Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Birth of a deer camp

yessir, same one.

Just found this thread last evening about 11pm. What a great read; I worked through the first 80 pages last evening and then had to put down my laptop to get some sleep. Dave, you are doing a wonderful thing for your family and your cousin�s son. I, too, grew up in northern Minnesota, on �da range�. I shot my first deer in 1966 when my dad set me by a big norway pine on opening day. I�ll never forget that morning � it was -22. I wore an old pair of white felt US Army �bunny boots�, as they were called, and toted a 30-40 Krag my dad had bought for me. About 9am a spike buck appeared, just like magic � one minute nothing and then there, not 20 yards, he stood frozen, like me, staring back. I raised the old Krag and pulled the trigger � nothing; the cold temps had frozen the oil on the bolt hammer and it did not fall. I worked the bolt, the spiker stood motionless, and I pulled the trigger again � my very first deer on the ground. When your son is my age, he will remember his first deer as though it was yesterday.

I thought I would mention a tradition our camp started in 1999. My dad was an avid hunter and brought my brothers and me up, as you are your family. He passed away in Sept 1999. At the camp we hung his blaze orange, leather, well-worn, bomber-style hat on a nice set of antlers on the wall. From that day forward, anytime someone in our camp takes a 10-pointer or better, the lucky hunter gets to take down the hat and wear it through the end of the next day. Since 1999, the hat has been worn three times � once by my sister�s husband�s brother, once by me, and this past fall, by my father�s grandson, who shot his first deer at 11 years old � a ten-pointer; he will never forget his first deer and the honor of wearing �the hat� for day.

Gophergunner, I'm having a hard time on Fish Lake. I moved my house 4 times. Finally marking fish constantly but not biting.I have been fishing in the morning after i drop the kids off at school..Been to busy for night fishing, running the kids around.
12 inches of ice here as well ive been walking out or atv.
Ive heard theirs a crappie bite at night on Prior.

Thanks for the welcome, fellows. Thought I'd share my story from this past fall with you.

As mentioned on my first post, I've been hunting whitetail on the Minnesota iron range since 1966. I now hunt out of nice permanent stand my son and I built four years ago, which replaced the old metal ladder stand I�d used for years. The stand overlooks a nice cleared field with jackpine, spruce, popple and alder around the perimeter. The longest shot possible is 110 yards. This year I decided to try handgun hunting. I picked up a Contender in 7-30 Waters with a 14� barrel and worked up loads over the summer. It is astoundingly accurate; my best loads gave me sub 1� at 100 yards off a supported bench. On opening day at about 4:45 a nice buck stepped into the far end of the field headed northwest at about 90 yards out. I steadied the contender with the muzzle outside the window and fired � missed ... definite shakes!! The buck was startled, ran a small 20 yard circle out of and right back into the field at the far end. He stopped, locked up solid, and froze there like a statue trying to figure out what was up. I opened the breach, put in another round, and quickly pulled up, took aim and fired. In my haste, I did not to get the muzzle outside of the window, which is supported in the up position by a wood stick on each side. The contender cracked, the buck lurched, and the wooden plywood window jumped up from the muzzle blast, the support sticks fell and the window slammed shut. I could not hear anything from the blast. I opened the window, looked down at the end of the field � the buck had dropped right in his tracks. Here�s a pic of em, an 8-pointer. What a rush!!!

Fish Lake by Duluth?

A 99 needs to be the house for the .300 Savage cartridge if you want to shoot a .30 caliber, just saying......

It is ideal for your stand location!