Minnesota Waterfowl Hunting

My family are your typical MN deer hunters....have a group that hunts up by the cabin on state land a little North of Garrison. We're total rubes....have to deal with random dipshits fighting over stands on opening morning....our group is really only ever in full-force for opening weekend. Lots of drinking and drugs with limited success hunting. Seriously, we're about the most average, stereotypical group of MN deer hunters there is.....there should be a picture of our party that comes up after googling "MN deer hunting."

My brother-in-law has ratcheted things up a little since he actually knows his shit and is a pretty big bow hunter. I woke up at around noon today after heading down to the cities to visit the folks, and then head over to Eau Claire, and ended up helping him dress this buck he got on a south metro city hunt. We have it hanging from a ladder in the driveway right now pissing off all the old people day walkers....

Couple of his trail cam pics from up by the cabin....MN is wild, we just rarely ever see the wildlife....

Is that a cougar FF?

I deer hunted three seasons when I was a kid. Passed up a ton of small bucks waiting on a nice one. Finally shot a decent 8 pointer. Once I checked it off the list I have never really had any desire to hunt them again. It bores the hell out of me. Hours with nothing wasn't worth the short rush when one comes in. Pretty much goes for all big game for me. My buddies elk hunt and are always trying to get me to come. I don't think I'll ever do it. I like to eat venison a lot. Before the duck season I always tell myself I am going to go shoot a doe right away on opening morning to fill the freezer but it never happens. I am too focused on killing birds. With the early freeze this would be a good year to do it but, of course, they switched it from hunters choice to lottery doe tags this year. I am not sure why because the deer are thick by my house. I see 10-20 every day on my way to or from work.

emptymag wrote:
Just remember, we live in a state where a guy shot a horse with some one riding on it.

Laugh my ass off everytime.

MN gun hunters.....

Lol'd at this!

Bobcat, right ? Don't see a tail.

Look at how the water level changed from July to October. Same in the deer woods where we go (private). Never seen the damn water so high. Should be full of ducks, but alas this is EC MN.

lanyard wrote:

maplelakeduckslayer wrote:...... It's so friggin dangerous down there I seriously dread going. Hate it. I used to go almost the whole season...

Hunted Wisconsin, once. Got invites back the next few following years, but after the cluster phuck clown show of slugs whizzing AT YOU, 14-20 people assholes and elbows every time brown flashed... I like my head and balls exactly where they are located now.

Do Wisconsin Deer Hunters get shot as much as MN Duck Hunters swamp their boats? Or is it like in the accident, the sober person dies but the drunk person walks away without a scratch?

Honestly don't know how there aren't more shootings every year....boggles my mind

Bow hunt and gun hunt deer, turkeys, geese ducks and pheasants down here in Roch on in laws farm land only 3 miles from my house. i married smart. Place is filthy with cervids actually with all species except pheasants. will shoot 4-5 a year off of the swamp once it gets real cold.

With young kids its tougher to get in the stand. we usually shoot 2-4 deer a year out there. Hoping this year we shoot 10+. most evenings ill see 20-30 out in the field. lots of coyotes tho so im betting they got a few fawns this spring which i dont care considering the first 3 rows around his corn field is barren of any ears from all the mouths to feed. This week will be great if you are a bow hunter. cold temps will have them cruising all day.

aim small

Checked the cams out on my property, started getting more active last week looks like, on s short walk to grab cams several scrapes on the field edges. Going to set stands with Dad down in SE tomorrow and set a camera for a week just to see what's cruising through

I used to love deer hunting. At times we did a lot of deer drives which was a lot of fun and had good success but finding people you trust became hard. My brother always brought some of the worst. I quit for a year because of it and my brother stopped coming. Hunt public lands and move my portable stands over the years. You had to work hard to get back far enough to escape other hunters. As I get older that gets harder. I don’t enjoy long sits, especially when it is really cold. Now it is usually just 2 or three of us and we have une or two guys in stands and trade off walking and moving deer.

This year everything is flooded at my cabin and stuff is freezing over but you can’t walk on anything because the water is running out underneath it. Instead I am going to hunt with a friend up by Cook. He has a heated stand with a recliner in it. Not sure if I will like that either. My wife wants some venison this year so will probably take the first deer I see.

For whatever reason, deer hunting seems to bring out the worst in people. It makes crowding,sky busting duck hunters look good. Anyone with a gun and an orange jacket can hit the woods and most learned what they know from infomercials. Lots of dbags out there.

Going to take up the crossbow when I retire next year.

prairie hunter wrote:Bobcat, right ? Don't see a tail.

Look at how the water level changed from July to October. Same in the deer woods where we go (private). Never seen the damn water so high. Should be full of ducks, but alas this is EC MN.

You are correct, bobcat....big bobcat by the looks of it. Or as I call them a Minnesota "Brush Cat." Our Bobcats are shit when it comes to fur....will get a quarter what a nice looking prime Western bobcat gets....since they actually have spots and sheen to their fur whereas ours are a dull brown with a dark spot or two on the inside of their legs is all.


All the water has been nuts this year---truly historic.

Surprisingly not much sign down SE, usually everywhere you turn there's a run or scrape. See what it looks like next weekend