A fun hunting season

The 2016 hunting season just wrapped up for us this past week (on Dec. 15).  All in all, it was a pretty fun season.  Grouse hunting was incredible and the deer numbers are starting to improve after a couple of tough years there.  My pals and I did a moose hunting trip just last week to finish off the season and were lucky to tag a big cow, so we'll be eating good this winter!  

These beauty birds are plentiful across the region - FUN to hunt and very good to eat.  

My buddy Jaxon Savage with a big smallie he caught on a fall fishing trip.  Fishing was great this fall for bass, crappies and walleye.  The ice is just about ready to go so I'm looking forward to getting out there to catch a fresh batch of walleye for dinner!  

Scott Bonnema tagged a nice buck in October.  The warm weather this fall seemed to slow daytime activity down a bit but overall the deer numbers seem to be improving.  

My 20 foot Lund Alaskan is great for getting out to hunt on Lake of the Woods no matter what the weather conditions are like.  And it works pretty good for hauling deer around!  

In early November I got out with a few buddies and had some fun duck hunting out on Lake of the Woods.  I love it but damn, do I need to practice!!!  I miss a lot.  Here is a nice batch of ring bills that kept Tikka busy. 

Keith Beasley from Canada in the Rough (TV show) with a nice buck that he harvested in November.  They filmed a Sunset Country deer hunt that'll air early in 2017.  

While I didn't capture photos of any giant bucks this fall there were a lot of quality bucks like these two.  If most of them survive the winter we have a lot to look forward to next fall and in the years to come.  We are off to a great start for this winter with little snow on the ground and we're already into late December.  

Our late season moose hunt was a lot of fun as usual.  It was SUPER COLD the whole time we were there but it had the moose on their feet.  We saw several animals and ended up tagging a big cow.  Here, Dennis Favreau, Sean McAughey and I pose with the moose on it's way out of the bush.