Sunday, November 20. 2011 am Wisconsin

Sunday, November 20, 2011, Temp 34 degrees, Wind N-NW 5-10 mph, mostly cloudy, Sunrise 7:07 am, Hunting opens 6:37 am. Our party took two nice mature 10 point bucks yesterday down at Copper Creek. Bob Ski shot his on the north side around 7:00 am and Dan Ecklund shot his on the north side of birch point at 5:00 pm. Both are beautiful bucks and should net and gross score about the same. Bob's should go in the 130's and Dan's should be in the 140's. Don and I got up at 4:00 this morning and headed back up to Romance. I helped Don get into Everest and the walked over to Sherpa. I was in by 6:20 am. At 7:00 am, I had a small fork horn come from the west straight towards me. He got to about 20 yards away, and sensed something and jumped away back up the hill to the NW. At 7:30 am, I looked down the hill to the SW and saw a doe sneaking to the east about 125 yards down the hill from me. At 9:00 am, I saw a doe about 75 yards to the east of me. She walked off to the NW. At 9:25, I had 2 does and 3 fawns come off the hill behind me to the NE about 45 yards away. They all ended up going off down to the SE. At 9:30, another doe came down bleating and she followed the other does and fawns. At 9:35, I had a doe come up from the south of me. She headed up the hill to the NW about 75 yards away. Nice action. At 10:30 am, I had a coyote run behind me from the east going west. It ran up where the deer I had seen earlier. Two minutes later, 4 does came crashing down off the hill from the NW. They all got within 30 yards. They ended up heading back up the hill to the north. I got down and walked over towards Don along the west property line. I kicked up two deer that were 100 yards up the hill from him. Don saw 7 deer this morning. 1 shooter that saw him when he was raising his gun and 1 fork horned buck. Totals: Bob - 12 deer, 1 fork horned buck. Don - 7 deer, 2 bucks.

Saturday, November 19, 2011 Wisconsin Gun Opener

Saturday, November 19, 2011, Temp 33 degrees, Wind S-SE 5-10 mph, mostly cloudy, some sprinkles Sunrise 7:06 am, Hunting opens 6:36 am. Sunset 4:36 pm. Hunting closes at 5:06 pm After not sitting in Everest the entire season, I thought that I should give it a try for the opening day of gun season. We all stayed at Copper last night and Don and I drove up this morning. I was in and all set up by 6:00 am. Don was out off the field to the east of the powerline hunting from a ground blind about 70 up the hill. At 8:15 am, I had a hot doe come off the the top of the hill to the north of me. She came down the hill and passed my stand about 10 yards to the east. 50 yards behinf her was a really nice 3 1/2 year old buck. He came down to 30 yards away. I was close to shooting him as his right side was a perfect 5, but his left side was a bit broken up. He had a small crab claw, but his G2 and G3 were broken. I hesitated too long, as he ended up taking off back up the hill. The doe was still 15 yards to the SE of me and I looked down at her and there was another nice shooter about 60 yards away to the east of me. I was checking him out through my binoculars and he sensed something wasn't right and took off to the east. I might regret not shooting the first buck that I saw. Oh well. I did hear a shot at 8:20 am that I thought was Don, but I wasn't able to reach him on the walkie talkie. At 11:30 am, I saw two more deer about 100 yards to the west of me heading up the hill. I am not sure what they were. It rained pretty much the entire afternoon; fairly hard at times, but I stayed and fought through it. At 2:15 pm, I looked down to the SE and saw a deer about 100 yards away. I am pretty sure it was a doe. That was it. Totals: Bob - 6 deer, 2 shooter bucks.

Friday, November 11, 2011 am Romance, WI

Friday, November 11, 2011 am, Temp 25 degrees, Wind N-NW 2-5 mph, mostly sunny, Sunrise 6:45 am, Hunting opens 6:15 am. I decided to give the Flat a try this morning. Today I was able to get in quietly and without any major incident. Lon radioed and said that he saw a nice buck chasing a doe around the corn and alfalfa field. He was sitting in a ground blind on the east edge of the corn field. I had a bunch of conference calls today, so I ended up heading in around 9:20 am That was it. Totals: Bob - 0 deer, Lon - 2 deer, 1 buck and 1 doe.

Thursday, November 10, 2011 pm Romance, WI

Thursday, November 10, 2011 pm, Temp 40 degrees, Wind S-SW 5-10 mph, partly cloudy, Sunset 4:54 pm, Hunting closes 5:24 pm. I decided to go back where I saw the big boy last night. I sat on the ground in the same spot east of the house. I ended up seeing 2 bucks and 1 doe out in the field. I watch a 2 1/2 year old 8 pointer chasing the doe around the field for the better part of an hour. Very entertaining. They never really got close to me. Totals: Bob - 3 deer, 2 bucks and 1 doe

Thursday, November 10, 2011 am Romance, WI

Thursday, November 11, 2011, Temp 35 degrees, Wind N-NE 5-10 mph, partly cloudy, Sunrise 6:43 am, Hunting opens 6:13 am. I decided to head back up to Sherpa. The rest of the guys headed down to Copper. For some reason, I had trouble finding the stand this morning in the dark. It totally sucked and I ended up over by Badger Hole. I finally got oriented and made it over to Sherpa. It totally sucked. I was so pissed that I had made so much noise and worked up such a lather. Oh well. Stayed until 9:30 am. Nothing to report. Totals: Bob - 0 deer

Wednesday, November 9, 2011 pm Romance, WI

Wednesday, November 10, 2011, Temp 36 degrees, Wind S-SW 5-10 mph, partly cloudy, Sunset 4:55 pm, Hunting closes 5:25 pm. We got rained out this morning. Ugly. Lon had hit a big buck in the creek bottom last night and we ended up following it for over 800 yards. I think that he only got 1 lung. Lots of blood initially, but it ended up drying up. We went out at 7:00 and 5 of us looked for 3 hours, but no luck. It was pretty much a body search since the rain had washed away any blood that was out there. Too bad. Since Lon had so much luck in the creek bottom the night before, I decided to try the same approach. I went down on the hillside to the east of the house. I cut some shooting lanes and sat on a bucket on a little finger. At 4:30, there was a small buck and a doe out in the field west of the pond 300+ yards away. At 5:05 pm, I saw a buck between me and the house. I did some grunting and he turned and came my way. I turned to get in position, and I heard some to the SE of me. A huge 8 pointer was walking across the hillside 25 yards away broadside. It was getting pretty dark and I did know if I had and opening for a shot. I figured he was going to come off the hill and head towards the other buck. I also had some scent down in front in the direction he was heading. Instead, he turned and came right towards me. He must have wanted to see what the noise was on the hill, before heading out to the field. I came to full draw on him quartering towards me at 6 yards. No shot. He sensed something, turned and ran away towards the SW. I was sick. I did get some awesome video. He ended up joining 2 other bucks, now 4 in the field about 75 yards away. Our friend John Score did end up connecting down at Copper Creek at the Goat Prairie stand on a beautiful 8 pointer with a 21" inside spread. A awesome 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 year old deer. Totals: Bob - 6 deer, 5 bucks. Lon - 0 deer, John - 1 deer, 1 buck, Steve - 2 deer, 2 bucks down at Copper Creek behind the barns.

Bucks at the 505

 You know that a nice buck would pass by in the daylight while I was hunting in Wisconsin!  Might have passed on him anyways.  Saw bigger bucks in Wisconsin though!

Sunday, November 6, 2011 am Romance, WI

Sunday, November 6, 2011, Temp 48 degrees, Wind S-SE 10-15 mph, mostly sunny, Sunrise 6:37 am, Hunting opens 6:17 am. Daylight saving kicked in so we were up at 4:00 am this morning. As Eric Haag so eloquently put it "the sleep deprivation study continues." It is warm and windy. Hopefully it won't slow the buck activity today. I decided to head up to Sherpa and Taylor was back at his post in Everest. We were both in and set up by 5:50 am. I did bring Hairy with me this morning. I had him set up downhill of me to the SW. At 6:40 am, I looked downhill to the south and there was a big shooter buck walking from east to west about 125 yards away. I tried to get him to turn up the hill, but he just kept going to the west. At 8:30 am, Taylor had a small fork horn come in from the east going west through his shooting lane at 25 yards. He saw Stubby and didn't like him so he took back off to the NE Totals: Bob - 1 deer, 1 buck. Taylor 1 deer, 1 buck

Saturday November 5th, 2011 AM Romance

Saturday, November 5, 2011, Temp 30 degrees, Wind S-SE 10-15 mph, mostly sunny, Sunrise 6:47 am, Hunting opens 7:17 am. It is going to be a short hunt for me this morning as Heidi and I are going to the Badger game. With a south wind, I decided to give the Badger Hole a shot. Taylor was back at Everest. Lon actually got out and went to Octopussy. I was all set up by 6:45 am. Lon drove in on the ATV around 6:55 am. What a morning. By 8:00 am, I had already seen 4 different bucks. Only 1 was a shooter. At 7:20 am, I heard something behind me. He finally walked out to the SE of me. He was a beautiful 9-11 pointer and wide. Tough to see him as it was still pretty dark and he was in the brush. He ended up turning back around and went back to the NE towards Sherpa. At 7:30 am, I had two smaller bucks one was a f pointer and the other was probably an 8 pointer. They both came from the SE. Both stayed out about 40-50 yards. They ended up heading back to the east. At 8:00 am, I had a small 4 pointer come from the west about 60 yards to the south of me. He came all the way across then turn around and went back to the west. I talked to Taylor and before shooting light he had a small 9 pointer at 5 yards away. It was too dark to video though. Taylor ended up seeing 4 bucks this morning. 3 were shooters. Lon saw 2 bucks this morning. 1 was a shooter. Totals: Bob - 4 deer, 4 bucks. Taylor: 5 deer, 4 bucks. Lon: 3 deer, 2 bucks.



This is the first shooter buck that I saw this morning.  I think he is a nine pointer.  He came in at about 8am.  He was about 60 yards to the North of me and was locked in on a doe that I saw about 5 minutes earlier.   I could not get his attention. I tried to grunt and he didn't even look my way.

Here is the second shooter buck that I saw this morning.  It was about 8:30 this morning when I saw him.  He was come from the West of me and actually walked right by Stubby the decoy.  I couldn't believe he didn't even look at him.  He was heading in the same exact direction as the last deer and actually stopped at the same exact spot as the last shoot buck did.  He ended up walking to the exact same spot until I couldn't see him.  I got him to stop and look my direction with a snort-weeze, but he quickly turned back around and walked away.  I think he was on that same doe.  He is a beast!  I am guessing somewhere around 160 inches. What do you think?

Here is a trail camera picture of him. He is a beaut!

Here is the third shooter buck that I saw this morning. He came in chasing a doe from the West. Same exact spot that the second buck came from. It was pretty cool to watch him chase her around. He chased the doe down the hill and I grunted at them and the doe slowly made her way up to ten yards from me. The buck stayed back at about 25 yards and was quartering towards me. I couldn't get the shot off. She ended up taking off toward the same spot they came from and the buck took off too. I tried to get him to stop in a shooting lane, but he was a little busy chasing her! A great buck, smaller than the last, but still a shooter and bigger than I have ever shot!

Friday, November 4, 2011 pm Romance, WI

Friday, November 4, 2011, Temp 48 degrees, Wind S-SE 5-10 mph, mostly sunny, Sunset 5;59 pm, Hunting closes 6:29 pm. I couldn't hunt this morning because I had 3 hour long conference calls that started at 8:00 am. Taylor went out this morning to Everest and sat all morning. He did see 3 deer this morning up the hill above him. He got down for lunch and took a short break back at the truck, but he was right back at Everest after lunch. I decided with a south wind to give the Recliner stand a try. I was all set up with Hairy at 2:30 pm. I did a drag rag of Tink's from back near the truck and I put out two scent wicks as well. We will just have to wait and see. At 4:15 pm, things started to get interesting. I heard a buck grunting in the field to the NE of me. I grunted an rattled to try and get him to come my way. I radioed Taylor and he said that he had a doe next to him. She ended up bedding down about 75 yards to the NW of him. I talked to Taylor at 5:15 pm, and he saw the doe get up and a buck then chased after her. At 6:00 pm, I had a small 8 pointer come down the trail from the SE. He came into about 15 yards. He circle uphill of the decoy and got to with 5 yards of him. He must of smelled something that he didn't like because he kind of spooked up the hill to 20 yards. He slowly walked off to the west. Got some video if him. Totals: Bob - 1 deer, 1 Buck. Taylor - 5 deer, 4 does and 1 buck.

Thursday- November 3 at the 009- PM

While the boys are in Wisconsin I decided that I would do this hunting thing my way and on my time. I headed out to the VAT and got in a little later than one would hope to get in the woods. I came down to the stand at around 4:50. I was laying down a trail of doe estrus when I spooked a beautiful 8 point and he spooked me. I stood still right along the food plot's edge with an open bottle of doe estrus and it freshly laid out around me. He started to walk towards me at first, which really got the heart racing, then he finally spooked and ran off, stomping and blowing as he circled me. I was finally able to get into the stand and an hour later I could hear something coming at me. I thought it was coming up directly behind me and I prematurely grabbed my bow. I then heard stomping and blowing and finally saw a doe who spotted me first. I thought this was the end of my night but surprisingly a few minutes later saw a fawn spastically hopping around in the field next to me. He soon sprinted in to my food plot and then spooked. I couldn't figure out what spooked him then all of a sudden a buck steps out into the food plot. Unfortunately it was only a 6 point so I couldn't shoot, reminding myself of the 4 points on one side rule. He walked through the plot rather quickly and followed the trail of the doe that I had earlier seen. By this time the coyotes were howling like crazy so I quietly and quickly got out of the woods. Totals: 2 Bucks 1 Fawn 1 Doe- this is the most action I've ever seen!!!

Here's to hopefully being able to say BBD on Friday evening!!!

-Mindi

Thursday, November 3, 2011 pm Romance, WI

Thursday, November 3, 2011, Temp 54 degrees, Wind W-SW 5-10 mph, mostly sunny, Sunset 6:00 pm, Hunting closes 6:30 pm. Taylor has been sitting all day and said that he saw 1 fawn since I had left to go back and work. I left all my stuff up at the stand, so I was able to sneak back I pretty quietly. I decided to drag a scent line of Tink's 69 from down by the field up to the stand. I was back up in Sherpa and ready to go by 2:30 pm. I was pleased because I had a fairly productive morning of work. That makes the afternoon sit for me much more enjoyable. Nothing to report. Totals: Bob - 0 deer, Taylor - 1 deer, 1 fawn.

Thursday, November 3, 2011 am Romance, WI

Thursday, November 3, 2011, Temp 40 degrees, Wind N-NE 3-5 mph, mostly sunny, Sunrise 7:15 am, Hunting opens 6:45 am. Taylor got in around 11:00 pm last night. We got in a short nights sleep and it was time to get back at it. I decided to take Hairy and go up to Sherpa. Taylor had Stumpy up at Everest (Nate had left him there). We were in position by 6:45 am. At 7:30 am, I could hear a deer blowing a warning call up to the NE of me. At 8:00 am, Taylor reported that he could see some deer uphill to the north of him. At 8:55 am, Taylor had his first close encounter. A nice shooter buck came in to about 45 yards to the NE of him. I guess he saw Stubby and didn't like what he saw so he took back off to the NE. Taylor did get some video of him. At 9:15 am, Taylor had another nice shooter buck come down off the hill. He never got in range and ended up heading off to the NE. No video. Totals: Bob - 0 deer, Taylor - 2 deer, 2 shooter bucks.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011 am Romance, WI

Wednesday, November 2, 2011, Temp 48 degrees, Wind N 5-10 mph, cloudy an rainy, Sunrise 7:22 am, Hunting opens 6:52 am. I drove down to Romance late night and arrived at 9:30 pm. I got up before my alarm at 4:55 am. I guess I was a little excited. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain. I checked the radar and it looked like there was going to be a reprieve during the late morning. I decided to head back to bed for a few hours. I got up at 7:30, got some breakfast and did some work for a few hours. I looked outside and checked the radar and the weather was going to break for a few hours. I decided to get to the stand and see what would happen. It appears as though another storm was going to blow in around 1:00 pm. With a north wind, I figured it would be worth heading up to the Sherpa stand. I was all set up a few minutes after 10:00 am. I ended up sitting until 11:45 am, and then I decided to head in since it started raining too hard. Totals: Bob - 0 deer.

Tuesday November 1st, 2011 PM

So Close, Yet So Far

I was settled in late today from school.  This is my second to last day in the stand here in MN before I head to Wisconsin to hunt.  I kicked up a deer that was bedded by my stand when I walked in at 4:15.  I went to the field edge tonight in my new climber stand.  When I got into my stand I heard a bunch of rustling behind me.  It was the coyotes chasing something again.  I was not happy to see them.  At about 6:15 I heard something coming up the hill behind me and I could tell it was a deer but I could not see it.  He turned to his right, my left and continued up the hill to the other side of the point where the camera was.  It was about 6:30 when I couldn't hear him anymore.  I figured he was now in the field.  When I got down to check the camera I found the Dagger buck on camera 9 minutes before I checked the camera!  So close, yet so far.  Hopefully tomorrow night one of them come out and present a shot as it is my last hunt before I leave and the last hunt before the guns come out and the deer hide tight.

Totals: Taylor: 0 deer: 2 coyotes

We got a picture of a buck with a messed up rack.  I am calling him Goofy.  He seems to have a big body. We also had a picture of No Brow.  I think No Brow and Dagger live close as they have become regulars on the camera lately.