Just would like to know how many Minnesota Hunters there are on the board, where you hunt, what do you hunt, where your from. I just thought it might be interesting. I' m Pat Sticha....live in Shakopee(originally from New Prague)...turkey hunt around Henderson...bow hunt in and around Prior Lake, Webster, Veseli and Lakeville. Grouse hunt up past Park Rapids and surrounding areas. Do a little pheasant hunting, but not much.

I' m Jeff Miller, bowhunt deer and turkey around Henderson and also around Hawley. Where abouts do you hunt turkey by Henderson? There is a lot of turkey there, and also lots of deer. Small world, my girlfriend' s from New Prague.

grew up in Scandia-Forest Lake area. Have since graduated, joined the service, did 7 yrs got out and stayed here in Ak.

I still manage a hunt from time to time anywhere from Hinckley down to the north east side of white bear lake area.

We used to turkey hunt near houston/rushford area for turkeys. Now the ole man puts in for land owner permits and hunts the big birds also out in scandia on the back 40.

One of my uncles and an old middle school teacher both work at the Compound Dr in Whitebear Lake. I did some grown up on the east side of St Paul for handful of years and spent a good bit of time at what is now John Jr' s shop ' bowana' , in Little Canada being it was a much shorter bike ride. That and spending the rest of the time shooting at Phalen Lakes archery area. Btw, does anyone know if its still there and even servicable anymore?

I met the wife up here in Ak, she is a few yrs and ONE day older then I. Not only that but her family is just south of Houston appx 15 minutes. Go figure.

All of my family still lives down there. I' ll be back, hopefully for some walleyes/lake superior fishing. Or if I am lucky some turkey chasing on the ole mans land!

Lil....I' m not sure about the Phalen Lakes thing. I don' t make it up there much. Spend pretty much most of my time south of the cities. Better folk down here....just kidding. Hope you make it back home some day. Nice to meet you!

Jeff....It is a small world. Hopefully I will get my hwys right but if you take hwy 6 out of Belle Plaine, off of hwy 25(1st left that you can take) and just keep going.....I take a right on the last gravel road before you get to Henderson. I' m not sure what the gravel road is called. Go a few miles and I' m right around there. I' m right around the state land that' s off that road. I' m sure you know of the area. I was lucky enough to stop in and ask a guy for permission to hunt. I must have caught him on a good day, cause I' m the only one he lets hunt. He must like it when I bring him venison summer sausage. LOL I love that country out there. I wish I had the cash to buy some land out there for deer and turkey. While turkey scouting in spring, I have seen some awesome land and deer sign. Deer trails that look like cow paths. But from what I take, if your not from around there or have family, it' s pretty tough to gain permission to bow hunt(shotgun would be absoluetly out of the question). How old are you? What is your girlfriends name? Depending on how old she is, I bet I know her. It' s not that big of a town to not know most people. LOL Nice to meet you also.

BTpatriot02 i live in Duluth.I was born and raised here in wonderful MN. I hunt mainly on my property mostly deer but have been lucky to get a bear permit every year for the last 3 or 4 year. I' ve lived on the Range and down in the Cities,but now I' m raising my family here in Duluth.I go to Idaho for Elk every year,last year went to Nebraska for turkeys(now I' m hooked on that now). My daughter has been hunting with me for a couple of years now.She' s my best hunting partner for now. She' s going to shoot in the 3-d' s for the first time this year and she is so pumped(she' s says she' ll do better than me)![&:] Question for the Southern hunters Is their enough public land down their for turkeys? Or is it Primarily private farmed land?

Hi, I' m originally from Apple Valley but now live in St. Cloud. I hunt alittle, just south of St. Cloud and most of my bowhunting is done near Elk River and Big Lake, near the Sherburne Wildlife Refuge and Sand Dune State Forest.

Good Luck!!

btpatriot02.........I have turkey hunted for 4 years now and from my experience, most turkey hunting is done on private land but there is some good hunting on public land but it' s kind of tough to find and you' ll never really know if your going to compete with someone else on the same turkeys. I like to ridge run, so I wouldn' t like hunting public land much. I have permission on about 80 acres and from season start to the end, I pretty much run all of it if the toms aren' t cooperating with me. I just like to know that when I come over a ridge, I don' t have to worry about someone sitting there(much more safe too). From what I have found, is that most farmers will let you turkey hunt if someone isn' t hunting a certain season there already. It just seems that most guys will let you turkey, coyote and maybe squirrel hunt without much problem. It' s just when you start talking about possibly deer huning they give you goofy look. Kind of like, I hope he doesn' t ask me to deer hunt. If your to ask for permission, bring a little venison summer sausage with you. I think that' s how I was allowed to hunt on this gentleman' s property. He used to hunt, but hasn' t in a while but just loves venison.

ditto Stumps comments in the rushford-huston area ont he private land.

We never had problems finding birds or private land to hunt.

There are some great state land sections also that shouldnt be over looked. Some prior scouting is a must. Like Stump was saying you have to worry about the other folks. If you know where the birds are prior, strutting grounds, roosting areas etc, you find the areas into and out of, you wont have to wait for mr tom to sound off. Hopefully, if there is someone else who decides to come to the bird, they will realize you are there already. Going down in summer and nocking on doors, getting plot maps, and doing some driving, not to mention some trout fishing in the Root or branches off it, or the old flour mill just east of Houston, and you should find a place to hunt. (btw, go around the ridge upstream and there is a local fishing hole with a great little access into it. They were working on fixing that place up and I dont know what ever became of it. I am sure being TU had there hands in it, the place should be outstanding like it was back then.

We did a couple years of hunting worth in Mo also. Some of the state land down there has as many ticks as it does hunters. Not to mention the birds end up with lockjaw by the end of the first week. One of my uncle was shot (by another Mn hunter go figure) also in Mo. There are however a ton of birds around....

One thing about doing the turkey stand land gig. Get a few areas and dont overlook the smaller ones. Be mobile and try and roost birds everynite. We managed to get complaciant on our last MO hunt in 00. It was a shame, the birds on the state land werent talking. We managed a lil 40 acre plot and my pard nabbed his first bird. I just wished I would have moved over to our other area as there was hardly anyone around from what I was told. If the birds aint talking, they aint talking. The worst you can do is move, its either that or sit in an known area and call from time to time till the days end. I prefer to talk to talking birds and hunt aggressivly. One of my turkey chasing demise' s.

Stump
Her last name is Tangen, she' s 20, but she moved there when she was in 9th grade. It is hard to get permission to hunt land around the Henderson area, my uncle owns 100 acres of woods near the Nye Refuge he let' s me hunt. The other places I hunt are also private, and it is much easier to get permission to bowhunt. Nice to hear from another Minnesota bowhunter.

Forgot to say
I' m 20 also.