Manitoba Monarchs Field Updates 2016

 Manitoba Monarchs Field Updates 2016

Wed. Nov. 9-
Our hosts granted the three remaining hunters, Jim, Steve and Jody a bonus day, because the hot weather sucked for three days...well, the heat was back again today, with us able to hunt in light under armor and a light hunting shirt...this morning Steve never needed to put on his coat in a pop up blind...highs were in the 70's today.  Larry Sidlar commented the weather has never been this warm a week into November in his lifetime.
The morning hunt saw Jim start out at the Home Farm Stand, and then move to the Teepee Stand at Britton, only to no avail-he saw nothing.  Jody travelled to Bill's in the Shooting Shack, where Steve had seen the two bucks yesterday, but he too was shut out.  Steve tried the Bone Collector Popup Blind on Bill's and was rewarded at 8, 8:30, and 9AM by seeing a button buck, three pointer and finally a 6 pointer in between bleat calling from the blind.  The small button buck definitely was chased away by it's mother, who was probably close to coming into heat.  That stand would stay hot for the day!

Our last stand of the weeklong hunt in Manitoba came to a close with Jody seeing a small 7 at 32 yards at Bill's 366 Big Pine Stand where Tom scored. Jody decided to pass on this buck, and later he saw a red fox. Steve meandered back to the Mystery Stand from the previous night where Big Boy was spotted, but over 300 yards away.  He built a ground blind within 65 yards of where the big buck had entered the field, and at 4:30 two doe entered only 25 yards from Steve and fed through the alfalfa field-a perfect life size decoy to draw the buck out into the open.  The time passed slowly, but as the time got close to the closing time, no big buck, but a shot close-it was Big |Jimbo Rothermel at the Bone Collector stand.  He drilled a nice fat 7 pointer with the Thompson/Center Arms Oncore, using 150 powder and a 290 grain hollow point bullet.  The buck ran about 70 yards and expired.  Jim had been the fourth in our party to tag out with ten minutes to spare in our hunt.  That's not bad for a 76 year old muzzleloader dead eye!

Memories galore, four Manitoba bucks, lots of laughs, too much good food, too much hot weather,  and a yearning to come back to one of the greatest places on this planet.  So, from the Mad Big Buck Blogger, alias, Steve Bearmagnet Frantz, signing off for another year from balmy western Manitoba, where at 8:35 PM it is still 50 degrees outside!  

Tues. Nov. 8-

Finally this morning seemed like a hunting morning, with a heavy frost and temps in the low 30's with slight wind.  Jim hunted Teepee Stand at Britton and saw nothing.  Jody went to a first time used stand at the Northeast corner pines at Britton.  I am sure you are wondering why we hunt Britton so much, and the answer is a simply we have scored more on that property than all other stands combined.  The Britton Farm is breaking the pattern this year with only George seeing a shooter and scoring on Day 1.  Jody also went zero on his morning stand.  Steve ventured to Bill's into the Shooting Shack, where he last shot a buck here two years ago.  Early on only an ermine was the limit of entertainment, but at 9AM the action began in earnest.  A mother doe with two yearlings appeared in the lower corner of the field, followed by a nice brown horned 8, but it had only a small spread and not considered a shooter.  The buck was chasing the doe, but she wanted no part of it and the three doe left in one direction, and the buck continued across the field into the woods to the north.  A short time later another confused doe entered the field  and walked in circles, really not feeding at all, left the field only to reappear again.  Steve expected a buck to show up at any time, but nothing followed the doe as it left the field.  While walking out the logging road, Steve noticed a deer walking across a field 150 away.  It was heading directly toward Steve, and soon he heard the buck grunting.  It was a nice high white horned buck following a track of a doe, but not considered a shooter, so Steve passed on a second buck at the morning stand.

Temps warmed a bit during the day, but was still cooler than any other day we have been here in Canada.  Add partly cloudy to the mix, and it was a nice day to hunt deer.  Jim chose to sit in the Home Stand at the farm, and was rewarded with seeing a small buck and a black bear feeding on canola windrows.  Road trip boys Lattimer and George of the Jungle just happened to be driving by the field and not only saw the bear, but Lattimer was able to briefly video the bruin running from the field.  Jody returned to Britton in the Bale Blind, because the combiners finished the field and almost immediately two doe entered the field.  Unfortunately, no other action happened for Jody this evening.  Steve traveled to a mystery ground stand, that only the outfitter knew existed, and parked his butt behind three four foot diameter rocks overlooking an alfalfa and hay field.  The other end of the field was over 600 yards away.  By 4 PM, two doe appeared at the far end of the field and fed for over half and hour.  Four other doe entered the field directly below Steve about 5 PM and grazed for 30 minutes, and nearly quitting time, a Big Boy Buck came into the field at 325 yards away, or just too far to shoot.  The buck was big bodied and the beast was what we come to Manitoba to shoot.  While walking out again, Steve encountered another deer, but could not make out the animal because of low light.  He had seen more deer today than the entire previous hunted days combined.  That morning frost had evidently gotten the bucks juices flowing, and Jim, Jody and Steve have one day to close the deal.  We are hoping for a morning frost to begin the last hunting day of Canada 2016!

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Sun. Nov. 6 & Mon. Nov. 7-
Sorry for the late report for those of you, who are clinging to the edge of your seats...I had a heat stroke from the second day of 80 degree temperatures, and it not only hit me, but the deer were lying in the waterholes to keep cool!  Just kidding, but the reports for the last two days were impacted by the high temps yesterday and the high winds of 40 mph today.  Today was one of those days when you look up in the tree tops before you sit down on stand, in order to be sure no dead limbs are hovering over your head.  Deer usually dislike high wind about as much as high temperatures, when they have their winter coat of hair.
The real winners of seeing deer numbers the last two days belongs to the road trip boys-Lattimer and George of the Jungle.  Yesterday, they saw 3 doe and today, a bonanza of 7 doe and a small buck.  Last night as darkness set in, a poacher shot a small 3 point one horn buck, that we had on trail cam across the road from the farm.  The perpetrator took off only to return some time during the night to retrieve the young buck.  According to our hosts, weekends are usually the worst time for poaching to occur, and one can only imagine how many deer are killed this way in a very isolated farm community, where towns are up to 50 miles apart.

Well, back to the onslaught of Manitoba muzzleloader hunting. Yesterday, Jimbo Rothermel had a small 6 point buck at 50 yards at Tony's Shooting Shack, only to be followed with seeing nothing at Beehive Stand in the PM.  Jody Natale had close to action in the morning yesterday at Bill's Sand Hill Stand.  He spotted a shooter buck at 280 yards and rattled him in to 250 yards, before it broke off into the cover.  Next, Jody grunted/bleated a small six within 33 yards.  Finally, a coyote came into the calling, but Jody passed on a shot, because the deer sightings are slim, and he didn't want to scare the deer in the area. In the PM, Jody was again in the Twin Pine Stand and saw 3 doe and a buck rubbing his horns in the trees inside the wood edge at 230 yards.  Steve sat in Tom's Kill Stand in the AM yesterday and saw nothing but a half dozen grouse. Afternoon, Steve was in the Back Stand at Toný's and saw two small bucks almost immediately upon putting out Tink's lure, but nothing else appeared the rest of the night.

Today, Jim logged lots of miles to get to the bottom Britton Stand this morning, and managed to see a small buck chasing two does inside the wood edge, while this afternoon at the Beehive Stand he saw 5 doe, while a farmer combined canola in the adjoining field.  Jody was in the newly installed lean on stand at the double pines at far end of Britton in the AM and saw nothing.This afternoon he was back at Britton in the Bale Blind and saw nothing.  Steve had a tough day, starting out by trying to ambush the shooter buck Jody saw yesterday, only to see only an eagle.  The PM stand at the end of the Long Field at Britton revealed nothing, but again he bumped into a deer on the interior path, where the trail cam showed a small buck moving through about the same time at end of day. He didn't see the deer, and wind direction was OK for Steve, but the deer just blew and ran away, just like earlier in the hunt at the same located trail. It was in the dark, so it doesn't  count as seeing a deer during hunting hours.  We will be at it again tomorrow, with cooler temps and lighter winds.  A big buck could step out at any moment!

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Sat. Nov. 5-
The temperature tells it all-the thermometer hit 86 degrees at 3:05PM...Canada accuweather predicted a high of 39 last week, so the weatherman was way off...a record high today in Manitoba...we hunted in tee shirts, and it was still hot to walk into the stands...only three hunters and Steve saw nothing AM at Long Field Stand and nothing PM stand at Britton Farm.  Jimbo R. saw a small buck in the dark and 2 doe this morning at Teepee Stand on Britton, and went back to that stand PM hunt and saw ZERO!  Jody had the good day, but no shooting.  He set up at Beehive Stand and saw a small 6 pointer in AM, and belly crawled through the canola field to the small bale blind on Britton to see 4 doe and a small 8 point buck with white horns.  Very slow day today here in the hot tub called Manitoba.  I did get an email from home today, and it sounds like the buck are really rutting and guys are shooting some nice buck-congrats to Mush and Clair on two great bucks today in Rock, PA!
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Fri Nov. 4-

Condensed report from the Mad Big Buck Blogger for day 3!  George-DONE! Tom-DONE! Lamar-DONE!  Guess who got one today?  But first, the weather report....unbelievably warm weather, clear with high of 60, and more to come the next few days! I didn't even pack short sleeve shirts, because the advance forecast was for lows of 5 degrees and highs of in the 30's.  It is especially good the butchering crew has 3 guys to work on the deer and get them frozen quickly.

Lamar, alias Lattimore, alias Lamarsky, set up in the shooting shack at Tony's for the AM hunt.  At 8:55AM, he shot an 8 pointer at 75 yards with one well placed shot from his Thompson/Center Oncore muzzleloader, using a Federal Copper Bond 275 grain bullet.  The deer ran about 45 yards and dropped from the double lung hit.  Lamar's sidekick, Jimbo Rothermel, who was hunting at the sawmill stand nearby, did not see anything, but did assist in the retrieval of  Lamar's buck.
Hunter No 3-Done!

Jim hunted out of the Teepee stand in the PM and saw nothing.

Jody Natale had a slow day with only one doe at Riverside in the AM, and one doe in the afternoon at Bill's Shooting Shack.

Steve continued ninja hunting, after breaking the streak of no deer seen, by going to the Long Field in the AM, where he witnessed a small buck chasing two doe in the field for about an hour.  Two other doe were seen feeding in the morning.  The afternoon he moved to the other end of the Long Field in an old small bale blind, and while walking into the stand, he got to see a white hare and four grouse.  The action started about 5:30 PM, when two doe entered the field and began grazing on the sparse grass in the field.  Soon four other doe joined the other two and fed into the wind along the 900 yard field.  About 6:30PM, a medium sized buck entered from the back corner of the field, and walked along the edge of the field, never walking onto the grass field, and then escaped into the woods again after covering about 200 yards.  Shortly thereafter, a pack of coyotes opened up howling and yipping for about ten minutes within 200 yards of where the deer were feeding in the field.  The deer scattered into the fencerow in the opposite direction of the coyote howl fest!

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Thurs. Nov. 3-

Well, here we go again, fighting the weather!  Awoke to dense fog, but no Horror Frost, because not below freezing last night.  As in the past, very difficult to see past 100 yards in low light, and the fog only started lifting about 11 am.  Needless to say, the morning hunt was not fruitful, but some of us did see deer.  Steve was shut out again at the Britton Farm, but both Jody (two doe) and Lamar (4 doe and two small buck) saw deer on the morning hunt.  Jim Rothermel saw 3 doe at Bill's Farm, and Tom, also on Bill's saw 3 doe and maybe the buck from yesterday (fog just too thick to be sure).

I forgot to mention our arrival day adventure, while taking a round about drive at the end of the day.  We managed to see two buck moving around just before dark.  Jody spotted the second one in a woodlot, and when I backed up to binoc it, the buck ran away from us into a field.  We drove the truck forward parallel to the buck running about 100 yards away through the field, and it then disappeared into another wooded area.  We continued forward only to have the buck sprint across the roadway about thirty feet in front of the truck.  I didn't want to get my buck that way.

Meanwhile, back to the hunt and it is heating up!  Lamar and Jim were shut out on the PM hunt, but Jody moved to the back of the Britton Farm, and managed to draw in 6 coyote, which followed him out to the truck.  Half a mile away, Steve went ninja and hid in a grown up fencerow, and was rewarded seeing 7 doe and a small 8 point buck.  Tom had all the significant action, starting with a bull moose at 40 yards at 4:35PM.  He had returned to the same stand that Mr. Buck passed by last night, and he reappeared one hour later than the previous night at 6:32PM.  At forty yards, his CVA Optima launched the 50 caliber 251 grain copper sabot into the big buck's neck.  The buck dropped in its tracks and Tom had a Manitoba Monarch.  The heavy mass 8 pointer tipped the scales at 259 pounds and had a 33 inch neck.  We didn't score the 18 inch spread big boy, but Tom has a tremendous trophy to take home.  Two down and four to go, with warmer and clearer weather in the forecast.  While returning to the farm in the dark, upon entering the lane, with farmhouse in sight, a huge ten point plus red tined buck walked in front of the van and posed broadside for all four of us to see.  He just walked away!

Last but certainly the best from Tom and Steve in Canada-Congratulations to sister-in-law Nilitza Malave, and granddaughter Mariah Lesh for winning District 11 soccer championship.  Sorry we missed the game, but we are with you in spirit, and good luck moving forward in states.  Stay tuned tomorrow for more action from Wild Haven Outfitting!

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Wed. Nov. 2-
The Mad Big Buck Blogger is Backkkkkk... Steve 'Bearmagnet'' Frantz and crew of 5 other hunters with muzzleloaders are going after Manitoba Monarch Whitetail Deer over the next week, and Steve will be reporting daily from the field with live action on the northern slope of Riding Mountain Park.  We are hunting with Wild Haven Outfitting (Larry Sidlar and Laraine Mitchell) with daughter, Ashley as chief cook.

The first morning temp was in the low 30's and light wind out of the northwest.  Four hunted at the traditionally productive Britton Farm, and two travelled to Homestead Farm.  Tom  was with Big Jimbo Rothermel at Homestead and they were entertained by a coyote festival of howling, which explained why no deer were seen on the morning hunt.  Meanwhile over a Britton, the action started rather quickly with George Lengle blasting a nice 215 pound 8 pointer at 8:57 AM, with a shot of about 110 yards.  The deer only went 30 yards, before expiring.  Two doe had been with the buck and George also saw another unknown sex deer walking out to the vehicle.  Steve and Lamar each saw three doe from their stands.

The weather here in central Canada has been wet, wetter and wettest the entire summer and fall.  Crops are unharvested and most fields have water standing in them.  Some farmers have spent $30,000 to equip their combines with tracks, so as to travel over the saturated fields to harvest wheat, soybean and canola.  Tens of thousands of acres remain unharvested, so patterning deer is quite difficult, not to mention, high rubber boots are mandatory to hunt here now!

Great start to the first day hunt, with one hunter finished, and three returned to Britton, with the other two taking stands on Bill's Farm.  The action at night was at both locations, as we were pummelled with an afternoon snowstorm.  We have never seen snowflakes the size of quarters until today's storm.  Jody watched a deer for an hour just before dark, and he knew it was a buck, but just could not determine how large the horns.  Steve saw nothing, with Lamar having a doe pass close by his stand.  Over at Bill's, Tom was surprised by a shooter buck, that passed silently and directly underneath his stand.  When he finally saw the entire deer, it had stepped into heavy cover and offered no shot.  Jim was entertained by two partridges and an ermine.  That's all for today's news, and will be back tomorrow. - BearMagnet
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