With all the “decade in review” commentaries floating around, particularly with looks back on technological advancements, my thoughts floated all the way back to 1999 when my Dad escorted me to Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota. I had it stuck in my mind that I would canoe the length of the Mississippi River and he rode along with me so he could see that part of the country and return my truck to North Carolina. While my misguided adventure was short-lived (one night, to be exact), the road trip ranks among my most memorable.
By 1999 I had driven solo cross-country more times than I had toes, and always with a copy of “Roadside America” on hand. I just moved back from Colorado and thought I’d take the spring and summer to go on this grand adventure inspired by thoughts of Huckleberry Finn and encouraged by Eddy Harris’ book, “Mississippi Solo“. I bought a 16′ Old Town canoe, christened it “Due South”, loaded up my brittany spaniel, Durango, and we were set. Dad, Durango and I lit for the north country in April. Read more…
Gear Review
Minnesota, travel
Here’s a bruiser passed along from Doubletougher Bubba Enget of North Dakota. Those NoDak folks have consistently knocked down some mightly impressive bucks and this one was taken just across the Minnesota border from Fargo, near Cotton Lake. The hunter is Dr. Riddle.
The buck reportedly grossed 191 inches with an inside spread of 24 inches and main beams out to 29 inches.
Update: additional photos added (after the jump), this buck was harvested in November 2006 Read more…
Deer
Minnesota, whitetail deer
As most folks settled in for the big white blowdown that swept the midwest, leave it to a Doubletough regular to hit the woods. Billy “Bearpaw” Groom of Minnesota settled into a ground blind near Ely, MN with temperatures around the -8 mark and got ‘er done with a bow.
“I was watching an 8 pointer to my right and this guy pushed through the trees at about 50 yards,” said Groom as he told the tale of the hunt. ”I finally got a presenting shot at 39 yards. He fell 75 yards later. The 8 pointer wouldn’t cross the path of my hunting blind. I saw him the day before and (he) acted the same way – did not like the black window opening of the blind.”
Great job Bearpaw! Billy joined the Doubletough legion during our first deer camp a couple years ago at White Earth, North Dakota and is among the finest folks I know. See more photos of his hunt after the jump. Read more…
Deer, Featured
archery, Deer, Minnesota
Cory Glauner of GotHunts.com had me thinking over the weekend of these photos when he Twitter’d about the big snowfall they got out in Idaho. These shots came our way from a guy who has shared the Doubletough campfire, Bill Groom of Minnesota.
According to “Billy Bear Paw”, wolves tracked down this buck by a lake near Ely, MN. A shame since it looks like a nice ten point, or a “five by five” depending on who’s telling the story.
Someone got a nice trophy of it, “the birds already european’d it for him!” Read more…
Sightings
Minnesota
