Whitetail Deer Hunt 2010!

Wow, another deer season has come and gone!  As the old folks say, time flies when you get old. I never really understood what they meant until I got old, now I get it!

The 2010 season was bittersweet for me.  The bitter part is that my daughters were too busy to hunt this year. Anne now in college and Kayla devoted to her swimming and diving team. I am proud of the girls for working very hard!  Anne has already shot two nice bucks and Kayla brings great joy and good cooking skills to deer camp.  The sweet part is seeing my niece Haley in her first deer hunt.  Hopefully the warm camper and good weather will spark her interest and keep her hunting!  Also, I shot my nicest buck ever! 

This year's lineup of hunters includes the famous Mr. Erp for  Marshfield Wisconsin, my brother Dave from White Bear Township, my brother John and his daughter Haley from Lake Elmo and yours truly.  We have an assortment of guns and ammo, lots of good food and a can do attitude required for deer hunting.  This year I was given a nice pickup camper for Mr. Morin.  It will be fun to get a good night of sleep without freezing!  Thanks Mike!!

'93 Silverado with camper

The lineup of guns includes:  two model 700 Remingtons (.270 Win and .280 Rem), two model 336 Marlins in the venerable 30-30 Win., a model X Winchester in 30-06 and a potent .410 slug gun.  Rifles sure work well as our hunting location is a mixture of hills, swamps and open grass land yielding a maximum range of about 250 yards.  We have six tree stands spread out on the 45 acre plot with good coverage and specific return routes to the cabin if you shoot your deer early.

Erp's Camper - Dave making burgers

Opening Day Saturday November 6th.

John and Haley hunted in "Annie's Stand" and enjoyed a nice time together with coffee and snacks.  Annie's stand was originally build for my daughter Anne and me.  Enough room for both of us with a view to the north, a hill behind and our first buck taken from Annie's stand a few years ago.  John (Jin) and Haley shot out a few text messages to keep in touch with everyone and possibly an MP3 player to keep the boredom to a minimum.  Haley did a great job of keeping quiet, keeping her eyes open and keeping her dad from falling asleep.  Way to go Haley!  



Papa John and daughter Haley 



Dave hunted in "Jin's Stand".  A large oak tree which backs up to a woods full of butternut and oak trees.  Woods are to the north, east and west of the stand.  A view to the south allows the hunter to watch a 1 acre swamp, a hillside and a portion of the distant 10 acre bean field.  The cabin is a stone's throw away if you get hungry. At 8:45 Dave was spotted by a 4 point buck and wasn't able to get off a shot.  Good for him because a few minutes later a large 8 pointer appeared from the woods.  3 quick shots with his 30-30 lever action Marlin took down this heavy deer with a well developed 8 point rack. Largest deer taken from the property.  Nice work Dave!!

The Brute!

Erpy hunted in "Gibba's Stand".  This stand is located at the highest elevation of the property.  It affords a great view to the east, a brushed out trail along the west, but unfortunately it has yet to produce deer. However the eastern view gives the hunter a chance for a long shot.  Although Erpy didn't see any deer, he did see the huge peasant rooster who'd been making a racket all morning.  Stand kinda squeaky on a windy day due to the construction between three small trees and a buried timber  We are continually learning about stand design.

I hunted in "Jonathan's Stand".  My nephew Jonathan and I built this stand about 5 years ago. It is located in a boxelder at the southern end of the property along a large swamp.  It faces southeast and allows the hunter to cover the swamp, hillside and a potential long shot to the north.  This year we didn't get a chance for the usual stand maintenance so I had to rebuild the stand on Friday night before the opener. I would never had done this a few years ago.  Back then we consumed the "advise" of Dr. Ken Nordberg and his methods of deer hunting. Although good ideas, they are not always practical.  The good doctor would have frowned on pounding nails 12 hours before opener.  On the way to the stand, I kicked up three does as I drove the Paul's Polaris Sportsman.

Facing southeast across the swamp

Anyway, the stand was repaired and I was hunkered down with a loaded model 700 in .280 Remington by 7:15 Saturday morning. Since daylight savings time doesn't happen until the next day, we woke up at our normal time.  At 8:00 I heard noise from the brush line across the swamp.  After 15 minutes a doe came into view at the edge of a bean field south of the property line.  I could hear grunting from the brush by the swamp and knew a buck must be traveling with this doe.  Sure enough, a wide racked 8 pointer appeared in the brush.  All I could see was the rack.  I couldn't tell which direction the body was facing.  Slowly I lifted my Remington and picked up the buck in my Vari-X II Leopold scope.  This scope has allowed me to get two deer I could not have taken without a good quality scope.  I put the cross hairs on the bucks right shoulder and squeezed of a round.  The buck moved forward about 5 ft, turned around and dropped dead.  The 139 grain Sierra Pro-Hunter ripped a gorge through the heart killing it instantly.  Sure pays to have good equipment!

My best Whitetail

After field dressing the buck, I sat in my stand another hour, but didn't see any deer. Back for Paul's  Sportsman to haul out the deer.  Found out the hard way that the electronic four wheel drive wasn't working and I buried the Polaris in the swamp.  Thank goodness the guys and Haley came to fish me out of the swamp.

Bummer - stuck Sportsman

We got the deer back to camp and tied up to the meat pole. Then back to the woods to drag out Dave's monster buck.  We put Dave's deer on the front rack and slowly drove the Polaris to camp.  By the time we arrived the front rack and headlight were covered in blood. What a mess.

Hanging out at the campfire.  A very tired Gibby!

Next fresh tenderloins and chatter around the campfire.  Then back out for the evening hunt while the Crock Pot simmered the evening meal.  No deer spotted to my knowledge. Dinner consisted of a wonderful pot roast complete with potatoes, onions, schrooms and the fixings.  Erp has repeatedly earned the honored name of Cookie.  Thanks again Erp!  Soon bedtime with dreams of success on Sunday.



Tenderloins!


As if the tenderloins weren't enough, Erp made us a nice pot roast for dinner.  One of the best parts about deer hunting is the great food. Cookie Erbst is an incredible cook!

Erp's famous pot roast!

Sunday November 7

Erp setup his ground blind on Saturday afternoon in preparation for a Sunday am hunt.  I sat in the ladder stand to cover the western edge of the northern swamp.  John and Haley hunted from the ground just south of my location and Dave hunted in Annie's stand.  At about 9, the John and Haley team moved up the hill and kicked out a few does.  They ran towards Erp's ground blind but not within range. One broke off and ran by Dave. Too bad he was texting and couldn't shoot the deer that stood 10 yards away.  Argh!!!  About 30 minutes later I hear the report from Erp's ought 6. One shot.


The shot ripped through the button buck's front legs shattering both.  The deer was tracked for 100 yds before John put this gallant deer down.  Erpy's shot didn't damage any meat and soon "Buddy" was hanging on the heat pole with the 8 pointers.  No other deer taken on Sunday. 

Buddy (c) hanging out with the big boys

It got lonely in camp on Sunday night as John and Haley went home. Dave, Erp and I went to the Firehouse in Garfield for dinner. Food was ok and the service was marginal at best. The waitress kept screwing up my order and giving me the food she claims I asked for.  Weird customer service at the Firehouse.

Monday November 8.

Monday morning sunrise

Those two bums slept in while I hunting Jin's stand.  About 9 am Erp let out the breakfast call and since I hadn't seen anything but a few Pileated Woodpecks it was time to eat.  Eggs, sausage, coffee and cookies were great.  We piled the deer in Dave's Dodge Dakota and started to break camp.

All loaded and ready to go.

We closed up camp, locked all the buildings, picked up our garbage and headed to Garfield to register our deer.  The deer registration process in Minnesota is quite simple.  You walk into the registration station, show them your license, tell them what type of deer you shot (Whitetail doe, buck or antlerless), they record the information for the DNR's records and you're on your way. 

Moving out after a successful deer season

A few hours after registration we arrived at my house and started to butcher the deer. With a few guys and an assembly line the deer were processed and wrapped for the freezer that evening. Trimmings were brought to a local meat market to be made into burger, summer sausage and Polish sausage.  They will be ready in a few weeks.  After a few hours of work, we enjoyed a nice meal of back-straps, salad, potatoes and ice cold milk.  Thanks for the meal Marilyn and Kayla. 



Whitetail deer ready for butcher


It was a good year for us. We enjoyed wonderful weather, good friends and brothers, a new hunter and deer!  Thanks God!!

Next year who knows.  Will we all still be alive?  Will the season still be allowed?  Will the woods and fields and swamps still hold deer?  Tell you in 11 months.