There’s a phrase I hear just about every year up at our Northwoods deer camp in the fall. At some point in the season, I hear my dad say “It ain’t easy up here,” as he stares into the campfire with an empty meat-pole behind him. He’s right, in the sprawling Northwoods of northern Minnesota, the deer numbers are sparse, and the cover is vast. But, despite the disadvantage, our deer camp is nestled in the remote aspen and balsam forests of northeastern Minnesota and a crackling campfire keeps our spirits up each evening as we await the morning hunt.

 There’s something alluring about the Northwoods though. Be careful trying it out—it might just get in your bloodstream and captivate you like the singing sirens in the famous Ulysses myth. For a few generations now, hunters have stared deep into the burning orange coals in those Minnesota deer campfires and fantasized about the chocolate-horned wilderness bucks that roam these ghostly and eerie-quiet lands. Some days at our deer camp I think about the loggers who came through this area in the late 1800s and early 1910s. These were real men who had handshake grips like iron vices. Their whipsaws took down 300-year-old white pines. Their axes delimbed those trees. This land has been forging men in the wilderness since the European settlement of this area 200 years ago. 

As I stare into those campfire coals on a cold November night, the same way those lumberjacks did over 100 years ago, in the morning I prepare myself for a day-long sit. Encountering these big woods bucks requires a different approach from the farmland regions. They are much more nomadic up here. Our deer camp has been operational for over 30 years, and in that time, we have been able to zero in on some dandy bucks with surprising consistency. To do so, the first element we are looking for in these big woods areas is some type of long-range travel need. We are trying to connect doe-group to doe-group. The first and most obvious areas we find doe concentrations are young to mid-aged clearcuts that range in age from two years old to 20 years old. 

Now, not all of them are created equal. We have mused over the years why some hold deer and others don’t? Keep in mind the country I’m referring to is vast wilderness with zero agricultural influence or food plots or feeders. We are talking about is a deer herd that sees very little hunting pressure from humans, but immense hunting pressure from timberwolves.

 So then, how do you know which clear cuts are holding deer? This will be made clear to you by the trails, droppings, beds, and rubs from previous hunting seasons. Old rubs and scrapes are good to see. There is, however, nothing more important than fresh sign from the current fall. If you are scouting these areas in the summer, look for their tracks in the fresh mud. Fresh tracks and fresh droppings will never lie to you, whereas old rut sign sometimes can. This is a land where woodsmanship is still necessary to kill nice deer. In our modern age of cell cams, scopes on muzzleloaders, and smartphone whitetail forecast apps, you will find the big woods of northern Minnesota has little use for these. Up here it doesn’t matter how many smartphone apps or new gadgets you have. In this land, there are no shortcuts. Woodsmanship leads you to deer up here. 

So, now that you have identified a handful of doe-zones with higher-than-average doe concentrations, a plan needs to be formulated for your ambush.  At this point, you might be thinking if I found a doe-zone, why wouldn’t I just hunt right here where all the tracks and trails are in this clearcut? And, in some cases, if you can find an opening in that clearcut, that would be a great idea. Nevertheless, in most cases, the popple-whip regeneration is so thick there is no practical way to hunt them from an elevated tree stand. 

That’s where you need to try to find some sort of funneling feature between two clearcuts. Or perhaps your ambush point might be between a clearcut and a young pine plantation full of beds and droppings. Or perhaps a hay field on private land. Situate between any type of doe concentration where you can capture the movement from one food source to another or one doe-zone to another. The bucks will be orbiting and satelliting around these doe-zones. When that buck searches for estrus does, he will comb through the first doe-zone and then move onto the next one. It is in this transition you can catch him during daylight up on his feet. 

The second element of big woods hunting is locating the proper funnel to ambush deer. I like the outside edge of a well-used clearcut where a main trail exits that clearcut and heads towards a different doe-zone. If possible, I’ll try to take advantage of any openings in that clearcut I can shoot to. Then, because I want to be able to shoot to the main trail, I take advantage of whatever natural opening I can to accomplish this. Often, it’s an ash swale. These are naturally open, and you can shoot just about anywhere in them. Other times it’s an old skid road loggers used to drag logs up and haul them out with trailers. Another frequent scenario is a beaver pond or low ground area where you can see for a long way and shoot deer over the tan swamp grass as a natural opening. The key is trying to find some type of topographical or vegetation funneling feature. Keep in mind the deer densities up in these areas are frightfully low. Playing the needle in a haystack game in a large clearcut is a sure way to go buckless. Beaver ponds do a great job funneling deer around the outsides of the wet swamps. The tapered, skinny end of a young clearcut surrounded by older woods or old tangled blow down will also usually have some primary trails exiting the clearcut. There are endless scenarios that can set up but well-used trails with fresh tracks that won’t lie to you. 

The third element of big woods hunting is to either find or create a mock scrape that gets adopted. Even in this vast wilderness, whitetails are social creatures that communicate with one another all year through these scrapes. In rare cases, I find the natural primary scrape already created. When I refer to a primary scrape, by the way, I’m talking about a scrape that gets used by multiple bucks and multiple does throughout the rut. When I find those natural scrapes, it game over and I know I’ll be hunting near that primary scrape in some capacity. Remember that natural scrapes never happen by accident in the woods. Bucks are too survival-oriented to waste time or calories. When you find a natural scrape 100% of the time it represents an area with an elevated concentration of doe family groups. These primary scrapes will never lie to you. 

In most cases, however, I don’t find the natural scrape, so I need to create my own. Part of the reason for this is I’m trying to prep my hunting spots prior to the fall and thus, there aren’t any kicked open natural scrapes yet in August or September. In those cases, I create my own. When creating my own mock scrapes, I like to find an existing spruce or balsam branch about head high (you can use pea-cord to pull the branch down to proper height if needed). Then I use a little synthetic buck lure on the branch to start the scrape, and if the bucks adopt it, you won’t need to freshen it up for the rest of the fall. I usually start mine in late September or early October. I also kick open the ground underneath the overhead branch.  As a side note, keep in mind there are feeding, and attractant bans in some counties in northern MN so in the places where there is a ban in place, you can just use your boot to kick open the ground underneath the overhead branch. Interestingly enough, I’ve had bucks adopt scrapes that way before.

 A misconception many have with scrapes is mock scrapes do not pull bucks in from all over the countryside. Mock scrapes only “pull back the curtain” in the area you place them and reveal to you what was already taking place in that area. Mock scrapes will, though, pull a buck over from the other side of the ridge as he hits his scrapes and checks for does, which can be the difference-maker in getting a shot at him or not. But you also need to first use your woodsmanship skills to find the area with the right ingredients first (i.e., doe-zones, funnels, etc.) and then the mock scrape gets adopted. It only works in this order, work in the reverse order. No number of mock scrapes will ever create the doe-zone. It simply doesn’t work that way. 

The fourth and final element of big woods hunting is using your trail cameras to monitor your mock scrape and/or primary trails. In my mind, this topic is getting more and more precarious. As a hunting body, we are becoming increasingly reliant on cell cams and trail cams in general. I know I seem to keep finding reasons to add a couple to my fleet each year, but I do believe that mature bucks are starting to develop an aversion to trail cams. I might be going down the conspiracy rabbit hole here, but I’ve had telling photos show me that in some cases mature bucks have avoided my cameras. 

To clarify a bit, this applies more to areas with high-hunter pressure so in very remote, low hunter density areas, it’s less of an issue. But my opinion on this is when hunters put out trail cams, we leave an abundance of human scent in the area, and, over time, I believe bucks are starting to associate the presence of cameras when they see the infrared bulbs glow red, with the inordinate amount of human scent and thus, danger. Again, using your own judgement in the areas you hunt, remembering that I have gotten photos of concerned bucks staring right at the camera.

That said, I still use trail cams to take inventory and to keep tabs on my hunting locations. I don’t put them right by my deer stands anymore, though, I place them down the trail a little way so in case a buck avoids that camera, I can still get a shot at him nearby. I also try to get them well away from the mock scrape or the trail by always pointing them towards the overhead branch on the scrape so in theory as a buck approaches the scrape, the infrared bulbs go off as he is facing away from the camera (towards the scrape). It’s not a perfect system, but I’ve seemed to cut down on the number of instances where a mature buck stares right at my camera. My main strategy is don’t be checking your camera all the time, especially if you have an active scrape, then the best thing you can do is stay away from it until you go into hunt. 

These four big woods hunting elements have proven themselves in our deer camp and have led to many a joyful memory in the woods. Hunting the big woods is not for everyone, of course, and I don’t blame folks for opting to hunt the game-rich farmland zones. But, for those adventure-stricken souls who are in pursuit of something more than just an antler score, the big woods offer the chance to shoot a true ghost creature with heavy, dark brown antlers. It’s also not uncommon for us to shoot bucks in our camp that tip the scale over 200 pounds on a field-dressed buck. In these low deer density woods, hunters must practice stoicism and suppress their infantile urge to complain about not seeing deer, which is something I still struggle with to this day. 

As a final point, my father has shot numerous big woods bucks up here over the past 30 years and the one north star guiding principal he has always carried with him is that he never gets dejected. Even in the face of an empty meat pole, after stating that “It ain’t easy up here,” he follows up that statement with a profound sense of optimism that “tomorrow will be the day it happens.” And, yes, we do sometimes wait on stand for hours and even days. But then, when you least expect it, the reward comes in the form of something much greater than a social media post, a feeling accomplishing something through grit and determination. A reward that comes with raw hands and light snow falling in the middle of a lonely wilderness where nobody could hear you yell even if you tried you are lifted out of the cold grind on the deer stand and suddenly the woods seem illuminated with beauty as a magnificent Northwoods buck lays at your feet.

 It’s a spiritual experience that makes you give thanks to our Heavenly Father who gave us these animals to pursue. And, in that moment, a hunter has been shaped, hammered, and forged in this beautiful wilderness through stoicism, patience, physical survival, mental grit, spiritual renewal, and more. You leave that woods a better and stronger person. 

Author Matt Upgren lives in Bemidji, Minnesota and has been hunting northern Minnesota’s public lands since he was 12. Matt has always enjoyed connecting with fellow deer hunters and discussing the intricate details of deer hunting with folks that are as crazy about it as he is. In searching the Internet (both YouTube and general web searches), he realized there was very little online for the Big Woods Northern regions hunter as most of the big woods content was from out East where folks track bucks in Maine and Vermont. So, in 2022 Matt decided to start his own YouTube channel where he talks about both the private and public land strategies that he uses. His popular shows are geared for the Northern settings we live in so if you are interested in anything like that, just search “Northern Forest Whitetail” on YouTube. Matt says he is always interested in hearing from other hunters and will make a sincere effort to respond to everyone who comments on his shows and wishes good luck to all hunters as they strategize, scout and hunt!