-By Brandon Wikman

Summer is a time when hunters hone their archery skills and try to outdo their shooting performance from last year. It is an ideal time to tweak, tick, and twiddle with new gear or accessories. The summer drags most archers into their front yard or local shooting range to plunk away [...]]]> by Moultrie Feeders

-By Brandon Wikman

Summer is a time when hunters hone their archery skills and try to outdo their shooting performance from last year. It is an ideal time to tweak, tick, and twiddle with new gear or accessories. The summer drags most archers into their front yard or local shooting range to plunk away on bag, block, or 3D targets. I’ve learned that it is crucial to your practice regimen that you invest efforts into piercing arrows in the correct target at the correct time.

Several professional hunters and archers are quick to say that practicing is only as good as you make it out to be. These words and tips of suggestion are coming from people that practice every single day of their life. They constantly shape their form, mold techniques, and improve the ending result of their scores. Practice shooting life-sized animal targets improves a hunter’s success tremendously in the field, whereas practicing at bulls eyes primarily sculpts competitive target shooters.

Firing arrows into a realistic looking target trains your mind and sinks the recollection of crunch time into a practical perspective. Shooting at tiny round circles works great for dialing your bow into ‘hunt-ready performance.’ I use bag and block targets to gauge my accuracy, adjust my sights, and gain confidence in my shot. The only downer of shooting at the speckled dots is that they’re nowhere to be found on the chest of a real animal! Your trained archery hunting eyes must magically put the bulls-eye on a walking whitetail or drinking antelope. Practicing on life-sized animal targets train your shooting instincts.

Many bear hunters who dare hauling a bow and arrow into the woods never practice at a bear target. They spend there entire spring and summer simply plunking arrows into the center of their fluffy bag target until it erodes. Or they may have only jabbed a dozen arrows into the vitals of a deer target, which is completely different than the physical makeup of a bear. The importance of shooting practice is only as good as you make it out to be.

Many outfitters and guides have clients who’ve saved tons of green over the past couple years for an exciting trophy elk or mountain lion hunt but they have never punched arrows into anything that even closely mimics the vital organ placement, shape, or body of the animal there going to be pursuing. Each animal you plan on hunting must be scrutinized to the max. The knowledge and understanding of an animal’s vitals and anatomy is what slices the diehard hunter from the rest of the pack. Don’t be afraid to drop a hundred more dollars on the animal target that you’ll be hunting. There’s no sense spending thousands of dollars without taking a serious mental aim on what you will be chasing. You must put your frame of mind to the ultimate test by introducing new ways to stimulate better practice.

I’ve taken these game-chasing lessons and used them to my advantage. Last year, with the help of some friends and family, I constructed a virtual hunting experience in my woods. It is an archery-hunting course crafted for every hunter in North America. There are over twenty shooting stations that range from a distance of 10-yards to 60-yards. Each station has a different animal placed in a specific scenario. Whether it’s a bear climbing a tree, a moving fox, or a whitetail sipping an afternoon drink, the course gives people the most realistic practice experience.

Taking your archery practice to a higher-level is an essential step in building your killing abilities. Dedicate time to create your very own mock-hunting experience that you can share with your friends and family. You may want to implement tree stands, ground blind stations, and moving targets. There are endless opportunities and a mixture of fun situations to mock. It is a great way to increase your accuracy and boost your overall shooting confidence.

-By Brandon Wikman

Summer seems to strike a golden chord with savvy archers awaiting the opener. It is a time when we prep ourselves mentally and physically for the dawning of a new season that lies only weeks ahead. Our goals are set, anticipation is high, and now we sit tight, holding on to [...]]]> by Moultrie Feeders

-By Brandon Wikman

Summer seems to strike a golden chord with savvy archers awaiting the opener. It is a time when we prep ourselves mentally and physically for the dawning of a new season that lies only weeks ahead. Our goals are set, anticipation is high, and now we sit tight, holding on to last year’s cherished memories. These recollections will soon evolve into this year’s fresh moments of enlightenment as we move into the later stages of summer.

This time of the year is always my most difficult time to cope with. Like many hunters, my calendar counts down the days until opening weekend of archery season. Deer season couldn’t come any sooner, but as it often does for many of us, by September we are wishing we’d put an extra few days of planting food plots, checking cameras, and scouting. Instead of daydreaming about the season, take action to make it the best hunt of your life by successfully preparing a game plan.

During different stages of the day, my mind departs and wanders into the forest. My imagination strolls down deer trails, overlooks hunting property from a birds-eye-view, and plants rich food plots in areas I’d never step camouflage boot in. During the afternoon grind reality splinters the ceiling of my office into tiny fragments of ideas and chunks of drywall clobber me over the head bringing an unsettled ambition to create one more nutritious plot, hang another stand, and burn more gas taking rides around the block with my binoculars strung around my neck. It is these small innovations of strategy that will make us all more successful hunters.

During the next few weeks I will be taking advantage of the extra time by hanging a few more stands around a freshly planted food plot that will be monitored by my handy game camera. Deer are constantly mowing greens right now. You will find bucks juicing-up on protein rich foods that will help them build muscle for the November brawls that lie ahead. Does are not so different. They are inhaling masses of soybean, alfalfa, and clover, which helps them feed their young. I’ve always found that placing my trail camera along field edges during this time of year yields many more photos.

As the shadows of dusk blanket the horizon, mature whitetails step foot into the limelight. It is a perfect time burn a few miles and ignite buck fever by driving around the areas you hunt. I will often times park behind brush or a wall of trees to remain hidden as I drool at the velvet covered bone from the eye-piece of my spotting scope. There’s nothing like glassing fields that are speckled with monster whitetail and knowing your tree stand’s only yards away. You must ask yourself, “Are you ready?”

Many hunters sit back and relax as opening day pulls the carpet from beneath their spotless boots. Prepare yourself now so you can pull the rug from beneath that buck’s hooves!

Minnesota’s moose hunters took 111 bull moose in this fall’s Northeastern Minnesota moose season, which ran Oct. 4 to 19.

Tags were issued to 237 parties hunting in 30 zones. Hunting success was 47 percent. Last year, moose hunters took 115 moose for [...]]]> From the Duluth News Tribune
published Nov. 2, 2008

About half of Minnesota moose hunters successful

Minnesota’s moose hunters took 111 bull moose in this fall’s Northeastern Minnesota moose season, which ran Oct. 4 to 19.

Tags were issued to 237 parties hunting in 30 zones. Hunting success was 47 percent. Last year, moose hunters took 115 moose for a 50 percent success rate. For the second year, the hunt was for bulls only.

Several thousand parties apply for Minnesota moose licenses each year. Since 1991, the hunt has been a once-in-a-lifetime hunt. This year, 2,706 parties applied for moose hunting permits. Minnesota’s moose population is estimated at 7,600.

Corn coming out slowly

Wet weather slowed Minnesota’s corn harvest from Oct. 21 to 27, according to the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s Minnesota crop report. That’s important to the state’s pheasant hunters, for whom hunting improves as more corn is harvested and pheasants move into grasslands.

As of Monday, 30 percent of the state’s corn had been harvested, about half as much as last year and half as much as the recent five-year average. Weather has been good this past week, and farmers have been able to make more progress in the fields.

Another USDA crop report will be released on Monday.

Bowhunters do well at Ripley

Archers took a record 325 deer during the first of two two-day bow hunts held Oct. 19-20 at Camp Ripley Military Reservation near Little Falls, Minn.

That was a 41 percent increase from last year and is 160 percent above the long-term average harvest, according to a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources news release. Hunter success was about 15 percent (7 percent higher than the long-term average of 8 percent).

Be careful in tree stands

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources urges hunters to follow safety procedures when using tree stands. Five tree-stand accidents occurred during the early antlerless season Oct. 11-12.

Here are some safety tips:

* Follow the three-point rule: Always have three points of contact to the steps or ladder before moving (two arms and one leg or one arm and two legs).

* Be cautious when rain, frost, ice or snow cause steps to become slippery.

* Never carry equipment with you while you are climbing. Use haul lines to raise or lower gear. Make sure guns are unloaded and broadheads covered before moving them.

* Always wear a safety harness when you are in a tree stand, as well as when climbing into or out of a tree stand.

* A safety strap should be attached to the tree to prevent you from falling more than a foot.

* Always inspect the safety harness for signs of wear or damage before each use.

* Check permanent tree stands every year before hunting from them, and replace any worn or weak lumber.

* Inspect portable stands for loose nuts and bolts before each use.

Minnesota conservation officers are literally coming under fire this hunting season.

A recent DNR report says three game wardens have been nearly hit by accidental gun discharges.

One of those incidents happened near Grand Marais when a moose hunter accidentally fired his rifle just before an officer started checking licenses.

Russ Isola is [...]]]> From the NorthlandNewsCenter.com
published Oct. 14, 2008

Minnesota conservation officers are literally coming under fire this hunting season.

A recent DNR report says three game wardens have been nearly hit by accidental gun discharges.

One of those incidents happened near Grand Marais when a moose hunter accidentally fired his rifle just before an officer started checking licenses.

Russ Isola is a Minnesota DNR trained gun safety instructor.

He thinks all hunters should take a safety course that would reduce the dangers conservation officers and other hunters face in the field from improper gun handling.

“The hunter education program definitely corrects that!” says Isola.
He states it’s not young kids that are unsafe.

“The older hunters are the ones you actually have problems with because they haven’t had a hunter education class.” according to Isola.
That’s because Minnesotans born after 1979 have to graduate from the class to get a hunting license.

In the class, students get the scoop on proper gun handling. Russ demonstrates on an old Higgins 12 guage.

“If you take a look, you can see the firearm is empty and it’s pointed in a safe direction.”

Most hunter education classes in Minnesota have already wrapped up for 2008 but there is a self study option.

“If you are 18 or over you can go online and do a course if you are 18 or older.”

Isola, who’s been a safe hunter all his life, says firearms safety is a life or death matter.

“That’s why you definitely want to be safe because hurting somebody will definitely put a crimp in your day.”

Dave Anderson, the Northland’s News Center.

Procedures for Independent Study On-Line Course:
Step 1: Complete the activity “Using your Minnesota Hunting and Trapping Regulations handbook” . Print out and show to the volunteer instructor at the field/exam session.
Step 2: Complete the Hunting dilemmas worksheet. Print out the questions, write your answers on a separate sheet of paper, and show to the volunteer instructor at the field/exam session.
Step 3: Complete the on-line course located at IHEA online . Print out your results to show the volunteer instructor.
Step 4: Assemble and bring to the field/exam session a basic survival kit as suggested in the IHEA on-line curriculum.
Step 5: Attend and successfully complete the field/exam session. Contact a DNR Certified Firearm Safety volunteer instructor to review your independent study coursework and to schedule an exam session and field day with the instructor, either in conjunction with a currently scheduled class or coordinated individually.

You will be provided with a temporary certificate upon successful completion of the above steps. A certificate will be sent to you from the Safety Training office. Certification endorsements will also appear on your Minnesota resident driver’s license or identification card when you obtain or renew it.
Cost: The fee is the same as the traditional Firearm Safety course of $7.50 – $15.00 collected by the instructor. Checks can be made payable to the Department of Natural Resources. The fee amount is subject to change at any time without prior notice.

If license sales are any indication, deer hunters in part of Northeastern Minnesota are excited about the upcoming early antlerless firearms deer hunt.

The hunt, Oct. 11-12, is being held to bring deer populations closer to goals set by the Department of Natural Resources. This is the first time [...]]]> From the Duluth News Tribune
published Oct. 5, 2008

If license sales are any indication, deer hunters in part of Northeastern Minnesota are excited about the upcoming early antlerless firearms deer hunt.

The hunt, Oct. 11-12, is being held to bring deer populations closer to goals set by the Department of Natural Resources. This is the first time an early-season firearms antlerless hunt has been held in Northeastern Minnesota. It will be held in permit areas 178, 180, 181 and 182, bounded roughly by Duluth, Floodwood, Hibbing, Virginia, Brimson and Silver Bay. Licenses still are available.

“We’re doing really good on selling licenses for the early antlerless season,” said Tasha Stewart of Chalstrom’s Bait and Tackle just north of Duluth.

After buying a basic firearms or muzzleloader license, a hunter can buy one or two $7.50 permits, each good for tagging one antlerless deer. Most hunters are buying two tags, Stewart said.

The license-buying rush was Sept. 3-4 at Fisherman’s Corner, Alex Kusch said. For some reason, hunters thought they needed to buy them Sept. 4, the deadline for hunters seeking doe permits in lottery permit areas. While that wasn’t true, it motivated a lot of hunters to buy licenses early.

“I still think there will be another rush that Friday night before the season,” Kusch said.

At the Bear’s Den in Twig, owner Rob Parrott has received lots of calls about the hunt.

“We’ve had a lot of interest. I’m getting a lot of calls from adults wanting to take their kids out when the weather’s nice and there are fewer hunters in the woods, a safety thing,” Parrott said.

The season is getting a lot of chatter in the Virginia area.

“It’s been talked about a lot,” said Vaughn Herhusky of the Lucky Seven in Virginia. “It’s more talk than licenses. We’re selling licenses for it, but it’s not a rush. Most hunters are in favor of it [the two-day season] because the deer population is so high.”

“That was the No. 1 thing in the public input meetings — people said there were too many animals,” said Mark Johnson, executive director of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, referring to deer stakeholder meetings held by the Department of Natural Resources. “And if folks don’t want all the venison, they should remember the venison donation program.”

Hunters need to be aware that the weather could be warm, and they need to make plans to care for any deer they kill, Parrott said.

“I know a lot of people are going to want to shoot an animal, then sit there and wait for another one,” he said. “If it’s above 60, I’d suggest they either get it gutted and get some ice in the body cavity or get it to a processing center. It doesn’t take that long to taint the meat.”

The Bear’s Den is one of several processing businesses that will be available to take hunters’ deer that weekend.

The early firearms hunt is superimposed over the ongoing bowhunting season, which opened Sept. 13 and continues through Dec. 31. Most bowhunters still will go into the woods when firearms hunters are out, said John Chalstrom of Chalstrom’s Bait and Tackle. They’ll have to meet the same blaze-orange requirements that firearms hunters do on that weekend rather than wearing their customary camouflage clothing.

A number of rules have changed this fall in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. Here are the highlights.

1. A new deer-hunting season in Minnesota. As announced earlier this fall, the state will hold an antlerless deer season the weekend of Oct. 11-12 in four deer management units around and [...]]]> From the Duluth News Tribune
published Sept. 14, 2008

A number of rules have changed this fall in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. Here are the highlights.

1. A new deer-hunting season in Minnesota. As announced earlier this fall, the state will hold an antlerless deer season the weekend of Oct. 11-12 in four deer management units around and north of Duluth. The units are 178, 180, 181 and 182. This is a firearms season aimed at bringing down deer populations deemed too high. Your regular firearms deer license will work for this season, but you’ll need to buy special antlerless-only permits specifically for this hunt. They’re $7.50 each, available at license outlets, and they’re good for this hunt only.

2. Yes, bowhunters will have to wear blaze orange that weekend in those areas. If you plan to bowhunt in those permit areas (see No. 1) on Oct. 11-12, you’ll need to follow the firearms deer hunting requirements for wearing blaze orange, which means blaze orange “on the visible portion of your cap and outer clothing above the waist, excluding sleeves.” Blaze-orange camouflage of at last 50 percent blaze orange in each square foot is legal.

3. Yes, small-game hunters will have to follow the same blaze-orange requirements that weekend in those areas. Instead of the usual “one article of clothing above the waist” in blaze orange, if you’re hunting grouse or other small game in those permit areas (see No. 1), you’ll have to follow the blaze-orange requirements for firearms deer hunting (see No. 2) Exempt from the blaze orange requirement during the antlerless deer hunt in these permit areas are migratory waterfowl hunters on waters and in a stationary location. Also, trappers on water are exempt.

4. New Minnesota deer license choices this fall. Gone are the all-season buck license and the multi-zone buck license. Now you buy your deer licenses a la carte — one for bowhunting season, one for firearms season, one for muzzleloader season.

5. More opportunities for young hunters — In Minnesota, a person 10 or 11 may take big game without a license or firearms safety certificate if he or she is under the direct supervision of a parent or guardian who is within immediate reach and licensed to take the big game. Big game taken by the 10- or 11-year-old must be tagged with the parent or guardian’s license.

6. No more validating deer licenses. If you are fortunate enough to shoot a deer in Minnesota this fall, you won’t have to validate your deer license. But you’ll still need to validate your site tag at the site of kill.

7. Deer baiting clarified. The wording of Minnesota’s baiting law has been fine-tuned. It’s on page 71 of the 2008 Hunting and Trapping Regulations Handbook.

8. Early antlerless deer hunt in Wisconsin. After a two-year moratorium and not enough antlerless deer taken, Wisconsin’s early antlerless deer hunt returns in Herd Control units. Nearly all units in Northwestern Wisconsin are Herd Control units. The four-day antlerless hunt will be Oct. 16-19. Hunters may use any Antlerless Deer Carcass Tags valid in Herd Control units. The permits, $2 each, are unlimited. A December antlerless hunt (Dec. 11-14) also will be held again this year.

9. Blaze-orange requirement on Wisconsin ground blinds. Blaze orange (a minimum of 144 square inches) is required on ground blinds on Department of Natural Resources-controlled lands during any gun or muzzleloader deer season, and the blaze orange must be visible 360 degrees around the blind. Also, ground blinds must be identified with the owner’s DNR customer-ID number or name and address when not occupied during the day.

10. Donating deer heads for CWD research in Wisconsin. Hunters in 18 northern Wisconsin counties will be encouraged but not required to donate adult deer heads this fall. A sample of 500 heads from each county is required for CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease) surveillance. Hunters donating deer heads will be able to keep the antlers.

The early antlerless firearms deer season in areas near Duluth also will include bowhunters, according to Roger Tietz, operations support manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Little Falls, Minn.

“If an archer out there wants to buy that $7.50 permit, we’re going to let them do [...]]]> From the Duluth News Tribune
published Sept. 9, 2008

The early antlerless firearms deer season in areas near Duluth also will include bowhunters, according to Roger Tietz, operations support manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Little Falls, Minn.

“If an archer out there wants to buy that $7.50 permit, we’re going to let them do it,” Tietz said.

Tietz said it was not the DNR’s intent that bowhunters take part in the early antlerless hunt, but wording about the hunt did not specifically exclude them. He said the DNR probably will change the wording next year, so that only firearms hunters may take part in that hunt.

Minnesota’s bowhunting season opens Saturday and continues through Dec. 31, so the bowhunting season already will be under way during the Oct. 11-12 early antlerless firearms season. The inclusion of bowhunters in the hunt means they will be able to buy antlerless permits for $7.50, which are valid for that weekend only. Antlerless bonus permits valid for the rest of the bow season cost $14 each.

The inclusion of bowhunters in the early antlerless season Oct. 11-12 also means that bowhunters registered for the city of Duluth’s bowhunt may use the $7.50 permits in that hunt, Tietz said. Firearms hunters are not allowed to hunt within city limits.

Phillip Lockett, president of the Arrowhead Bowhunters Alliance, said it was his understanding, too, that bowhunters could use the $7.50 permits Oct. 11-12 in the Duluth hunt. The ABA conducts the Duluth bowhunt for the city.