Got this awhile back from Jon, who hunts on the river in both Minnesota and Wisconsin:



Attached are a few pictures of bucks that were killed last year in the area I hunt. Three 160-plus bucks were all shot within 500 yards of our lease in Goodue Co. (Minn.). The 170-incher we called Zilla (above) was a buck we had been watching for a while. My brother in law Jake had him at less than 30 yards on Nov. 1st, but wasn’t able to get a shot at him. I think if he knew it was a 170″ he would have emptied his quiver at it! Don’t feel bad Jake at least you got to see him!


The second pic (below) is my stepdad’s buck that he shot Nov. 2nd in Buffalo County. He left work at 11:30, was in the tree by 2:00 and saw 6 deer, including this one. He shot it at 3:00!




The last picture (below) is our neighbor to the North in Buffalo County. I had gotten a trail cam pick of this buck and had named him Droopy, only to find out 2 days later that he was shot by Ron our neighbor! I was excited to see him get one.



One important thing we noticed last year—a medium drought year in this area–is the whitetail’s need for water. We put out some 30-gallon tubs and filled them with water, and at first the deer didn’t hit them that much. But toward the end of October they drank them dry! I kept loading a 50-gallon drum of water onto my 4-wheeler and filling one tub. During the rut the bucks were really hitting it! If you don’t have water on your property, get it any way you can.


–Jon