Popple, as I knew it, grows from the roots, not from a seed. When popple is cut down, the roots are energized to create new growth. For the first few years, the growth is very thick, making it extremely difficult to walk through. The picture below shows how thick the growth is. The top most leaves on those spiky branches of popple in the background are 5 feet from the ground. Less than a year since the logging occurred. Popple is called ...
Friendship has been at the core of our deer camp traditions. Life takes us in many different directions through each year. Each generation’s children have grown and started their own families; we may only see them at deer camp each year. After watching them grow up, it’s good to see them. For a number of years, we all talked about buying hunting land and building a place. We often joked that BH didn’t tell us about any good ...
I mentioned before that it seems like we did more shooting in the 80s and 90s than we do now. Especially more shoot and miss. Some of what I realized was that we had more hunters in the 80s and 90s and that had a lot to do with how much shooting actually occurred. Made me curious though, about deer harvest numbers in MN going back as long as I’ve been hunting. 1980s – 1990 Harvest Numbers I started with the 1980s and found this ...
I recently joined a Facebook Group that is dedicated to hunting blinds. It’s been really interesting to see how creative some people can get with using materials they pick up for free or very low cost. I see a lot of recycled purpose materials used – which is great. With our experience using stands and then building 4 of them, we have figured out a few key things to think through when building it. How cold will it get when you ...
Planning windows is another discussion. Considering prices too, windows that open and slide from right to left seemed to make the most sense. We are all right handed and sitting in the stand, shooting, it just seemed that this would be the better. Three of the stands have one window on 3 sides and a door with a window on the 4th wall. Son, N found sliding windows at a really good price, and they all opened the same way. ...
Are there any other hunting camps with a Zing Zing club? You’ve joined when you shoot and miss. Joining the Zing Zing club means you do dishes. When we make meals for 20+ people, there can be lots of dishes. Over the years, there have been a few of the guys that shot and missed and didn’t want to do dishes. They each did find someone who was willing to take their turn doing dishes for $5.00 or more as time went on. Most meals, ...
When we go hunting in the north woods, it’s as much about tradition as it is the deer. We’ve been lucky enough to include so many friends and family members through the years. When there was so often a new face, it was sharing our hunting traditions that drew them in. Food is often the center of those traditions. Up at 5:00 in the morning, a big breakfast starts the day. The same people get up early in the morning and make up ...
There are many choices when it comes to building a stand. Ladder stands can be purchased although one can also be built right on and in the tree. Up until we had our own land, we had always hunted from ladder stands. Some purchased and some homemade. With the drive for deer that we always did, we knew that it was unlikely anyone else would use our stands. We invested a little more into deer stands as time when ...
We gave J a compass for his birthday when he was much younger so he would have practice with one. He had fun learning to use it walking in the grove that surrounds our farm site. It’s time to get the other older grandchildren using a compass too. We took a long weekend up on a our hunting land this fall, and the kids had a great time exploring through the woods. As they get braver, they’ll need ...
When we had done our Labor Day weekend walk through, we had been looking for the best places to set up tree stands. When we went back in October, it was with a mostly made plan for 3 of the stands. We hadn’t been able to spend time on the land to determine usual wind patterns, identify any minor game trails or determine whether or not there were any areas deer would use to bed down. We were going to have to go ...
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