Thoughts From A 70 Degree Minnesota Deer Opener

This last weekend was the warmest weather I've ever experienced on a Minnesota Firearm Deer Opener.  It was 70 degrees in my deer stand near Cook, MN.  I experienced some random unexpected things I thought I'd share with you.

First off, the mornings were still pretty cold.  We started at 39 degrees in the morning, and while that is pretty warm for an opener morning, it wasn't jeans weather to start.  I still had to bundle up a decent amount, and then peel off layers of clothing as the day continued.   It was actually inconvienent, because by the time I was done in the afternoon, I had to carry out my bibs, sweatshirt and whatever else I had while wearing just an orange vest.  So while it was warm during the day, I still had to lug around stuff.

I actually saw a few mosquitos, several house flies, and a ton of sand flies.  That made it a little annoying at times.

The deer still were moving.  We saw plenty of activity, meaning the deer numbers are up.  Even though some say that the warm temps delay rut, it didn't seem to in this case.

We needed a lot more ice for the beer cooler back at the shack.  Usually we didn't need coolers, but on these days it was a must.

When we did get a deer there was more of a sense of urgency than normal to get it field dressed and to the processor.  Usually we can let it hang in the yard over night, but in this case we needed to get it there right away!

I spent longer days in the stand.  Without getting cold, it's a lot easier to handle the sometimes boredom of hunting.  I'll take sitting in a stand at 70 degrees anyday over sitting in a stand at 0.