2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

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Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Lockdown » Sat Jul 04, 2020 4:25 pm

Headed to the camper this afternoon and did a little fishing. 7 northerns, 2 bass, 1 walleye. I got the itch to scout so I loaded the boat and went for a drive.

I’ve scouted this area lightly (4-5 yrs ago) and have a few properties of interest, but I’ve never hunted here. I ended up seeing 16 deer, 2 bucks. The bucks appeared to be two year olds.

I think there’s quite a few deer in this area, but it is pretty heavily wooded so most remain hidden.

On a side note, Seazofcheese contacted me a while back about doing a podcast. Well this past week we recorded it. It was a first for both of us. I felt a little more “under the gun” than I thought I would and ended up tripping over my tongue and unnecessarily repeating myself a few times, but all in all it went well. There’s a bunch of ground hunting tips in there if anyone is interested in that. We also talked in depth about the learning curve of beast tactics and how things differ for us now vs the early years.

It will be up on his YouTube channel within the next day or two. “Going 4 broke outdoors” is the name. Make sure to swing in and subscribe!


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Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby greenhorndave » Sat Jul 04, 2020 5:36 pm

Lockdown wrote:Headed to the camper this afternoon and did a little fishing. 7 northerns, 2 bass, 1 walleye. I got the itch to scout so I loaded the boat and went for a drive.

I’ve scouted this area lightly (4-5 yrs ago) and have a few properties of interest, but I’ve never hunted here. I ended up seeing 16 deer, 2 bucks. The bucks appeared to be two year olds.

I think there’s quite a few deer in this area, but it is pretty heavily wooded so most remain hidden.

On a side note, Seazofcheese contacted me a while back about doing a podcast. Well this past week we recorded it. It was a first for both of us. I felt a little more “under the gun” than I thought I would and ended up tripping over my tongue and unnecessarily repeating myself a few times, but all in all it went well. There’s a bunch of ground hunting tips in there if anyone is interested in that. We also talked in depth about the learning curve of beast tactics and how things differ for us now vs the early years.

It will be up on his YouTube channel within the next day or two. “Going 4 broke outdoors” is the name. Make sure to swing in and subscribe!

Good deal! :clap:
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Sometimes when things get tough, weird or both, you just need to remember this...
https://youtu.be/d4tSE2w53ts
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Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby MN_DeerHunter » Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:38 am

I’m sure it will be a good listen. I’ll subscribe here now!
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Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Lockdown » Fri Jul 17, 2020 9:26 am

July 14th

I headed to location X to do some observing. I didn’t get there early enough to hide in the beans, so had to set up the tripod on top of my truck and glass from there. It’s adequate, but I can’t tell exactly where they enter the field which is the problem for this spot. If I get in the beans with them I can see everything, from the truck I can’t.

As soon as I started glassing I was VERY pleasantly surprised! Nice bachelor group was already on the beans and one buck looked like a shooter. There was a couple two year olds out there but this guy was bigger bodied and had a little more mass. He is high racked with beams that raise up off his head a ways. Tines are shorter but he looks like he’ll be a crab claw ten. 8-)

Definitely need to get a closer look at him.

The evening was nice and cool, and the deer were out big time! I counted 18 all together at location X, including some long distance deer on the neighbors property. On the south end I did see a two year old walk point blank past one of my kill trees. The bachelor group was right where they always are every year... I have several set ups in there. They were all prepped months ago.

In my podcast with Seazofcheeze I mentioned capitalizing on neighbor properties. Whelp, my 2nd stop was at a public piece with prime private next to it. I shined a SLOB 9. He had a deep forked g2 on his left side. He was 145-150” for sure as a 9. Maybe more. He was with a couple two year olds and a scrub. Pretty sure they’re bedding in a small tree line next to standing corn. Public was a mile away.

After that I shined a shooter ten East of the property where I shot my buck last fall. Since 2014 this is only the 2nd time I’ve shined a shooter near this property. I know they’re around but I almost never see them! So shining that buck was a big morale boost for that property.

Last was the alfalfa adjacent to the bedding where I shot my buck last fall. I’ve never shined a shooter here ever... even last summer/fall when I knew those bucks were there. They just avoid the roads. Plain and simple. Well I ended up shining a really nice up and comer. Looked like a stud 2 yr old 10. He was a little light on mass and had short g2’s.

What a night!! I don’t often see more than 1 shooter in an evening. I saw way more deer and especially way more bucks than normal. I saw deer in lots of fields where I rarely see them. I’ve already located more public shooters than I did in all of 2019. ;)

So far so good for summer scouting! I’m going to put some time into that slob 9. I have several other spots to check too. Hopefully I can find a mega giant.
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Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby seazofcheeze » Sat Jul 18, 2020 6:15 am

Lockdown wrote:July 14th

I headed to location X to do some observing. I didn’t get there early enough to hide in the beans, so had to set up the tripod on top of my truck and glass from there. It’s adequate, but I can’t tell exactly where they enter the field which is the problem for this spot. If I get in the beans with them I can see everything, from the truck I can’t.

As soon as I started glassing I was VERY pleasantly surprised! Nice bachelor group was already on the beans and one buck looked like a shooter. There was a couple two year olds out there but this guy was bigger bodied and had a little more mass. He is high racked with beams that raise up off his head a ways. Tines are shorter but he looks like he’ll be a crab claw ten. 8-)

Definitely need to get a closer look at him.

The evening was nice and cool, and the deer were out big time! I counted 18 all together at location X, including some long distance deer on the neighbors property. On the south end I did see a two year old walk point blank past one of my kill trees. The bachelor group was right where they always are every year... I have several set ups in there. They were all prepped months ago.

In my podcast with Seazofcheeze I mentioned capitalizing on neighbor properties. Whelp, my 2nd stop was at a public piece with prime private next to it. I shined a SLOB 9. He had a deep forked g2 on his left side. He was 145-150” for sure as a 9. Maybe more. He was with a couple two year olds and a scrub. Pretty sure they’re bedding in a small tree line next to standing corn. Public was a mile away.

After that I shined a shooter ten East of the property where I shot my buck last fall. Since 2014 this is only the 2nd time I’ve shined a shooter near this property. I know they’re around but I almost never see them! So shining that buck was a big morale boost for that property.

Last was the alfalfa adjacent to the bedding where I shot my buck last fall. I’ve never shined a shooter here ever... even last summer/fall when I knew those bucks were there. They just avoid the roads. Plain and simple. Well I ended up shining a really nice up and comer. Looked like a stud 2 yr old 10. He was a little light on mass and had short g2’s.

What a night!! I don’t often see more than 1 shooter in an evening. I saw way more deer and especially way more bucks than normal. I saw deer in lots of fields where I rarely see them. I’ve already located more public shooters than I did in all of 2019. ;)

So far so good for summer scouting! I’m going to put some time into that slob 9. I have several other spots to check too. Hopefully I can find a mega giant.


Sounds like some really good prospects for this fall. Always ups the odds to have eyes on multiple targets. Could we see another early season tag punch this year? 8-)
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Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Lockdown » Sat Jul 18, 2020 4:31 pm

seazofcheeze wrote:
Lockdown wrote:July 14th

I headed to location X to do some observing. I didn’t get there early enough to hide in the beans, so had to set up the tripod on top of my truck and glass from there. It’s adequate, but I can’t tell exactly where they enter the field which is the problem for this spot. If I get in the beans with them I can see everything, from the truck I can’t.

As soon as I started glassing I was VERY pleasantly surprised! Nice bachelor group was already on the beans and one buck looked like a shooter. There was a couple two year olds out there but this guy was bigger bodied and had a little more mass. He is high racked with beams that raise up off his head a ways. Tines are shorter but he looks like he’ll be a crab claw ten. 8-)

Definitely need to get a closer look at him.

The evening was nice and cool, and the deer were out big time! I counted 18 all together at location X, including some long distance deer on the neighbors property. On the south end I did see a two year old walk point blank past one of my kill trees. The bachelor group was right where they always are every year... I have several set ups in there. They were all prepped months ago.

In my podcast with Seazofcheeze I mentioned capitalizing on neighbor properties. Whelp, my 2nd stop was at a public piece with prime private next to it. I shined a SLOB 9. He had a deep forked g2 on his left side. He was 145-150” for sure as a 9. Maybe more. He was with a couple two year olds and a scrub. Pretty sure they’re bedding in a small tree line next to standing corn. Public was a mile away.

After that I shined a shooter ten East of the property where I shot my buck last fall. Since 2014 this is only the 2nd time I’ve shined a shooter near this property. I know they’re around but I almost never see them! So shining that buck was a big morale boost for that property.

Last was the alfalfa adjacent to the bedding where I shot my buck last fall. I’ve never shined a shooter here ever... even last summer/fall when I knew those bucks were there. They just avoid the roads. Plain and simple. Well I ended up shining a really nice up and comer. Looked like a stud 2 yr old 10. He was a little light on mass and had short g2’s.

What a night!! I don’t often see more than 1 shooter in an evening. I saw way more deer and especially way more bucks than normal. I saw deer in lots of fields where I rarely see them. I’ve already located more public shooters than I did in all of 2019. ;)

So far so good for summer scouting! I’m going to put some time into that slob 9. I have several other spots to check too. Hopefully I can find a mega giant.


Sounds like some really good prospects for this fall. Always ups the odds to have eyes on multiple targets. Could we see another early season tag punch this year? 8-)


That’s what I’m hoping. I’m doubting it will be as easy as last year though. Time will tell ;)
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Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Lockdown » Sat Jul 18, 2020 5:00 pm

July 16th

I snuck out right before dark to go glass Josh’s public. I did see one decent buck in the area last fall while shining (110-120 class), but I hadn’t seen anything big here since 2014-2015 time frame. I know they’re around though, as Josh was after that big one and I hear rumors around town.

Well as luck would have it I shined a good one 8-) This is crazy! I struggled all last summer and now it’s bucks and more bucks. Shining was super slow aside from him... a half dozen does, then this buck and a scrub that he was running with.

He’s an 11 pointer. Main frame 5x5 with a sticker on his right g2. He had some pretty nice brows, maybe 6” or better. I THINK he’s a big framed 3 yr old thats a little light on mass. Don’t get me wrong he’s a no brainer shooter for me.

He was bedded on the public. I’m quite sure he came from some bedding that I haven’t scouted. There are some subtle bedding terrain features (points and islands) in the cattails on this end of the property. There are no stand trees there whatsoever. It’s either CRP or cattails with some dogwood in the mix. I do think I can observe it fairly well from a nearby grove, so that will likely happen at some point.

The hit list is at 4 already, which is hard to believe.

My current mindset is that it is so early in the summer that there’s no telling if these bucks will hold pattern. For this 11 point, I have observations and visibility in my favor, and also the fact that he’s close to home. I feel it is in my best interest to keep searching for a monster, rather than concentrate on just a “nice” buck. It would be totally different if he was a Booner. If that was the case I’d put all my effort into him no questions asked.

I feel that I could easily watch one of these bucks for a month strait and then lose him. If that happens, then what? It would suck to start from square 1 so close to season.

I will put some time into the split g2 buck, but my suspicion is that he is holing up in neighboring private during the season. I know the south end of that public fairly well and there’s not much there for classic bedding features. On top of that there’s plenty of super low pressure private to hide in. So in that scenario, I don’t want to waste a bunch of time chasing a low odds buck. The question is, how low odds is he? :D it will take some time to figure out.

It’s about finding that balance. I’m still learning too... I certainly don’t have a formula or strict recipe for success that I follow. I just know to trust my gut and my gut is telling me I have more to learn and to keep searching and locating bucks for now. So that’s the plan.

Right now it’s more inventory than anything. Once velvet shed rolls around then I’ll really try to pin one down. Trying to do that now is likely a waste of time. A mid July buck is an entirely different deer than a hard horned September buck.
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Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby greenhorndave » Sun Jul 19, 2020 1:54 am

Sounds awesome man.

I haven’t seen anything worthwhile glassing yet but there’s still time.
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Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Lockdown » Sun Jul 19, 2020 6:59 am

greenhorndave wrote:Sounds awesome man.

I haven’t seen anything worthwhile glassing yet but there’s still time.


Have you been glassing from the truck or in the field? Are you shining at all?
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Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby greenhorndave » Sun Jul 19, 2020 7:20 am

Lockdown wrote:
greenhorndave wrote:Sounds awesome man.

I haven’t seen anything worthwhile glassing yet but there’s still time.


Have you been glassing from the truck or in the field? Are you shining at all?

Just had surgery two weeks ago so all I could do was the truck. I was tired as well, so late nights were out of the equation too to rest.

I can start ramping up now, so I'll do more from the field which I think. (hope) will reveal more. Will shine a bit this coming week too.

Some of the spots I like are very difficult to get eyes on without being somewhat intrusive (over hills, through fields, swamps, etc), but I'll try to get in just far enough to see what's going on.
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Sometimes when things get tough, weird or both, you just need to remember this...
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Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby MN_DeerHunter » Sun Jul 19, 2020 10:09 am

Sounds like you’re on to them this year! Should be an exciting September for you
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Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Lockdown » Fri Jul 24, 2020 5:19 pm

July 23rd

I was low on time so I headed out to shine Josh’s area to try and re-locate that 11 point I saw last time I was out. No luck. I guess my hot streak ended because after an hour and twenty minutes of shining I only located 13 deer, all does. The crazy part... NO FAWNS!! :think: I would think they’d be out by now... it’s almost August.

I’m not worried about the lackluster night out... I’m more used to that than I am seeing shooters ;) the wife is on call this weekend plus there’s rain in the forecast, so idk if i’ll Make it out observing. Most likely not.



On a side note, we had a scare with my oldest daughter. We were going to get her tonsils taken out, but they couldn’t do surgery because they found out she had a blood clotting issue. Her blood would take a very long time to clot. So today we took her to the Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis, but long story short, her labs came back perfect! The doc even had an explanation as to why things worked out the way they did. So that’s a huge weight off our shoulders. When issues like that arise you always fear the worst. Cancer, etc

I avoid the East side of this God forsaken state as much as possible :lol: , but since I was there I swung into Cabelas in Rogers and made good use of some Cabelas Club points. 8-) I got a Leupold Freedom 3x9x40 scope with the Ultimate Slam reticle FOR FREE. $300 scope and I even have money left over :dance: I’ve been meaning to buy one for years but have been putting it off.

Can’t wait to mount it and get it dialed in.
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Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby SILhunter » Sat Jul 25, 2020 2:06 am

Good stuff LD keep it coming. I got halfway through the podcast so far, nie job.
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Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby oldrank » Sat Jul 25, 2020 2:49 am

I'm not seeing fawns with does yet either.
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Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby greenhorndave » Sat Jul 25, 2020 9:12 am

oldrank wrote:I'm not seeing fawns with does yet either.

I saw twins not long ago.
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Sometimes when things get tough, weird or both, you just need to remember this...
https://youtu.be/d4tSE2w53ts


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