Minnesota Meat Hunt

[Britsmoothy]

That is a great outcome :hatsoff:
Especially when I should be getting ready for work!
Glad you kept it brief :grin:

Congrats :thumbsup:

B.

 

[rushlake1]

Minnesota has a one and done for bucks using bow or gun with a 4 point antler restriction. This fall they reopened the game management unit to antler less tags after a 2 year closure..The second gun season ran into the first 2 days of the muzzle loader hunt.Deer were pressured all around the lease..They have been since Nov. 6 th.
I was surprised at the amount of shots heard during the first 2 days of the hunt.
The does here are on their game..not push overs....
Can't tell you how many times they busted me...
I must really Stink!
Wanted to add more to my hunt story...The first 2 days of the hunt were spent on stands where I had close encounters with does earlier in the fall..seams like my timing was always off ...Id either bump them going in or they just shied away..
the turkeys were a nice distraction...
Sunday night we had a buckets full of rain for a couple of hours with good winds that followed..
I woke to a wet windy dark sunrise perfect conditions to get tight in on a bedding area.
Set up on the east end of a long ridge down wind of the bedding area..snuggled into the widest tree base I could find and waited for shooting light...
20 minutes later a doe with a fawn worked their way towards my hide...well I wasn't hidden as well as I thought and she made me as I was trying to get into a good shot angle.. Strike 1..Time to get off the ground ..moved 150 yards east and found a the ladder stand...Mike and I let each other know where we are on the 800 acre lease when hunting alone...
With high hopes and one strike I settled in...
Not 15 minutes later I catch movement to my right...Can't tell you how surprised to see a buck working his way at a slow pace along the point of the ridge heading north..The ridge point has mature trees and is what I call open with no low cover...
I took a quick glance to try and count points and he paused behind a large tree... he was a legal buck..now he's only 60 yards with a slight quartering away angle..I shifted slightly and settled the sights mid ship. He started to move at a slow pace and I followed tight on him,,I went into to autopilot and my shot felt good...He reacted like he took a good hit..tail down in a hurry..didn't take him long to head down over the edge of the ridge and he was gone..
My first reaction was did this just happen?
I took a deep breath and tried to regain my composure..Wow! was on my mind.
I climbed down the ladder stand and realized I was suffering from buck fever... took a couple more deep breaths and got over the hand shaking weak knees effect. Glad nobody was there to watch me reload....I slowly paced of the shot to 60 yards..the leafs were scuffed with no sign of a
hit. I stood there looking looking for sign and replayed the shot. His prints were easy to follow in the thick wet leaf litter to a small hollow 10 yards away. With the open woods I was at the edge of the ridge and looked down to see him piled into a dead fall...Joy relive Joy ..His momentum took him 75 yards after a solid double lung shot.There was no blood or hair to be found till within 10 yards of his impact. The round ball had not passed through. This big bodied buck absorbed it all..
I took time at the edge of the ridge looking down on the buck and replayed my deer hunting season on the lease..The does that made me the bucks that were passed..the ones that were out of my zone..the bat that landed 6 inches away from my arrow 10 times in 30 minutes on the oak tree i was in.
Wow what a great season...Life is good!

 

[rushlake1]

from the bucks point of view blaze pack in stand at 60 yards

Looked like a big doe when found antlers under ground and around deadfall.

Now the work begins..

 

[Zonie]

from the bucks point of view blaze pack in stand at 60 yards

The blaze orange does stand out but, deer are red/green color blind.

To a deer looking at that view, the bright orange pack would look like a light gray color that blends in with the background.

 

[rushlake1]

Good point.. That means there was a big gray cylinder standing there at the shot...haha.
Im still in awe from that hunt.

 

[rushlake1]

Boiled out the skull......Note to self next time skin skull before freezing.
This one will go on the wall in my workshop.
I get to look at him while finishing my new deer rifle. Early Virginia,in curly striped ash ,brass trim,wood patch box,early colonial chambers lock flint 44" rice 1-66 58cal.round bottom with peep.
Retiring the T/C...

 

[Black Hand]

Boiled out the skull.

Next time, try adding Biz laundry additive (can be found in the Laundry soap section of some grocery stores) to the water and simmer the skinned skull. The additive will soften/dissolve the adherent material and cleaning the skull will be considerably easier. The only issue I've found is that it will dissolve the cartilage holding the nasal bones, but is easily addressed with a little super-glue.

 

[rushlake1]

....interesting...does it foam while boiling?....
will discolor the antlers?
also heard of using borax.
thanks for the tip.

 

[Black Hand]

It does not foam nor does it discolor antler (in my experience).

 

[excess650]

That skull mount will look great on the wall. :thumbsup:

 

[wvbuckbuster]

What Blackhand said! I tried it and it works. Dan.

 

[rushlake1]

Thanks for the input...prefer a skull mount...they take up less wall space..less dusting..and invest the full mount money into a new barrel and lock. :thumbsup:

 

[USMA65]

If you want the skull to be white-white, go to Sally's Beauty Supply and get some 40% Activator Solution. Just be sure to not get it on the antlers.

 

[tlallijr]

Thanks for the great story and pictures ! Congrats to you guys !

 

[rushlake1]

original Hornady roundball .570 Dia. 279 gr.

split ball=left 120 gr. right 152 gr.

split on entry and spread 2" to far side hair line.

acted like a 40 cal.-45 cal double ball load....

double lung double ball deflation.

 

[Christophero]

Glad you were able to recover both pieces of the ball. What did it hit upon entry of the deer to cause a split?
Congratulations, by the way.

 

[rushlake1]

one of the ribs on left side...

 

[smo]

Dan, I did use Borax on the couple of skulls that I done. It helps to remove some of the grease & oils from the skull. I also brushed on some peroxide which helped brighten the skull. I brushed it on early in the morning and laid it in the sunshine to dry. :thumbsup:

The boiling and Borax will discolor the antlers if you let them get into the water. All it did was make the base of the antlers a little darker. :idunno:

 

[rushlake1]

Thank you SMO and others...

 

[VTdeerhunter]

Great hunt and pictures!