Awesome buck and great read Ben

Having never hunted anything but hardwoods here in central MN the spot and stalk sounds like an awesome experience.

I was told by a rep at the ice show to go to a hotter plug. It worked for me. Now it’s 1-2 pulls.

Got a cousin who bought 85 lbs. of lutefisk just for his own use. He can keep it.

Nice job on the birds Dan and a good read as well

Also have used the fat or meat from a beaver tail.

Knew an old guy and that was all he used. He just kept his soft.
Maybe a little salt water.

I’m a huge fan of the Honda Rancher 350 ES that I own. It is very small and lightweight and is perfect for manuvering in tight spaces such as driving off-road in the woods to get to a downed animal. The electric shift is extremely simple to use (just let of the gas and shift, no clutch) and I actually prefer it over any belt driven automatic because they tend to be very jumpy starting out and trying to manuver in tight quarters due to the belt not engaging immediately as well as a that belts can slip if they get wet.

It may not have all the bells and whistles but my honda has been through 10 years filled with mud bogs in summer, hauling deer in Fall, ice fishing all winter, and even my dad stealing it for farm work and is still going strong

Awesome bucks and an even better read. The enjoyment that you get hunting with your father sounds exactly like fishing is for my dad and I

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Congrats Will! You deserved that buck from all your hard work and effort!

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Thanks Brad… Technically I think I deserved the buck in video #1 but I guess this one will have to suffice

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Congrats on a great deer Will! I agree, I learn so much here from the great people who visit. Maybe our paths will cross on the ice this winter.

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Sounds good… If you are heading up to Mille Lacs just give me a shout and hopefully we can get out or if not I’ll put you on fish

I would actually be very happy shooting a 140″ buck every 5-7 yrs

For whatever reason we don’t get a lot of big bucks at our farm even though we’ve got 100 acres of alfalfa and 30 acres of corn every year. Between us and our neighbors who also practice APR of 8 or better (we have almost 1000 acres) for over 5 years now and I’m surprised we haven’t been seeing more mature/bigger deer. I’m scratching my head trying to figure out exactly what additional improvements I can make at the farm to get more mature bucks living on the property so if anyone has some good ideas (hint hint) just let me know.

Here are a couple quick photos that I snapped from the stand and a couple cool videos of the 2 hit list bucks that we were after.

This was the first year that I started playing around with video and I was really pleased with the results. Both of these videos where taken with a Bushnell Tropy Cam.

State Land Buck #1

State Land Buck #2

18 pts for team #9.

Nice work Dan. I will be getting out pheasant hunting with Max for the first time in a couple years (archery season keeps getting in the way) so I took a couple hours on Sunday to get him warmed up by chasing some grouse. We managed one and would have had another but instead of a good high flush he took off running and flew low in front of the dog and I didn’t have a clean shot without shooting to close to Max.

I like the Moultrie cameras and think they are a pretty good deal for thier price point. The ones I have are older model i-40’s and the two complaints I do have are not with the pictures.

The first issue I had was that it was a pain in the butt to pull the memory cards as there were two separate covers that needed to be opened, one to get to the card and another to reset the camera. This is a minor issue and I believe the newer cameras are much easier to pull the card.

The second issue was that all on all 5 of the Moultie’s that I have the info strip display went haywire within less than 3 years. The cameras still worked but you couldn’t change the settings or even set the date/time. However, I called Moultrie and they had very good customer service and sent me new info strips free of charge which I was able to install myself and they work great again now.

The other cameras I have are Bushnell Trophy Cams which are a smaller and better quality camera, but they do have quite a bit higher price point. I also have first hand experience using Stealth Cam and would never reccomend them. A few of my good friends who swear by Cuddyback but IMO they are no better than the Moultries but cost more.

Overall I think the Moultries are a great option for the price and I would reccomend them to someone as a good purchase for someone just getting started with trail cams

I don’t think so. Bonus permits are doe only and once you tag a deer with your primary liscense (archery or firearm) as I understand you are relegated to bonus permits only.

However if you are party hunting with him he would be able shoot a buck and use your tag.

My lord! What an awesome buck

Wow… I really don’t know what to say. I’ve gone through this before with adults, but the pain of going through this with a child has to be heartbreaking. My prayers will be with Kaden and his family

Nice work Kooty!!

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The farm in this story is about 5 miles down the road from our hunting property. Sure wish I would have drawn a tag this year…

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This is just a few miles from my dad’s farm as well. From what I hear even though they trapped that adult pair there are others in the area and after they were trapped a neighbor saw what he thought was juvinille wolf thinking it was probably the young of this breeding pair.

We’ve also got wolves living near my dad’s farm and although they haven’t taken any livestock yet (knock on wood) I wouldn’t mind reducing the chances of that happening. If anyone has a late season wolf tag and is planning on trapping vs. shooting send me a PM.

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Keeping in mind, each reported incident could involve the deaths of multiple cattle or other livestock. I don’t think many non-farmers or those with no experience in agriculture realize how much money is at stake with livestock losses.

Losing 1 stock cow could represent the loss of tens of thousands of dollars. It’s not the cost of that one cow. it’s the dozen calves that that cow could have produced that make up the full loss.

Grouse.

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I’m from a farm and am 100% in support of the wolf hunt BUT I’m also an engineer and I hate when people misuse numbers/statistics… Kooty is right if you’re talking about expensive breeding stock the kill could cost thousands if it is a breeding stock bull or a calf from/hefer that was bred by a bull with expensive semen. However, for 99% of cattle replacement is only around $1000 understanding that after your one time cost the replacement animal will also produce future calves.

As for multiple livestock killed per incident 111 cases resulting in $154,000 in compensation means that each case resulted in approximatly 1.5 animals per incident.

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Being 6’5″ I had the same problem with the tether being too short and causing me to have to move the strap around the tree up or down in order to stand up versus sitting. Then I blew a chance at a nice buck when he busted me adjusting the strap… The next day I bought some climbing rope and made an 18″ extension and have never had the issue again

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I have hunted most of my life out of a tree stand without a safety harness (very stupid…i know). Last year I had a strap break on a tree stand and i nearly fell but was saved by dumb luck. The very next day i picked up a gorilla safety harness and have been trying to use it every time i get into the stand. I will say it is cumbersome, and i wish the tether was longer. The biggest complaint i have, is that I cannot shoot behind the tree stand on the right side because the strap is in the way of my arm/face/string , i can get a shot about 45 degrees past but not directly behind the tree. This is annoying because in situations were i don’t have much cover i intentionally face the stand way from expected deer travel so that i can use the tree as cover. Has anyone else had this problem??

maybe the gorilla harnesses just have a really short tether?

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Being 6’5″ I had the same problem with the tether being too short and causing me to have to move the strap around the tree up or down in order to stand up versus sitting. Then I blew a chance at a nice buck when he busted me adjusting the strap… The next day I bought some climbing rope and made an 18″ extension and have never had the issue again

Good luck bud!! I got to spend time at ripley for work once shooting howitzers with the guard…. Tons of deer. I hope your group gets a chance st the right one

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At least they/it did a nice job of butchering…very little waste there. Bones, hide, and a bit of rib meat.

I’ve come across carcasses that “sportsman” shot, with far more meat on them.

Makes you wonder at times who the better stewards are…

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The reason for the is that it was frustrating to see one of our nice young bucks taken. Don’t get me wrong I have a lot of respect for wolves as they are a much more efficient predator than we are and a very pretty cool animal in general. Just not something I like having around the farm

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Where in MN are you?

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Our farm is located one mile East Mille Lacs lake in Malmo, MN. Another farmer just a few miles further South from us and a couple miles East on Hwy 18 recently lost a couple young cattle to wolves as well.

Team 9 is on the board with a big doe taken Sunday Evening

sign me up Kooty

You shouldn’t have to try too hard

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Nice! Nothing like hunting in comfort. I got very spoiled last year hunting in our box blind.

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I’ve become spoiled myself the past couple years spending much of my time during rifle season in a box stand. The best part about this new blind is it’s large enough to accomdate my 32″ draw length and within 30 yds of two of the main trails that entering this field so now I’ve got an option to archery hunt out of one as well