Skunked!!

[Sam Menard]

In the 35+ years of deer hunting out in Rainy River, this is the first time that our group has been skunked. For several years in a row we used to tag out on bucks. Even In the last few years, we’ve always managed to get 2 or 3. This year, I don’t think anyone even saw a legal buck. My total count for 5 days of hunting was 2 does and 1 unknown. The deer population here is definitely down, especially in the big woods where we once enjoyed most our success. There are more deer in the farm belt near camp, but once the fields get plowed under, the deer tend to disperse. Most of the guys are over 65 and don’t have the patience or stamina to hunt the big woods anymore, so tend to hunt around the camp for a couple of hours in the morning then a few in the afternoon. The positive news in all of this is that there were no long faces or bitterness about being skunked. We were all very happy about getting out and being together back at deer camp. Who knows what next year will bring?

[canthitathing]

Very similar story for my brother and I in 55A for a 3 1/2 day hunt. Virtually no wildlife at all, not even grouse, squirrels, chipmunks, ravens, etc, and even few acorns (knew that from other reports) and no rubs, scrapes or droppings in the usual areas, very odd. I saw more Moose sign than ever before though. Standing on a knoll, I counted 11 trees within sight with Moose rubs and ran across a fair number of droppings.

We hunt the forest, I go deeper (still thinking I'm 25, lol) while the brother stays closer to old logging roads and skidder trails. There are generally two other groups in the area, an ATV group and a group of doggers. We talk to the doggers on occasion and they got one buck. Their 2 beagles pushed a loping Doe past me at 40 yards on Monday morning quite a ways back in the bush (no shot taken). That was it, a bit of shooting Monday then not much after that.