Dunn and Pepin counties (Durand area), public land.
I drive back nearly every year to hunt with friends, I grew up in Rock Falls but moved away when I joined the Navy in 1971. We do pretty well each season and I don't ever recall not getting our deer as adults. (We were dumb as stumps when we were young hunters.)
Day 1 - Saturday (2 - hunters - 2 deer down)
We saw three deer, two does and a decent 10 point (152 lbs at the weigh station).
Day 2 - Sunday (2 - hunters, 1 - deer down)
We saw four deer, all does.
Day 3 - Monday (2 - hunters, 0 - deer down)
No deer seen this day (different area and tactics).
Day 4 - Tuesday (2 - hunters, 2 does down)
We saw 6 deer, 2 of which were bucks.
Day 5 - Wednesday (No hunting)
Rain - we butchered deer.
Day 6 - Thursday (No hunting)
(Thanksgiving day - my son flew in from Fort Lewis, WA for hunting and to visit. Venison roast for Thanksgiving.)
Day 7 - Friday (3 hunters - 3 does down)
(We saw 5 deer, all does.)
Day 8 - Saturday (no hunting)
We are done hunting for the season - all deer "orders" are filled.
Day 9 - Sunday (no hunting)
Back to the Minneapolis to drop my son off for the flight back to Fort Lewis.
All told, we saw about 15 does and 3 bucks.
It was nice to be able to use rifles all season instead of switching between shotgun and rifle.
We didn't see as many hunters as usual. There was one party of eight recovering from a "drive" but other than that we saw a few pairs of hunters. We may have come across 10 or 12 hunters while moving about in the woods.
I saw a few nice bucks at the local "big buck" weigh stations (community bars).
Something I thought quite unusual was that I dodn't come across any Hmongs. Usually I see a few groups but this year none. I kind of enjoy meeting and chatting with them about their ethnic cuisine but they were missing this year, sort of a let down.
