Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: Russ McDonald on July 31, 2012, 07:01:22 PM

Title: News from Minnestoa************update******
Post by: Russ McDonald on July 31, 2012, 07:01:22 PM: So since there is so many countdowns going on I thought I would add mine :chuckle: :chuckle:. September 25th I fly to Minnesota to hunt for 8 days on 100 acres of private land. A few nice bucks so far and a few that will grow up.
Title: Re: Less than two month till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: dvolmer on August 02, 2012, 11:19:43 AM: 100 acres is not all that big. good luck
Title: Re: Less than two month till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: mrmoskillz on August 02, 2012, 11:25:25 AM: After you kill your monster buck the 1st day what are you gonna do with the other 7?
Title: Re: Less than two month till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: Skillet on August 02, 2012, 11:34:16 AM: Quote from: dvolmer on August 02, 2012, 11:19:43 AM
100 acres is not all that big. good luck

Well, 100 acres of Minnesota woodlot/farm mix is a whole lot bigger than 100 acres of wheat... plenty big enough to attract and hold several shooter bucks and all the does they'd want to pay attention to. My buddy lives on 20 wooded acres there and almost never has to leave his property to fill all of his deer tags. There's an 80 acre woodlot/farm combo his buddy owns that has an opening day meat pole every year that looks like it could belong to Costco's butchering outfit...

What part of Minnesota you heading to, Russ?
Title: Re: Less than two month till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: Russ McDonald on August 02, 2012, 11:43:43 AM: North East corner right smack dab middle of the arrow head. Embarass, MN, about 30 miles south east of Ely. This is all woode property with 4 2 acre food plots on the land. This is the same land I shot my 10 point white tail when I was 12 years old. My aunt and uncles land.

I was born and raised in Minnesota and I haven't been back there for 7 years. So after killing that big buck on the first day and posting it here. I get to visit family I haven't seen in a while.
Title: Re: Less than two month till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: Skillet on August 02, 2012, 02:56:24 PM: Well, good luck to you man! Let's keep the fresh trail cam photo's coming in - I don't think you need to worry too much about somebody here figuring out your spot from the pics... :chuckle:
Title: Re: Less than two month till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: Russ McDonald on August 02, 2012, 05:16:16 PM: nope not at all. :chuckle:
Title: Re: Less than two month till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: Russ McDonald on August 02, 2012, 06:46:57 PM: Whoooo hooo license is bought now. Flight done....just have to wait till Septemeber 25th.....oh yeah and early archery starts here in less than a month too.
Title: Re: Less than two month till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: Russ McDonald on August 05, 2012, 06:49:40 PM: Quote from: Naches Sportsman on August 05, 2012, 05:30:06 PM
have fun!! my grandma wants me to come out to wisconsin in the fall opening up an oppurtunity to shoot a nice 12 point on the property. 25 acres on a lake makes good white tail habitat.
I hope it is not during rifle season. Some crazy SOB out there in cheddar head land :chuckle: but awesome deer hunting out there.
Title: Re: Less than two month till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 18, 2012, 07:40:03 AM: Haven't updated lately. One week from today I will be on the plane to MN.
Title: Re: Less than two month till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: h20hunter on September 18, 2012, 07:42:24 AM: Gonna be a nice hunt....what's the long range forecase looking like for you?
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 18, 2012, 07:50:47 AM: Getting to the freezing level at night low 60's-50's during the day. Slight chanes of rain which is common. Reports are the deer are moving right now. Buck's of course are coming out before and after shooting hours. Hope the cold pushes the out early by the time I get there.
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: jrebel on September 18, 2012, 07:55:13 AM: Good luck and can't wait for the story and pics
:tup: :tup:
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: 250savage on September 18, 2012, 09:42:18 AM: Good Luck. :tup: Keep us updated.
Title: Re: No more waiting.
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 18, 2012, 07:11:02 PM: Here is more trail cam pics.
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: crschralping on September 19, 2012, 09:01:36 AM: Good luck! I grew up hunting white tail on my grandparents 80 acre farm in MI, can't beat it!
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: runningboard on September 19, 2012, 09:06:29 AM: Good luck and safe travels
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 20, 2012, 02:22:43 PM: Whoo hoo perdicting snow the next couple night now but still warming up during the day so won't stick. I am all packed and ready to go. Might pull some excess stuff from my pack that I am thinking I don't need now.
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 21, 2012, 02:06:50 PM: So now I am getting a little excited. 4 more days.
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: Carnivore on September 21, 2012, 02:49:19 PM: Good luck! I hope you bag a nice one and enjoy your time with family. I'm sure you're getting pretty excited at this point, especially with how bad the weather has been for archery here. Are you hunting with the bow on this trip?
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 21, 2012, 03:04:36 PM: Quote from: Carnivore on September 21, 2012, 02:49:19 PM
Good luck! I hope you bag a nice one and enjoy your time with family. I'm sure you're getting pretty excited at this point, especially with how bad the weather has been for archery here. Are you hunting with the bow on this trip?
Yes sir. That is the only season open right now in Minnesota and yes early archery here has been pretty slow to say the least.
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 22, 2012, 06:29:21 AM: I am going about 70 miles north east of grand rapids. hopefully that will move the deer a little more.

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Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 23, 2012, 04:59:07 PM: One more day.

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Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 25, 2012, 05:30:02 AM: Ready to load on the plane. Hopefully in a couple days I will have something to report.

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Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!
Post by: oldleclercrd on September 25, 2012, 06:34:58 AM: Goodluck on your hunt! :tup:
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!****update*****
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 27, 2012, 05:06:18 AM: Success just not by me :chuckle:. Aunt got a nice 8 pointer yesterday evening. Went about 40 yards and down it went. I got pictures of what a mechanical broadhead does too. She got the front shoulder.
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!*****update******
Post by: Lincoln4 on September 27, 2012, 10:34:13 AM: Very nice. Now I'm really excited for October 19th when I head towards Northport!
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!*****update******
Post by: h20hunter on September 27, 2012, 10:43:08 AM: Wow....really put the kibash on it.....tell your auntie nice job for me.
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!*****update******
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 28, 2012, 01:38:44 PM: I hit a nice doe last night. tracked in the woods with good blood but in the thick spruce swamp. Pulled back out and waited till this morning. Found her about 500 yards away zing zagging in the woods. She was piled up 50 yards from the place I shot my first big buck when I was 12. This is my first ever kill with a bow for anything. Pics to follow. Plus we have more tags to fill so might have another story.
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!*****update******
Post by: h20hunter on September 28, 2012, 01:47:51 PM: Nice to draw blood with the bow for the first time. Post some pics, have a sandwich, and get you a** back out there and stick another!
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!*****update******
Post by: Skillet on September 28, 2012, 01:50:09 PM: Good on ya, Russ!
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!*****update******
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 28, 2012, 02:11:00 PM: Already had some backstrap for lunch. Nothing like hauling out of the woods, skinning boning and packaging it up in about 4 hours. Yummy
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!*****update******
Post by: h20hunter on September 28, 2012, 02:16:40 PM: Sir.....you either need to be on stand or posting pics......or else!!!
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!*****update******
Post by: h20hunter on September 28, 2012, 02:20:21 PM: By the way....if you don't bag a buck just keep posting pics of your Auntie.....she seems to be able to get it done just fine.
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!*****update******
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 28, 2012, 02:42:32 PM: So here we go. Sitting in the stand in the evening. Deer came in and was feeding 20 yards out face straing at me. She was wired jumping and any little bird. 30 minutes of watching her. Was just about losing shooting light. A grouse flew out from under my tree and spooked her she jumped turning broadside and looking away from me. Full draw put her between my 20 and 30 yards pin. Hit the release big thwack. Oh yeah guess what I put tracer nocks on. Was awesome to see that light go right into the deer and disappear. The hit was a gut shot she must a starting moving forward when I hit the release. She made about 4 bounds towards the woods out of the field. Got to the edge and she staring walking all scrunched up. Sat in the tree another 15 minutes while packing things up the lower down the tree. Shooting light was gone. Aunt and mom were in a blind on another food plot. The were heading my way when i finally got out of the tree. Went over to where she was feeding. Another cool thing about lighted nocks. Arrow was buried in the ground except for about 4 inches with the nock blinking away. Pulled it out and first thing that came to my mind, Ted Nugent, "Where has we seen this before" Pass through blood and guts over the whole arrow. Went back to the house had something to eat and went back out and hour and a half later. Nice cool night was getting into the lower 30's. Went 150 yards into the wood tracking good bright red blood. We were in the deep spruce ugly swap. Never saw her bedded down so that is when we decided to pull out and go back out at first light so we can see better. Plus my uncle has a English cocker for tracking. 6:30 this morning tracking our toilet paper trail. Dog is tracking but lost trail we were doing old school tracking. Finding blood good amounts but never bedded down. Blood was getting further spaced apart but kinda crawling around still finding it. Then all of a sudden the dog just started pulling on the leash so he and my uncle tood off. We here him yelling blood so we head off towards his location then I here deer, dead deer. Awesome and stoked. Here are some pictures one has the dog in it. So here are my equipment stats. Bow: Reflex Bighorn (Hoyt) 70 lbs, 29" draw, Carbon Express Mayhem 350's with Muzzy MX3 100 gr broadheads. Total wieght 425 grams. Tru Glo Fider optic 5 pin sight.
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!*****update******
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 28, 2012, 02:46:07 PM: Smart ass H2O
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!*****update******
Post by: h20hunter on September 28, 2012, 02:48:09 PM: Yep....

Pretty deer....thick and healthy. When you say you hit her back you mean baaaccckkkk........

Nice job on the recovery and congrats again on first bow kill...

Also...I was serious about the pics of Auntie....I think it is cool to see the family hunting as a group.
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!*****update******
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 28, 2012, 06:33:02 PM: Thanks....we did all growing up....doing a little grouse hunting with my brother in the morning tomorrow then in the blind with my nephews.
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!*****update******
Post by: carpsniperg2 on September 28, 2012, 06:35:34 PM: Congrats :tup:
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!*****update******
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 29, 2012, 05:01:06 AM: So after getting out the GPS and checking she piled up 200 yards from where I shot her.

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Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!*****update******
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 29, 2012, 07:56:43 PM: So today no luck on the deer side. Damn full moon has them moving at night and mid day by the looks of it. So last day tomorrow going out late morning early afternoon but on the non deer side got be 3 roughed grouse out with my brother. Have a blast out here in Minnesota.
Title: Re: In Minnesota having a good time************update******
Post by: oldleclercrd on September 29, 2012, 09:02:40 PM: Its good to hear your enjoying yourself :tup:
Title: Re: In Minnesota having a good time************update******
Post by: buck man on September 29, 2012, 09:52:10 PM: Good luck on your last day.
Title: Re: In Minnesota having a good time************update******
Post by: Russ McDonald on September 30, 2012, 04:45:34 PM: No deer today...grandma went to ER so spent part of day there. Might go out tomorrow afternoon for some grouse with brother. Damn full moon is working against us.
Title: Re: In Minnesota having a good time************update******
Post by: Russ McDonald on October 01, 2012, 07:20:44 PM: Good day grouse hunting with brother. 4 in the bag.

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Title: Re: In Minnesota having a good time************update******
Post by: Cap.Silver on October 01, 2012, 07:29:18 PM: Glad to see you're enjoying the time back home........... :tup:
Title: Re: Less than one week till my white tail hunt!!!*****update******
Post by: pianoman9701 on October 02, 2012, 05:36:25 AM: Quote from: russ_mcdonald on September 28, 2012, 02:11:00 PM
Already had some backstrap for lunch. Nothing like hauling out of the woods, skinning boning and packaging it up in about 4 hours. Yummy

Congrats Russ. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy! :tup:
Title: Re: In Minnesota having a good time************update******
Post by: Russ McDonald on October 03, 2012, 05:52:30 PM: Back here in Washington. Gearing up for this weekends elk ML opener. Few more pictures. Wife says I never smile. I guess I had some fun. :chuckle: :chuckle:
Title: Re: In Minnesota having a good time************update******
Post by: h20hunter on October 03, 2012, 05:58:51 PM: Russ....im sorry......but you are just ........awfull at smiling.

Lets get a beer and swap stories after the season is over.
Title: Re: In Minnesota having a good time************update******
Post by: Russ McDonald on October 03, 2012, 06:13:39 PM: I like that. Sounds like a plan.
Title: In Minnesota having a good time************update******
Post by: snowninja on October 03, 2012, 07:30:11 PM: Nice Job Russ!!
Title: Re: In Minnesota having a good time************update******
Post by: PlateauNDN on October 04, 2012, 08:34:16 AM: Sounded enjoyable and a great read, thanks for sharing russ. :tup:
Title: Re: In Minnesota having a good time************update******
Post by: Russ McDonald on October 12, 2012, 07:30:54 PM: More news. After being home and been elk hunting for the last week I just got a call from my mother. I guess the women in my family can know them down. This is my mom's first big buck. Just so happened it was on the field that I hunted on the last day I was there. Good job to my mom :tup: :tup:
Title: Re: In Minnesota having a good time************update******
Post by: Russ McDonald on October 18, 2012, 11:40:01 AM: Here is alittle better body view of my mom's deer. Trying to get someone to score it but all I know is that it was 17" spread. She is having a shoulder mount done too.
Title: Re: News from Minnestoa************update******
Post by: pianoman9701 on October 18, 2012, 11:49:20 AM: Awesome buck, mom! Very cool Russ. You come from some good bloodlines. Tell your mom good shootin'.
Title: Re: News from Minnestoa************update******
Post by: Russ McDonald on October 18, 2012, 12:02:19 PM: Quote from: pianoman9701 on October 18, 2012, 11:49:20 AM
Awesome buck, mom! Very cool Russ. You come from some good bloodlines. Tell your mom good shootin'.
Thanks Pman. When you grow up when in the sticks there isn't much to do other then hunt, fish and drink. :chuckle: :chuckle: and I try to do my best at all 3.
Title: Re: News from Minnestoa************update******
Post by: jackmaster on October 18, 2012, 12:06:26 PM: way to go mama, that is awesome, nothin like mama crackn a big ole buck... just dont get no better than that....congrats to mama :tup: