WI trip - start to finish!

[greenhorndave]

Nice shot man

[Uncle Lou]

Well done Ryan. Great shot ( I never aim for the heart, too delicious, but you should be able to save that one).

Awesome thread, thanks for sharing.

[Lockdown]

New spot. Definitely deer in here and I’m certain there’s at least a 2.5 year old in here. Could easily be 3.5. Track just shy of 3 fingers and an inside corner field edge rub thats waist high.

Riverbottom with buckthorn... gonna go check that river bend on the south side got the waders on to cross river and LW on my back. Standing corn 1/4 mile from suspected bedding.

Thick in here... will probably be a see nothing or kill one type hunt. Wind is in my favor for the oxbow.

[Net Guy]

Congrats on the doe!

[Lockdown]

There’s big buck sign here but I don’t think he’s home. I really like this spot but my gut instinct isn’t good. Could catch rut movement along the river. Old and new rubs here. Multiple transitions meet here. River, pines, open woods, bedding in the buckthorn.

Just had a deer get downwind 75 yds away. Saw the white tail flash but no ID.

[Lockdown]

Had one doe come out of bedding 50 yards from me. Bunch of does were bedded on the neighbors and fed out in the bean stubble. One got as close as 50 yards and caught my wind after the dreaded wind switch that wasn’t suppose to happen until later.

Saw a total of 10. Fun hunt! Gotta eat some supper quick then break my doe down and get her in the cooler. Haven’t heard from Tyler yet.

Tomorrow is the last morning, then we’re heading back to MN.

[backstraps]

Heck yeah Ryan!! Just was able to get caught up with your progress.... congratulations on the big doe
Sounds like you are having a blast and getting in the game.

Best of luck brother

[Lockdown]

Tyler passed a spike at 25 yards last night. Saw a couple other deer. He’s headed back to the same property but setting up in the pines where there’s a low spot in the corn that’s partially drowned out... it is a travel corridor between the public and neighboring property. It’s the narrowest part of that corn field. Bunch of rubs and scrapes there. That’s where he saw the two little bucks his first time in.

I have been seeing roughly a deer per mile in the headlights morning AND evening in this area. Last night I saw a modest two year old that came out of the section of land I was hunting. Saw some does headed back in this morning. I know there’s a shooter around. This area has way more ag than most places but there’s a tamarac swamp 1/2 mile from my stand. That’s what keyed me into this riverbottom. There’s also a huge marsh a mile north. I figured there would be duck hunters in there but I haven’t seen anyone out there.

I’m heading back to the same tree. Wind will be perfect for them to use that bedding today. My wind will be blowing strait down that river bend, but I will be able to kill him before he gets in there if all goes according to plan.

I’m putting the waders back on. They’re getting hung up for a while after this hunt we’ve walked a lot of miles with them on the last few days. Maybe some didn’t notice I’m wearing them in my kill pic. That’s the 2nd doe I’ve taken in 3 years while wearing waders in the tree. They’re a pain but they do keep you warm!

[Lockdown]

Had 4 does and fawns come in. All were from 20-30 yards. Wouldn’t have felt comfortable shooting for fear of hitting a stick (gray light). 15 minutes later a 5 pt came in to 5 yards. Could have whacked him easy.

All deer eventually got down wind. Buck didn’t care, does stood around a while and walked off nervously.

[Lockdown]

Inside corner of field NW of me





River SW of me. Big pine rows to the right.







Bedding. Thick buckthorn on the river bend SE of me. All 5 deer headed into it.

[MedicineMan15]

Sounds like an awesome trip Lockdown. Living vicariously through you a bit as we have a new baby at home and I'm not hunting until mid November.

Great work!

[greenhorndave]

Sounds like an awesome trip Lockdown. Living vicariously through you a bit as we have a new baby at home and I'm not hunting until mid November.

Great work!

(congrats!!!)

[jmaas07]

Inside corner of field NW of me





River SW of me. Big pine rows to the right.







Bedding. Thick buckthorn on the river bend SE of me. All 5 deer headed into it.

I like this set up quite a bit, goodluck man

[VilasCo]

Congrats on the doe. I had a lot of fun reading about your trip, thanks for the reports.

[Lockdown]

After my last post I had two small bucks work their way through North of me at 70-80 yards. A couple grunts brought one past at 35 yards. So, I saw ten does out of this stand last night, and 4 does and 3 bucks this morning.

I couldn’t wait to go stomp that river peninsula. As I was walking in there a doe came trotting into it. She was running from something... no buck in tow.

I got halfway in and the 5 point I passed busted out. He was bedded by a root ball from a downed tree. I could hardly make out the bed.

The funny part about this bedding is, going off the aerial, I really questioned if the bedding would be on the very tip. I could tell the brush was pretty sparse. Around here they do not like sparse, they want “can’t see your hand in front of your face” thick. They bury themselves into whatever is there and lay tight up against the structure, be it bush, log, whatever. So when I saw it in person, I figured the beds would be away from the tip up in the buckthorn.

No beds in the buckthorn to speak of. The sparse cover was tag alders and they were absolutely ripped up with rubs. Probably 15 rubs. There were 15-20 beds in there, and trails crossing the river coming to it from three directions.

There was also a huge scrape at the mouth of it, but someone had put two small salt blocks in it On the other side of the river there was a double ladder stand and a table like feed bunk made out of wood. I found that yesterday, but it was far enough from bedding it didn’t bother me.

So it’s safe to say someone pushed these deer out of there, not to mention I don’t know if the sparse leafless tag alders were thick enough to keep them there this time of year.

There was an obvious trail and rubline along the river leaving bedding. Worked perfect for scent checking that entire side of the river with the optimal wind for that peninsula. I also noticed they were bedding in a narrow and short stretch of tags next to the river where I crossed. There were several buck beds there too.

Tyler ended up seeing the buck he passed, and a couple does. He also saw a 130-135” ten point in the headlights a mile north of his spot this morning

There seem to be no shortage of quality bucks around!

It was a super fun trip. I’d never hunted a big woods setting before, so that was good for me. The amount I learned in 3.5 days blows me away. I could have headed somewhere more familiar, but the goal was learning, not killing. Lucky me got to accomplish both. (Maybe next time it will have headgear

One thing I continually do is choose options that that help me learn. If you want to become a better hunter, “Do something new instead of the tried and true.” I just made that up

Not sure when I’ll be back to WI. The thought occurred to me that my buck tag is good through January.