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Post by smsmith on Nov 7, 2023 10:32:24 GMT -6
I drove to Little Falls and back earlier this morning. Zero road kills, which really surprised me. I also saw zero hunters.
According to the tracks on my driveway and the dirt roads out to the highway, deer were really running last night.
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Post by Foggy on Nov 7, 2023 12:37:12 GMT -6
I drove to Little Falls and back earlier this morning. Zero road kills, which really surprised me. I also saw zero hunters. According to the tracks on my driveway and the dirt roads out to the highway, deer were really running last night. ^ That is what my camera's show too. Lots of activity last night.......and ZERO, Point, Nothing the 24 hours before that. (Sunday night and Monday all day). Still getting bear pics too.
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Post by mnaaron on Nov 7, 2023 12:39:42 GMT -6
The new one is pretty similar to the other 2. I do think the horizontal windows are an inch or two higher than in the older ones. They all can use some cross bracing on the legs. It's good and stable, but when the wind blows straight at you from across a lake at 30 mph there is some wobbling. Today while I was sitting in there I had the thought that I'd use the legs from my old wood ladder stands for the cross bracing. I need to get those ladders down as I don't think I'll be using them much anymore. I am sitting in the 8 sided box blind the kids build. The one I am in the horizontal windows are 2” to low because my office chair and most don’t go down low enough. I like the long corner windows to pee out of when it’s time to dig through 6” of clothes for a 2” pecker in a hurry. It does wobble in a 30 mph wind but that is to be expected for not being cemented in the ground. I like being out of the wind and rain as I get older. Plus me and the daughter can sit together if she lets me. I agree they need to raise the windows 2-3 inches at least.
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Post by smsmith on Nov 7, 2023 12:47:35 GMT -6
I drove to Little Falls and back earlier this morning. Zero road kills, which really surprised me. I also saw zero hunters. According to the tracks on my driveway and the dirt roads out to the highway, deer were really running last night. ^ That is what my camera's show too. Lots of activity last night.......and ZERO, Point, Nothing the 24 hours before that. (Sunday night and Monday all day). Still getting bear pics too. No bear pics here for a couple months now. I'm not sad about that one bit. The north neighbors told the east neighbor that they've been "seeing wolves and dogs chasing deer" north of me about 2 miles. I believe the dog part. I doubt the wolf part...especially the part about wolves and dogs being anywhere near the same area. Wolves would wipe out any dogs pretty quickly. I've had good daytime deer activity all season so far. I haven't seen much for really active chasing though.
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Post by wklman on Nov 7, 2023 16:52:58 GMT -6
^ That is what my camera's show too. Lots of activity last night.......and ZERO, Point, Nothing the 24 hours before that. (Sunday night and Monday all day). Still getting bear pics too. No bear pics here for a couple months now. I'm not sad about that one bit. The north neighbors told the east neighbor that they've been "seeing wolves and dogs chasing deer" north of me about 2 miles. I believe the dog part. I doubt the wolf part...especially the part about wolves and dogs being anywhere near the same area. Wolves would wipe out any dogs pretty quickly. I've had good daytime deer activity all season so far. I haven't seen much for really active chasing though. They'll be heading your way soon if you don't have them in the area already. That's for sure. I've got them thick, and you're not too far south of me. I'm hearing sightings of them from Bertha, all the way down 71 to Eagle Bend, then west all the way into parkers. My neighbors have sent me multiple pics of them. 1 guy had them daily on his property.
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Post by smsmith on Nov 7, 2023 18:51:00 GMT -6
No bear pics here for a couple months now. I'm not sad about that one bit. The north neighbors told the east neighbor that they've been "seeing wolves and dogs chasing deer" north of me about 2 miles. I believe the dog part. I doubt the wolf part...especially the part about wolves and dogs being anywhere near the same area. Wolves would wipe out any dogs pretty quickly. I've had good daytime deer activity all season so far. I haven't seen much for really active chasing though. They'll be heading your way soon if you don't have them in the area already. That's for sure. I've got them thick, and you're not too far south of me. I'm hearing sightings of them from Bertha, all the way down 71 to Eagle Bend, then west all the way into parkers. My neighbors have sent me multiple pics of them. 1 guy had them daily on his property. Wolves pass through from time to time. I'm not sold on there being a pack living in the area, but I'm sure it's possible. I've got zero pics of wolves since living here and running cams year round.
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Post by biglakebass on Nov 7, 2023 20:17:07 GMT -6
I have gotten 3 wolf pics in all the years running cams in OTC. Many cams on multiple properties, most of the year. Lots of wolf reports from all over for years from people..... Coyotes 97% of the time I am sure. Then the mountain lion reports..... Bobcats peeps. No doubt wolves are here at times. No denying that.
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Post by daydreamer on Nov 8, 2023 17:44:46 GMT -6
Hoping Art is enjoying the firearms season and time with family??
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Post by biglakebass on Nov 8, 2023 19:36:12 GMT -6
Art Where art thou?
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 10, 2023 2:20:18 GMT -6
i hadn’t checked the forum, but couldn’t sleep . We got venison but nothing to brag about. I haven’t seen a decent buck in about 11 months. My youngest daughter hasn’t hunted in ten years or shot a gun and she made a nice one shot kill on a doe. We were in our box blind together. I am just sitting in the box blind and hoping for a nice one. One knee is acting up and I can’t get to some stands. The clock is ticking……
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 10, 2023 3:15:10 GMT -6
i hadn’t checked the forum, but couldn’t sleep . We got venison but nothing to brag about. I haven’t seen a decent buck in about 11 months. My youngest daughter hasn’t hunted in ten years or shot a gun and she made a nice one shot kill on a doe. We were in our box blind together. I am just sitting in the box blind and hoping for a nice one. One knee is acting up and I can’t get to some stands. The clock is ticking…… two further comments. I did find a dead mature buck about ten yards from our lawn when the snow melted this spring. He was very skinny in January when I last saw him alive. He had growth lines in a front foot and something else was going on with him. Second comment. Those of you who have family members that don’t like venison, need to shoot a fawn. Fresh fawn loin on the grill is excellent! It’s what was for lunch yesterday.
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Post by smsmith on Nov 10, 2023 10:25:39 GMT -6
The east neighbor says that the taxidermist told him last night very few bucks have come in during firearm season. He did say a lot came in during archery, and that many were crossbow kills.
The neighbor and I were talking about our sightings this year. We both are wondering where the heck the does went. We've each seen more bucks than does this year. I guess that's a good problem to have, but it doesn't speak well for the herd the next few years. Right now, I'm pretty happy the young guy I've tried to get to come out and shoot some does the last few years hasn't done so. I'm also glad that I've stuck to my personal mantra of never shooting a doe again.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Nov 13, 2023 8:33:05 GMT -6
My secretary is a deer hunter and she even noticed the increase in hunting pressure in her area. Vehicles driving around, shining their lights into the field. She was bow hunting, but orange everywhere.
I’ve personally never seen so many hunters the second weekend. With all the new fancy blinds, seems like most guys are out there a large percentage of the time.
I’m also hearing most hunters saying they think the deer numbers are down.
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Post by MoBuckChaser on Nov 13, 2023 8:34:56 GMT -6
My secretary is a deer hunter and she even noticed the increase in hunting pressure in her area. Vehicles driving around, shining their lights into the field. She was bow hunting, but orange everywhere . I’ve personally never seen so many hunters the second weekend. With all the new fancy blinds, seems like most guys are out there a large percentage of the time. I’m also hearing most hunters saying they think the deer numbers are down. I don’t think deer numbers are down in Mn, just the quality of bucks are.
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Post by smsmith on Nov 13, 2023 8:49:23 GMT -6
I have no idea about MN as a whole, but the deer herd in my little chunk of the world is definitely smaller than it was the previous 3-4 years.
The number of bucks 2.5 or older this year was also definitely down. That makes sense since the north neighbors shot at least 4 bucks 2.5 or older last year and I think they got 2 this year. You can't keep whacking all the 2.5s if you ever want to see/shoot 3.5s or older. Maybe those guys will figure that out some year.
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