when should i start rattling?

I rattle early up before the rut and it has worked well for me. Rattled in a nice 8 pointer this past weekend and put one in his heart. Picture is on the Illinois page. Good luck.

My Buddy and i went out saturday Morning and Evening, and saw nothing. My brother-in-law int he area is still picking up mature bucks on his cams during the late night periods. I'm heading out for a morning hunt this sunday again. I'll keep you posted...

I hunt southern MN. This was my first year finally arrowing a deer. I hunted mornings and was only seeing does. I took one on Sept. 29 around 0800 hours at 6 1/2 yards. The meat is back and tastes great. I decided to try evenings after that and I saw two bucks chasing through the woods on the evening of October 8th. It sounded like trees were coming down. They got about 20 yds from a doe I was watching and they put the brakes on. The doe walked back towards me and stopped about 20 yds away. Then she bolted in a hurry when one of the bucks came towards her. He followed where she walked with his nose to the ground. I took him with a 10 yd shot. I am excited that I was able to take both a doe and buck. He was not a wall mounter, just a small 8 but he holds the distinct priveledge of being my first with archery gear. I am unfortuanately done hunting early this year but I work nights for a county sheriffs office and will post what I am seeing while out there for the benifit of others.

Just wanted to let you guys know that there was a GIANT taken in MN. during this last week. A buddy of mine's cousin shot a 244 inch non-typical. My buddy only had a small picture of it on his cell phone so I can't post the pic. - but let me tell you...."WHAT A HAWG!"

Congrats on your harvests!!! I'm going to a family function this weekend and will be slipping out for an early morning hunt on sunday. I'm hoping to take one more Doe before firearms season picks up. I'll let you know what i see...

Well, i got out tothe woods on Sunday, but it wan't to hunt. My brother-in-law wounded a huge 8pt Saturday morning, and didn't recover it. I talked hinto going out again on Sunday and looking for it some more. We eventually found the deer and finished him off. He shot it Saturday morning. It came in because it was chasing off an inferior buck that was following a Doe. He has also seen other mature bucks out during the daylight periods. This is right around the Red Wing area. Now is the time to get out....

I hunt both WI & Minnesota........... I currently live in WI & have an easier time finding places to hunt in WI & there is a few of us that are able to go in the weekends .............

I only have a few small private properties to hunt in Mn & was wondering if we are able to hunt DNR land as in WI ????? I have a WI Plat book that i obtained from the courthouse & it shows me where i can go ..........

Does anyone know off hand????

-- I have also noticed that I am getting a greater reaction of Mock scrapes & that in MN as compared to WI .... I have not been out to freshen up anything for about a week now but, I look forward to seeing how the action has picked up!!!!!!!

There are a lot of State Lands/ Waterfowl Production areas that hold good numbers of deer in my area. All of these lands are open to deer hunting.

The last 5-7 days I have seen a lot of movement. There have been an increasing number of car vs deer accidents as well this last week. They are moving. My buddy rattled in a monster but never got a shot opportunity. I saw probably the largest 8 point I have ever seen on Friday morning when driving through our state park. It had to have 15 inch tines. It was beautiful. I was shaking so bad I coulding get my camera out and turned on. This is the time of the year we wait for so get out and hunt. Good luck.

I just got back from the Camp Riply hunt in near Little Falls. It was rather odd. I was expecting to see alot of deer and i was expecting to see bucks bumpin does and what not. I have to say, it was rather dissappointing. I had one doe "solo" bolt directly under my stand on Saturday morning. She then bolted out of the area. I then saw a black bear, which was pretty cool. Sunday i had a doe at 30, as the sun was rising over the top of her. Thought i had a clear lane and did not. Arrow zipped harmlessly by, which was also a good thing. I don't like maming. Other than those two occurrences, we saw nothing. We did see a lot of deer coming and going during dark, but does were solo or with fawns still. Did not see a single buck. Talked to someone who has done this hunt a few times and he reported pretty much the same thing. I sure hope this was a weird thing. I'm hunting the next three weekends, and want that rut to get going. Biggest deer "weight" was a 213lb buck . That was reported for Saturday, not sure about sunday.

Later...

I have tried to locate some of them waterfowl areas that are open to public hunting .....

there is some that are located on the edge of lake superior & i thought they were kinda close to town but, they are on the Public hunting map, & one in the rice lake area i think ..............

Where else can i find these areas do you know ??? I have had a hard time finding out around here but yet WI was fairly easy to do............

I think im in need of a trail cam .......... I simply need to see whats in the areas i hunt........

I see alot of them out now & alot f them are for less than $100 but, whats a good choice??

Have you tried the MN DNR pages? Try http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/out....html. You want to look for Wildlife Management Areas "WMA's" and State Forrest. Also, grab a regulations book and check out special hunts in parks and urban hunts. You might find one in your area. I took advantage of some licensing offers and have gone to Ripley "special hunt" this year. I was going to do the Red Wing Urban hunt and Sandstone Urban hunt, but didn't get a chance to go through the paperwork before the season started. My fault there. I think Taylors Falls has an urban hunt as well. There are also lottery park hunts all over as well. If you need more info, let me know.

Good Luck...

Thanks ................. I never really read the ads or paid alot of attention in the reg books for the special hunts & that ... I always wondered but, never took the time .... It was hard enough finding spots here & there where i was from

I appreciate it & i will look into it ..... Im currently looking into leasing land or maybe purchase some ....... Thanks again < BOB_T

The bucks are juiced up and ready to rock and roll here in Central Mn. Talked with the farmer who's land we hunt for slug opener and he said he had a high racked pointer chasing a doe around in the field that he was working up....He got within 30 yards of them and they didn't spook. Things should be GOOD this weekend.

Good deal .................................... I got a new place picked out for a ground blind.............

Deer movement has been up this week especially with the corn mostly out. Starting to see more bucks involved in car accidents. I have seen many deer each evening earlier and earlier. The fawns have really started to separate from the does. I am mostly seeing them in pairs and adult does by themselves. Last night I found a nice 8 point holding tight with a doe. He could have cared less that I was standing about 25 yards from him. He never moved until I reached in the car and honked my horn at him. Then the two trotted off together. He was a very large bodied deer with the big sagging belly. I think the breeding is close. The big bucks should really be cruising soon. Good lcuk to those going in the woods this weekend. Stay on stand a long time, the temps won't be to bad.

WEnt out last night for a few hours. I was by the iowa border, swtraight south or Rochester. On the drive down in the morning, saw two does paired up. That night, on stand, saw nothing. After we got out of the woods, and were packing gear away, we saw 7 deer, none had antlers. I have not seen scrapes or any buck activity as of late. I talked to a local farmer and he said the same thing. No scrapes or visible rut activity. It's going to warm this week too. Good luck...

Was a POOR weekend in Central Mn. Our group of 4 only saw 4 deer total & we hunt pretty darn hard. Sat. first thing had a doe come from behind me run past me with her tounge hanging.....pulled up on her but a "little voice" told me to let her run.....30 seconds behind her was an 8 pointer. Unfortunately he was inside the ears and spindley so I elected to pass. Good Luck to everyone out there & let the little ones run.

So i wrote how we saw 7 deer as we were packing away our gear, but the story gets better. Found out late yesterday that one of the guys we are hunting with this coming weekend shot a nice 8pt'er on Sunday morning. It turns out that the guy watched the deer walk past my stand and my buddies stand as it entered a field and eventually made its' way over to him. We weren't there becuase the wives wanted us home that night and 3 weekends in a row was too much. So, i did yard work while our buddy gutted a nice buck. I fail to see the humor here.

Good luck as everyone heads out. take a doe to help the herd, donate it to the food shelf if you don't want it. That's what i'm doing.