Now What?-First Lease

Now What?

As many of you know, my wife and I moved to Minnesota in October. Since then we have tried our best to enjoy the new opportunities the Great North has to offer, ice fishing in particular. However, it's not all snow and dog sledding up here!  Minnesota is known for its crisp Spring, mild summers, and its colorful Fall. It has been my goal to focus on two of those seasons: Spring and Fall. So, as of yesterday, I am leasing a property through a duck hunting contact. 

This is my first time leasing a property. I was blessed with the luxury of growing up on family land on which we let close friends hunt each year. The pros of this are that I never had to put up my own stands. The same goes with hunting with my father-in- law. They put the corn out most of the time, and I enjoyed the benefits of simply going out when I pleased. Well, the tides have turned, and it looks like I have some work to do. 

So, where do I start? I have decided to put together a checklist of things I need to do during the next few months. First and foremost, I need to understand the property. Then, I need to decide where to place my stands, and lastly, I need to practice my shooting.

The property is 102 acres. Seventy percent is field and the rest, woods. I have been in this field for a bird hunt and remember there being a large hill in the center of the field. This is good, as I can enter in the morning with my car and not be seen by anything on the other side. The bad news is that morning hunts would require my staying on top of the hill looking down into the far side of the field. If I were to enter the woods, I will leave my scent all across the field, and it's just too darn far of a walk to risk bumping any deer. For afternoons, I plan on placing one, maybe two, stands in the woods. One will be positioned on the left side, just off the field. There is a patch/ row of trees connecting to the neighbor’s field that will be the only location outside of walking through the field, for a deer to travel. If they travel that line of trees, they will come right to me. The other, and more obvious option is to sit just on the cusp of an opening I see via google maps dead center of the woods. 

 This brings me to scouting, I will need to spend some time out there without my weapon. Luckily right now is prime scouting as there is still snow on the ground. I can go out any weekend and get an idea of the deer paths and possibly find other tracks of animals that are calling this land home. One issue I will need to conquer is that the land is one hour away from home. So my dilemma is, do I just use my old deer camera to see what is out there or should I invest in a cellular camera? First off, I have mixed feelings about cameras. I do enjoy the unknown of what is out there, but part of me wants to know as this is new land to me. I need to figure out if it's worth my driving an hour to check a camera, burning probably $20 of gas or just getting a cellular camera and adding a $10 monthly charge to my Verizon bill. We shall see. 

The last thing I need to take into consideration is, I am not legally allowed to fire a rifle on this property due to its surroundings. So this leaves me to bow, slug, buckshot, and pistols. Now I have a bow and plan on using it in the early season, but what am I to do after that? I have killed a deer with my 7” 454 Casull and unless I practice, I do not have a desire to do so again. Also, I have not used my shotguns deer hunting ever and would prefer not to use buck shot at all. So that leaves me to slugs and simply spending more time with my revolver. My issue with the revolver in the past is I did not have a monopod, but instead free handed a shot and was not happy with my placement. I could see that with a stabilizer such as a monopod, I could increase my accuracy by enough to feel more comfortable. 

Another note is that Turkey season is just a month away and it's still cold as shit in Minnesota. I am used to getting mosquito bites and chiggers down in the swamp during Turkey season. This will be a change for sure. Overall I am very excited to have a place I can call mine even if it's just one season. Being able to get outside and breathe fresh air is a huge part of my life and without it, I am sure I would go mad. I will make sure to take photos and add updates as I get farther along with my property.