Twas the Night before MN Archery Opener

For a little 4-1-1 about me I would like to detail this past weekend and in doing so I will be providing background history so you will quickly learn what, why, and who I am. This past weekend was Minnesota’s Archery and Small game opener. Being the avid bow hunter and archery advocate, I was so excited for the weekend that I took Friday off of work to travel up north to my property and get camp all setup and ready for the next morning. It will be a 2 part blog, with the first part providing my background and hunt setup and the second part describing my hunts.

I’ve been hunting since I got my first pellet gun at age 6, deer hunting since age 12, and bow hunting since I was 15 and will never stop. However, my father does not bow hunt which has left me making 70% of my bow hunting outings by myself. That has never been an issue for me as I enjoy the solitude and reflection archery provides away from the hectic activities of our “everyday” lives, but there is something about meeting back at camp to tell the stories of the day and of the days which have gone by. This weekend was different. An old college friend Shawn and I recently reconnected via Facebook (say what you want about this social network…but it does bring friends together) and we only live 15 minutes apart. His enthusiasm and love of the outdoors has quickly allowed us to become hunting partners (even if he does beat me in Cribbage).

As I mentioned, we were going to be hunting my private property. My wife and I purchased this 80 acre track in central MN in November of 2007. It has 48 acres of beautiful hardwoods (oaks, basswood, maple, poplar, etc.), an acre or two of open clearings (2 which have become food plots), 15 acres of muskeg and small tamarack lowland, and 15 acres of mature tamarack and spruce. This provides many “edge” scenarios which we all know are a whitetail’s favorite location. There is a gravel road on the eastern border and private land owners on all other sides. Public land is less than a mile away. There is no cabin, just a pop-up camper and a nice camping site which Dan Block, my cousin and Up North Journal Staff member, helped setup this spring. It's definitely not the Holiday Inn, but I'd rather rough it anyways as that adds to the atmosphere of the hunt and the stories which are told.

As I arrive at the parking spot on Friday morning with my Honda Rubicon ATV in tow, I realize that this weekend will be my first opportunity to experience my property. This year I kept my boat covered and focused all my free time to preparing the property for archery season. Camp site prep, ATV trail creation through the muskeg/tamarack swamp, food plots, 4 trail cameras, mineral licks, stand setups, etc. If it wasn’t for God and my family, hunting would be my life. But since there is God and family, hunting is just a part of my life.

I quickly unloaded my ATV from my trail, hooked the trailer to the ATV, and loaded all my supplies on to the trailer. This is the most efficient way of carrying my supplies over 800 feet of muskeg swamp. This is only possible due to a 50 year old “road” that is barely visible, but does provide enough foundation to not sink into the muck. As I setup camp, I learn that mice which had found my camper a few weeks earlier, have chewed holes in the canvas and screens. After hours of duct tape and bleach cleaning of EVERYTHING, I was ready to head out to hang my Lone Wolf Alpha stand and pull the 3 weeks of pictures from my 4 cameras.

I loaded up my gear and drove around the property on my “new” ATV trail which Shawn and I created 7 weeks ago. First stop was my Whitetail Institute 30-06 mineral lick and stand location. On the way there I realized that there are a TON of acorns and that I should have brought my hard hat. As I arrive at the site, I notice that the hardwoods are starting to change colors and some trees were already dropping their leaves. Luckily my stand is nestled among multiple trees with thick lowland cover all around so I have foreground and background cover for when the majestic whitetail comes meandering by. Stand up, safety harness strap installed, and camcorder arm installed and waiting for my first attempt at self videoing my hunts.

Now what about deer activity? I use Stealth Cam Rogue IR digital Infrared cameras with the setting for 1 picture every 5 minutes. So if a deer does hang around for a while I do get different views of the same animal. The camera at my stand location had 68 pictures mostly does, fawns, squirrels, and a small buck. The next camera on a north/south runway had 38 pictures (does, fawns, a different small buck, and a pine martin); however, this was for only 9 days as the pine martin decided to chew my Stealth Cam 12 volt battery cable. I guess it didn’t like to have its picture taken. Next stop my food plot camera…113 pictures. There were a TON of does, fawns, and turkeys and one nice 8 pointer. Last location is the east/west runway from the food plot through a funnel area and Shawn’s stand location. This camera had only 4 pictures of animals…a small 8 pointer, the large 8 pointer, the top of a deer’s back, and a deer in the distance. I guess if you are only going to have a few pictures, at least they were of decent bucks.

Once Shawn arrived and was settled in, we discussed our hunting plans for the next morning and when we anticipated getting back from our stands in case we need to go looking for each other. Whether you hunt alone or with someone, you should always have a plan so that if an unforeseen accident were to occur, help will be on its way and not waiting nearby. Whether it is a fall from a stand or being treed by a bear, every minute counts. As we started talking old hunting stories, Shawn decided to win a few hands of Cribbage before we headed to bed. It will be a night of little sleep for both of us as we were doing our best impersonation of children on Christmas Eve…who can sleep before the first day of deer season?

To Be Continued…