Just returned from a week-long vacation deer hunt here in Wisconsin (our annual gun season).

The conditions were near perfect, with morning temperatures in the high 20s/ low 30s and daytime highs just cresting 40. A rather slow opening morning turned into one to remember very quickly.

Situated high in a red oak, I was scanning a clearing when the sound of crunching leaves caught my attention at about 7 a.m. I look up and spied a mature doe sprinting wildly through the woods. She stopped every 10 yards or so to urinate and check her back trail. That's when I noticed a second deer! I could almost immediately see his antlers when he was still 100 yards out. The buck closed so fast that I merely confirmed he was mature before getting ready for a possible shot. That didn't take long. I would like to say that the hunt ended that quickly, but it didn't. At the shot, the buck ran out of sight and crossed a property line. However, all is well that ends well. The kind property owner graciously allowed me and my hunting party to enter his land to trail my deer. We found the deer within 75 yards of the property line.

The 13-pointer features 11-inch G-2s and G-3s, 6- and 9-inch brow tines and three 2-inch stickers at the bases. He grosses in the high 150s.

The rut was still in full swing in our area, with mature bucks actively pursuing does. It appears that the D&DH Calendar predictions were about as dead-on as could be expected. Lots of season to go! I will be heading to Kansas next ... after trying to fill a few more doe tags here at home, of course!

--Dan Schmidt

Opening-Day Buck
This year, gun season held a lot more excitement than normal because it was my 12-year-old daughter Cassie’s first year of gun-hunting. We had gone out during the early youth season and actually had a couple of really nice bucks in range, but things just didn’t work out.

Before I relay the story, I have to give you some information. I’ve taken all three of my children hunting for the past several years, and we always sit in the same heated box blind. I’ve taken some does with them but never a buck; not because we don’t see any, but more because I’ve always passed on them and waited for something really special.

This year, the children’s excitement was at an all-time high because they knew they would see a buck get shot if the opportunity arose. I knew they were excited when they sprang out of bed at 4:30 a.m., and by 5:10 a.m., we were sitting in the tower blind. The children were playing their Game Boys waiting for it to get light.

When they heard the first shot, they started scanning for deer. It wasn’t long before my 7-year-old son, Noah, said he saw a buck coming out. Sure enough, out walked a 10-pointer about 40 yards from the blind. We all needed to shift positions, and in the time it took for Cassie to get ready for a shot, the deer had walked out and was quartering away at a sharp angle. All she could see in the scope was the deer’s rump, so I told her to wait for a broadside shot. Something spooked the buck, and he turned and ran back toward the woods. I grunted twice and actually tried to whistle him to a stop, but to no avail. He kept running.

After the deer was out of sight, you could see the disappointment on the faces of my children especially Cassie’s. I told her there would be another deer, and that I thought I had seen a pretty good buck coming our way from the east. Just like clockwork, there he was. He was headed on a beeline directly to the stand.

I grabbed the DDH TV camera and start rolling film of the buck. I expected him to hit the food plot and turn right, and that Cassie would be able to shoot him right after he turned. However, the deer had other plans. He came in and turned left, which meant Cassie would need to shoot him out of the other window. I told her to switch positions, and I opened the window with my left hand. She positioned for the shot while I tried to find the deer in the viewfinder with one hand. I just got on the deer and started to focus when she shot, and I taped the deer running away.

The buck ran about 40 yards and stopped. I handed the camera to Noah and then reloaded the single-shot rifle for a second shot. By the time the gun was loaded, the deer had vanished. I thought he had probably gone down right there, so I told Cassie, “I think you got him.”

You can imagine the joy, but just a couple of minutes later, I saw a buck about the same size walk from our direction onto an oak ridge 400 yards away. My heart sank because I thought it was the same deer. I checked him out in the spotting scope and couldn’t see a mark on him. The only thing to do was get down and look for blood. Cassie wanted to because it was her deer, so I let her go down. She walked down the lane and didn’t see anything, so I handed the camera to my 9-year-old daughter, Jordan, and told her to keep it on Cassie. Then, I went down to help.

I was just putting my heavy coat on when Jordan yelled, “Cassie found him.” I looked out the window and saw her jumping up and down. We all piled out of the blind to look at the buck.

As soon as she saw us walking out of the blind, Cassie ran to me and gave me a big hug. That feeling was by far the best I’ve ever had in the deer woods. It was a great deer, and Cassie had made a perfect shot.

Later that day, Cassie also got a mature doe with another well-placed shot. It was a perfect ending to the first day of the season. She even said she might want to bow-hunting.

Only time will tell. I’m just glad to have another hunter in the family.

Tomorrow marks the opener of yet another deer-gun season here in Wisconsin and several other states.

We could not have asked for a better weather forecast:  Low of 24 and highs in the 30s. Slight northeast winds and a chance of flurries in the morning.

Our editorial offices will be a ghost-town next week...everyone is burning those vacation days! Be sure to check back on Monday for updates, and hopefully some success stories!

If you will be gun-hunting this week, be sure to remember the Big Three:

1. Treat every gun as if it were loaded.
2. Always point the barrel in a safe direction.
3. Be aware of your target and what's beyond it.

May your shots be true and your buck poles become heavy!

Here's to the hunt!

Dan

This photo harkens back to spring, but it is worth looking at once again. We do not know where the image came from, but apparently the fawn’s mother was nearby and soon came to its rescue.

It's official here in the upper Midwest: We are in the lockdown phase. I've also received confirmation from Charles Alsheimer that the same thing is happening in western New York. It does seem that southern areas in this region are a bit behind us (maybe a week).

I received a great report from Iowa from regular D&DH contributor Matt Harper yesterday. Matt arrowed a hog-bodied buck that tips the scales at 240 pounds (see pic below). The mainframe 10-pointer will easily net P&Y; grossing in the mid-130s.

D&DH Publisher Brad Rucks also downed a tremendous deer on Wednesday. He will be posting pics soon, so be sure to check back. It is a mainframe 10-point with three extra points (double G-2s and one double G-3). The buck grossed in the 140s, but it has more than 40 inches of mass!

Matt Harper's Iowa buck pic:

This photo was taken in Manitoba Canada

It's freezing this morning with little wind. I have to be honest: I would much rather be in the woods than sitting at a desk!

This is the first morning since mid-week last week that I did not see a "cruising" buck while driving the 10 miles north to Iola. I have yet to see one of those classic tending phase scenes of a big buck in a wide open field standing next to a bedded doe, but I will bet it will happen within the next few days. Several of you readers have already reported it. It does seem that us in the upper Midwest are at least a week ahead of the other "Northern" states (everyone above the 35th lat). All indications are also that the South's rut will drag well into December and beyond.

The following image is sobering, but a fact of life. This young buck was hit by an SUV just south of Iola on Monday. We found the buck still alive, with both of his hips shattered, struggling to crawl his way toward a wooded area near our local cemetery. It is a stark reminder that deer hunting is a much better, and more humane, option than the alternatives.

As a side note, because this deer was in the village limits, we contacted our local police chief who helped put this deer out of its misery quickly. The deer did not go to waste. Staff member Jacob Edson obtained a tag and kept the meat. Just another example of how hunters truly do care about this resource.