MNO Question of the week.

[Duckslayer]

I never had a chance to go deer hunting before I went into the service so my first hunt was in 1987 when I got back to the states from Italy.  Me and a friend of mine went out to some public land.  It was about noon and we were going to walk back to the truck and have some lunch.  On the other side of the ditch, maybe 20 feet wide and 6 feet deep there was a doe heading our way.  My buddy told me to take it as I had never gotten one before.  It was walking along minding its own business.  When it got directly across from us it went to the creek to get a drink.  While it was bent over I put the cross hairs of the scope on her neck just below her head and slowly squeezed the trigger just like I was supposed to.  Well a gnats butt in time, just before the firing pin hit that 12GA slug, the deer jerked up and the slug made a huge splash right between her front legs.  I laid there watching her thinking "I can't believe you’re still alive" and she stood there looking at me like "I can't believe you just tried to shoot me."  Was only a moment in time but seemed a lot longer and then she was turning and heading up the other side of the ditch.  I jacked another round into the chamber and put the scope on the brown spot that was the head of the deer and fired again.  The doe did a summersault and then never moved again.  My buddy was impressed that I was able to get another round in and back on target that quick.  When I checked her in the guy had to ask if it was a buck or a doe and that hollow point made a pretty good mess out of the top of that does head.  That doe was the biggest deer that I have shot to date!  Guy at the check station said it was 3 and a half years old.  It seemed like it took forever to walk down to the foot bridge and cross over to go and get her!  Any way that is my story.  To date it is also the only deer that I have ever shot at more than once before it dropped!  Take care and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo

[Outdoors Junkie]

MNO Question of the week for this third week in Oct 08.


What was the first deer you harvested?  Give us the details...Share the story.  How old were you?  Gun or Bow? 

I was 14 or 15.  I had opportunities in previous years, but they did not come thru.  It was opening morning.  My dad had shot just about an hour before.  I had a 6 pt buck step out from behind an evergreen tree.   I steadied my 6 mm rifle.  I had my sites on his front shoulder and slowly pulled the trigger.  The deer ran straight for my tree.  I shot a couple of additional times.  He just kept coming right for my tree stand.  I stood up and braced for impact, when he changes directions like 2-3 feet away from my stand.  Then he runs off into some thick crap and I couldn't see him anymore.  My dad walks over about 30 minutes later.  He follows the blood trail and finds my 6 pt buck.  I was hooked for life. 

[Grute Man]

My first deer ever was a doe.  I was archery hunting on archery opener.  The weather was beautiful and looking back it was very warm.  I got her while walking up a path and saw her on the left standing there like she was hidden.  The sun was shining right on her butt and her hair was shiny so it really caught my eye.  I backed up so I could get a good view of her ribs.  SHe still standing perfectly still.  I took careful aim and right as I released the string, another deer wiffed and she jumped.  The arrow went in her rump and came out up near her front arm/leg pit.  Like a fool, I ran in after her and saw no blood nor my arrow.  After looking around for 1/2 an hour, I walked back to the cabin to get help.  My buddy came to help me look and after about an hour we found her.  There was no blood till we got up to her and there she lay in a pool of blood.  Field dressed her and took her to the butcher just to be asked "Is she skun?"  HUH?     "And did ya cut her head and hooves off yet?"  HUH?!?!?    We wont take her until ya skin 'er and cut 'er head and hooves off; we can't have none of that in our cooler.  SO here I am in the back of this Nort woods grocery store's parking lot choppin, cuttin, pullin...all being surprized at the next thing I do.  I never thought I'd do any of that.  I thought I'd drop her off and say see ya in a couple of weeks.  Ahhh the memories.   

[Outdoors Junkie]

MNO Question of the week for the last week of Oct 08.

What is the longest shot you are comfortable taking (for big game) with a firearm?

[Realtree]

The longest shots I have taken, and they were at the far end of my comfort zone were:

95 yards for a large 8 ptr with my Remington 870 12 gauge shooting Federal 2 3/4" rifled slugs. I probably wouldn't have taken this shot but I had just mounted a Bushnell scope and sighted in at 75 and 100 yards 2 weeks before opener that year.  The average distance of my shots in our private land in Waseca county is probably only 50-75 yards.

92 yards on the Doe I harvested last year at Upper Red Lake on State Land with my father-in-laws Remington 760 Gamemaster .308 with open sights(shooting .308 WIN 170 grain)...this was my first time hunting with this gun and first time hunting URL. Not knowing what my average shot would be at URL, I sighted it in at 100 yards. The next time I hunt with this gun, I will more than likely sight it in for 150-200 yards based on my experiences from last year.

[deadeye]

I have a couple stands (over looking swamps) that you could well expect a 200 yard shot. I have taken a number of deer from them.  The longest was a doe in a field 247 yards.  I was laying flat on a rock pile.  But you say comfortable, that would be 200 yds.  That is if the deer is standing still!

[Outdoors Junkie]

I am comfortable taking a shot up to 200 yards with my 30.06.

[Outdoors Junkie]

MNO Question of the week of April 6th - 12th.

Where will you be fishing at for the 2009 opener?

 

[stevejedlenski]

i will be making plans to fish on the st. louis, cant fish opener

[Outdoors Junkie]

Let's start the question of the week thread up again!

The Question for this Thanksgiving week!

What is your favorite outdoor activity?  And why?

[MTCOMMER]

GOOD IDEA!!!   

This is a toss up between Hunting - Fishing and Camping.  Personally, I could do without camping but I enjoy getting out a few weekends in the summer and 'roughin it'.  But I think my favorite outdoor activity is hunting.  From seeing the wildlife, to the experience of taking a deer/duck/pheasant/and anything else, to the comrodery (sp?) with family and friends at deer camp and with the dogs in the field.  Its great, so my hunting is favorite activity!!!
 
 

[The General]

Pheasant Hunting is my number 1.  Nothing like killing birds and watching the dog work.

[Fawkinnae]

Open water fishing would be for me and if I can combine it with a camping trip even better.

[corny13]

Very tough question... really depends upon the time of year for me... this week its still deer hunting  with either bow or muzzelloader( both seasons are still open) with two tags left.  Hunting is really my way of getting the closest to nature... if you need something to do this winter.. find a copy of the book "Meditations on Hunting " by  Jose Ortega y Gasset.  It explains it all.

[DDSBYDAY]

      I can't choose.  Golf, fishing, hunting.  It depends which way the wind is blowing and how many days it has been blowing the same direction. I did not hunt this year.  Won't happen again!!

[JECAMERON]

Mine is camping. I truly love waking up outside, near a fire right their in the midst of mother nature's morning. I love the simplicity of cooking over a fire (although it can be both an art and a science). My boys and I camped many times this past spring and summer and we had an absolute blast. Oh and I'm talking tents and sleeping bags or just a hammock style of camping with minimal accomodations. There is something amazing about slowing things down and just getting by with the essentials...
I could write a book about my experiences and why I love camping.

[22lex]

Mine is hunting so far....nothing like seeing everything in it's state of tranquility. Bowhunting early season to me is like watching a play unfold in the woods 10/20 minutes after the critters settle down once they think you are gone. The cackle of a Bluejay, the quick rustles of a squirrel, and the low yelps of turkeys is what really gets me to my Zen (not really sure what that is, but it's peacefull I think.... )

My season highlight this year was when I came home with a doe in the back of the truck. My 2.5 year old son has a routine each morning asking my wife where daddy is. She quickly tells him; "you know, hunting deer to make jerky". So each and every morning the light of my eye comes running to ask me when I get in the door if I shot a deer, and this time I said; "yes, you want to register it with me?" He told me he needed to get his hunting clothes on and his headlamp to do that. Needless to say he was strutting around Gander with his hunting attire, and telling everyone he shot a deer.....what a sight.

[deadeye]

For me the favorite time would be managing my hunting property.  This starts out in spring with planning and planting food plots, and planting the trees that were ordered in fall.  I don't do much in the summer at the land.  Too many bugs and too hot.  Things really ramp up in late summer (August).  Cutting food plots, clearing trails, scouting for new deer stands, baiting bear, and general forest stuff.  September is time to fix and prepare all deer stands, fix or build pallet bridges and work on access.  October is for hunting grouse, ducks, geese and deer with bow.  This is a great time because you can bow hunt in the morning, work on trails/stands during the day, get in a couple hours grouse hunting and then an evening bow hunt.  Days are really long at this time which allows for varity of activites.  November is rifle and muzzle loader hunting and after things are frozen, time to make new trails.  December is for releasing desirable trees by cutting all junk around them.  To cold and too much snow in January and February but March is time to shed hunt and explore the area to see how things made it through the winter.   

[thunderpout]

Tough one .....Torn between grouse hunting, deer hunting and camping.... though I always camp when hunting grouse and deer, I guess camping is a thread for me that runs through almost all of my outdoor activities, like fishing the BWCA, while ice fishing (Eelpout festival ), turkey hunting etc. ..... I guess camping is a big part of all of them, and its a very enjoyable part, especially in the fall when the weather is nice grouse and deer camp is the best by far..... Hmmmm   If I had to choose one though, its gonna have to be grouse hunting I think.... watching my english setter work, being in the middle of the woods, especially when its just you and the dog, your partner in crime, chasing birds in the beauty of a northern rainforest(when ya get way up north, & off the beaten path....) Its so awesome sometimes it seems like youre getting away with something illegal!   Then, at the end of the day.... the camping part of it kicks in..... and that makes it all the better!

[Retired on Osakis]

Mine would be fishing. Don't make me choose between open water or hard water fishing. My brain would fry if I had to choose one over the other. Just to close to decide which. 

[Lee Borgersen]

I'd say fishing in the BWCA while on vacation. I am at peace with everything and never get tired of it. Every day is like a new adventure since you never know what to expect on any given day. Of course I've only been going there for the last 36 yrs. and that may be why the excitement factor still remains high. I have to wake up every morning for 3 wks. straight and wonder if I should leave the boat dock five minutes earlier or 5 minutes later that day.

If heaven is 1/2 as good as the BWCA, then I can't wait to get there!

[FireRanger]

Gotta be sitting in the darkness, peeping through the cattails. Your hands cold with water creeping it's closing autumn chill into your bones. Huddling down, trying to keep warm while listening to the wings squeal above your head. Waiting, staring at the water and the horizon in front you. Willing the clock to spin faster and faster. That first touch of crimson in the sky telling you that it's only moments away. Weeks of dreaming and reminiscing finally coming to an end with one fell swoop of the scatter gun. The bucking of the gun against your layered shoulder, once, twice, three times.....

[deadeye]

You paint a real cool picture there, FireRanger, almost can feel the cold where I sit. 

[Outdoors Junkie]

Question of the week for Nov.29th-Dec. 5th:

What is your ideal hunting or fishing trip?  Where would you go, what would you target, and why?   

[whiteoakbuck]

i would just want 2weeks in northern MN to hunting during the day and fish for walleye at night i have no interest in going out of this great state  

[thunderpout]

I love bird hunting.... the trip I always have wanted to do, but havent because of so many loopholes and red tape, (and $$$ ) would be ptarmagin hunting with my English Setter... preferably in nothern Quebec... Alaska has tons of them, but I dont like the idea of my setter tangeling with a big ole grizzly .... I know some people that have caribou hunted in Quebec, and they said ptarmagin were everywhere, and I should go on a caribou hunt and chase birds as a side trip.... I said screw the caribou part.... I'd hunt birds with my dog up there on the tundra till the midnight sun sets and be happy as heck.... OK... the caribou would be pretty cool, but Im not too sure if pointing dogs work well on them...   Second on the list is probably a week fishing for smallies, walleyes and lakers in the BWCA.......

[slystuff]

ok that was weird I hit space and got kicked off to someplace?? who knows where; so here is my 2nd attempt either spring or fall on the rainy river for smallies,walleyes,and sturgeon.Whitetail hunting there in koochiching county is also very good.
 However from experiance I would have to say that moose hunting in north western ontario has got to be the best,along with whitetails,black bear and grouse; not to mention the awesome fishing oppertunities.(i'm a little conceited about it as i grew up on that side of the border leaving when I was 22 ) it was awesome a moose every year only draw was for sex lol a bull or cow; garunteed a calf no matter what.ant their rifle season is like our bow season mid sept to mid dec. plenty of time to enjoy the wilderness and to get your meat; I really dislike it here wit the 7 day slug gun season,and if you don't have land or know someone who does you get public lands with many others walking and talking every where.This is the 2nd year in a row I have hunted 7 days straight and donated my empty tag to the state not to mention the extras this year they asked for good causesbut oh well i've stated more than you wanted to know forgive me for venting.

[MTCOMMER]

-- I think I would go up to Alaska, always a dream of mine and I wll go up there at some point in my life.  I would do like many others and do multiple different activities.  I would love to fish Salmon during the spawn run upstream but also do some Moose and/or Caribou hunting.  I would also take a couple of days and just do sight seeing. 
Oh and I almost forgot about Halibut - I want to catch them too.
I would pretty much just hunt and fish anything, Id just stay up there for a few months!

[deadeye]

Canada Yukon Moose hunting.  Looking for a 70 incher.

[MTCOMMER]

Alright, lets get this rolling again.....

Monday, December 20-27th

What is your favorite fish to EAT, and how do you prefer it to be prepared?

-This doesnt necessarily have to be one that you catch often, could be Halibut, Seabass, Cod, Salmon - not just Walleye or Pike, etc.