I want to see your pictures Jim....

This page is about the deer hunting experiences myself, family members and friends have enjoyed. I like horns, but I also like to eat venison, so I am more than happy to take a doe when I am lucky enough to get drawn for an antlerless permit.

Minnesota has a wide variety of terrain across the state, and has a v ariety of seasons (dates) to choose from. The zones are numbered 1-4, and have a "A" and "B" designation. In addition, you can apply for "doe" (antler-less) permits, by choosing a permit area within zone. When you buy a deer license in Minnesota, it allows you to take a legal buck, which is a animal which has antlers which are visible above the ears. A anterless permit allows you to take does, "button bucks", etc.

We generally hunt the first weekend of November, during the Zone 4, "A" season, although I have hunted Thanksgiving week (Zone 3, "B" season) as well. The weather can range from shirt sleeves to "put on everything you've got". Snow may or may not make an appearance.

I usually hunt with a 12 ga. shotgun, and slugs. I have found that my Remington 1100 has a particular fondness for the 1 oz. Brenneke slugs (unrifled barrel, iron sights). I had a Tasco 2.5X scope on this gun for a couple years, then I removed it. There is nothing wrong with the performance of the scope, it was a matter of personal convenience - it made my shotgun heavier to carry, and got hung up more often in thick brush.

I bow hunt occasionaly, but so far, I have not been fortunate enough to take a deer with a bow. In 1998, I hunted them alot, saw many, but the closest shot I had was 35 yds, so I didn't shoot.

In 1988, I walked up on a nice buck, who was bedded down in a summac patch with a doe. The wind was in my favor, and the deer were about 15 yards from me. I got a good case of the shakes, and I finally shot, but was so nervous, I didn't aim and shot over him!!

Pictures of myself, family members, and friends - by year

2002

November 9 & 10

Saturday morning dawned overcast, and a temp in the upper 20's, with a light frost. I had a stand in a small woods overlooking a corn stubble field. I saw nothing until 8:00, when I was to move, to become a driver in our first drive.

Further up this field, I saw a member of our group moving, and then his gun came up. One, two, three shots, and then a doe was bounding across the field toward me. The lay of the field was such that I was fairly certain she hadn't seen me, and that I could move, using small rises in the land to hide my movement. I moved well - to well - I literally put myself right in her path.- at a distance of about 30 feet we saw each other, then she took off running again, only to stop at the edge of the woods I had been standing in. I threw my shotgun up and fired, but missed. My only shot of the weekend.

Our group added deer thru out the day, by 2:30-3:00, we had 4 - not exactly up to past years performance. We must of had some bad shells - some without slugs, because alot of deer kept running.

On that last drive, I again was a driver, my son Alex was a stander. There was shooting during the drive, and lots of shouting as the deer attempted to move thru the woods - attempting first to bypass the standers, and then trying to double back on the drivers.

My son Alex had a nice forkhorn step out of the underbrush in front of him. He put his gun up, put the front sight on the buck's shoulder, he took a deep breath and fired. The deer ran. He was incredulous - it didn't drop.

My job as a driver ended as I approached the standers - oddly enough, I came out where Alex was standing. He told me what happened, and I had him show me where the buck was standing. Looking at the ground - I found hair, but no blood, which was odd for a "shoulder" hit. Now Alex was really upset.

More shouting and shots rang out. Some members of our group - due to the lay of the land - were split from my group of drivers, which happened to include my 12 y.o. niece, "Bridgie" (Bridget) particpating in her first deer hunt. What was occuring?

A group of us started following a trail along the edge of a swamp, occasionally I was finding a small drop or two of blood. Then we came to a large pool in the swamp. There was a deer laying in the water, DEEP, COLD water. My brother-in-law Lee was on the other side of the pool, he was as deep as his boots permited, and couldn't reach the deer. What to do? There was only one thing to do....

I started to peel off my coat and gear, and what happened next isn't what the folks on Madison Avenue had in mind when they coined the phrase "Kodak Moment". I ended up stripping down to my underwear, and with only Bridgie for company, went wading for the deer. Did I tell you that water was COLD? I assure you it was, and the bottom was soft and muddy, which made wading in that pool alot of fun. All the others, including Lee, had left.

Bridgie had the presence of mind to grab my camera from my coat, and snapped a pic of me pulling the deer out of the water - not bad for a 12 y.o. kid - huh? I ended up being about belly deep before I reached the deer. Did I say that water was COLD? Deer rescued, I returned to shore and my clothes. This deer turned out to be the deer Alex shot at - but another member of the group, Marv, had killed it as it tryed to cross the swamp. Our day ended, we had 6 deer, 3 bucks, 3 does.

Sunday we hunted again, adding another buck to the total. Thoses old hands among us were trying hard to help the "kids", including Alex to get their first deer, but it wasn't to be. Our season ended Sunday afternoon with 7 deer for 11 hunters. Neither Alex nor I took a deer. One of our group, my wifes cousin Marv, shot 3 of the bucks. Some guys have all the luck. ;)

As we took a closer look at the carcasses, in preperation for skinning and butchering, we found what had happened when Alex shot. His slug had hit the deer, entering and exiting the animals hide and the thin layer of meat above the back bone, but not hitting the animals backbone. Had his shot gone a 1/2" either way, he would have hit the backbone and dropped it, or had a clean miss. In talking to Alex, and questioning him, we learned that he had his "head up", he was going to watch himself take the shot.

I don't like this type of picture, but I had few chances for photos during our hunt. In this shot, Marv, Lee and Jerry are getting in to place for a group photo. The 4 bucks are on the left side of the picture. Jerry is by two of the does. The biggest buck was 8pts and field dressed at about 155 pounds.

2001

This year Alex joined us, having reached the "magic" age of 15 (for our group). While he didn't get to take a deer, or even take a shot, On Sunday he did hear a deer pick its way through the brush, bypassing his position.

Our group did pretty well this year, taking 6 bucks, and two does for eleven hunters. The bucks were small/medium sized, with the exception of deer my wife's brother Brian got.

Brian took this beautiful 9pt. buck about 10.30 on Saturday morning. He shot it at approximately 15 yds, and it dropped at 10 yards from him. It took 1 shot from his 12ga. The buck field dressed at 204 pounds. Brian was standing as we made a drive, and the buck came walking down a trail in woods. It never looked up to see him. You can view more pictures of Brian's buck and read further details about it here.

I took this picture on Sunday morning, after one of our drives. Years ago, there was a Minnesota brewery that used the slogan "From the land of Sky Blue Waters...". This picture fits the description.

Sunset on Sunday. Simply to pretty to pass up.

2000

I started the season by standing in my brother-in-law Brian's woods. I was on a slight hill, just inside the tree line. I could see fairly well, in all directions. About 7.30, I saw a object next to a tree, a object which had not been there previously. I watched - it moved. It was a deer - but what - as it was in the shadows and some thick brush. I waited, and eventually the deer moved out of the woods, in to some corn stubble - it was a doe. I was able to get my camera out, and took this picture.

Look closely - she's there. It you can't spot her, click here. I did not shoot at this deer, as I thought the shot I would have to take was marginal due to all the brush between it and me.

I spotted a 2nd doe right after 8.00, it crossed in front of me at about 35-40 yds. It was small, so I let it go.

At about 11.00, I took our first deer of the weekend, a doe. Prior to that, we had some shots, but none of the group had connected. This deer came running at me, along the bank of a long pond. I watched this doe approach for well over a 100 yards as it ran toward me, and was waiting for it to get a bit closer, when it turned. At this point my head-on shot was now running semi-broadside - and opening the distance instead of closing it. I shot 3 times, and connected on the 3rd shot. Not a great piece of shooting, but it did slow her down. My brother-in-law Brad then shot and hit her as well. I shot again, and she was down.

Myself and my deer - notice the swift look on my face? - thats what I get for talking while pictures were being taken.

Brian took a doe later in the afternoon. On Sunday morning, our fortunes improved, and we took 4 deer before 10.00.

Some of Sundays deer in the truck. Someone in our group found a empty booze bottle (litter bugs - ugh!) laying along the road, and threw it in the truck. Guess this deer was just plain thirsty!

I've got some pictures that were taken during the processing (butchering) phase of this year's hunt. We do our own processing at my in-laws - they have all the tools needed - walk-in cooler, meat cutting band saw, grinder, etc. Sure makes making steaks, roasts and sausage out of our deer alot easier with the right tools. Follow this link for some pictures and a description of what is going on.

I was able to go to Missouri deer hunting this year as well, courtesy of my friend Melmac. I took a doe while there. You can read more about this hunt by clicking here.

My last "deer hunt" of the year came during Minnesota's 3B season. While I didn't carry a firearm, I did act as a guide for my son Alex, who was hunting deer for the first time. While Alex didn't get to shoot, he did hear and spot a doe just before the end of shooting light on his last day. Due to the fact that I was in Missouri during the opening weekend of 3B, Alex got short changed somewhat - he only hunted Thanksgiving Day and the Friday after it.

I took this picture of Alex on Friday.

We spotted these birds while driving on Friday, and decided to see how close we could get. We were ok while in our vehicle, but when I got out, they flushed. What I didn't know is that these birds were just the leading edge of a flock of 50-60 more which were still in the woods and out of sight. It was an incredible sight seeing all those turkey flying at one time.

My oldest son, Aaron hunted by himself on the 3B season opener, which was while I was in Missouri. He hunted on the land of gentleman who has allowed us to hunt his land for years. There is a narrow finger of woods on sidehill, joining the main woods. Years ago, we identified this finger as an area to stand, as deer both cross and follow this finger of woods in their travels. Aaron was in this finger well before shooting light. About 7.00, he saw motion in the distance, a pair of does were coming toward him and the strip of woods. Since the motion was a good distance off (1/4 mile) all he could do was watch. The deer closed the distance, and Aaron realized he would get a shot. He put up his gun, and squeezed the trigger. Nothing happened - safety on. Remove gloves, flip safety off, shoot. The lead doe dropped at a distance of 30 ft. Aaron took several pictures in the field, but unfortuneately, his camera was not working properly, and they never turned out.

This picture was taken by my wife after he returned home with the deer.

1999

This deer was taken by Jerry, who is my wifes cousin. This animal field dressed at 201 pounds, and has an inside spread of 16.75". The longest tine is 8". Jerry got a standing shot at this deer at 100 yds when the animal stopped for a moment beside a downed tree. After he hit the deer with his first shot, the deer ran toward him, and collided with a tree, about 12 feet from where Jerry was standing. He took this deer on our last drive of our last day. Way to go Jerry!!

I was able to take a 8pt buck on the same day as Jerry, which I call "My 2nd chance buck". He also got the nickname of "Stinky". Click and read how this came about.

1998

1997

This is my brother-inlaw Bruce and myself with a nice buck he took on opening day, 1997. We both shot at this deer, and initially we thought we both hit it (which is the reason I'm in the picture), but later we compared holes to positions, and found that I missed.

Notice the shot in the lungs? This deer came out of a swamp about 65 yds. from Bruce, with a full head of steam. This deer field dressed at 165 pounds. Nice shooting Bruce!!

I took a small buck during this same drive. He had one antler with 3 small points on the left side of his head, which projected beyond his ear, which made him a legal buck. The other antler (right side) was just a bump on his skull. This was probally due to a damaged testicle on his left side. My first shot took the buck thru the lungs, then he turned and ran toward my father-in-law, Bernie, who finished him. No picture was taken, as his head was heavily damaged by Bernie's shot.

1996

I took a nice doe on our last drive of the last day of hunting. I "pulled" the first shot and nicked one of her ears. My second shot was true (hit liver and a lung), and did the trick. This deer was unusual from the aspect that she ran over 200 yds. We initially had a good blood trail, but it soon ended, as the shot was high, and all the blood was draining in to the chest cavity. We found this deer only because she groaned/sighed as she died and fell to the ground, and this happened to be within ear shot of my father-in-law, Bernie.

1995

Here I am with a buck I took about 2pm. He dressed out at 199 lbs. The rack has 10 pts, and scored 131. It measures 19.5" at its widest point. I took this deer with one shot which hit the upper edge of a lung, and its spine. The range was about 25 yds.

This buck appeared, walking slowly from my right to my left. I was standing on a ridge, looing down in to and across a small valley. I saw him, but did not realize how good he was. He stepped behind a large tree, which allowed me to bring my gun up, while I waited for him to step out from behind the tree, then I fired. He went down instantly. I waited for the drive to end, and other members of our group to arrive.

My brother-in-law Brian came up, he said he had been following a blood trail, and that a member of another party had shot at this deer. We looked, and we found a flesh wound on a front leg. Needless to say, the other party did not get this deer. It was only after I got a really good look at this animal that I got nervous, made all the worse by the fact that I found my shotgun had jammed and I couldn't have taken a second shot at this deer if I had needed to.

Notice the black face? This is the only white-tail I have ever seen with this trait.

I'm sure you've dragged deer out of the woods by hand, ATV, snowmobile or truck, but have you ever had to haul them out by the bucket full? We (our party, 9 hunters) had taken 3 deer in a morning drive, and 4 more in the same woods in the afternoon, making the same drive as the morning over again. My father-in-law Bernie is in the tractor, my son Aaron is in the left-foreground.

"Three generations, three bucks!"

This is my father-in-law, Bernie, myself, and my son Aaron, who was 15 at the time. This was Aaron's first deer, and he made it a good one. He got this buck at about 10.30 in the morning. We were going to start a drive, and Aaron was the next driver to my left. Imagine my surprise when Aaron started shooting, before we even got started walking. The buck walked up behind him, at a distance of about 25 yds. Aaron heard something, turned, and there he was. He put 3 shots in the chest cavity. This deer weighed 187# field dressed. Check out that smile! Was the kid pumped, or was he pumped? Dad is proud!

Bernie's deer was taken on the same drive (afternoon) as the one where I took mine. Bernie was standing elsewhere in the woods. He watched this buck for almost 10 minutes, before it walked in to range. While it only has a 6pt rack, it was a good sized deer, field dressing at 174#.

This picture was taken on the 5th, after the snow had melted.

1994

I left my camera at home, so I don't have pictures.

1993

I heard noise in the brush behind me, got up, moved to the side of the tree, and there were 3 does, running, about 20 ft. from me. They had come from the corn field, but I never saw them.

I shouldered my shotgun, and shot at the first animal, and they kept on running. I hadn't touched them - but my slug sure did a number on this tree! They were still running, and going away from me in a slight turn. I aimed at the shoulder of the last animal (the closest to me at this point), and fired. She dropped. I was lucky - I had missed here shoulder, but hit her spine near the hind quarter - a good lesson in the need to lead a moving animal.

Here is the doe. I took her about 10.00 in the morning. While I was field dressing her, I heard gun shots in Aaron's direction. He had heard me shoot, and was hiking toward me. On the way, he jumped a good buck and shot at it, but missed.

We continued to hunt Saturday afternoon, and Sunday, but took no more deer. Our next chance was on Thanksgiving morning. To our delight, we got a couple of inches of snow. We hunted the same woods as on Saturday. I saw two does, and could have taken them, but I had promised Aaron that I would not shoot (filling his tag) unless I saw a good buck.

On our way out of the woods to have our turkey dinner, we jumped a flock of turkeys. I was just able to get my camera out and snap a picture of them before they ran in to the brush.

1992

It was miserable hunting. We had recieved a large amount of rain, it was muddy, and due to the fact it was wet, the farmers were unable to get their corn out, so the deer had lots of cover.

We hunted all day on Saturday, and never saw a deer. Everyone we spoke to said the same thing, few shots were heard.

Sunday we were at it again. We stood from sunrise until about 9.30, then moved to a differant woods. Aaron and I each choose hill sides where we could see. About 10.30, there were gun shots below me, and then I saw motion to my left - a doe.

I threw up my shotgun, and fired. The doe disappeared. I got up and ran to where I last saw her. She laid in the leaves, kicked a few times and was still. We had our first deer. I began to field dress her, then Aaron showed up, and we dragged the deer out of the woods.

We took her to the registration station, then went home for a late lunch. After we ate, we returned to the woods, selecting positions on hillsides once again.

There were a few shots in the distance, but main activity was squirrels. Everywhere, squirrels were digging in the leaves. About 4.30, I heard a squirrel behind me - I was going to ignore it, but decided I better look. To my surprise, the "squirrel" turned out to be another doe, running along a fence line. I moved a few feet, put up my shotgun and fired. This doe dropped as well, my slug took her thru the heart.

Once again, Aaron came running. He was a little disappointed he hadn't gotten to shoot, but happy that we had our second deer. We dressed the doe out by the last of our daylight, then dragged her back to the truck.

Our deer hanging from a tree in our yard. This picture was taken Monday morning.

We hunted again on Thanksgiving day, but saw no more deer. This picture of us was taken Thanksgiving night. We could have hunted on Friday (we had one more tag), but decided we had enough meat to butcher, and spent all of Friday cutting up and freezing our meat.

Of all the deer I have taken, I think I am the proudest of the does Aaron and I took in 1992 and 1993. We scouted these woods together, identified stand locations, and did the hunting our selves. We had no help from others - ie a large party to make drives, etc. This was our own effort and I am grateful for having had that time with my son.

1991

At the in-laws farm on the other hand, they had little ice, but over 8" of snow. The snow made for excellant visibility in the woods, and our party did well, going in to the afternoon of the first day, Saturday, we had 7 deer.

On our last drive of the day, I was a stander. I had a grass field to watch to my left, a patch of level woods I stood in, and a steep hillside on my right. Since I am right handed - right eye dominant, I had my shotgun cradled in my left arm, pointed toward the field. I leaned again a tree to wait for the drivers, and soon fell a sleep.

I awoke a few minutes later, to the sound of a chattering gray squirrel. I slowly scanned the area. Nothing in the grass, nothing in the level part of the woods. Then I heard a low, gutteral grunt, and then a second.

I looked down the hill, and dang near had a fit. A huge buck stood, nose to the ground, sniffing and grunting. As I indicated, my shotgun was pointing left, and the deer was below me, to my right. I had to slowly turn my entire body, so as to bring my gun around, so that I could aim at the buck. Luckily for me, the buck was more concerned with the delicous smells he was finding in the earth below me.

I put the sights of my 1100 on his chest and fired, the deer dropped, but then struggled, and regained his feet. Not wanting to even think about loosing him, I fired again, and he went down a second time. I then started down the hill, slipping and sliding in the snow.

As I reached the bottom of the hill, I saw the delicous smells, a doe and a fawn were obscured by brush. They immediately vacated the area. The buck was thrashing, so I fired once more, and he was still.

In the distance, while this was going on, I had heard other shots, and after my last shot, I heard my wifes Uncle Andrew yell "No more deer". He was concerned, and rightly so, about us having to many deer. Our party filled out on that drive, 10 for 10.

Unfortunately, I can not find the picture I have of this buck. It was taken in the spring, after I got the head back from the taxidermist. The deer was 11 pts, scored 128, and weighed 178 pounds, the rack is 18" wide on the outside. His rack is heavier, but shorter than the buck from 1995, and lost (score) points for being un-even - as a tine was partly broken off on one side, and the un-even number of tines hurt too. Still, a fine deer. He graces my living room wall.

This was the last year I hunted with out a camera in my coat or fanny pack. I really regret not having been able to have photos of this deer, in his natural habitat.

This is a picture of a doe we saw in our back yard, in early September. We live on a small acreage, and have about 4 acres of woods, so the deer like our place. Our acreage and one other woods are the only trees in our section (640 acres), as the area we live in is heavily farmed.

We have had several does raise their fawns on our property. One year, a doe had triplets. We watched the fawns from late May all the way thru Thanksgiving. We were glad when deer season ended in our area, and the fawns had made it thru antlerless (doe) season. Loosing one of them would have been like loosing a member of the family. I can't recall the specific year, and we may have some photos of "Mom and the kids" in the archives. I will look for them and place on these pages if I can find them.

1972

My first deer hunt occured in 1969, I never saw a deer in 3 days of hunting. My second occured in 1972. I was hunting with my wife's family, except at that time, my wife was only my girl friend.

We hunted all morning, but had not seen a deer - as there had been a string of severe winters, and the over-all deer herd was down. Unfortuneately, the MN DNR at this time could do little to manage the herd - this was in the days of hunt the entire state and before antlerless permits were introduced.

In the afternoon, we (the drivers) were to walk along a lakeshore, and take a small woods toward the standers. Myself, a couple of my wife's (girlfriend) brothers, and a cousin were this group. There was noise at the edge of the water, and out of the water emerged this buck, which had just swam the lake to evade another party of hunters.

I threw up my shotgun, at fired at the only target I had, the bucks spine, as by this time the deer was running away from us. To my surprise, and that of the others, the deer dropped. When we dressed him, we found that my slug had broken the deers back in two places.

The buck weighed about 130-140#, and had a forkhorn rack, but one side was broke off below the fork, leaving a stump.

More pictures will be coming....