Minnesota Bucks - Guy's Weekend

Tickboy and Crockett were the first to set foot into the hunting woods. A couple of deer sightings were good motivation for the rest of the group upon arrival later in the week, anxious to begin their hunt. With this being the year of the boar meat for Tickboy and Chieftain, it was agreed that we'd be targeting 3 deer total with the hopes for the shooting to be shared amongst the rest of the group.

Action started with Crockett downing a nice doe one morning from a new spot. Later that morning Kniffy notched his first whitetail harvest ever with a great shot on a nice young spike buck. On Saturday evening, Barnaby set up in a good little spot, noting the small shooting lanes that Tickboy used for his nearby archery spot months prior.

A slight distance away, Cooter set up in a permanent. Deer started to move through the area and Cooter made a sporting decision to watch and observe a couple does walk directly underneath his stand, in the direction of Barnaby. A buck is close by in the periphery and moves through Barnaby's spot. Shot fired, confirmed hit, darkness, track, animal down, confirmed kill. Whoops and hollers are heard through the dark forest from the parking spot and we soon joined Barnaby at the site of his largest buck ever. A thick, dark-racked 11 point. A typical mature northwoods buck; chipped tines, thick neck, stinky, scarred, scuffed up dandy whitetail buck.

A few votes went to Kniffy for bagging his first deer ever - a monumental achievement in its own. The Deep Woods Stallion trophy went to Barnaby for harvesting the best buck of his life.

After a successful October scouting trip, complete with giant birch tube campfires, a group of six guys headed into the woods hoping to match the previous year's harvest of five deer and did just that. Things started off right when Cooter notched his first deer ever; two of them at that. Chieftain followed suit with another double decker of does. Crockett added to the stack with a good little spike buck. That's two years running with five deer on the pole, pretty remarkable. Cooter was the undisputed recipient of this year's "Deep Woods Stallion" Trophy with his double does. What made his hunt even more amazing is that he only took two bullets into the woods with him that day.

That year we also has the good fortune of meeting up with another group of hunters that we've been sharing the same chunk of woods with for the past several years. It was nice to sit down with some good people and share stories and information at their hunting shack.

A couple new gents joined the northwoods hunting crew this year and were part of a record harvest for the weekend. Five whitetails were added to the meatpole this year, as the woods offered us lots of opportunities. The "Deep Woods Stallion" award went to Barnaby, for connecting on two nice bucks over the three day hunt.

The shooting started at 9:05 am on Friday. Tickboy provided radio confirmation that there was "brown down". A doe was ready for the meat pole. Five minutes after getting off the radio, I dropped a non-typical six-pointer (two on one side and four on the other). 15 minutes after my shot, we heard a shot way off in the distance. Through broken radio communication, we learned that Crockett (Trevor) had more brown down--a button buck. We were all in disbelief at the amount of activity in the 30 minute period.

Saturday morning was raining, so we slept in until 7am. The rain stopped so we motored back up the mountain to resume our quest. At about 9:30, a seven pointer came trotting down the same trail as the six-pointer the day before--this one came 35 yards closer than the one on Friday. More brown down.

Saturday afternoon a shot rang out at about 4pm from Kniffy's area. Sure enough, Kniffy radioed in that he had shot at a doe from the Caddy stand. No confirmation of brown down. Chieftain and Crockett were on the Oberg side and offered to assist in the tracking effort. While hiking down the ski trail, a doe bounded out from the woods and froze on the trail some 150 yards in the distance. Chieftain took aim while standing in the middle of the trail...a minute later there was more brown down.

Kniffy and Crockett determined that the doe by the Caddy stand had survived a close call with the grim reaper...no sign of a hit. We packed the old doe out in the dark and had a good party Saturday night (Chieftain was in rare form).

It was a sight to behold on the drive home. Five heads lined up on the passenger side of Bubba...stacked up like cord wood. A woman at a Holiday station declared to her husband 'That's disgusting!! That should be illegal!!' Welcome to Minnesota lady, we hunt, we fish, we gather."

***2003 Guys Weekend Update***

Nothing really significant happened in the woods this year. The Deep Woods Stallion trophy wasn't awarded, as there was no real woodsmanship accolades to speak of. In fact, every hunter did something in the woods that eliminated them from contention. Unbeknownst to him, Barnaby spent an entire day hunting over a fresh whitetail/wolf kill. Kniffy was forced to destroy an undergarment after having an unavoidable "accident" out in the woods, a mere 40 yards from his stand. Tickboy missed a chance at a nice buck, so did Cooter. Cheiftan suffered from mild red wine poisoning on Sunday morning.

The same core of hunters headed into the woods this fall in search of big whitetails on the shore. The wolves howled, the wind whipped, the snow fell and Mike Lindquist successfully defended his title as "Deep Woods Stallion." He notched his second and third whitetails of the season that weekend with a busted up 8-pointer and a small forker. Way to fill the meatpole, Tickboy!

Every fall in the great state of Minnesota, the authors of this website set aside the third and final weekend of the rifle season as "Guy's Weekend". The weekend started in 1995 and has had various members, but the tried and true four members for the last four years are Rich Kofski, Brian Leither, Matt Lindquist and Mike Lindquist. The weekend is about spending time with friends, enjoying the vast north woods of Minnesota and of course, pursuing the ever elusive whitetail deer. Mike had an incredible 2001 and completed a hat trick by bagging his third and largest buck on the Guy's Weekend - an 8 point, 226 pounder! Check out the Buck Leader Board for more pictures of this beast!

Matt (Chieftain) contemplates weight Rich (Cooter) enjoys a beautiful Kayne (Kniffy) and Trevor (Crockett)

distribution using a block and tackle November afternoon hunting on skinning detail.

It's lunch time in the woods and Chieftain, Barnaby and Cooter each have things on their mind. Cooter: "When am I going to see a deer?". Barnaby: "This is hard work, I'm tired. My legs hurt." Cheiftan: "Time to re-fuel with a chocolate bar!."

All packed up and ready to go home with two bucks on the truck in 1998. Left to right is Brian, Matt, Mike and Rich. Incidentally, Brian went out and bought a carhartt the next year.

The Guy's Weekend does not go without a bit of pageantry and spectacle. Each year, the members elect a new "Deep Woods Stallion" and award him this traveling trophy. Standing at 4 inches tall, this bronze-plated statue depicts a marksman with weaponry in hand, clad in a fully buttoned-up shooting vest and Elmer Fudd-style hat. A highly regarded accolade, the bearer must demonstrate true woodsmanship and rugged character.

Michael Lindquist received the award in 2001. His completion of a "hat trick" of 8-point bucks on the last weekend of the season made him a "shoe-in" for the honor.