By Denny and Brent Lemler

It started a few years ago on a fishing trip to Lake Winnipeg for those green-back walleyes with Scott Lane. We go back many years with Scott, hunting or fishing trips out West and Canada, hunting elk, mule deer, whitetail deer, moose and turkeys. 

As we were jigging for walleyes on Winnipeg and reminiscing about all the adventures and experiences we had throughout those years, Scott mused, “Someday I would like to hunt trophy whitetail.” He then mentioned my trophy room and asked about the Saskatchewan whitetail mounts it held and where exactly I had gone to hunt them. 

Without giving me time to answer, he added how someday he would very much like to take his son Tyler with him hunting there. Knowing I had taken my son Brent on those trips, along with two other guys from our home town, in 2002, 2003 and 2004, Scoot said he had definitely made taking his son a part of his plan.

My answer to Scott was quick. I was for sure interested in going and would contact my son Brent to see if he could make it because that way we could book the entire camp for the five and a half-day hunt. To background, the outfitter, Turtle River Outfitters, has rights to hunt fifty square miles of hunting land and offers only four weekly hunts with four hunters each week in November. Brent and I hunted with them before so we knew the excellence of the territory and Turtle River’s procedures. Scott enthusiastically agreed, and quickly contacted son Tyler, who lives in Texas, and I contacted Brent, who lives in Rochester, MN. Both were very excited to go. 

I immediately contacted John at Turtle River Outfitters, but, due to Covid, we had to wait until the fall of 2022. We then booked November 13 –18 (rut week). And, because the camp had not been hunted for two years, our excitement level accelerated. 

The camp was one Brent and I had been to before, but was now under new ownership. During the eighteen hour drive we had a lot of time to tell our sons about other trips we had been on. After meeting the new owners, John and Jeff, we were introduced to a local guide, Zach, who helps out in the woods, and an elderly colorful native woman, Nora, the camp cook, who always made sure there was plenty of food and that the cabin was plenty warm. 

Upon walking into the camp, as Brent noticed pictures on the wall of previous hunters and their trophy whitetails, and sure enough he found both of us on the picture wall, which added another level to our excitement. That evening the guides met with each hunter and showed them trail cameras with pictures of the bucks that were in their area so we had a chance to see what was around. 

Day 1 started out at 3:00 a.m. with our wake-up call and a big hot breakfast at 4:00 a.m. Nora made lunches for each hunter the night before and we had our choice of a thermos with either coffee or hot chocolate along with water and Gatorade to bring with us to our stands. Brent and I went with Jeff, Scott and Tyler went with John. We all had about a 40-minute ride in a truck deep into the bush where they had the quads, trailers and miscellaneous equipment. We loaded our backpacks into the trailers where Brent and Tyler would ride with their firearms. Scott and I rode on the back of the quad with our firearms. We dropped the first hunter off after about another 25 minutes ride deeper into the bush, arriving about one hour before sunrise, and got him situated in the blind.

After another 25-minute ride, the second hunter was delivered and set up in his ground blind. We each had a Buddy Heater and a good comfortable chair, and they also had put straw on the ground to keep it a little warmer and reduce movement noise. Because the ground blinds have fabric windows without shooting rails, we brought our own shooting sticks to provide stability.

As for our harvest, the camp requests all hunters shoot a 140-class buck at minimum. Also, if we shot before 2:00 p.m., we were to text the guides and they would come. If it was after 2:00 p.m., we would wait until normal pick up time at dark. They strongly encouraged hunters to stay in the blind after shooting until the guides come. Because the surrounding forest is very dense with trees, swamps and brush and almost dark once you are in it, it is very easy to get turned around and lost, plus they bring the deer out whole and put it in the trailer. After the deer is field dressed back at camp, it is skinned and caped in the skinning shack back at the camp. This prevents predators from moving in and scattering the deer. 

There was also another hunter in camp, Mark from South Carolina. Because he was hunting by himself, we agreed to share the camp with him. The local guide, Zach, set Mark up in a different area. After Scott was shown a nice non-typical with lots of junk, I don’t think he slept a wink the night before as he really wanted that buck! Unfortunately, that buck came out to Mark’s stand and he shot it. Scott was very disappointed once he heard, but felt better once he returned to camp and saw the deer. It was nice, but not as big as it looked on the trail camera. 

On day 2 I was in my blind with everything set up and I was waiting for shooting hours. It was a moonlight night/morning and although still a bit dark, I saw movement. I then quietly picked up my Leopold pro guide HD 10X50 binoculars and, sure enough, it was the 10-point buck with dark brown antlers and a broken drop tine—it was the buck I wanted! But, it was not yet legal shooting time! I needed another 5 minutes to be legal.

While I waited excoriatingly, a doe came by and then was gone. I questioned my decision, but knew it was the right one and I had to live with it. As the morning wore on in the next couple of hours, I saw four or five different, nice, but smaller bucks, and a number of does. Then suddenly, as I watched a doe come across the shooting lane with another doe behind her, the second doe bolted through the shooting lane…and right behind her was “my” buck!

Because the shooting lane was not very wide, however, I couldn’t get a shot, so just in case the buck circled back, I got my rifle situated in the sticks and shouldered it if came back. About ten to fifteen minutes later (which seemed like an hour), the doe came did come back through, walking fast and… the buck was right behind her. Then, as bucks often do, he paused for a second and I fired. Looking up, because the trees and brush were so thick I couldn’t see him down. Then, my knees started shaking. In fact, I think everything was shaking! So, I told myself you need to calm down, sit back and get your mind off it.

                                                                           Denny Lemler & his buck

When I was finally was able to regain my composure, I texted Jeff maybe “BBD” (big buck down). After Jeff arrived 45 minutes later, I got out of the blind, whether it was the cold or my carryover excitement, my knees started shaking again. When we got to where I had shot at it, there was huge blood trail. After 35 yards, there he was, piled up in the soft moss.

We then took a few pictures and sent them to Brent, Scott and Tyler. Then, still on cloud nine, Jeff and I loaded the buck into the trailer (picture) and went back to camp where we skinned, caped and field-dressed the buck. As a side note, mature Saskatchewan bucks have huge bodies as well as antlers and most weigh in the 250-275-pound range, which makes it difficult to judge the size of the antlers. 

On day 3, Scott shot a big 14-point and was very happy that he hadn’t seen and shot that non-typical on the first day. Tyler then shot a big wide 9-point. Unfortunately, although Brent saw a lot of bucks, none were the one he was looking for. Same thing for Day 4. 

                                                                            Scott Lane & his buck

On day 5, Brent ended up hunting all 5 ½ days with nothing on the ground. He did, however, get to enjoy hunting comfortably 12 hours in the field where the temps never got above 5 degrees. Although he didn’t score, he did have the one day when he watched deer for all but one hour, but luck was not on his side, so we ended up going 3 for 4 with Mark from South Carolina seeing many bucks, but not one he wanted to harvest. 

In conclusion, these kinds of hunting trips are once in a lifetime types of adventures, where all of us a saw a lot of really nice deer, and we were never bored even when the action was slow. Tyler also saw his first closeup moose in the wild and said they were a lot bigger than he ever imagined. On both the way up and back we saw tons of wildlife—whitetail deer, mule deer, moose, wolves, coyotes and elk. And, all the way home we rehashed the hunting experience we just had, all agreeing it was a great trip that hopefully starts a new tradition with a new hunting crew. 

 Tyler Lane (left) Denny Lemler and outfitter/co-owner, Jeff (right)

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Looking back at the years of food plots I've built and planted have been probably more years that I care to remember, but I have had a considerable amount of experience to be able to look back and realize what works and what has not been so productive.

Over the years, there have been a lot of ideas and or, thoughts of what you should do or what you should be doing.  A lot of these “ideas” or “plans” are simply to fill pages in a magazines or articles on social media.  If there wasn't new and exciting things to look at, people wouldn't be buying magazines or reading on the internet from these “so called experts”.  Who wants to listen to the same old mundane methods that actually work?  If it's on the internet or in print, it has to be true!

It's fun to try new things, but some of these new marvels are not always very reliable.  For example, throwing your seed on untilled ground or, my favorite, the liquid fertilizers and liquid lime.  “Put a pint of this on your 1 acre food plot and magic happens.”  Really?  Simply put, if this was so great, why isn't it setting the agricultural world on fire?  It isn't and in reality, it would take so many gallons of this per acre that it never would be the economic and labor free product they claim it to be.

The same seed company that goes to great lengths to explain how important it is to fertilize, lime and till the soil so that the seed has perfect seed to soil contact, turns around and says, “just throw this seed on the ground and it grows like magic”.  It's all just advertising to sell their product.  Think about it.

There are a lot of people out there nowadays specializing in telling you how to manage your hunting lands.  I'm not saying all of them, but a lot of them are just talking the talk.  Just make sure that they really do know what they're talking about.  One of the sure-fire ways I have found to be true about these so called “experts” is food plot locations.  I have seen it where , on the map, that they have made for you located a food plot in the middle of a cattail swamp.  It seems they never really walked the property.  They just took a map off of the internet or simply don't know what they are talking about.  They're just making you an attractive map to charge you a large amount of money.

Another good one is telling you to plant certain plants that would never grow there or should never be planted in that soil type.  It just sounds good and makes them sound professional, but really won't work.

Another thing to consider is cost.  Is it really cost effective or saving you money?  You still have to clear, or semi clear, an area which costs money, fertilizing which costs money, seeding which costs money, and then getting poor to mediocre results, which wastes money.

If you're going to spend time and money on a project like this, it would be worth it, in the long run, to do a little more tried and true farming practices, just like farmers do.  Hence, all of the deer and large bucks in farm areas.  There has to be something that they're doing right.

Basically, don't get caught up in all of the hype out there.  A lot of the new seed, magic fertilizers and so called “expert ideas”, are what I like to refer to as the fishing tackle of food plots.  After all, most fishing tackle is to hook the fisherman, not the fish.

Article By Jim Sobolik
Trophy Buck Food Plots

Shown left to right: Sarah Dixon, Itasca Chapter Vice President Elect and Jared Mazurek, MDHA Executive Director, drawing the winning Minnesota Deer Hunters Association Chevy Raffle ticket Tuesday, May 16, 2023. The winning ticket was sold by the MDHA Alexandria Chapter.