2011 - Niemi bags a big one
In a hunting season many are calling poor, a few lucky guys managed to land some big ones to win area buck contests
November 22, 2011 • Voyageur Press
Monte Niemi has been hunting since he was 13 years old, “about 40 years,” he says. This year he got his biggest and heaviest deer yet. It weighed in at 235 on Jackson’s Hole’s scale and was enough to win the contest.
Monte was born and raised in Cloquet and he now lives in Isanti County and has a cabin in the Kettle River area.
He hunts with his son, daughter and brother-in-law near that cabin. Monte knew this buck was in the area, he had seen it a few times around before hunting season. Through opening weekend he looked for it, but had no luck. In fact, nobody in his party saw any deer at all.
Then on Monday morning he was hunting just off of Dead Moose River near Kettle River. “In a gavel pit area that has always been lucky for us,” reports Monte. There he saw three deer, 2 does and his buck.
The does ran one way and the buck ran the other. Monte took one shot and got the buck. “I feel very lucky,” said Monte. “It was pretty slow this year. There were four of us hunting and only one deer.
This was the biggest deer Monte has ever gotten, but he has gotten nicer racks. “This one has a strong 8 point rack, a tall one,” says Monte. He will be getting it mounted and sharing the meat with his hunting partners.