The 2013 Archery season is almost upon us, and I am jonesing to climb 20ft in a tree and hopefully get to unleash a couple darts! I am slacking a little bit in my preparations but I have a unique urban bowhunting opportunity water locked by a river in the SE Metro. There are people who frequently walk around this small little whitetail haven, and the deer are very comfortable with human presence. They do it on a daily basis and yet there are some absolute studs who roam it’s bottoms.

We took the short boat ride out last night packed to the brim with stands and trail cams. We were hoping to be able to get the cameras out with enough time to capture some big ol’ Minnesota Bruisers!

Eric and I first decided to take a little walk and survey a new portion of land he received permission for this fall. We didn’t make it more than 200 yards into our walk when we spotted a 2.5 year old 8 sitting in the middle of a small lowland area. At this point we were only 50 yards away, and we just kept walking. The deer took a few steps towards the other side of the swamp and merely watched without spooking a bit.

Another 50 yards and another buck jumped up well within bow range, gave us a funny look and then slowly trotted away. This scene played out two more times with 2.5 year old bucks, and about as many does between the 300 yard walk from our landing to a stand site.

There is portion of marsh which protrudes into the forest and it looked like a few deer were using the edge. Combined with a somewhat of a natural funnel, and it looks to be a killer spot to ambush an antlered king.

It got a little late on us before we could put up Eric’s stand but we will be back out soon enough to get set up for the 2013 archery season.

Here is some eye candy from last season, he captured right next to his stand. Add 1 more year and some of these should be studs!