First time ever hunting the Midwest

[dagger]

Well guys this NH lad is head to Minnesota hunting for the first time, I've never hunted outside of NH. It'll be ottertail county which is central MN. I'm going to bow hunt til rifle season opens and then hunt a few days with the fire stick. I should be getting there around Oct 29th and staying for a couple weeks. I'm really hoping to at least see some nice bucks, its going to be a totally different experience than hunting the barren woods of new Hampshire. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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[Lockdown]

Find the biggest nastiest swamp you can, and apply Beast tactics. This time of year, look for funnels near suspected bedding. Crossing water whether it's wet cattails, river, irrigation ditch, etc will eliminate a lot of the pressure.

Pheasant and waterfowl hunting are big around here, so keep that in mind.

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[Crazinamatese]

Never hunted in Otter Tail Co. but used to drive through there often and there is some nice looking hunting lands in that part of the state.

[Lockdown]

Never hunted in Otter Tail Co. but used to drive through there often and there is some nice looking hunting lands in that part of the state.

There sure is. Beautiful country with a mix of woodlots and ag. Rolling hills with lots of slews, swamps, and little potholes. And I believe most/all of it is doe management zone which can't be said for most of the state.

Wish I lived there LOL

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[dagger]

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[dagger]

OK will do. The lower area in the picture is all swamp and the two fields on top are where the guys usually hunt. I think I want to get down in that swamp. The only question is, what happens if I go down in there and blow the bucks out of their beds?

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[Edcyclopedia]

Good luck!

Are you going it alone, driving?

[PK_]

Walk slow enough not to jump them. Carry a stalker decoy and shoot them when they come to sniff you. A canoe or kayak would be ideal for that creek. Man that stuff looks good down in there.

I like the outside of the oxbow furthest to the east.

Good luck.

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[PK_]

Walk slow enough not to jump them. Carry a stalker decoy and shoot them when they come to sniff you. A canoe or kayak would be ideal for that creek. Man that stuff looks good down in there.

I like the outside of that oxbow furthest to the east.

Good luck.

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[GoetzC]

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to MN! :)

I'm relatively new here, but I've been playing with cyber scouting a lot and thought I'd try to help.

Looking at Google Earth I can see the image you shared is from Oct 2013... looking at previous years you can see not a lot has changed but you can tell the cluster of trees on the east(south of the end of the road) has been there a while.
Using Bing Maps birdseye view you can zoom in pretty close and see a couple likely deer trails heading to the trees on the SE edge of the southern field.
You can use Caltopo to see contours for anywhere but MN has MNTopo in which you can see LIDAR(2' contours) data which can be very helpful in identifying minor terrain features.

Here is the area in your pic with 10' contours:


And with 2' contours:


Again, I'm new to this but I'd be tempted to check the block of woods near the southern field, the western edge of the woods between the fields and the open area between the two blocks of trees right on the river.

[dagger]

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to MN! :)

I'm relatively new here, but I've been playing with cyber scouting a lot and thought I'd try to help.

Looking at Google Earth I can see the image you shared is from Oct 2013... looking at previous years you can see not a lot has changed but you can tell the cluster of trees on the east(south of the end of the road) has been there a while.
Using Bing Maps birdseye view you can zoom in pretty close and see a couple likely deer trails heading to the trees on the SE edge of the southern field.
You can use Caltopo to see contours for anywhere but MN has MNTopo in which you can see LIDAR(2' contours) data which can be very helpful in identifying minor terrain features.

Here is the area in your pic with 10' contours:


And with 2' contours:


Again, I'm new to this but I'd be tempted to check the block of woods near the southern field, the western edge of the woods between the fields and the open area between the two blocks of trees right on the river.

Thank you guys for the info. I will be using those maps to see if I can make it happen. Heading out tomorrow morning taking my wife and kids.

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[Lockdown]

I'll see if I get time to bring this up on my computer tonight. I'm willing to bet anything big will be back in the thick and nasty not far from the river.

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[dagger]

That would be awesome Lockdown!

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[dagger]

Well we made it out here to MN, hopefully be down in the swamp tomorrow afternoon

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[dagger]

Well I got skunked during rifle season here in MN. I saw one nice buck with my rifle in hand but he was on the neighbors land. I'll be heading back to NH sometime this coming week and it seems weird to say it but I'm looking forward to getting back in my own habitat. In NH we can hunt anywhere unless it's posted so that's one nice thing. I got the boys out here introduced to the the beast so we'll see if they can make it happen in years to come. Anyway, back to the big woods soon here.

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