Three states in the country rule the whitetail hunting world when it comes to producing trophy quality animals, Illinois, Iowa and Kansas.
In the last three weeks I’ve bowhunted them all in that order and I just returned home.
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The crops were mostly harvested, except for some standing soybeans.
Incessant rain and muddy roads that had us scratching our heads.
We lost a couple mornings of hunting to the moisture because it’s imperative that our TV camera doesn’t get wet.
If the on-board humidity alarm goes off the camera will shut down and it can be difficult to get it dried out.
So, we can’t hunt in really bad weather.
One morning we woke up to 3 inches of snow and near blizzard-like conditions.
My cameraman and I decided to hunt a ground blind where we could get out of the snow but by the time we hiked the one-third of a mile across a picked cornfield we were wet from the big snowflakes.
We didn’t see much from the ground blind so we started hunting a treestand 400 yards across the cornfield near a creek.
For two days we watched several good bucks, one a huge beast, chase does within bowrange of that ground blind.
We felt helpless because the wind was wrong to return the blind.
On Thursday the wind was supposed to change at midday so about noon we climbed down out of our tree and I hauled my two deer decoys across the cornfield and set them up in front of the blind.
We were hoping that one of those bucks would come into the field looking for a doe and spot my buck and doe decoys.
It worked like a charm.
Just before sundown one of the bucks we’d been watching stepped into the field and made a beeline for the decoys.
He circled around the fake deer and presented a shot.
The camera was rolling and the footage was perfect.
I drew my bow and took the 35 yard shot and my Kansas hunt was over.
The buck was a 6X4 that is one of my best.
It was a long three-week hunt filled with early morning wake-ups and long hours in treestands and blinds.
Still, it hasn’t become a job for me.
I’m certainly not complaining but it is good to be home.
N.D. MUZZLELOADER
The North Dakota muzzleloader season opens next Friday, Nov. 27 and there are still some antlerless tags remaining in certain units.
Hunters must draw a tag that allows them to hunt statewide but the extra doe tags, and any post-lottery doe tags left over from the gun season, may be filled with a muzzleloader but the hunter must hunt in the unit for which the doe tag is designated.
The muzzleloader season has become quite popular and it is one of the most difficult tags to draw for those who love to hunt with a front-end loader.
It’s a tough hunt though because the deer have just been harassed for 16 days by rifle hunters so it takes some work to get a deer with a muzzleloader.
That season runs through Dec. 13.
LAWNDALE CREEK?
The Minnesota DNR is proposing a project to convert abandoned State Ditch 14 in Wilkin County into 18,566 feet of meandered stream channel with in-stream features to improve habitat for trout and cold-water organisms.
I just took a quick look at the Environmental Assessment Worksheet and it appears to be a complex but thoroughly studied project done in much detail.
The DNR is looking for public input and the easiest way to do that is to go to the DNR news Website, look at the project documents online and comment online.
The Website that will get you there is http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/.
It’s a bit of a surprise they would be working to establish trout habitat but if they can pull it off and eventually provide some trout fishing in Wilkin County, more power to them.
It appears to be a worthwhile project.
If nothing else, an ugly old ditch will end up being a natural-looking creek that will provide habitat for all sorts of biota from invertebrates to large mammals.
SIXTH LION
Grassy Butte continues to be the hot spot for taking a mountain lion.
The sixth lion was taken near Grassy Butte on Nov. 19th by a deer hunter.
That lion was a 3-year old, 92 pound female.
Because the state has an eight lion quota for Zone 1, which is basically the southwest region of the state, the lion season will close when two more lions are killed or on March 31, whichever comes first.
When the eighth lion is down the media will be notified and the season will be closed.
However, in the rest of the state there is no quota and lions can be taken only by residents who hold a furbearer license, until the closing date of March 31.
SITES REMOVED
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has been operating collection sites at specific locations where deer hunters can deposit their deer heads for CWD and bovine tuberculosis testing.
Well, as of Monday those sites will be closed.
You could still donate a head but you’ll have to take it to a Game and Fish district office.
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