I was recently fortunate enough to go deer hunting in Minnesota on a trip sponsored by the U.S. Concealed Carry Association.
It was an amazing experience and my first real big game hunt.
So I was pumped to get to head to Minnesota to try my hand at hunting.
Like any good writer, I documented my adventures and musings as I wound my way through the woods in search of the perfect deer.
So, read on to learn more about hunting and the lessons I learned along the way.
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A New Adventure
Many reasons kept me from hunting over the years, even though I was raised around it.
An estranged father, moving away from family to the mountains of Colorado, then running search and rescue for years all contributed to my lack of knowledge.
I didn’t know how, but I was always interested.
A few years ago, I attended a hunter safety course and actually got out for dove hunting. I didn’t do very well but had a good time.
Part of my hesitation was based on my ignorance of the law. From the outside looking in, it felt like you needed to be part attorney to navigate the various laws surrounding hunting.
I had often backed up game wardens on calls where they handed out massive penalties. Yet still, I was intrigued.
I watched MeatEater religiously and learned as much as I could. Fast forward to 2021 when opportunity knocked.
Buck Fever
After retiring from law enforcement, I came on full-time with Pew Pew Tactical. And the wheels of my first big game hunt had already been set in motion.
In mid-October, Eric and I flew out to a USCCA sponsored event at Autumn Antler’s Hunting Lodge in Minnesota.
When we drove through the very tall outer fence, and then the inner fence, I began to have Jurassic Park flashbacks.
After passing through, it was evident we were in for an impressive experience. The lodge was incredible, a hunter’s dream.
That night, our USCCA hosts, Kris and Spencer, greeted us. We met with several other hunters and planned our hunt the next morning.
The next morning, we ate a stellar breakfast courtesy of the lodge staff. Afterward, we got together with our guides Kylie and Dan.
Riding in a side-by-side, we drove across the ranch, amazed at its beauty. Wide-open and serene fields were surrounded by old-growth deciduous forests in full October glory.
Deer stands dotted the environment as we headed out to the field to check zero. I shot roughly one MOA and was happy to head out.
We rode into the woods then. The morning mist had not quite burned off and the combination of cool air and damp, fallen leaves, was intoxicating.
Not too long after, Eric got his deer. It was a bit of a stalk, but not my story to tell.
Through the Grass
We headed back to the lodge for lunch, then Dan and I went to another stand at the border of a field and the forest.
Just before dusk, three big bucks emerged from the tree line and walked the area between the woods and field, snacking on grasses.
This proved the old adage of being rewarded for patience as we had waited a couple of hours and dusk rapidly approached.
I learned so much on this trip and one of the first things was how important antlers are – particularly in identifying one buck from another.
They vary wildly in height, spread, the number of tines, and points. Sometimes they’re typical, generally meaning symmetrical.
Other times they can look mottled, chunky, even mooselike, or with big appendages. These are called atypical.
These distinctions, unknown to me before, became important when Dan and I discussed the many deer we saw.
My guide pointed out one that was a nice shooter and I made ready by easing my rifle out the window and onto the shooting bag set up on the sill.
Suddenly, the trio spooked, then fled into the woods, whitetails in the air.
Dan swore softly. I felt disappointed, but I absolutely enjoyed the experience. We sat in the quiet, eyes peering in all directions.
Not five minutes after, the trio emerged from the woods yet again, walking through the field grazing.
Dan ranged them at 98 yards with the binoculars and I started tracking the buck with the scope.
As I sighted my crosshairs on his heart and lungs, I realized the buck was just over a small hill and his vitals were slightly below the grass line.
While I could not explicitly see the area where I wanted to hit him, I knew where it was based on the location of his shoulder.
Dan encouraged me to shoot through the grass, reminding me I knew where to aim.
I’ve been through a number of situations that have taught me to take decisive action without hesitation when the circumstances called for it. And that feeling kicked in here.
Determined, I announced to Dan I was taking the shot.
I placed my crosshairs in the grass over my target, took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then pressed the trigger.
The rifle jumped in my hands. Its report was enormous in the stand, but then I heard a thwack in the field where the bullet struck the deer.
As I regained sight picture, the deer no longer stood in my scope…but I wasn’t 100% sure what happened.
Dan’s face split with a huge grin and he reached out to give me a fist bump. After I hesitantly reciprocated, I loaded another round in the gun and watched for a minute, letting the experience wash over me.
I had a deer down. My first deer.
Just like that, the emotions swept back in. The excitement returned tenfold and my legs were shaking a little as I climbed down the stairs.
I slung the rifle and stalked out into the tall grass to find the buck while Dan brought the buggy.
After a while, I came across him and saw he was a magnificent beast. Up close, he was so much bigger than the scope let on.
I saw that my shot, while not perfectly where I thought I’d aimed, took him out immediately. I was pleased he did not run and more importantly, did not suffer.
Dan soon arrived with the buggy and we attempted to pull the monster into the basket. The first effort failed when we heaved and realized he was super heavy!
Eventually, we loaded the 12-point buck into the basket and took him to the butcher on site.
What It Wasn’t
I have an idea of what goes into most hunts — the advanced work like finding land to hunt, locating game with trail cams, and glassing for hours.
Doing your homework is crucial. Understanding the state and local laws which you must apply for licenses and tags requires some knowledge or at the least research.
You have to understand your quarry, know its habitat, and its habits. And you must invest in good gear and train with your equipment.
You can do all these things and still get completely skunked. And even if all these things come together and you get an animal down, the work has only just begun.
My hunt took place in a “high-fence preserve,” I was treated to amazing meals, hunted at a leisurely pace, and there was game aplenty!
I wasn’t about to begrudge myself some handicaps considering my late start in hunting.
I soaked it all up and feel better prepared for the harsher realities of my next hunt.
Conclusion
I’d like to thank a number of people for making this happen. First and foremost, Kris and Spencer from USCCA put the whole event together.
Jim, CEO of Autumn Antlers was a fountain of information and a great host. Kenny expertly butchered our harvests and provided other drinkable delectables.
Shannon offered unwavering hospitality and Brian and Jeff prepared amazing meals that had me loosening my belt by the end of the brief trip.
Finally, I’d like to thank Kylie, and especially Dan, who helped put me where I needed to be and patiently coached me through something I’ve wondered how to do for a long time.
I’m happy to once again be a part of a long-standing tradition that I can pass on to my children.
What was your first hunt like? Let us know in the comments below. For more on hunting, check out our Introduction to Hunting.
15 Leave a Reply
That sounds like it was a golden opportunity to get your feet wet so to speak. Whether or not that lodge represents the ideal hunting scenario is up for debate. That it was cool to have USCCA organize it and invite you as a new hunter is without question so. We all have to start somewhere and if someone else offers to make the initial experience a bit easier for us we'd be foolish to refuse in my opinion. Congratulations on your big buck:-)
Thanks Jack,
I can tell you the meat has been amazing! I'm really excited about continuing on in my experiences moving forward, even though I know they'll likely be nothing like the first.
I appreciate your post Sean.
My new sport during the pandemic was learning about firearms and learning to hunt. PewPew helped me immensely with that (They even planted the seed from the article about hog hunting in CA). This especially so since I never hunted or grew up in a family that hunted or owned firearms. I practiced religiously with my rifle and did training with a shooting instructor. I was able to ring steel at 800yds reasonably consistently (although I’d not shoot at an animal from that distance). I went on a guided pig hunt back in March because I knew next to nothing and was willing to pay to get access to knowledge. I bagged one to put in my freezer. It was delicious but the experience felt hollow and too stacked in my favor.
Prior to this deer season, I spent a lot of time solo scouting my local woods along migration paths. I live in Mtns of CA, that’s what our deer do. I then spent a bunch of time cold and alone in the woods with no meat to show for it but felt pretty happy with my time taking my rifle for a hike. In November, I went out pig hunting again without a guide and bagged a monster 210 lb boar (who charged me). I skinned, and gutted him with my hunting buddies and learned a ton in the process.
I agree with the guys who posted above that some hunting is a bit too pampered and stacked in people’s favor but after having been a wilderness guide for 20 years myself, it’s important to remember that hunting guides need to earn a living too.
Not everyone has the capacity or willingness to have a “summit experience” and it’s totally cool to disapprove of other folks ethics and choose a different style without being smug about it.
One of the coolest things about PewPew is that it’s written for people and by people who maybe haven’t been a part of gun culture since childhood (as Eric has posted about himself) and passes very little judgment. Let’s keep that going.
So Sean had a pampered experience. Lucky for him. Maybe his next hunt will be different and a suffer-fest. Or maybe it won’t.
Hey thanks for your perspective! I get that, having had a couple friends who were hunting guides on a local ranch, they made good money helping folks get into the animals.
And congratulations on your journey, welcome to the wide world of firearms! Sounds like you're doing a bang up job.
You're right, we all have our own path to take.
You seem like a great guy congrats ! Myself well the farm I hunt is 40 miles each way I had about 30 hunts ( 2400 miles of driving ) between bow and gun before I had a buck I wanted to take . Walked in and out in the dark 1/2 mile each way , got rained on snowed on sitting in trees . Soakers crossing creeks , took me two hours to drag him out and a struggle to get him in my truck , well I’m 62 so …
It’s a working farm theres no fences, baiting is illegal , one learns the land the winds and thermals and patterns them ,although 32 years here this was a weird one for sure .
No offense your new , but I don’t consider that hunting .
Larry,
I take no offense and I appreciate you sharing your perspective. The big takeaway I'm getting is a concept I'm very familiar with--earning. There were a lot of shortcuts in my first outing and like I said, I recognize it for what it was. I have no doubt my next experiences will be more challenging. If it is a topic that generates enough interest on the site, I'll keep telling these tales.
Great article and perspective. I often bowhunt the suburbs (legally) and was confronted by someone who said I wasn't a "real" hunter for doing. This may be high fence hunting but I live near the place and they are very clear with it being a hunting preserve. I am a real hunter and hope someday to be able to hunt a similar high fence ranch in Texas for deer and hogs for the experience of doing so. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Thank you!
I recently heard about suburb hunting for the first time and it sounds very interesting. I'm betting there is a lot to be cognizant of, even though it's likely a target rich environment. Best of luck, I hope you get to one of those ranches soon.
Thanks! Yes, it's a whole different ballgame. By suburban hunting, I mean I will hunt the woods behind our country home and we have neighbors all around us. The deer do pattern more so than in differnt environments, but, they still are random creatures and so it's not super easy to hunt them. And since you are hunting in much tighter, smaller cover, you have to be very careful not to get busted. If you do, that's pretty much it for the rest of the season with the deer you scared away. You also have to be extremely cognizant of who your neighbors are and what they think of hunting. I will not shoot an arrow unless I can make a shot that I am 90% confident will cause the deer to go down within 100 yards. So almost all of my shots are under 30 yards. Still, one time I had a doe run onto and die on a neighbor's property who I knew hated hunting. He said things to me I wouldn't say to my worst enemy when I asked for permission to retrieve it. He's one of my wife's relatives, btw, so that made it more awkward. My wife was on my side but it left me soured for quite awhile on legally and ethically hunting our own property.
Wow, I know there are a lot of challenges to hunting but hadn't even thought about this one. Thanks for sharing!
Yikes. This isn’t real hunting. This is what people who have no idea about hunting pay a lot of money to do. Why don’t those atypical racks score on Boone and Crockett? Nice advertising
Im glad someone else posted this for me to agree with. This is like the people who stay in a 5 star cabin with staff on site, and call it camping. Hunting is the thrill of the tracking, the waiting in silence all day in a blind, and the feeling of going two weeks without having a single chance to harvest, this doesnt give that real feeling.
I agree with you both, and acknowledged that at the end. But as a beginner, I had to start somewhere. Not having a plethora of people offering to take me hunting, when this opportunity came up, I jumped on it. I doubt I'll ever get another shot like this.
Statistics point toward hunting being in the decline and I'd like to be part of changing that trend. I get the response, and I long to have those experiences you describe, but I'm glad other members of the community have been more encouraging.
I think I speak for us both when I say we appreciate the response, and neither of us are wanting to down on your experience. But for a long time there has been two very large groups in the hunting community, the people like Lou and myself, and then the people who prefer to hunt on large contained areas with guides taking people to locations where they lay out bait or food (not accusing this place of that). In a lot of peoples minds, the latter is far too similar to poaching for some people, and is often filled with people who are only in it for a trophy, which is why im glad you mentioned the onsite butcher, means it was actually for the meat. Its a fight that has been going on for decades within the hunting community and its a very polarizing issue to many people. I know for a fact that there is still a large amount of people who would gladly take you out and teach you traditional hunting / stalking. Id suggest looking around your local facebook pages, or even attend local NRA or other hunting organization meets near you. As i am in CA, we have multiple groups such as the Rocky Mountain Quail organization that has annual dinners and is huge into new hunters.
Awesome, thank you for the clarification. I understand the rub. My experience was tilted heavily in my favor and I get that.
As an outsider looking in, it's hard to even know where to get started. I appreciate the resources though, I'll look into these in support of my journey forward.