The Outdoors

By Scott Rall, Outdoors Columnist

The firearms deer season opened on the 4th and runs through the 12th  in most of the southern part of Minnesota. I have a friend who drives from Madison, Wis., to Nobles County every year to spend some time in the deer stand with me. The reason he does so is that if I happen to shoot a deer he does all of the processing of that deer and then takes the meat home with him.

In Wisconsin where he lives, the deer population has been reduced about 70% over the past 10 years due to chronic wasting disease. This disease will eventually kill all of the deer who become infected with it. Of the deer that remain alive about 70% of those have the disease but have not died from it yet. I can only imagine what it would be like to not be able to eat the deer you harvested. This is becoming a reality in much of the traditional deer ranges that exist.

Minnesota has CWD but it has not spread consistently across all areas of the state. This season was very different from those most clear in my recent memory. The total harvest of my friends’ groups that I follow is far lower then in normal years. I had a group of eight that killed two. Another group of seven only had one as of Sunday night of the first weekend of the season. Yet another group went one for five of tags they had to fill.

I think wind and temperature was the main factor. We had winds in excess of 30 mph and the highs for the weekend were north of 55 degrees. I did manage to fill my doe tag about 90 minutes into the season, but the next 20 hours with my friend and my son Brandon we only saw two deer. I can see the better part of a mile and a half from my stand and there just weren’t any deer to see.

We did see one big guy that came into the open about 300 yards from my stand but he did so with only about 10 minutes of legal shooting time left and he never got close. The interesting part of this smart guy was that on the adjoining property where he was bedded other hunters had walked by him three different times at a distance of less than 30 yards. It was only after dark he decided it was time to go searching for a girlfriend. Minnesota’s gun season is held during the rut. This is when most of the breeding takes place. Anyone that has hunted deer knows that the smartest buck can turn into a complete idiot when there are gals to be had.

This fella didn’t fall for that trick on this day. I think with the wind and the high temps there were a lot of other bucks that did not fall for attraction either. It is not rare to see a buck chasing a doe for long distances in the middle of the day. It can actually be quite a common occurrence. I saw a buck run right into the side of a truck he did not see in broad daylight because he was so focused on his task at hand, chasing and breeding an available doe.

The gun season is nine days where I live and the weather for the last six of those days is forecast to be the same if not worse. Temperatures were in the 50’s when I was out and this next week we are looking to be even higher in the mid-60’s.  The wind is also going to be good migration speed if you are a duck headed south. The rut is still taking place but most of the more mature bucks will just change their ways and go almost completely nocturnal.

My cameras have shown that there is still a fair amount of buck movement but all of that activity is taking place at night. It’s pretty hard to shoot a deer legally in the dark. Hunting hours are from ½ hour before sunrise until ½ hour after sunset. You can still see pretty good during the ½ hour after sunset but that ½ hour before sunrise is such I would never take a shot with the vision I have.

My buddy gave a great demonstration to a group of my friends on how to completely process a deer yourself.  Many hunters just take their deer to a locker and have them do it, but costs can run as high as $400 or more if you choose that method. He had one deer all processed and packaged in the refrigerator in about two hours. My son still has a tag and is coming back this weekend so we will see what happens. He only has a buck tag so we need a cooperative one to give us a chance.

Regardless if you are successful or not, just watching the sunrise and the roosters (who seem to always give me the slip) fly around in numbers greater than I ever see is still a great way to spend some time with family and friends. I gave my deer to my friend but when the season is over I will have lots of hunters who need room in the freezer for their new deer and will share last years’ deer meat with me. I always seem to have enough venison around to get me through the year. It will be back to chasing roosters and following my dogs in the tall grass. Why is it that the 10 weeks of the pheasant season always seem to go faster then the following 10 weeks of snow and bad roads? An age-old question without a solid answer. Make the most of the hunting season  while it lasts.

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If you have any questions, reach out to me at scottarall@gmail.com.