Hunting deer is a lot harder than I thought. Years of watching them loitering in the ditches led me to believe that hunting them would be pretty easy. I was wrong. After four days of hiking, tracking, and listening, I was unable to get a shot off. A few does and one buck eluded me for the better half of a week. I zigged and they zagged.
A small sense of failure set in on Sunday when I was forced to hang up my pride and drown my sorrows over a cocktail. Despite my fruitless efforts, deer hunting was a lot of fun.
I saw things that were truly amazing. The woods appear to be so thick that hiking off a maintained trail seems to be out of the question. The reality is that we have a lot of area up here that is relatively easy to hump. There is an endless maze of snowmobile and Nordic trails that lead to amazing vistas, encompassed by marshy fields that scream deer country.
Dark early, I hiked out to the same location from a different route hoping to get a jump on a deer. I was close but not close enough. The payoff is listening to the morning happen.
Before the sun comes up, the woods are pretty quiet. Slowly the sun rises and different animals begin making noises. The trees pop as they warm up and a little later the birds start flying around. Before you know it the day has begun. I sat for a couple of hours and analyzed every crackle in the woods.
One afternoon I was perched on top of a steep cliff, just before sunset, hoping a deer would make the fatal mistake of falling down in front of me. Just as the light began to fade, I saw a few silhouettes crossing the road below me. They were too far away to get a good look, but I could hear them snapping through the woods in my direction. It was getting too dark to shoot, but I wanted to see what they were. A few minutes later, six wolves appeared from the woods. They were policing the area like trained soldiers. Their military style of hunting was fast and efficient.
The biggest of the pack was the same size as an average German Shepherd, and they ran with their noses glued to the ground. Each wolf was a different color ranging from gray to red. The red one was the largest and actually came within 20 feet of where I was perched. An abrupt cough revealed my position and scared the wolf into retreat. The wolf ran straight down the steepest part of the rock cliff with ease.
Minutes before seeing the wolves, I was worried about slipping and falling off of this same cliff. It stands about 50 feet high with the pitch of an A-frame cabin. It is obvious why a deer does not stand a chance being hunted by such an athlete.
Many people were talking about the lack of deer sightings this year. Some people never even saw any tracks. I did see plenty of tracks, and it was really fun to re-enact the scene by analyzing the evidence.
The tracks can tell you a lot. Which direction are they heading? How big? How many? Wandering or running? It was too hard for me to sit still for very long, which is why I probably never got a shot off. Tracking something is exhilarating and with any luck next year will be more successful.
The lakes are just beginning to freeze up. The bigger lakes have some ice forming in the bays, but the big water is still wide open. A friend made it up to his cabin on Sag last week and was forced to break ice on the ride up the lake, and then again while returning that same day. This means that we are making ice during the day so things should start to change pretty quick. The late night temperatures have been reaching single digits and the smell of wood smoke is in the air. Cory Christianson has worked as a fishing guide on the Gunflint Trail since 2000. If you have any fishing or wildlife reports or stories to share, send an email to: christiansoncory@hotmail.com or call 218- 388-0315. You can also visit Cory’s website at Gunflintfishingguide.com.
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