live in a plastic world now, but it seems it has been used out of proportion in ice fishing stuff. Reels, way too much plastic. Tip up frames, fine, but the spools break eventually. Tackle boxes, plastic which crack in the cold if you drop them. fish houses with a tone of plastic. I had an Eskimo EVO 2, and everything plastic on it broke, including the sled. Speaking of which, sleds are plastic, but are actually better because of it. I love my Jet sled. About the only thing better is a homemade frame, AKA Smitty, with real skis or similar on it. Flashers, specifically the cases are not as good. I have a 1990’s Vexilar Genz pack, made of a nice solid and malleable plastic. It hasn’t broke yet. A new Genz pack is made of dirt cheap and super brittle junk plastic which breaks easily. Bait coolers are a great idea, but poorly executed. I still have my Engel bait cooler, but it’s on it’s last legs. I’m going to build one from a Coleman cooler eventually, which are much better quality. I guess what I’m saying is while a lot of our gear is easier to use now, it is almost universally delicate in comparison.

I’m a duck hunter, not a fly fisherman. In the duck world, you did not see breathable waders 10+ years ago. They are really only becoming popular now.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>ssaamm wrote:</div>
I must not take care of them properly. I had a pair of stocking foot waders from Cabela’s. They were great for 6-7 years then they leaked. What kind of waders do you suggest? I don’t use them a lot. Thanks for any ideas.

I have fished trout and salmon on 3 continents and I’ve been through 8 pairs of breathable waders and 2-3 pairs of the old school waders before breathable waders were available.

My observations:

1. With breathable waders, you are doing very well to get 6-7 years out of a pair. It gets to a point where you’re just chasing so many tiny pinhole leaks and seam leaks that it’s a lost cause.

I use a sharpie marker to write the date of purchase inside all my waders. After 3-4 years, if they started leaking badly, I’d make 1-2 efforts to patch them and then it’s game over and on to a new pair.

2. Simms have consistently been the best breathable waders available. They have at various times had issues, but in general, they have had the best quality available and they will stand behind defective waders. I have tried other brands and everything other than Simms has been hit/miss. I’ve had the most issues with Cabelas waders.

3. Whatever brand you get, get a good fit. Waders with a lot of extra material will crease and catch on things a lot more easily.

8 pairs of breathable waders? While I’m sure they existed before then, but I never saw any kind of breathable wader before maybe 15 years ago. They really haven’t even been that popular until the last 5 years. I’m not saying you haven’t owned that many, but I’m guessing the ones you have been using are a totally different technology than what is used today.

I wish I could help with what waders are good anymore, but to be honest, I think there is only one good wader manufacturer left in the world, and they don’t even make my size. Simms makes a fine wader, the only problem, the biggest boot they will handle is a size 14, and that’s even custom orders. If you are bigger than that, as I am, you are SOL. I’ve only ever got 2 seasons out of neoprene waders. If you duck hunt at all, they don’t last any longer. It seems neoprene is a thing of the past, same as canvas. Breathable was the only option. The only waders that will handle a size 16 is from Bigcamo.com, and I had exactly 2 choices. They were $500, and while they are ok, they are so ludicrously big in belly, a 500 pound man could fit in these. I had to modify them with my own elastic drawstring.

While I do not miss neoprene at all, I never like them, I’m not all that impressed by breathable. They dry a lot better overnight than neoprene or canvas, but they still feel like wearing a plastic bag.

Hodgmen is a trash brand now, and it is really sad. I miss the days I could go down to fleet farm, look through the pile of USA made Hodgmen canvas waders, find my size, and walk out the door for about $30-40. The waders never failed, the boots were what went. Now it is the other way around, nobody makes a wader that outlasts the rubber boots.

I can honestly say in 17 deer seasons, I have never heard a shot that early. Sure, maybe sometimes you get one a couple minutes early, but never anything that it was still dark. It sure isn’t for lack of hunters either. I’ve been through some deer opener mornings that gave duck opener a run for it’s money as far as shooting goes.

As for how early to get out, that depends. For deer, I don’t like to push it that much. I like to arrive at my spot about 30-45 minutes before legal shooting time. 15-20 minutes is really pushing it, that’s gray light, and the deer can see you a long ways off. I’ve gotten there an hour early, and it’s ok, just a little longer than needed. Much more than than that, and it seems you get into trouble bumping deer. There’s an awful lot of deer out and about at 4-5 am.

I can’t say I’ve ever tried one smoked. I think it would be very good, should be somewhat like smoked duck breast, and that can be very good. For way’s I’ve tried, it’s a tossup for me between sliced and pan fried in butter, or oven roasted whole with a sweet glaze. I actually think I prefer pan fried. I think the only so called problem you may encounter with smoked, is that it wont get that nice crispy outside like pan fried. Of course you can always quickly fry the smoked heart too.

If a 50,000 mile warranty concerns you, you should not be looking at aggressive tires at all. Less life is simply the nature of the beast for performance. My truck sees a lot of back roads, and off road, so for me I wanted the best. I bought Cooper Discoverer STT pro. They are a mud terrain, and they are the best mud terrain for road use made to date. As far as mud tires go, they are surprisingly quiet. Mine now have somewhere around 20,000-25,000 miles on them, and they are not getting louder at all. That said, they are still loud compared to a road tire. Off road use is phenomenal. If you keep the tires spinning, they will claw through mud like you would not believe. Same thing with snow. The downside to them is they are horrendous on ice. You could not drive these in the winter without having to be on the ball 100% of the time. That’s true of any mud tire, and if you want such a thing, you will also want snow tires.

Now you will not get 60,000 miles out of the Cooper Discoverer STT pro, 40,000 miles is probably more realistic. I doubt there’s an aggressive tire out there that does much better. Honestly, I’d say forget the look, just buy the best tire for your needs, which seems to be longer life, for on road use. I’ve got Cooper basic road tires on my car, and they are wearing like iron, and aren’t that bad in the winter either.

@gimruis, you are completely right. I don’t have any problem with it, In the past I’ve usually shot 2 deer a year myself, and I have a lifetime license, so I’ll continue to shoot at least 1 in MN forever possibly.

All I’m asking is that the deer hunters sitting up in the trees hold their tongues because someone else wants to hunt turkey in camouflage on “their” weekend. Or ducks, or whatever. Maybe deer guys don’t quite understand that most animals aren’t practically blind. Deer can’t see me in blaze orange 10 yards away. A duck can see orange from at least 500 yards.

No worries Suzuki, I just get fired up about topics such as this sometimes. It’s one of those things that no matter how a person feels about personal responsibility, a regulation such as this should at least be universal. It just ruffles my feathers that someone starts a thread like this about obscure regulations, all the while the DNR is hiding in the trees dressed in all brown. The guys out giving tickets to hunters for not wearing a special hat are sneaking around the brush dressed as a friggin deer!

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Tom Condon Jr. wrote:</div>
The lines say we have to turkey hunt in blaze orange, what the heck else are we supposed to do?

How many people turkey hunt in the fall? I don’t know of any to be honest. And I know a lot of people that hunt here. I know a fair amount of people who spring hunt but none who hunt them in the fall. All the other seasons are open in the fall so I have zero interest in hunting a turkey this time of year when I can hunt them in the spring.

BTW I agree with you on the turkey hunting and blaze orange. Turkeys see the full color spectrum so it won’t work. My suggestion would be to turkey hunt when there isn’t a firearm deer season open. Which really isn’t that many days in the fall to be honest.

According to the MN DNR 2021 turkey harvest report, 6,507 fall turkey licenses were sold in the state. According to the MN DNR 2020 deer harvest report 12,510 licenses were sold for the early antlerless deer season. There is no data on how many bought youth licenses.

I hunt fall turkey. I know other people who fall turkey hunt. Only in Minnesota would a suggestion exist to simply not hunt because the all mighty whitetail shooters are out, and they are so much more important than everyone else. You know, the animal that has the longest hunting season of any edible animal.

@Suzuki, when did MN ever require more orange for deer? It wasn’t in the last 20 years. The orange hat was not required until maybe 10-15 years ago. I swear in the 90’s, orange wasn’t even required, it’s a little before my time, but the red flannel used to be the standard. I’m willing to admit shooting accidents have gone down a decent amount since orange became the standard, but they did not change at all when the orange hat was tacked on. They remain at practically nothing. with or without the stupid hat.

@Reef Whooligan, no it is not the end of the world, but the point is the MN orange requirements are not simple. I can’t fathom how a person could possibly make them more complex, they are the most convoluted in the midwest. Many an orange ratchet strap has been sacrificed so I could meet the stupid orange hat requirement.

Ha!!! DNR taking emails? I lived in Minnesota 26 years. In all that time I never ONCE got an answer from them by email. Once in a while you can get an answer from a CO officer, but you have to be careful who you ask, because some of them are not friendly people.

Of course we try and read between the lines. The lines say we have to turkey hunt in blaze orange, what the heck else are we supposed to do? The only saving grace in the state is that the CO officers usually think with their brain. They aren’t going to give you a ticket for wearing camo when turkey hunting, same as they won’t give you a ticket for having leeches in your cooler without exchanging the water when you leave. Both being plain as day against the law by the rule book, but stupid as can be.

The Minnesota hunting and fishing rule books are insanity. I read them every year multiple times, and you can’t memorize them. When I go to the state, I always have to give myself a refresher, because the rules are so full of nonsensical laws you would never expect to see otherwise.

I have not lost a camera to a bear yet, although that might be partly because they are preoccupied by the bait. I like to put them up as high as I can, and angle them down. A bear could easily climb up, but I haven’t had one do it yet. Just don’t get good smelling food on the camera, keep it out of their normal standing height, and they don’t seem to bother them.

I don’t get a lot of bears on camera when not over a bait, so I like to run my cameras lower for deer. You could run them high all the time, but it seems like it does cut down on the range they will take a picture slightly, but it isn’t a huge difference.

Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. I’m not saying you should do it, but it should be allowed. If I’m sitting in a fully enclosed box or ground blind, you can’t see me at all anyway, so what difference does it make? Sitting next to a tree, even better, as you have a bullet stop behind you. That’s turkey hunting 101. And yes I do wear orange walking out for turkey, but no I do not want to see any requirements for such.

I can’t understand some of these people claiming the orange requirements are simple. They are only simple if you are always 100% of the time wearing a full sized orange jacket and full orange hat. If that’s you, great. The rest of us who aren’t hunting deer don’t have it so nice.

So you want to hunt pheasant, so you need orange above the waist, usually a vest. Great. Oh, but now you have to either find an orange hat cover, or an orange hat that is comfortable, or you can keep careful watch of the complex dates that are firearms deer seasons. I guess just always wear both vest and hat, and accept the nanny state that is MN.

So now you want to hunt waterfowl. This is one of the exceptions, but great, there’s an exception to the exception. During a deer firearm season, you do have to technically (thank got not enforced) wear orange any time you are field hunting waterfowl. So now you have to bring a vest and an orange hat with you for every time you get up and move. Just crippled a bird that is running across the field on the youth deer weekend? You legally have to put on your orange to go chase it. So I’m sure some safety jerk out there is saying “just do it”.

Now you want to hunt varmints or turkeys. There’s already a huge lump of regulations for varmint hunting during deer firearms seasons, so most just avoid it. Turkey hunting though, the season dates are what they are, this year October 2-31. That overlaps the youth and early antlerless firearms deer seasons. There’s no exception for turkey hunting. The way the regulations are written, if you hunt during this time, you have to wear orange above the waist, and an orange hat 100% of the time, no exceptions. Yeah… good luck with that.

That’s just scratching the surface. The MN orange regulations are convoluted and stupid.

“When deer hunting, or upland game hunting, orange above the waist must be worn unless in a stationary position.”

That one sentence is all that is needed, that’s all that should be in the regulations, not this full page of “what if’s” garbage that we have now.

There’s a name for duck hunters who wear blaze orange. Bird watchers.

I personally consider the orange requirements ridiculous. I wear orange myself, but now I have to keep track of what season are what to decide if I need to wear my stupid orange hat or not? Just make the requirement orange above the waist and get on with life. Nobody wearing an orange vest was ever shot that would have been saved by an orange hat. Minnesota hunting regulations are already a convoluted mess, why does even a safety requirement have to be? Orange above the waist for upland game or deer hunters, done, all the regulation you need. If you choose to wear more, good for you. Instead of a full page of exceptions, it should be that you can take it off when in a stationary position, that’s it. It shouldn’t matter what season it is.

Trail cameras are going to be the absolute worst way to prevent trespassing. By definition they are hard to see, so unless you put one square on a gate, chances are they will never be seen.

If you are having an issue with a neighbor, talking to them is the only way forward. They might be mistaken on the borders, or some other issue. If it is some hunters, especially if you are butted up to public land, it’s probably just because they can’t tell where the property line is. There’s nothing better than bright colored no hunting signs for that.

Yes, hand built by Bob (the owner), and likely other employees, but he is who you talk to if you call. They are in Ubly, Michigan.

I’m usually not this diehard about one product, but this is a case where nothing else even comes close. They do cost money. If you get the bare bones basic blind, I think they were asking $300, plus I think $40 shipping. As I said, the slide screens are well worth it. The one I bought this year cost me $400 shipped to my door. It’s expensive, but when you compare to a Bull blind at $500+, a Bull blind is junk by comparison.

I realize I’m late to the party, but hopefully I can help for the future. In my unpopular opinion, a lot of ground blinds out there are relatively poor quality, and I’m not a fan of the poly material they are using. It is light, yes, but it is also weak, and horrible in the wind. I’m also not a big fan of some of the huge blinds coming out today. This is one area bigger is not always better.

For lower cost or portable blinds, I still like the blinds most of us started with, an Ameristep Doghouse. They are a great size for 1 person, or even 1 and a kid. 2 grown men would be a tight fit. They are cheap, really cheap if you get them on sale, which is often, fold up small, and they are light. I still have a doghouse, but it’s been a long time since I’ve used it. Nowadays if I want portable, I simply leave the blind behind.

If you are looking for an high quality blind that will actually perform as a blind, and last many years if not decades, then look at Lucky’s blinds. I’ve now got two Lucky’s blinds, and they are the best of the best. Nothing else even comes close. Both of mine are the “2 man gun blind”, except one is a 6′ an the other is a 5′ (actually 4′ 11″). They are made with a stainless steel frame, and what really blows all other blinds out of the water, they have steel rods that go across all the windows to shoot from. Sure, you could bring a shooting rest or sticks with you, but shooting off a window of a Lucky’s blind is awesome, just like a wood built stand. They are made of a strong canvas, likely cotton duck, and besides the durability, they work really well in wind. None of that high speed floppy flapping like a flag like cheap blinds. That combined with the steel frame also allows them to handle insane weather without any concern. Every other blind I ever left out all year collapsed and/or shredded to pieces in only a couple years. There’s none of that spritz of water that comes through in a heavy downpour. Once the canvas absorbs water, it is 100% weather proof, think army wall tent. The full height door is awesome for 6’5″ me, and no snagging my feet either.

That’s all good, so lets talk about the bad of a Lucky’s blind. The super easy setup and tear down, also means they don’t pack up tiny. They are like carrying around a 5′ or 6′ (blind height) long 4×4 bit of lumber. I’ve got a blind bag, and I’ve carried them up to a mile into open oak woods for turkey, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Weight is not a big deal. Even the lightest blinds out there are maybe 15 pounds. These Lucky’s blinds are around 25 pounds. If you are looking for a blind to leave out al season, or maybe carry 1/2 mile tops, then the Lucky’s blind is the best of the best. They are custom built, so you can say exactly how you want them. I got both with slide screen windows, and I’d recommend it. They work really well. I also got the slide rope windows without Velcro, which is my preference. Unless you intend to carry these more than 300 yards regularly, skip the bag. The bag works really well, but throwing a blind over my shoulder works even better for short walks. The “2 man gun blind” is not overly big at all. You could get two grown men in there, but not with excess room. I mentioned I have both a 6′, and a custom 4′ 11″. The 6′ is definitely nice to be able to stand up and stretch, but that’s not something I really do when hunting. If you are someone who hunts morning, goes in for lunch, then hunts evening, I’d get the short one. It’s actually bigger around, stouter/stronger, and it conceals way easier in the shorter brush and grass. You have to brush the heck out of the 6′ to blend it into 3′ tall prairie grass, where the 5′ just a few bundles tied to the roof and you can hardly see it.

While I might accept deer don’t see black and white, there’s no way that they see any real range of color. On more than one occasion I’ve been 10-20 yards sitting against a tree, head to toe in blaze orange, and the deer did not see me. I’m talking full orange hat, orange jacket, orange bibs, only my boots were black. Even my backpack is red.

As far as I’m concerned, deer are only one step above blind. They can see movement, and that’s about it. They see the world with their noses, and what an amazing ability of smell they have.

If there is anything I’ve learned in all my experience hunting deer, it’s that deer care very little about the weather. Unless we are talking a bad lightning storm, tornadoes, etc. The deer are going to be doing deer things. I’ve had just as many hot 75+ degree days that the deer were moving as much as they ever have been at 10am as not. I’ve had snowy days that I didn’t see hardly a squirrel. I’m willing to bet that if you add it up, there is not a statistical weather front besides dangerous weather that effects deer. Not heat, cold, snow, rain, or wind. There are numerous GPS collar tracker studies that say the same thing.

There is only one thing I pay attention to, and that is wind direction. Nothing else matters. That said, I do like snow, the more the merrier. I like cold, quiet, and it’s way easier to track deer in snow, and way easier to haul them back on a sled towed by a snowmobile.

The following is copied and pasted from my other thread. I thought it belonged here more…

It isn’t that I don’t like other people, but I don’t understand the compulsive behavior to create towns on the ice. It’s as though people go to a lake, look at a group, and go there. For what reason I can’t even imagine. I’ve fished in these groups before, and I can’t recall a single time in my life where I ever caught any decent fish. I’m pretty well convinced that when you get 25+ people in a group, the fish are scared from the area. I’ve got no problem at all with others coming over and chatting. It’s when 5 guys come from across the lake to fish within 100 yards of me, usually never saying a word to me that I don’t like. It is a phenomenon unique to ice fishing. I do understand completely when I’m fishing a well known producing spot, or when there’s already a ton of holes, but when you are on a virgin section of a lake, no holes, and all you are doing is looking for fish, what are those other guys doing? I simply can not understand what drives a person to flock to others, that they don’t get when they are in a boat.

I have luckily not had any big problem with trash. Sure, you see the occasional cup, bag, or something else. I’ve had my share of plastic fly away from me. Maybe it’s because I’ve always lived and fished in more rural areas, but I’ve been on some extremely hard hit lakes, and am fairly happy with the lack of trash. Any I see, I throw in the sled and get on with my day. I see where some have mentioned things like seeds, and I really don’t get why that’s an issue. Sure, it is litter, but if it’s natural material that will biodegrade, who cares? I’ve personally got no problem at all with sunflower seeds. Same with bait. When Minnesota got really dumb with their AIS laws a few years back, you saw all kinds of bait all over.

I hear you guys completely on the never quite perfect setup. I will say I’ve hated, and I mean HATED hub houses since the day I bought one. This was back when they were a new fad, so maybe they have improved. The final straw for me was one day I was out on a really cold day, got into a school of sunfish, just having a good time. It wasn’t windy at all, so I hadn’t tied out the hubs, then out of the blue, possibly a wind gust, one hub blew in, smashed the heater, ended up burning a hole in the house, burned my fishing line off, and I couldn’t get the heater to restart after that. This was after weeks of me fighting this hub house, sides always blowing in, trying every ice anchor out there to find one that wasn’t such a PITA, and so on. That hub house found it’s way right into the trash can. Now at least there are other options for portables. Myself, I’ve come full circle, and have gone back to a suitcase. I fish out in the open until I find where I want to be, then set up the house. It’s so much more comfortable. One day I’d like to build a base out of aluminum, but that’s for another day.

The thing that I am really struggling with is a decent heater, and have been for years. There was once a time you could go to just about any bait shop, and buy a made in USA sunflower heater head that could screw right to a propane tank. They could get hotter than heck, and always worked. I swear a sunflower could work in a rain storm. If you got hungry, you turned it sideways, and if you had a pan, you could cook on it. Well apparently enough people managed to suffocate and burn themselves that they just aren’t what they used to be. You can still buy sunflower heaters, but they are half the quality they used to be. The last one I bought was hard to light, and sounded like a trombone when it was heating up. It was warm though.

The only other real propane options are the buddy heaters, and they are the pinnacle of a nanny society. My first one was a small, and it gave off about as much heat as a candle. My second one was a big buddy, and it was reasonably warm, IF YOU COULD GET IT TO LIGHT. I’d be out there for 10-20 minutes sometimes, click, click, click. Even when it was lit, don’t look at it. You could blow the pilot out from your chair. Any ice cracking shut it off. If you were too rough on the ride out, it would never light at all. And what a gas hog with 1 pound tanks. Finally one day the ice cracked, it shut off, and I couldn’t get it to light. I packed up, went home, and beat the snot out of it with a sledge hammer. My third buddy heater (second big buddy) is one of the yellow ones, and I’m not sure how that is different. I did all the mods to it with the pilot probe, tipover switch, and I’m running it off a refillable tank. It’s acceptable, not good. With 1 pound tanks, it would run 2 tanks out in about 2 hours. With a refillable 5 pound tank, it will go at least 8 hours. This one is still super touchy, you have to have it on perfectly level surface, or it will go out and not light. At least this one doesn’t go from the ice cracking. I did have to add a windsheild around the pilot, otherwise that would blow out all the time when you open the door. It still takes a long time to start, but it’s better with the refillable tank. The first time I start it in a day, I just sit there on prime for a good 2 minutes, and then it will usually start. After the first start of the day, it will then restart in 30 seconds or so after that. I have tried cooking over it, but it isn’t that hot, and if you ever get a drip on those catalyst, it’s game over. It starts, and it heats after a bunch of work to it, and that’s about the best I can say about it.

This might sound odd, but I’m seriously considering a titanium wood stove for my next heater. I’m sick of the Chinese made propane junk that has become of ice fishing heaters. Heck, I might even drag out my old steel wood stove yet. They are very hot, as reliable as your wood is, and you can’t get a better surface to cook on. I used this stove in my skid house for years, and boy do I miss it. The only disadvantage is with wood, they take up about twice the space, but I’m starting to think it is worth it.

It isn’t that I don’t like other people, but I don’t understand the compulsive behavior to create towns on the ice. It’s as though people go to a lake, look at a group, and go there. For what reason I can’t even imagine. I’ve fished in these groups before, and I can’t recall a single time in my life where I ever caught any decent fish. I’m pretty well convinced that when you get 25+ people in a group, the fish are scared from the area. I’ve got no problem at all with others coming over and chatting. It’s when 5 guys come from across the lake to fish within 100 yards of me, usually never saying a word to me that I don’t like. It is a phenomenon unique to ice fishing. I do understand completely when I’m fishing a well known producing spot, or when there’s already a ton of holes, but when you are on a virgin section of a lake, no holes, and all you are doing is looking for fish, what are those other guys doing? I simply can not understand what drives a person to flock to others, that they don’t get when they are in a boat.

It’s true. Sometimes I wish there were lakes where trucks, wheelers, snowmobiles, etc. aren’t allowed. Things would be so much better if there were lakes that were foot traffic only. Unfortunately that’s the way things are. Unless you do a BWCA snowshoe trip, there’s going to be people. What I don’t get is that in summer, people reasonably spread out. If you are fishing a spot, normally someone wont come within 100 yards of you unless you are fishing a spring bite in a creek or something like that. In the winter though, it seems all bets are off. Last year I fished a lake in south central MN on a whim, never been there before. There was a huge town of wheelhouses, so naturally I went to the opposite side of the lake half a mile away or more. I ended up slaughtering crappie and perch, and even got a catfish to boot. All on nothing but a ripping rap, it was one of those rare magic days. So of course I came back the next day similar time, and wouldn’t you know, about 5 other trucks were at the launch, and we all proceeded to go to the far end of the lake and set up on the spot. Finally I had to ask the closest guy why he was there. He said he heard they were biting good over here. I never got a clear answer on who from. The day before, I did not see a single hole drilled in the area, and I talked to nobody. Someone had obviously been watching me with binoculars, or came by later and saw some blood or something at the hole.

That’s what’s really worrying about SD. I could walk in a mile to some backwater on a GPA, but anybody on the road over a mile away with binoculars can see everything I do. There’s nothing I can do about it, but be the first one there. We are talking boom and bust sloughs anyway, so if they are fished out, who cares, they were going to die anyway.

I’ll keep it in mind. Most of the sloughs I see on state owned land are rather small. I’m sure they don’t have to be big to be effective rearing ponds, but I’m guessing they need to be at least 6′ deep to not summerkill. The ones I’ve hunted have all been shallow enough to wade a long ways out. Great for duck hunting through. There are a couple I have in mind surrounded by state land, and without a real boat launch, but they are known lakes, and I’m guessing aren’t secrets.

Does the SD GFP say which ones are rearing ponds, or do you find out 5 years after the fact? Honestly I’d much rather haul in some bull size perch like the ones you guys have pictured. Especially you SoDak Fisher Guy. Either you have tiny hands, or that thing is a monster. I’d swear it was a smallmouth bass if not for the stripes.

That’s what I’m trying to say, it isn’t back to normal, it’s way over that. Roads are underwater, launches are underwater. Even the public use area in Waubay is now back underwater. We’ve had a good 8-10 years of extremely wet years, and this drought barely put a dent in that. I picked a lake at random from central MN, and looking at lake water levels since 1932, this year was still 6″ above average for the lake at the lowest, and is certainly higher than that now. A lot of lakes in NE SD need to go down 6 feet to get back to average.

In case I didn’t already say, I live in Aberdeen, SD. I’ve done an incredible amount of driving this year though, and in the past 2 months have been through most of eastern SD, ND, and a huge portion of MN. I grew up just south of St. Cloud, and about 3 weeks ago was there to visit the parents. Last weekend I was near Alexandria.

I wasn’t around for 1988 either, dad was, but this is not even ballpark to that year. Maybe in terms of rainfall (or lack of), this may have been a bad year, but I can assure you as far as lake/pond water levels, 2007 was much, much lower. If anything, the lake levels this year in MN have gone back to what normal is longterm. I launched in plenty of lakes south of St. Cloud, it isn’t even remotely a problem at any DNR boat launch. When I was bear hunting, I used my baiting trips for fishing trips. I was in an area far north of Bemidji, and again, water levels were fine.

In talking with someone why lives right by you, it may even be Crystal, it sounds like you guys got missed by a lot of the last few big storms that most of MN and eastern SD got hit with. It hasn’t been consistent, but the storms we have got since mid-late August have dumped an amazing amount of water on the area, to where you can’t even tell anymore that there was a drought this summer. I’ve even seen some flooded fields.

gimruis wrote:

Something else to keep in mind with these shallow sloughs/ponds. We are in the worst drought since 1988 this year so they could be even shallower at this point. Some people posted that their favorite duck marshes and ponds were completely dry when they went to look before waterfowl opener.

I don’t know how it is in Crystal, but eastern SD, and most of MN that I’ve seen, this isn’t even close to 1988. Not even ballpark. This isn’t even as bad as 2007. I keep hearing stories about duck marshes and ponds dry. I found a couple of field drainages that held water on high water years (the last 10 years), and they are dry. I have not found a single honest marsh/pond that is completely dry. South Dakota lakes in particular were so incredibly high, they’ve been building up roads. Even this year, there is still an incredible number of roads that are completely underwater. Again, I don’t know how it’s been there, but here, we have got a TON of rain since August. Just last weekend, we must have got 3-4″ of rain. I realize this is too late to help the spawn, but it was not doom and gloom. It surprises me that anyone could compare this to 1988, where in MN, you could drive a truck around the edges of lakes it was so low.

I got off the phone with a DNR officer. First off, apparently there is no ice fishing in the Sand lake refuge at all. It’s only shore fishing from a few select spots. Second, he didn’t give any encouraging advice on a local slough, a real big one too, about 1800 acres. He said on high water years, it will allow enough water to get a bunch of fish in from the river. On years that don’t, it winterkills bad almost every year. No idea on depth of said slough, for all I know it’s only 2′ deep.

I think I’ll keep these limitations in mind. These sloughs are probably going to only be worth fast growing fish, such as perch. Pike need a good 10 years to get any size, so they would probably never make it. I probably won’t dedicate entire weekends to sloughs, but it might be fun to find a close to home water I can have to myself. Perch taste great too, so no problem there. I never could see what was so special about walleye. Luckily I’m within a days trip of lake Oahe, which doesn’t seem to be any secret for giant pike and catfish, although I’ve not heard of much for ice cats out there.

Yes, that helps. If at least a good portion of those sloughs boom and bust, they are worth a shot to me. I’m used to central Minnesota, as I’m sure you are well aware, such sloughs there often more or less die out into a carp pond. Once in a while you get a year of good crappie, or maybe one you might find was a rearing pond, etc., but overall they are a lot more bust than boom.

I’ve seen perch mentioned a lot, and I’ve got nothing against them, but I’ve not tried that hard for them in the past. Maybe that will change this year. Mostly I’m after pike, I assume these small waters don’t hold much for walleye, but I’d love to find one that had some catfish in it too. I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m not as much of a target fisherman as I once was. If I get a bunch of perch, I’ll perch fish.