June Hunting Report
I consider bow fishing to be hunting. We use our boats and our eyes to spot and stalk fish. When we get in range, we shoot them with bows and arrows made specifically for penetrating and landing big fish. To me – it’s the best of both worlds : fishing, and hunting.
The highlight for me in June has been the bow fishing. May and June are my favorite times to pursue Common Carp and Bigmouth Buffalo. I’ve pursued them from the BLA to far Western and Southwestern Minnesota. With the ever-changing weather, bow fishing has been spotty – but when we have had some stable periods, we’ve done really well – both day and night. My opinion is, the spawn happened quickly, or in some cases, it did not happen at all. Seems we went from winter to summer, without much of a spring at all, and spring is (usually) best for carp!
One night, my son and I hit it just right, and filled a big cattle drinker – then went back and did it again the next morning. We had good numbers of average to large fish (15-30 pounds), and some incredibly fast action – where the biggest limitation was getting reloaded in order to draw and fire again (see video clips on video page.) But unfortunately, it did not take long for the farmland waters to turn green with runoff and algae bloom – which kills the visibility. So we moved north, where water is more clear.
On another trip, I enjoyed a lazy day, anchored in a prime spot where the fish wanted to be, and just sat there on a cooler and pass-shot fish like one would pass shoot ducks on a narrows between two lakes, or as one would on a deer stand if deer permits were unlimited. Let’s say it was a target rich environment, with very little work needed. I was able to shoot about 60 fish over the course of ten hours. I learned that shooting upstream into strong current is nearly impossible. You can hit the fish, but don’t get penetration – even with the poundage cranked up. When i began shooting across current, I landed many more carp – and was able to get these problem fish out of the system. By the end of the day, I figure I had shot something like 200 times!
Finally, one of my most memorable June “hunts” was a place that is not known for numbers of fish, but it is known for some HUGE fish. We looked and looked, found the “thirty pointer” (a giant bigmouth buffalo basking in the sun), and connected (again, see the chaos on a video clip on the video’s page.) Colton and Christian each got an arrow into the behemoth, and managed to get it into the boat, with a little encouragement from Sam. My friends and I celebrated later that night by finding a way to have pizza and soda delivered to the nearest boat landing. Fun!
I’m beginning to think about bird hunting, and deer hunting. Grouse season and archery deer will be here before we know it. I heard many drumming grouse this spring when I was in the turkey woods. Here’s hoping they had great nesting success. The friends I have who farm out west are reporting seeing lots of pheasants. I drive a lot – and despite the difficult winter, I’ve been seeing lots of deer grazing in the ditches and fields all around the BLA. All good news. I eat lots of venison, but always enjoy the pursuit of one of the smartest critters on the planet – a fully mature whitetail buck. Bucks are beginning to sprout antlers. Time to get the cameras out, and find one to hunt!
For a memorable day in the field hunting upland game with Sam and I, or for a bow fishing trip – reach out to the Contact page, or call me at 218-232-6067.
