October 27

Iowa Pheasant Opener Outlook/Central Iowa Archery Update/Fall Fishing Report

Iowa Pheasant Opener Outlook

Pheasant season opens this Saturday in Iowa, and roadside survey reports indicate increased pheasant numbers in Northeast and North Central Iowa.  This is encouraging news after several consecutive years of harsh winters and wet springs drastically decreased pheasant numbers throughout the state.  Corn Belt Outdors will be hunting a mix of private and public land in this area of the state opening weekend.

Hunt #7 October 22

Temp 65F Wind NW 3 mph Barometric Pressure 29.95 (steady) Moon Wanning Gibbous
 

"Bedroom" Stand

I drove to Iowa again for another morning hunt and also to check cameras.  I had the slight SW wind which I needed to hunt a new stand that I had placed in a bedding area.  This spot has historically held mature bucks.  The small woodlot is still surrounded by a large standing cornfield which I suspect is the reason why deer movement was slow in the timber.  The card pull on my camera did reveal a a solid 10 pt buck I am naming "Herky" (I was watching the Iowa football game while I checked the pictures).  

"Herky" 

That evening I was back in Minnesota to hunt the Oak Ridge stand.  If you have been following the blog closely, you will remember that on Hunt #6 I witnessed several deer, including 3 different bucks, walk by that stand at last light.  I had just the wind I needed, and I got into the stand early with high anticipation.  An hour before the end of legal shooting time I heard some movement behind me.  I gave a soft grunt and a small 8 point buck and yearling buck poked their heads out of the timber.  It is always exciting to call deer to your stand, but they were not age-class of bucks that I am hoping to harvest.  Fifteen minutes later, a doe and fawn started walking down the trail adjacent to my stand on their way to the food plot.  It was still early in the evening, and I suspected that more deer would be coming out to the soybean field so they were given a free pass.  The doe and fawn fed briefly in the food plot, and then suddenly the doe looked up in the tree right at me and proceeded to snort and stomp the rest of the night.  The wind was perfect, and this stand provides me with lots of camouflage so I feel I was just extremely unlucky getting busted by the wary doe.  With 15 minutes left of shooting light, a high and tight racked 8 pointer stood on the edge of the timber to monitor a different small 6 point buck chasing does in the soybean field.  From a distance, this 8 pointer looked like a mature buck which gives me a target for the upcoming rut.  The deer moved back to the timber as light faded, but a great night filled with lots of action.

Hunt #8 October 23

Temp 51F Wind NW 15 mph Barometric Pressure 30.05 (rising) Moon Last Quarter

The Oak Flat stand was my location for my first Minnesota morning hunt of the season.  Action was slow until 9:00 am when I noticed a yearly buck eating browse on the edge of the tree line 75 yards to my north.  Thirty minutes later, just as I was contemplatinging ending the hunt a small 2.5 year old 8 point chased a doe right past my stand.  The rut activity is really starting to increase.  I went back to the Oak ridge stand again for the evening hunt in hopes of action similar to the night before but deer movement was limited to one lone doe at last night feeding in the soybean field.-KK


Central Iowa Archery Update
 

The excitement that builds over the summer months and leading into fall is one of my favorite parts of the “whitetail season.”  All of the anticipation and dreaming of how the season could unfold seems to scratch the itch of deer hunting prior to archery season opener.  Whether it’s planting food plots and envisioning a mature buck frequenting your new food source, or slogging through a gigabyte of trail camera photos and coming across a new bruiser, it all feeds the animal inside of us that is waiting to be unleashed on October 1^st.

            This year has been full of change for me.  My family has grown, I took a new job and we moved across the state in July.  Though all of this change was positive and has been a blessing, I couldn’t help but to hear this voice in my head alerting me of the struggles ahead in my hunting pursuits.  As all of you know, gaining access to deer hunting properties is becoming more and more difficult.  When I search for new places to hunt, more often than not, I encounter land owners who think the deer are their pets, land owners who hunt themselves or land owners who already have given permission to other hunters.  It is a time-consuming grind to find a reasonable property and gain access.  In leaving eastern Iowa to move to central Iowa, I knew I would be challenged to find hunting land.  I knew that I could still return to my eastern Iowa parcels to hunt on weekends and early November, but I would not have the opportunity to scout and prepare the way I typically do, which I feel is in large part the reason for the success I have had.  Nevertheless, the balancing act of becoming a father and settling into a new job began, and time was scarce for seeking permission to hunt on land in the area.

            By mid-September and after hours of driving gravel roads and knocking on doors, I had found one small, ten acre property to share with the owner.  I resigned myself to the fact that this was going to be a transitional season and I shouldn’t get my hopes up for harvesting a mature buck.  At the same time I kept reminding myself of the old adage “It only takes one deer and five minutes for everything to come together.”  I had decided to take my week of vacation in early November to head back to eastern Iowa and see what happened.  I was sharing my woes with a co-worker who divulged that he lived on a wooded lot and he would be willing to let me check it out and hunt there if I thought it would be worthwhile.  The area seemed appealing and I was running out of options, so I put a stand up and set a trail camera out to see what was in the area.  When I checked the camera two weeks later I couldn’t believe it, but there was a mature buck!  My hope for the season was instantly renewed.  It’s amazing what a single picture of a single deer will do to inspire a whitetail hunter.  I was lifted, energized and ready to start the game of figuring out this deer’s patterns and try to intercept him.

            Although all I have is a picture, and the real work and test of my skill and luck is ahead, this one deer has changed my attitude about this season.  I have had seasons in the past where I became discouraged, but persistence paid off in big ways.  I need to keep reminding myself that rarely do we as whitetail hunters have the perfect season.  There are always going to be difficulties and challenges that arise throughout pre-season preparation or in-season execution, but there is always a chance for the tides to change and to find yourself at full-draw with a beast standing broadside at ten yards.  Ok, enough writing, I need to get back into the woods…-JM

Fall Fishing Report

Longville Area Lakes 10/21-22/2016

Friday:  High 50 degrees Stiff/ bone chilling wind from the south all day.

A late start due to a late night sitting by the fire with the neighbors led to a very cold experience.  The fish seemed to be hunkered down in what would seem to be great weather to have some luck.  However not much luck was had on the lake for anybody venturing out in the brisk wind.  Thankfully, a warm cabin and a warm meal at the Anchorage Inn in Longville made up for the less than premiere fishing.

Saturday:  High 60 degrees Wind Light if any

Following up on advice garnered on the previous Corn Belt Outdoors blog we went straight for the spot specified.  However we were a bit late to the party as 8-10 boats sat in a steady line over approximately 150 yards of real estate on the lake.  It was a demoralizing learning experience to say the least as two boats not 40 yards away were catching fish after fish while my colleague and I sat along with 5 other boats without a bite.  Crappie were steady in the 12-16 inch range for the other boats and plenty were thrown back.  Each boat limited out efficiently and switched to keeping only Sunfish as they were also prevalent.  People were fishing sunken weed beds in approximately 6 feet of water and had the slip bobber set 3 feet deep using fatheads and crawlers.

Nonetheless, the old adage was true.  A bad day fishing is still better than a good day working, so great camaraderie and fun was had between the groups of boats.  The only fish I caught were three small Bass when I was getting frustrated and went to the shallows in front of the cabin just so I could catch and release something.  With the Dock pulled out of the water and the Cabin closed down for the winter, we bid adieu to the open water season on our little lake.  Hoping the hard water season turns around an up and down (more down) year.-CN

October 20 

Mid-season Archery Update

My Minnesota archery season started out very promising.  Late September produced lots of action and glimpses of several bucks that I would be proud to put my tag on.  As summer faded and we ushered in fall, the number of mature buck sightings have definitely dropped off in my hunting areas.  October often brings a decrease in mature buck movement.  This is especially evident in the middle portion of the month.  Hunters refer to this period as the "October Lull".  Many experts analyze the cause behind this lull, but I tend to think that changing food sources, crop harvest (especially in the Midwest), and hunting pressure play a big part in this decreased movement.  I think the warm, humid temperatures in October have also played a significant part this fall.  Deer simply do not want to move when they have their winter coats on during 70 degree weather.  Although deer movement has been discouraging lately, I am committed to the plan of hunting conservatively, but aggressively when the conditions and deer movement are favorable.-KK

 


 This picture was sent by a friend of Corn Belt Outdoors.  He was hanging a new stand, and found this skull from a buck he saw during the 2015 season.  An unfortunate end to a great buck.  He would have been a dandy to hunt this year!






 Hunt #6 October 15

Temp 64F Wind SSW 13 mph Barometric Pressure 29.74 (steady) Moon Full

I traveled to Iowa for my first morning hunt of the year.  I sat in a new stand that I had placed in August on the intersection of 2 well used trails in a natural funnel for deer.  The weather was warm, but the corn field surrounding this small funnel of woods was still standing so I new I could get in and out of the stand undetected.  My main goal for the day was scouting, I wanted to check the trail cameras in these areas to see what deer I would be hunting.  My sit was uneventful with no deer movement, and my camera unfortunately also revealed very little action or mature bucks to get excited about.  I came back to Minnesota and sat in the oak flat stand for an evening hunt.  This stand also doubles as a great observation stand as I can see two large crop fields, one also being the large bean field (now picked) adjacent to my oak ridge stand. At last light 6 deer (3 bucks) walked right by my other stand.  At first I was discouraged that I had made a poor decision, but I quickly realized that the wind would have been bad for that stand.  I am confident I know where the bucks are bedding, and with the right conditions I think it will produce some opportunities.-KK




Fall Fishing Updates

It's no secret that fall is a great time to be on the water fishing.  Cooling water temperatures can trigger a hot bite for many gamefish species, sometimes producing the best fishing of the season.  Friends of Corn Belt Outdoors had some great fall crappie fishing in Longville, Minnesota area this past weekend.  These slab crappies were caught near the weedline in 4.5 ft of water using a simple presentation of a bobber, sinker, and floating jig head.  Green and yellow jig heads produced the best results tipped with minnows and worms.  Minnows seemed to catch the biggest crappies and were also productive for sunfish.  Worms seemed to produce more sunfish, but also caught several of the large crappies.  A key technique was in the hook set.  The fish were biting very lightly so quickly reeling in line versus a hard hook set put more fish in the boat. -KK

October 13

North Dakota Pheasant Opener Recap

This past weekend Corn Belt Outdoors traveled to SW North Dakota for the opening weekend of pheasant season.  The area received little rain over the summer, and this was evident with the nesting grasses and corn food plots clearly stunted from the lack of moisture.  The predicted population decrease, and two large neighboring fields of unharvested corn and sunflowers did account for slightly fewer birds seen compared to 2014 and 2015.  The hunt was a success with an average of 2 roosters/hunter/day, but the quality time spent with family and friends will be the lasting memories.

-KK

October 6:

MN Deer Archery season week 3 update-

Hunt #5 Oct. 2

Temp 73F Wind N 3.5 mph Barometric Pressure 30.08 (steady) Moon Waxing Crescent

With warm temperatures and little wind, I was not expecting great deer movement.  I set up in the oak ridge stand again over looking my other food plot.  I was hopeful that the 2 nice bucks I saw a few nights before were still on the same pattern.  This was not the case as there was no deer movement this evening.

IA Deer Archery opening week update-

I did not hunt the opening weekend of the Iowa Archery season.  I had some family events that took priority, but there were a couple of Cornbelt Outdoors contributors hunting the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids areas.  The common theme was: warm temps, lots of bugs, and little deer movement.  I suspect deer movement should really improve this upcoming weekend with a cold front moving in and temperatures dropping 15 degrees throughout the weekend.  

North Dakota Pheasant Opener Outlook-

This weekend Cornbelt Outdoors will be traveling to SW North Dakota to hunt the pheasant opener.  Opening day of pheasant season will always be more about spending quality time with family and friends than the number of roosters harvested (although I suspect we will bag a few birds).  The farm that we will be hunting has done a tremendous job in terms of land stewardship.  Shelter-belt tree plantings, CRP enrollment, and established food plots have created tremendous opportunities for upland bird hunting.  Drought conditions in the southwest part of the state has led to a projected 20% decline in the pheasant population. This area of the state however, still maintains the highest population density of pheasants according to a Pheasants Forever report.  Below is a highlight clip from our 2014 North Dakota trip. -KK