image credit Dawn Endico

Sunday was the final day of the season. How many shots had I fired so far ZERO I think that has only happened to me NEVER.

Image credit Eponabri

That next Tuesday my cousin Aaron shot a doe. I wasn’t able to hunt until the following weekend, but the fate of my second and final weekend would be partially determined on the Wednesday afternoon before the weekend arrived.

image credit Sharpy70



photo credit to Wonderlane

Another early morning and I wanted to be in my tree stand before even a trace of first light crosses the horizon. Because my stand was so close to the parking lot I decided to wait until everyone else walked by and then go to my stand.


This morning was a touch cooler then the previous morning so I decided to put my boots and suit on in the parking lot and walk the 200 yards to my tree. The short walk was kind of refreshing and woke me up a little. I was all settled into my stand for about a half an hour before I saw first light.

Sitting in my stand I was getting excited for the hunting morning. I had wanted to sit in this area for the last three years, but could never locate a tree large enough to place my tree stand in. Soon after getting comfortable the excitement started to ware off. As I waited for the legal shooting time this all too familiar drowsy sensation started to set in. Fighting off sleep I heard a couple of late arrivers in the parking lot. One I knew was Pat, but the other I wasn’t sure who it was.

I looked at my phone and it was finally shooting time. I forced my self to wake up and be alert which wasn’t too hard considering every sound I heard made me turn my head and look for a deer. I soon found out the other person I heard in the parking lot this morning was sitting in a tree not too far from me. This was fine because we wouldn’t be able to shoot at the same deer any way.

About 30 minutes had passed and I hadn’t seen any deer. I did hear two coyotes barking at each other. About 15 to 20 minutes after that I decided to give my doe bleat a try. What a big mistake that was.(This is where my hunt gets frustrating) Shortly after hearing me bleat the guy sitting close to me starts using his bleat which would normally be fine, but he is blowing on it super loud. On top of that it seem as though he is blowing on it every three to five minutes for around 30 seconds. To put it in my brother’s words “he is pretty good at playing the trumpet”.

I knew now any deer with in a mile radius was aware of hunters in the woods, and would stay put. Me being stubborn I stayed in my tree for roughly another hour before I had enough (I can’t get too mad because I am hunting on public land). I took my stand down and went back to the truck. I entered the parking lot just in time to see an unfamiliar van leave the lot (must have been my trumpet playing buddy). I put all of my stuff in the truck bed, and went for a walk because I had about two and a half hours until lunch time.

I hiked around for a short while and eventually discovered a great little place to sit and take a brief nap. After sitting for some time I realized even though I was so tired I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I heard a few gun shots but nothing in the direction of my hunting party. It wasn’t too long before my stomach started growling and I decided it was time to go and get some lunch.

I was the last back to the parking lot for lunch today. No one had seen any deer this morning. Hearing this was a little depressing, but very typical for the second day of the deer season. The deer were pressured very hard and bedding down in the thickest of the thick stuff.

After lunch today I decided to set my stand up in the swamp I was walking in earlier that morning. I set everything up and plopped down in my stand for what would be a very uneventful evening hunt. I tried a little rattling, and calling, but nothing was going to move the deer after all of pressure the day before. I soon realized my only chance at seeing a deer would be in the last 20 minutes of shooting light as they were going to the fields to eat.

As the light faded that evening I was getting anxious just knowing I might see a deer at any moment. I wasn’t even lucky enough to see a deer that evening. In fact I only remember hearing one shot that evening, and it was quite a long distance away. I took my sand and steps down packed up my gear and headed back to the truck to go home.

Check out my next installment of a Not so Productive Deer Season to see if I had any luck on my next hunt.



~ Ben G.

Links to the other parts to the series
Not so productive Deer hunting Season (Part 1)
Not so productive Deer hunting Season (Part 2)
Not so Productive Deer hunting Season (Part 3) 

I was fuming at the fact I had only one shell in my pocket, but at the same time thrilled I had the chance to see such a beautiful buck out in the woods. This was certainly at least the second biggest deer I had ever seen (alive) in my many years of hunting.

When I arrived back at the parking lot everyone asked if I shot the deer. I said I shot at it. The next question was why only one shot. I had to explain that all of my shells were sitting on the back of Ryan’s truck except for the one I for some reason had in my pocket.

Aaron said let’s go check for blood and see if by chance the deer is still close. We grabbed our shot guns and went into the woods. We walked a ways, and it was if the buck never even existed. Then went back to check for blood. I was pretty sure I didn’t injure the big guy, so the search was very short. Aaron and I made our way back to the parking lot.

When back at the parking lot I confirmed that it was Brandon who had shot at a deer near me earlier that morning. He said it was a nice little four point buck. Ryan saw three does that morning and let them pass because he was waiting for a buck.

What a strange opening morning no dead deer, but everyone saw a deer, even Pat on the way in that morning.” Well we have all afternoon and the next day” some one said. We then proceeded to eat lunch and BS for a while.

After lunch everyone, but Brandon, Aaron and I went to their stands. The three of us went for a walk to see if we could push any deer out of the clumps of brush out in the middle of the fields. We stomped in and out of about six of these little spots with no luck what so ever. (A lot of deer sign) At that point I headed back to my stand to go sit for a while.

When I arrived at my stand I just couldn’t sit in it. I knew the spot I had my stand in was geared more toward a morning location. I felt it was better to move my stand, let this spot cool off, and then try and hunt it the next Saturday Moring.

I quickly took my stand down and quietly walked out of the area. I wasn’t in much of a hurry to get to the new spot I scoped out and I didn’t want to sweat too much. I actually dropped my stand off at the tree I had picked out. Then headed the 200 yards back to the parking lot to get rid of some of my extra stuff, and grab some more water. It was an awfully hot day and it seemed like I was always thirsty.

After I was hydrated I put my stand up and was sitting in it by about 3:00pm. I sat until the end of legal shooting time and didn’t even hear or see a single thing. It was a little disappointing, but that’s just the way deer hunting goes some times.

I don’t believe anyone else saw any deer that afternoon. Which is all right ”it’s only the end of the first day how could it turn out to be a not so productive deer hunting season we have lots of time left” I thought to my self as I jumped in Ryan’s truck before leaving that night.

You will have to wait for Part 4 to see if we shot any deer on the second day of the season.



Ben G.

The other parts to the series
Not so productive Deer hunting Season (Part 2)
Not so productive Deer hunting Season (Part 1)

So as I got down from my tree stand I was pretty confident I had shot the deer. When I was walking over to ware the buck was standing I noticed he was further away then I orignaly thought he was. So I decided to walk back to my stand and step off the distance to see how far of a shot it was to the closest blood. I stepped off around 110 yards and didn’t find any blood.


This seemed very odd so I started to look all over for blood. None here or there I was starting to get very frustrated. I thought for sure I hit him. I looked every where with in 30 yards of where the buck was standing not a drop of blood. “You have to be kidding me” I thought to myself as I was combing the ground.

I proceeded to follow the trail the buck had run on. Gawking at the ground leaning closer and closer the farther I walked into the woods. There was no blood on the trail the first time I walked the trail, or the second or the third. After about an hour and a half of looking for blood I finely decided it was time to give up. Needless to say I was incredibly bummed that I didn’t get this deer.

I decided to walk around for a short while and then head back up to my stand. I got into my stand and sat the rest of the morning. Around 8:30 or so I heard a shot rather close to my stand it I was guessing it was someone form my party. Then shortly after the shot I heard two guys walking through the woods and another shot rang out. By there conversation I could tell they didn’t get the deer.

The two hunters continued on and ended up about 30 yards from my stand. I always get a bit annoyed when people walk by my stand (I was hunting public land so what could I do). About thirty minutes after the two guys walked by I heard some crunching leaves behind me. I gazed in the woods behind me and couldn’t see a thing. Then just as I was turning my head to look awayI caught a glimpse of a good size doe. I only saw her for about a second (not even enough time to think about pulling my gun up).

Shortly after that I heard her rumble into the brush where the buck had come from earlier this morning. I heard her walking around for a good twenty minutes, but the brush was so thick I couldn’t get even the slightest peek at her.

I sat in my stand until around ten or ten thirty and headed for the parking lot to go and get some lunch. I met up with Pat on the way back. He hadn’t seen any a deer other than a nice buck crossed the road in front of him on his way to the parking lot earlier in the morning.

Pat and I were the first back to the parking lot. We chatted for a short while, then Rob, Aaron, and Brian all showed up. Bruce followed shortly after. There is one question we are sure to ask each other as we come out of the woods. Did you see any deer? Well so far every one had seen a deer or two, but no one had shot one. Strangely this was starting out to be an unproductive deer hunting season.

The only two guys left out in the woods were Ryan and Brandon. Someone said here they come and I looked up to see them walking down the trail toward the parking lot around 11:00. A moment later BOOM a shot rang out. I looked down the trail to see what they were shooting. I didn’t see any deer so I started talking again. I happened to glance back at the trail once again to see if Ryan or Brandon were coming or if we needed to go help them get a deer. I happened to look at the perfect moment to see a deer run across the trail. I quickly grabbed my shot gun and ran into the woods, off to the west of the parking lot where the deer ran.

I was startled to see a giant buck just walking through the forest. I reached in my pocket, grabbed a shell, and loaded it in my gun. I quickly brought the gun up to my shoulder. All of this happened so fluently I was didn't even have time to get excited to see this buck in my scope. I took my time and aimed at the giant buck. Slowly squeezed the trigger and with a loud bark my 870 chucked a slug in the direction of this giant.

Did I hit the monster buck or will this be a long drawn out season of misses? Find out in part 3 of A Not so productive deer season.



~Ben G.

Link to other parts of the series
Not so Productive Deer hunting Season (Part 3)
Not so productive Deer hunting Season (Part 1)
Other huting adventures
Trout fishing Part 1
Turkey Hunting Addiction (Part 1)

1. A few nights before you go out hunting it’s not a bad idea to hang your hunting clothes outside for a night or two to air out. (weather permitting of course)

2. The night before or even the morning you go deer hunting it is good to spray all of your clothes even down to you under garments with a scent mask or scent eliminator product. I typically will spray my under clothes the night before so they have time to dry out.


3. Make sure to wake up early and are out to/in your stand well before the sun rises. I usually like to be in stand at least an hour if not a bit more before legal shooting time.


4. If you have to drive to your hunting spot in the morning it makes sense to again spray your hat, boots and coat before you go out in the field. Don’t for get to spray again after lunch.


5. Walk very quietly out to your stand especially if your stand is close to a bedding area.


6. A good thing to do is to hang scent wicks with doe in estrus on them around your stand. For gun hunting any where from 30 to 50 yards form your stand. For bow hunting I would stay more in the 30 yard range. I typically use at least two wicks.


7. Ok do you remember those scraps you found on the ground? This is a great opportunity to spray some dominate buck urine on the existing scrapes. Doing this will piss off the buck that made the scrapes in the fist place and he will want to go investigate to see who is in his territory.


8. After you spray the dominate buck urine on the existing scrapes it is a good idea to make one or two of your own scraps close to the existing ones. The best way to do it is to use a pair of rattling antlers and scuff up the ground, but if you don’t have any your boot will work just fine. Don’t forget to spray these with the dominate buck urine as well.


9. A little trick I like to use is to hang a scent wick up in the tree with me to help mask any scent that I might have missed with my spray.


10. After you get in your stand load your gun ASAP take every thing out of your pockets you can and hang them form the tree or your deer stand so you can grab them easily. Doing this will allow you to be more stealth when getting your range finder, binoculars, deer grunt, or what ever else you may need to use during your hunt.


11. Now you sit and await the sun rise and legal shooting hours. You can blow on your deer call every once and a while to see if you can attract any deer. Make sure you don’t over do it because you don’t want to scare the deer off. How to use a Deer call



If you do all of these things you will signigantly increase your chance of shooting a deer this season or any season in the future.



I would love to hear more tips form you leave me a comment and let me know what has worked for you in the past.


~ Ben G.

Related posts
10 tips for Picking the Best Place for your stand and setting it up for success
Ten Steps for a successful Whitetail scouting trip.
10 Tips for Deer hunting on Public land
11 Tips How to get Hunting Gear on a Limited Budget

Some of us have very busy schedules and don't have a ton of time to get ready for deer hunting like we would like to or use to so this little guide should help you out in those time crunch situations.

A couple of weekends ago I went out to the Sand Dunes State Forest scouting for turkeys, and I ran across quite a few disturbing piles of deer carcasses. Not only is this illegal, but it’s not very ethical. I guess if you own the land it’s not as big of a deal, but it still poses the threat of spreading diseases like CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease). Again this is public land please respect it and others.

Taken not more then 10ft from the parking lot

I am just disgusted someone would not take the responsibility to properly dispose of their deer carcasses. I know it’s not very hard to find a land fill that will accept carcasses, because most landfills will take them. If you are having trouble finding a spot please contact your local DNR officer, and I am sure they can point you in the right direction.

Thanks

Ben G.

There are many different aspects of deer hunting one of them is processing your kill. Lots of people decide to bring their deer into a meat locker or meat shop, and have all of the processing done for them. From what I understand this can bring with it quite a hefty price tag depending on what you have out of venison made into.

Processing your deer all starts shortly after the kill when you field dress the deer. I don’t care who you are or where you come from if you don’t field dress your animal as soon as possible it can cause major damage to the meat. Although there are a few different ways to dress your deer this step is the just about the same for every one.

Now I will let you in on some of the secrets we have found out over the years of hunting and processing our own venison.

Our party believes the best time to skin your animal is shortly after you bring it in, from the woods or at least with in the same day. The reasoning behind this is the animal is still warm the hide comes off with little effort. When you let it hang for an extended period of time you may have to use a four wheeler to pull the hide off, or spend a large amount of time removing the hide. This can create a much grater risk of damaging or wasting meat.

The next step we take is cleaning the deer off and trimming excess fat. When it’s cold out like most Novembers here in Minnesota your hands get awfully chilly and sometimes numb. Cutting off the excess fat allows the meat to cool much faster during the evening, and washing it gets rid of any debris you may have pick up out in the field. I could go into details here, but it is pretty basic.

Depending on the weather we will leave the carcass hang for up to three nights, but if it is warm which it has been in the past we try to cut it up that night shortly after it is all cleaned up. De boning of the meat is usually a group effort and takes very little time. We try to cut it into bigger pieces so we have the option to make jerky. No matter how good you are there are going to be some scraps, so we make two piles one for sausage and the other for the big roasts. We always cut out the back straps, and tender loins and cook them up that evening. Which makes for a great meal after a long day. Once the meat is cut we seal it in an air tight bag with a vacuum sealer. Then put it in the freezer.

Some time with in the next month after the deer season is over we all get together to make the sausage. First we grind all of the pork shoulder on a course setting, then the venison on the coarse setting as well. Now we go back and grind each one of them again on a fine setting. As we are grinding the meat some one else weighs out the correct portions to make a 60/40 split (60 venison 40 pork). We use to have a butcher grind all of our meat, but after having a couple bad experiences my uncle decided to invest in a grinder. After the correct amounts are weighed out we mix by hand the meat and seasoning.

We typically buy either pig or sheep intestines to use for casings. We use an old antique sausage stuffer to stuff the casings. You just put the casings on the nozzle, fill the stuffer up with as much meat as possible and crank. As you crank the stuffer meat it pours into the casing.You have to make sure you pinch one end so the meat doesn't shoot out the end. Once the lengths look good we cut it, and tie both ends together with a piece of string. Now it’s time to seal it in an air tight bag and take home to freeze. We usually have this set up so two guys are stuffing while two are tying, packaging and labeling everything. It goes pretty quick.

Summer sausage is very similar but the casings aren’t eatable and they are a whole lot larger. After a day or two we hang the summer sausage in the smoker for a while and then you seal it in bags and freeze.

Although processing venison isn’t really hunting, I feel it is part of the whole experience. I have had some really great times with my hunting buddies while processing our venison. If you have never done it before I suggest you try it out not only does it save money, but it makes you appreciate your tasty snacks that much more.

My brother Ryan and I use to spend a lot of time every summer on our Grandparents 80 acre farm here in Minnesota. We were outside all of the time helping Grandma out with chores, feeding the steers and cleaning out the barn. I always loved helping out.

One summer for my 10th birthday I got a spring loaded BB gun. It didn't take long for me to become a pretty good shot (soda cans). Once I became a dead eye it was my mission to shoot all of the sparrows around the farm. I spent countless hours chasing sparrows around the giant pine trees that surrounded the farm. I don't think any of the birds we killed went to waste because we always fed them to the farm cats, and after a while they came to expect us to bring them the birds. This is where the flame to hunt inside me started.

That fall my uncle Larry and his friend took us grouse hunting . Even though Ryan and I didn't know what was going on as we fallowed Larry and his friend around. We watched and learned as much as we could. I do know they missed quite a few grouse that flushed up right in front of them. It was a blast and I'm sure mom was grateful when we came home so worn out.


Around that same time my other Uncle Bruce took Ryan, Aaron (his son) and myself out Squirrel hunting. I shot a .22 for the first time and had a blast running through the woods chasing squirrels up trees. This went on for a few years and I enjoyed every hunt as that flame in side me became a fire.


Once I was old enough to play football I didn't really have much time for hunting . Needless to say my hunting life was put on hold and the fire to hunt was now just a single flame.


My sophomore year in high school I moved out to Sandpoint ID to live with my Dad. He took me out deer and elk hunting. I also did a lot of deer hunting with my good friend Josh. I really only got to shoot at one deer, but the flame inside me to hunt was rekindled and back to fire size.

I moved back to Minnesota my senior year of high school and started right back where I left off. The only difference was I had a job and was able to buy my own .22 and 12 gage. I did so much grouse pheasant,and squirrel hunting I knew just about every woods we hunted like the back of my hand. I could tell you when we were going to flush out the birds and where we would see squirrels. I had tons and tons of fun, and fire was bigger then ever.

I finally shot my first deer when I was 20 what a rush. The fact that it was an eight point buck made it even better. I haven't missed a deer season since and as time went on I kept hunting as much as I could.

After I got married I didn't seem to have as much time for hunting as I use to. I still never missed a deer season and made some time for the occasional grouse hunt and fishing trip.


As recent as this last fall I felt that fire to hunt in me grow and grow. It must have been because of the birth of my Son Wyatt. I to want to teach him as much about hunting as I can so he can enjoy it as much as I have.


Over the last five years or so I have wanted to start my own business I've looked in to so many different things I can even count them any more. Then shortly after deer hunting this season my wife said to me Ben you get so excited about hunting whats with you your just like a little kid. Then it hit me like a brick wall hey dumbo why didn't you think of this sooner. You love to hunt why don't you try something in the outdoors industry. Here I am pursuing my dream, and it's something that I am very passionate about. This is just the first part of my journey in the outdoor industry and plan to keep moving forward from here.

I'll be back soon
Ben G.

This is a story I have to tell everyone even though it’s not deer hunting season any more. So I deer hunt with a group of about eight guys in a NWR here in Minnesota. Most of us are family, along with a few friends. Great bunch of guys we always have lots of fun even if we don’t get any deer.

This past season was a rough one weather wise it was cold and very windy the deer didn’t want to move. The first week had gone by and I think we only had two deer for all eight of us which is very unusual by the end of the first weekend we always have at least half of our tags filled.

After an unsuccessful morning hunt on the second Saturday of the season. My cousin Aaron and I decide to go walk around across the river. After walking for quite some time we decided to sit on a log and take a break, get hydrated, and do a bit of chatting.

About fifteen minutes went by and we decided to change the direction we were walking and go west instead of south. We got up from our log, and after taking no more then ten steps I saw a white flag of a deer bounding through the woods. At that instance I called out deer. I contemplated shooting but it was at least 100 yards off and running full speed. I decided against shooting because I didn’t think the slug from my 870 was even going to come close to hitting any deer at that distance. Not to mention I had just gotten a scope for this season and didn’t have very much practice with it.

Not more then the time it took for the decision not to shoot went through my head, and I hear a loud boom from my right. I thought to myself why is he even is bothering to shoot. Then another shot rang out. I was fallowing the deer through the woods, but I looked away to see if he was going to shoot again. Nope he was done. We both just figured that he didn’t get it because we couldn’t see the deer any ware, but because of past hunts we decided we better go check it out.

Sure enough after a short search we found the deer lying on the ground dead as a door nail. Neither one of us could believe what we saw. The both of us just started laughing and laughing. Not only at the crazy shot but the size of this tiny deer I would guess about 70 to 80 lbs max. Sad but it was another deer.

So here is the amazing part. The bullet went through the hind quarters up through the heart. After we found the deer we stepped off the distance (the deer dropped where it was shot) and it was just over 120 yards with a stinking 12 gage slug gun. When I found out how far it was I just about fell over in amazement.

I don’t know if I will ever see a shot as amazing again but it was fun to witness.
Oh he did get tons and tons of grief from all the guys for shooting such a small deer.
Hope you enjoyed my story
BEN G.