Food Plots

It's never a bad time to be thinking about what you are going to do to increase your odds of seeing deer for next year. I started a food plot one year ago and I was able to get half of what I wanted done this year prior to the season starting. This fall Eric and I cleared out the second half. When I say clearing out I don't mean cutting down good healthy trees. We look for naturally open areas in the woods and take out any dead stuff and all of the under brush. To locate these areas you have to do it when everything is in full vegetation because once the leaves die it is hard to tell what will get sunlight and what won't. To get rid of unwanted brush piles we wait till you get a good snow and burn them. We use all of the bigger stuff for firewood. Now come spring all I have to do is come in and till it up and put some lime in the ground and plant it. I am still debating what I am going to plant in this kill plot but I know for sure it will be one of Antler Kings fine products.

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and hopefully we will all have a good New Year. I must have been a good boy this year because I got spoiled with all sorts of new hunting gear and some gift cards that will be put to some good use. I love the holidays spending time with all the families but I can only be inside for so long before I start going a little stir crazy, this year I planned ahead a little and brought my video equip. and also my snow shoes so the day after Christmas Ashley and I made use of some beautiful powdery snow and went on a little hike. I was also able to film a little clip for the BackFortyOutdoors website.

I was also able to set up my new Quest bow. I am so impressed with this bow I can't say enough good things about it. I also made a drastic change in my release I went from a tru ball short and sweet to a stan sx2 thumb release. I was noticing some early signs of target panic coming on so I needed to change things up. I will still keep my trusty tru ball in my bag though for backup. Once again I hope all of you have a great holiday season.

Late Season Hunt

Well I can't believe I am writing these words but our whitetail hunting is coming to a close once again. I was able to get out one last time this past weekend with the "Smoke Pole", I even convinced Mr. Lucky himself to come and run the camera for me. Eric and I set up the double bull out on the edge of a chopped corn field where the deer were coming to feed. I had been watching the weather and we had a big system coming threw the next day. I had a feeling we might catch a few deer coming to feed before things got nasty. Well I have to say I was pretty disappointed about 15 min of good camera light left and we still hadn't seen hide or hair of a deer. I actually started to pack things up and low and behold a little doe came out to feed, I let Eric get the camera rolling and thought I had my gun where I needed to be. I shot and the deer bucked up and took off running hard not an encouraging thing to see. We had blood but it was the spotty type that is just a drip here and drip there. We gave her several hours and then got back on the trail. She had never laid down once, we heard her running a few times a head of us so I backed out once again. I returned the next morning and looked for another few hours to make sure she wasn't down. I am confident I hit her low in the leg and am pretty sure that she will make it. I know that this is not a story most people like to read about but this is hunting and things like this can happen. Most of do whatever we can to make sure we are capable of making a good clean hit but once and a while stupid things happen. I feel we looked as hard as we could for this deer and just hope the best for her. This is not how I wanted my MN season to end but I am very fortunate to have taken 4 beautiful does this season.
Next up I have some coyote calling and ice fishing to take care of and also another hog hunt in Feb. Anyone that is bored of the same old websites make sure to check out www.backfortyoutdoors.com

The Rewards of Sucess

The deer hunting has been pretty slow since the last of the gun hunters tromped threw the woods. I have managed to get out bow hunting a few times before the muzzleloading season began but all my sits were very unproductive, not a surprise. My dad,uncle and I were lucky enough to draw a very good muzzleloader tag in Maria State Park outside of Monticello, MN. The park has never been hunted and we were stoked about getting the opportunity to hunt some prime real estate. We were able to scout the weekend of thanksgiving and we all had some locations picked out that we liked. Saturday morning rolled around and we were greeted with 13 degrees and 20 mph winds. Brrrrrrr My uncle AL was the first to strike with a young doe around 8:00, I forgot to mention that this was an earn a buck hunt so we all wanted to get a doe quickly. Al had a big buck stop broadside at 50 yards prior to him filling his doe tag, that takes some will power to let those walk on by. Around 10:00 we all met up and had a quick cup of coffee and got back to hunting and Al struck again with a nice big doe ( there is a lengthy story that go's with this deer but I do not have the time to write it all down for you. Just ask Al about it next time you see him Ha ha ) I have to admit I was starting to get a little down on myself, this is the first time in seven years I am hunting deer with a gun and I haven't even had a chance at a deer, not to mention I am hunting some awesome deer grounds. I went to my secondary spot and got set up on the ground old school style, find a good tree and kick all the leaves out of the way and sit down. I had a great vantage point in a tight funnel in between two CRP chunks. I wasn't there for a half an hour when 12 big does got right in my face literally 30 yards or closer I looked real hard for some antler but couldn't find any so I picked out my doe and stopped her in a clearing and put the TC Omega to work!! I have to say, I will always be an Arrow Slinger at heart but this muzzleloading is pretty damn cool. I have to thank my Dad for getting me interested in it. But I really have to thank Ashley for buying the gun for me last year on our anniversary I am a pretty lucky guy. I know Dad and Al had a good time so that is all you can ask for some meat in the freezer and good time with family. I am going to give her hard the rest of the season with the bow it will be miserable but I still have that buck tag.