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MN Opening Day Success-Public Swamp Buck

MNhunter15

MNhunter15

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2018
Messages
66
Location
West Central Minnesota
Opening day was a great one for me this year! After last years success on public land I was bound and determined to see if it was just a lucky fluke or if I was finally starting to figure these creatures out. I set out around 2pm, using my kayak to gain access to a piece of swamp that offered some timber in the farthest point from any parking lot. As soon as I stepped foot into the trees I knew I was in the right place. Giant fresh rubs littered the entire area so instead of pushing further I found the nearest suitable tree to hang outta which was about 4" in diameter. I only setup my saddle about ten feet off the ground to stay below the canopy of leaves so I had clear shooting. Over the course of the next few hours I had 19 deer filter past me, all under 12 yards! The 20th deer was this guy and he presented a shot at 23 yards at 7:10pm. The shot looked good but I didn't see him go down so I climbed down outta my tethrd mantis, packed up my things and snuck outta there. I called up a buddy who had some frame packs who lived a couple hours away and we went back in for him around midnight. Turns out he died right away and only went about 150 yards. Now the bummer part, due to this deer being so far back in the thick stuff and the fact that we were packing him out, I didn't want to bring in or out any extra gear so for the pictures sake I don't have my bow or my saddle in the photos:disrelieved::disappointed: If that disqualifies me from the deer contest on here I guess so be it. The important part is that he expired quickly and no meat went to waste. I love this life I live and I will be hangin' outta a saddle till the day I can no longer walk in and out of the autumn woods.IMG_20190915_110933_848.jpg20190915_002820.jpgIMG_2774.JPEG20190915_003359 (1).jpg20190915_022543 (1).jpg20190914_171632 (2).jpg20190914_144433 (1).jpg20190916_115454 (3).jpg
 
Tjraley2 said:
Nice buck!!! Now let’s hear a little more of your tactics. Were you focusing on bedding or just a remote area?
Click to expand...
Basically both. I knew getting away from people on opener wasn't too critical since the deer havent been pressured yet, but I knew remote areas would still hold more deer than the obvious/easy spots. With the southernly wind I had that day it was the perfect spot to slip into. All the deer were bedding out in the tall grass and red willows then transitioning into the small block of timber I was in before working towards private corn fields. Seeing so many deer that day do the exact same thing really helped show that they were treating those trees as a staging area between their beds and the food source. They were all so calm in there, I even had 3 yearlings bed down 10 yards from the my tree! Saw does, yearlings, and one small 8 point throughout the sit but I knew with all those big rubs, there had to be a bigger deer using that area and at 7pm he came out of the bedding just like all the others except he never made it to the corn field;););)
 
Awesome buck!! Congrats! Sounds like the perfect hunt to me!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Awesome buck!! Congrats! Sounds like the perfect hunt to me!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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