# How was your opening weekend?



## dakotadux (Nov 9, 2003)

I was just wondering how others have done on the first weekend of the deer huning season. My brother and I had a very successful Friday on the Arrowwood refuge north of Jamestown. We took 2 nice 4X4 bucks and a large doe! Seems to be no shortage of deer in that area. We must have seen 75 deer that day, not to mention one 10-12 pointer after we had filled our tags...isn't that always the case??

How did you guys do?

:sniper:


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## duckslayer (Oct 30, 2003)

:sniper:


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Filled my doe tag yesterday afternoon...30 yd. standing shot.

NEXT YEAR MY NAME GETS PUT IN 5 TIMES.MAYBE THEN I'LL GET A BUCK TAG.

Watched a dandy buck chasing a doe yesterday morning in the field behind my house.They bedded down in the Bottineau city limits.15 min. later another nice buck bedded there also.


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## lover of the hunt (Nov 9, 2003)

We got two larger doe yesterday. Walked a tree line and they stood up @ 30 TO 40 FEET ahead. Shot the first and the second didn't even move. They are both about 140-150 pounds. Good amount of meat, can't eat horns anyway.


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## Maverick (Mar 4, 2002)

I started a walk with my father and one of his good friends, on Sat. morning and had my Buck by the first 400 yards. A 5x5 That should sccore nicely. Then 1 hour later there was beautiful 4x4 that was about 50 lbs. heavier than mine that walked in front of OLDHUNTER and he dropped it at about 300 yards. Later on in the day my father's friend wants to show off so he dropped a doe that was sideways to him at about 400 yards. WOW It was ahellof a shot. Four more does followed. Somw with spots....some without.....

Great weekend!!!
No shortages of bucks in my part.

Mav....


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## T Shot (Oct 4, 2002)

Good to hear you guys getting some good bucks. Next weekend we start in SD, and you know I will be in the thick of it. I am the ONLY one in my party with a Buck tag (woo hoo!!!). We have been seeing some nice deer while out hunting, and kicked up a few young good bucks last season that were never shot, hopefully this is my year to put one on the wall. :sniper:


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## TANATA (Oct 31, 2003)

My opening weekend was nice. I wasn't going for the big buck, just a nice doe for the meat. I was posting at the end of the belt for about 2 minutes before I had a shot. A nice yearling doe came running out about 100 yards away at full bore. I dropped it with one shot to the spine. Then about 4 other does and a buck came out. My friend got the small buck and one of the does. Pretty exciting. :sniper:

Turns out the walker was just shooting at a nice rabbit. :lol:


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

I shot at and hit twice, with slugs(MN) the deer of a lifetime. I had two young guys that saw me shoot him, huge blood spatters where I hit him both times, the blood trail just ended. I couldn't believe the huge amount of blood where he was hit and the blood trail just quit. We later found a spot where we think he laid down and then the blood trail just tapered off and quits. My brother in law also saw the deer and he was bleeding on the opposite side of his body that I hit him on so the slug went through him. He was very high, and very wide, adn very thick beamed, and almost gray in color, I suppose due to age. My brother in law farms out there with my father in law and he said the deer was probably the largest he has ever seen, I know it was the biggest I have ever seen. When I hit him the first time he fell back a bit and I couldn't believe the width of his back. I know it sounds like a fish story but this deer was just an absolute monster. I am going back out there tommorrow morning and walk around for a few more hours. My wife thinks I am obsessed. We were done at 2:30 on sunday, 12 deer, only one doe on 90 acres of river bottom. The best we have ever done. I ended up with a very nice 4 x4. But I just can't believe that this deer is gone. I know that chances are he jumped the river but I have to get out and look some more. I spent an hour looking on Sat afternoon until dark, and then another two hours on Sunday afternoon until dark since we were done hunting early. I am just sick about this. I took good shots, didn't feel like I rushed or had "buck fever". I just don't know what went wrong. My brother in law said it looked like he was bleeding a bit too far back but he only saw him form 50 yards thru some real thick stuff. After reading this post you all probably agree with my wife, I am posessed!!! :******: :******: uke: uke:


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## GooseBuster3 (Mar 1, 2002)

I'm the guide this year, one brother has a Whitetail tag and the othe has a Muley tag. I'll take my youngest bro out next weekend so he can shoot his Whitetail and then the last 5 days of the season I'm going with my other brother and my Dad out west to shoot another monster muley. Just wish I could be carrying a gun!!! Hopefully the muleys will ben rut by next the last weekend then the big 190 class bucks well be out Roosevelt national park!! :beer:


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

Hunted 4b this weekend, saw lots of deer, mostly small bucks and does. Saturday Am, I spotted a decent muley and my season is over!! (4x4, 22 wide, 21 tall) not a huge deer, but now my goose season is in full swing!!! :lol: :lol:


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## indsport (Aug 29, 2003)

Wife was done on Friday, me on Saturday in 2G with our doe permits. Went out Sunday morning in the fog and drizzle to look over locations I scouted prior to the season and the red coats were everywhere in unit 2I. Of the interesting things I saw: 1) 4 pickups with 10 hunters surrounding a 5 acre woodlot. They had 15 tags to fill. 2) While watching from a safe distance, two groups of 10 hunters each on a quarter section of CRP, one group heading west, the other group heading east from the other end and neither could see each other because of the hill in the middle. Did not see anyone shot but with the fog and hill, it could have happened. 3) Surveyed all the unposted land and PLOTS land in my township and every piece had at least one hunting party working it over. Some 2 acre sloughs were being walked by 4 hunters. 4) From a good high vantage point, watched a pair of small does kicked up from a slough and saw no less than 8 hunters shoot at them as they ran across 4 sections of land to a posted area. 5) Heard bullets fly over my stopped vehicle at least 3 times during the morning. I wonder what hunter safety course those folks took. Needless to say, the pressure was huge on Sunday. I am waiting for Tuesday or Thursday to finally hunt in 2I.


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

Indsport, Thats why I apply for a tag in the badlands. More hills to stop the idiots bullets!!! :lol:


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## muskat (Mar 5, 2002)

Still havent filled my buck tag.........

On the other hand, had two really nice bucks taken with our group, along with the few doe hunters tagging.


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## browningboy (Mar 30, 2003)

i shot a pretty nice size doe
I shot a huge doe also
i got 2 more doe tags left
its hard to get a buck tag when u r15


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## mallard (Mar 27, 2002)

Dj,you probably allready know this,it is recomended with a gut hit to wait 24 hours before pursuing a deer.I have seen them where the entrance and exit holes plug up with fat and they are extremely tough to track.I know it isnt legal,but a friend uses a lab to track down gut shot deer.I filled my buck tag on friday getting 6X5 with 11" tines and 5 1/2" at the bases.biggest buck I have ever shot :beer: .


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## pjb1816 (Sep 8, 2003)

I've seen a couple of CWD testing sites around town, anyone stop and get that done?


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## browningboy (Mar 30, 2003)

i had one fo my does get tested for the fun of it


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## spoiler92 (Jul 30, 2003)

:lol: 
We had 6 guys in our party, only one Buck tag. He got his buck about 3pm Friday. A big 6X6 but not a real tall or wide rack. One doe about 4pm Friday and that was all. Got our first doe Saturday just after dawn, then we got one Saturday about 1030 and my little button buck, could only feel nubs, just a couple minutes after noon, and the final doe about 230 Saturday. It was a good harvest and a ton of fun, as we took home our possesion limit in pheasants and got a few huns and sharpies too.

Keep shooting straight,

ICEMAN


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Went out this am to look for Mr. Big again....no luck. There will be some guys hunting there this weekend, but I am thinking he got across the river. I will probably contact the ND landowner and see if he will let me nose around over there for a while. It's just hard to know where to start. Damn this sucks!!!! :evil: :evil: :evil:


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Eric shot "the buck of a lifetime" according to his account...kind of surprised he hasn't posted up yet. I'll get pics up as soon as they're developed.


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## Eric Hustad (Feb 25, 2002)

That's right I shot my big buck. A 5x5 that they say scores a 172 and I am still excited. As a group we took 8 deer which is pretty good and we saw a lot of deer. We are going back out this weekend to goof and maybe fill another tag or two. Hey Chris can you send me the directions on how to post up pictures?? It has been awhile and I have forgotten.


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## gaddyshooter (Oct 12, 2003)

djl, looks like its been a few days, so finding him will be very tough. Just a few suggestions, i have always been told that injured deer will usually try to find water if possible to get into. I don't know what size river your talking of, but check close to the shoreline and check around any logs, or trees that may be laying in the water to see if it maybe got in there to hide. Good luck.


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## BRYAN_REMER (Sep 24, 2003)

Filled our 5 tags between the 3 of us by noon on sunday in MN. My older brother shot his first buck, a big-bodied 4x2. It had busted its main beam off at the G2. Nice deer but some TOUGH steaks. After eating the tenderloins for supper, we decided the rest should get ground up for pepper sticks and sausage. None of our deer were near the lifetime status but they should taste good, and we helped thin the huge herd back home. In our 20 acres of woods there were 7 deer shot last weekend, and the most of the groups around us were near 75% filled by sunday afternoon.


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## browningboy (Mar 30, 2003)

where do u gusy go at?
i go by turtle river state park


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## equinox (Oct 31, 2003)

gusy?
:eyeroll:


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Yea Gaddy, I walked the river. It is the red river and there was pretty solid ice the day I shot him. I walked thru some of the nastiest tangles of old washed up log jams you have ever seen on Tuesday am. I am pretty sure that he got across the river into ND and WHo knows where from there. It really is frustrating. There will be a group of guys walking thru there for second season this weekend so maybe they will spot him but my hopes are not high. It wouldn't bother me so much if I thought he was alive but I am almost sure he is dead somewhere!! :******: :******:


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## fishhook (Aug 29, 2002)

That happens....a couple of years ago my cousin shot a big 4x4 and we tracked that thing all afternoon. Even saw some hunters who said it ran right by them with blood pumping out of its chest every heart beat. Now you tell me how he made it over 2 miles. Must have been a lung shot. The storie ends when at dark we gave it up for the day and decided to go back in the morning....well as luck would have it it snowed that night and we never did find it.

As for this season. I didn't see a big guy all weekend. Pretty strange. Ended up shooting a smaller 4x4...thought he was bigger. But i did see a heck of a bull moose. He was a dandy.


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## gaddyshooter (Oct 12, 2003)

Yeah that sucks big time, but unfortunately it happens. I lost a nice 8 pointer a few years ago. Got over to where he was when I shot him and there was blood all over the place, on the ground, on some of the trees. Followed it for about a hundred yards and all of a sudden, nothing. No trace of blood anywhere. Walked all over the place and never did find it.


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## browningboy (Mar 30, 2003)

where do u guys all go at


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## smokee (Sep 8, 2003)

Browning Boy - I don't think I can fix all your problems, but you should know it is bad form to ask people where they bag their game. People commit to hard work and scouting to find and shoot their deer/birds/etc. You need to get off this. Besides, they could tell you exactly where they hunt, and you might not find shi#. That's the nature of hunting. Do your own work.


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## browningboy (Mar 30, 2003)

i jsut wanna see what towns


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## Austin Bachmeier (Feb 27, 2002)

I heard theres some huge Bucks in Cuba, why don't you go check it out BB?


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## browningboy (Mar 30, 2003)

umm ok????
ill give 1200 for that 10 gauge


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## browningboy (Mar 30, 2003)

how much u want for it then?


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## browningboy (Mar 30, 2003)

haha


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