Hunting So Dismal In Minnesota, My Most Recent Kill Was With My Truck

I've been hunting in Northern Minnesota since the early 2000s. I had a few successful years of deer hunting. Our hunting party used to have multiple bucks strung up at the end of every deer camp.

Hunting in recent years has been pretty terrible. It's been bucks-only or limited antlerless lottery for as long as I can remember. The deer shack used to be full, but folks just quit coming. Without the deer, there isn't a whole lot of reason to head out into the woods.

I was heading to our family hunting property near Cook, Minnesota this last weekend when I bagged my first animal in 7 years. The last animal I successfully hunted was a decent buck in 2017.

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Not anymore,  I got my first game in 7 years on Sunday. I didn't even have to use a gun or a bow.

I bagged a decent partridge with my Toyota Tundra. I was driving down the dirt road when the bird flew up from the ditch and went right through my front grill. It was dead instantly.

Read More: Why I'm Giving Up On Deer Hunting This Year In Minnesota

As I pulled the bird out of the front of my truck it dawned on me that this was the first time in a long time I was going to be field-dressing something. (You can't let it go to waste, right?)

With our zone being a one-deer limit with an antlerless lottery this year, I doubt I'll get a license. Am I done hunting for good? I hope not, but it's not worth it now until the deer population hopefully comes back.