Last night I put down this Minnesota public land hog!
It is an area I hunt and have scouted quite a bit in the past, having shot a nice 8 point and a 125” 10 point in the last few years in the same general area. With the week old snow and a south wind I went in on the northeast corner and scouted the transition to the south for fresh tracks and buck sign.
I was cutting quite a few tracks in the north end, and I almost set up there, but I knew there was a couple really good islands that have the best buck sign in them further south so I went with my gut and kept moving south, scouting as I went.
When I started getting close I was seeing more and better sign, including a really big bed by a cedar tree along a field edge, as well as multiple licking branches that looked recently used.
On a side note I tend to find very few scrapes where I hunt, but lots of licking branches.
So I knew the area I wanted to be in was back off a point that had 3 small islands off it, 1 to the northwest, 1 straight west and 1 southwest. All have good buck bedding. They all were within 200 yards of me, the west and northwest one had trails coming up the point, the sw had trails that came to dry land 100 yards south of me in a cluster of aspen trees.
My set up was standing in a small cluster of red cedar trees south of the trail off the point. It wasn’t a great wind for that trail, I would have to shoot anything well before it got to my scent, but it’s where I had to be to cover the South Island. About sundown I hear cattails breaking out on the South Island, then silence. I assume it was a buck as in my experience bucks will stand up then not make any noise. I thought “this deer isn’t going to get to me before dark” so I hammer on my grunt call for a few bursts.
10 minutes go by and I can hear a deer walking on the island and sounds like he’s thrashing branches. I grunt and snort wheeze at him again and I don’t hear anything. After about 5 minutes it sounds like he’s walking though the cattails and I am trying to glass to see where he is coming but can’t see anything. I look at my phone and I have 10 minutes until end of shooting. I hit the grunt call a couple more times, I figured he was coming out south of me below a small rise.
I put the call in my pocket and look south and I can see a deer standing there, I glass him and see a shooter buck walking towards me with his ears back. I pull up my muzzleloader and put the cross hairs on him as he is still coming. He then turns broadside by a cedar tree and I shoot at about 60 yards. I see him tear off and what looked like a puff of snow as he ran over a small hill.
I look at my phone and it was 5:03. Shooting time ends at 5:07. Right down to the the wire.
I wasn’t positive he fell so I walk to to where he was when I shot. I can find tracks but no blood. I am thinking no way I missed this deer. I follow the tracks in the snow for 60 yards and I find 1 small spec. I keep slowly following then I glass up ahead and there I can see him piled up! I text Lockdown - BBD!
I walk up to him and was in awe at how big and how many points he had! After some initial pics and text messages I call Lockdown and he was scouting a half hour from where I was and he generously offered to come help drag him out. I put my coat over him, and headed for home to get my sled and wait for Ryan to show up. We hiked back in and made the 1.3 mile drag back out in 1.3 hours. 1 mile per hour.
I sure was glad for the help, I would have been out until midnight if he wouldn’t have showed up.
I’ve had a less than stellar hunting season being busy with other priorities in my life, and missing a big buck during gun season in Minnesota, but I am so grateful for the opportunity to tag this guy. Definitely my biggest buck and to do it on public land makes it all the sweeter.
This was a classic beast hunt with using previously scouted intel, then setting up over the hot sign.
I also used something I heard the Hunting Public guys talk about in one of their latest episodes, in that if you can get within a bucks bubble, especially mature bucks, more often than not, no matter the season they will respond to calling. I firmly believe if I wouldn’t have grunted and snort wheezed at this deer he never would have left the island.
Thanks to Hunting Beast for all the great info over the years.
Hubba hubba!
