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- Apr 1, 2014
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I've been asked to post the stories of my 2014 kills and this is the story of my second Michigan buck on November 13th.
My 2014 season had started out like gangbusters as I took a HUGE perfectly clean 10 point within 30 miles of home on the October 1st bow opener. His demise came from several things I typically either shy away from, or don’t put much thought into.
I heard about the big buck through hearsay and it just so happened to be on a small parcel I hunted many years ago and quit hunting because I never saw a buck there over 80 inches. In mid-August I set up a couple motion cameras to locate him and confirm he was in fact, as big as he was portrayed to be. The cameras would also give insights into his feeding habits and movement patterns.
Typically my hunting successes have been a direct result of post season scouting and location preparation and I rarely use motion cameras in Michigan or scout out new locations during pre-season. The entire procedure to take that buck however, worked out to perfection and he was taken at 8:15 on opening morning.
It’s so tough to take a mature buck in Michigan that after opening day, even though I had another buck tag, the pressure I put on myself for the Michigan season was over, anything after would be icing on the cake.
It’s sort of strange that every year I’ve taken a good buck early in the season, descent bucks that I may have taken had I not already filled my first tag, became frequent opportunities. My point is there have been seasons in Michigan when I never saw a shooter, but when I’ve filled my first tag early and become more picky (not this year of course) because the next buck would finish my season, questionable shooters have come out of the woodwork to mess with my head.
During my pre-season speed tours of my already prepared locations at isolated oak and apple trees, I had checked them for mast and fruit production. None of the apple trees had apples but all of the oaks had acorns. Because the pressure was off and I’m not a fan of burning out my rut-phase locations in heavily pressured areas during the October Lull when mature bucks are primarily nocturnal, I left them alone until the end of October pre-rut.
The plan worked and on my first hunt to each of the first two oak locations there were active scrapes beneath the oaks and at yet another there was an active scrape lined runway along the tree line.
These pre-set oak locations would be my go to spots since none of the apple trees I typically hunt next to, had apples in 2014, yet the oaks had the best mast production I’d ever seen. At the two oak locations with hard ground, as soon as I was under the branches, it was like walking on ground covered in marbles.
The first scrape area I hunted was beneath the large white oak I had set-up in and was located along the edge of a standing cornfield. Both evenings I sat there a descent 8 point passed by within 5 yards and never sniffed or worked a scrape.
On my first morning hunt there, a dominant buck was staged near the tree and I spooked him with my 2 hour prior to daylight entry. The tarsal odor when I walked past where he spooked from was very pungent and was a telltale sign he was a mature breeder buck. I believed he was the buck I was looking for. Time would tell.
In another location there are three, seemingly out of place, huge white burr oaks on a dry hump island in a marsh swamp. The primary make-up of the relatively narrow (100 to 250 yards wide) yet miles long meandering marsh is tall weeds, an occasional patch of cattails, short brush, standing water, and the most winding creek I’ve ever seen. This is the areas primary bedding area.
The center burr oak I perch myself in didn’t have acorns, but the oaks on either side did and they each had scrapes below them and the brush in the vicinity was tore up with rubs. In the several years I’d hunted the oaks, this was the first time I’d seen scrapes as bucks typically don’t scrape in damp or wet earth.
The first morning in the burr oak I had a gorgeous 8 point come in with a spike and feed on acorns for half an hour. He also worked two of the scrapes. I guessed him at around 120 inches and passed on the perfectly broadside, 18 yard shot.
The next day I sat all day and around 11:30 am had a different mature 8 point pass through sniffing the ground as he passed. He had a larger body but was not as well-endowed on the antler side as the buck from the day before.
My plan was to come back and hunt this location once more just prior to gun season as gun hunters doing their pre-season scouting and location preparation in the timber on either side of the marsh would push bucks into this perfect, secure bedding and transition zone.
I held out on hunting the tree line location for two reasons. It was nearly 150 miles farther north of the other two locations and statistically bucks up north tend to be smaller and grow less bone compared to a same aged buck in southern Michigan. I also knew of at least 2 other bowhunters that had location set-ups within 100 yards of mine, but had no clue as to how frequently or even if they had hunted those stands.
My tree line location is in a red oak located along the edge of a stand of mature timber and the interior of the timber has understudy in it that’s suitable for deer to bed in. There’s a 22 yard wide buffer of tall weeds separating the timber’s tree line edge from what was a standing cornfield that year.
The tree line is made up of mature red oaks and soft maples and about 10 yards into the tall weeds was the scrape lined runway and it paralleled the tree line. Every single branch along the runway that hung low enough to be utilized as a licking branch was, and had an active scrape beneath it.
My first evening hunt was quite action packed and I began seeing deer before I was totally situated. Fortunately my 32 foot height up the tree allowed me to cautiously finish my dressing in the tree routine without getting picked.
Deer just kept appearing from everywhere but primarily from the standing corn. By the end of the hunt I had seen 15 does and fawns, a spike, 4 point, 5 point, 1 ½ year old 8 point, and a huge bodied, small but heavy antlered 6 point. The 6 point was at least 3 ½ years old and was just peaked out in antler growth. He was definitely one of the areas dominant bucks as whenever he so much as moved towards another buck, they would back away.
None of the bucks worked a scrape but the big 6 chased a particular hot doe all evening, going primarily in and out of the corn. It was the most deer I’ve seen on a hunt in Michigan in many years. I came back the next morning and saw pretty much all the same bucks, other than the big 6.
On the morning of November 13th I was back downstate in the big white oak along the cornfield and was surprised and excited to see the corn still standing and this time my entry went undetected.
My plan was to hunt the morning, leave my gear in the tree and go take a nap and return to hunt again that evening. Spend the night at a friend’s and hunt all-day on the 14th in the burr oak location which was about 40 miles west of this location.
Shortly after daybreak, about 150 yards down the field’s edge I caught sight of a good buck stepping out of the corn and moving through a narrow buffer of tall weeds that connected the crop field to a marsh consisting of tall weeds and scattered brush. During seasons when the crop field is in beans or once the corn is picked, the large marsh is the areas primary bedding area.
There’s a narrow tree line along the marshes edge and the buck stopped under one of the trees and worked what was obviously a scrape and its overhanging licking branch. I had never set-up a location in those trees as they seemed too small and had no background concealment cover once the leaves fell, which they had.
The remainder of the morning’s hunt was uneventful and although that location was best suited for evening hunts, I had a decision to make. The buck I had just seen had a larger rack than the 8 point I had seen on my 2 previous evening, so do I leave my stuff in the tree and come back or freelance and go in and set-up at the scrape the buck worked and hope for the best, knowing my odds of getting picked would be high.
There’s one relatively consistent pattern to scrape hunting during the rut phases. Whenever you see buck’s work a scrape in the morning after daybreak, unless they find a hot doe during the day, they will likely return to the exact same scape in the evening to check it for doe activity.
Although I pondered the situation as if the choice was yet to be made, in reality the decision was made immediately after watching him disappear into the tall marsh grass. In situations like this, they don’t come to you, you have to go pursue them.
I skipped the nap because I wanted to get in as early in the afternoon as possible to prepare a tree quietly and slowly so as not to work up a sweat. At 1 o’clock with a freelance fanny pack full of Cranford steps, wearing a Scent Lok suit so as not to leave odor, and carrying my hunting gear I headed out.
There wasn’t much wind that afternoon and as quietly as possible I worked my way down the cornfields edge. At one point I stepped on and snapped a twig and of course thought the world had just come to an end. I was quite sure the buck was bedded in the marsh, but had no clue as to how far in and whether the snap got his attention. Most hunter’s, including myself, usually think the worst case scenario, but after mumbling a few choice profanities to myself I continued on.
Once where the buck came out of the corn I walked the several yards through the buffer of weeds and lo and behold, less than 10 yards from the largest tree, was 3 very active scrapes and several large rubs. This was in fact a new primary scrape area as it was not there during my post season scouting venture the previous April after the snow melted.
The large tree was perfect for a set-up as it; was close to the scrapes, didn’t require any shooting lane clearing, was tall enough for a 25 foot high set-up, was large enough diameter to allow me to cling to it in my sling to the point that from a deer’s perspective I would be part of it.
After nearly an hour and a half of sloth speed tree preparation and get ready motion I was hanging securely in my sling in the ready to kill position. The scrapes were directly to my left, the marsh was behind me, and the narrow weed buffer and standing corn were in front of me.
My only issue was that I needed to remain as motionless as possible due to no background cover, and couldn’t watch over the marsh to see what may be coming so I could be more prepared if and when it did. Oh well, it’s pretty rare when all hunting situations are perfect and this would be a fly by the seat of your butt, Hail Mary hunt anyway.
Until around 5 o’clock the only thing I saw was the tops of a few cornstalks moving around as deer were feeding on their attached ears.
I can’t even begin to explain to a non-hunter how gratifying it is to just sit and watch nature as it flows. I really feel sorry for anti-hunter environmentalists that make feeble attempts in trying to intelligently talk about how hunting hurts the ecosystem when in deep reality, they never witness nature as hunters do, nor do they put the dollars towards the protective management of wild animals as we do with our license fees.
Anyway, a little after 5 something I didn’t expect happened. Out of a woodlot more than 200 yards from me stepped the buck I had seen that morning and he was making a beeline towards the scrape area. Once at the corn he kept coming through the narrow buffer of tall weeds as if on a mission. He came right in and began working the farthest scrape which was a mere 10 yards away.
I had already lifted my Mathew’s Conquest off its hanger and was at full draw. He was quartering about 45 degrees towards me and if he stopped and went to his right, within a few feet I wouldn’t have a shot, so I let my Carbon Express arrow fly.
The hit looked good and I watched as he ran off into the marsh. After about 80 yards he stopped and laid down for not more than two seconds before getting up and walking out of sight. That’s kind of strange behavior for what I thought was a double lung shot deer, but I was confident he wouldn’t go much farther before lying down permanently.
I immediately began my descent and by the time the steps were removed and some of my clothing was taken off for the search, a half hour had elapsed. From the location where the buck bedded he only went another 40 yards.
Upon lifting his head from the weeds, I counted 10 points. The Rocket Sidewinder broad head had skewered both lungs and cut his liver which explained him wanting to bed down. Liver hit deer commonly lay down after a short distance.
My Michigan season, as far as bucks were concerned, was for me outstanding and now over and my next bowhunting adventure would start the following Monday in Kansas.
My 2014 season had started out like gangbusters as I took a HUGE perfectly clean 10 point within 30 miles of home on the October 1st bow opener. His demise came from several things I typically either shy away from, or don’t put much thought into.
I heard about the big buck through hearsay and it just so happened to be on a small parcel I hunted many years ago and quit hunting because I never saw a buck there over 80 inches. In mid-August I set up a couple motion cameras to locate him and confirm he was in fact, as big as he was portrayed to be. The cameras would also give insights into his feeding habits and movement patterns.
Typically my hunting successes have been a direct result of post season scouting and location preparation and I rarely use motion cameras in Michigan or scout out new locations during pre-season. The entire procedure to take that buck however, worked out to perfection and he was taken at 8:15 on opening morning.
It’s so tough to take a mature buck in Michigan that after opening day, even though I had another buck tag, the pressure I put on myself for the Michigan season was over, anything after would be icing on the cake.
It’s sort of strange that every year I’ve taken a good buck early in the season, descent bucks that I may have taken had I not already filled my first tag, became frequent opportunities. My point is there have been seasons in Michigan when I never saw a shooter, but when I’ve filled my first tag early and become more picky (not this year of course) because the next buck would finish my season, questionable shooters have come out of the woodwork to mess with my head.
During my pre-season speed tours of my already prepared locations at isolated oak and apple trees, I had checked them for mast and fruit production. None of the apple trees had apples but all of the oaks had acorns. Because the pressure was off and I’m not a fan of burning out my rut-phase locations in heavily pressured areas during the October Lull when mature bucks are primarily nocturnal, I left them alone until the end of October pre-rut.
The plan worked and on my first hunt to each of the first two oak locations there were active scrapes beneath the oaks and at yet another there was an active scrape lined runway along the tree line.
These pre-set oak locations would be my go to spots since none of the apple trees I typically hunt next to, had apples in 2014, yet the oaks had the best mast production I’d ever seen. At the two oak locations with hard ground, as soon as I was under the branches, it was like walking on ground covered in marbles.
The first scrape area I hunted was beneath the large white oak I had set-up in and was located along the edge of a standing cornfield. Both evenings I sat there a descent 8 point passed by within 5 yards and never sniffed or worked a scrape.
On my first morning hunt there, a dominant buck was staged near the tree and I spooked him with my 2 hour prior to daylight entry. The tarsal odor when I walked past where he spooked from was very pungent and was a telltale sign he was a mature breeder buck. I believed he was the buck I was looking for. Time would tell.
In another location there are three, seemingly out of place, huge white burr oaks on a dry hump island in a marsh swamp. The primary make-up of the relatively narrow (100 to 250 yards wide) yet miles long meandering marsh is tall weeds, an occasional patch of cattails, short brush, standing water, and the most winding creek I’ve ever seen. This is the areas primary bedding area.
The center burr oak I perch myself in didn’t have acorns, but the oaks on either side did and they each had scrapes below them and the brush in the vicinity was tore up with rubs. In the several years I’d hunted the oaks, this was the first time I’d seen scrapes as bucks typically don’t scrape in damp or wet earth.
The first morning in the burr oak I had a gorgeous 8 point come in with a spike and feed on acorns for half an hour. He also worked two of the scrapes. I guessed him at around 120 inches and passed on the perfectly broadside, 18 yard shot.
The next day I sat all day and around 11:30 am had a different mature 8 point pass through sniffing the ground as he passed. He had a larger body but was not as well-endowed on the antler side as the buck from the day before.
My plan was to come back and hunt this location once more just prior to gun season as gun hunters doing their pre-season scouting and location preparation in the timber on either side of the marsh would push bucks into this perfect, secure bedding and transition zone.
I held out on hunting the tree line location for two reasons. It was nearly 150 miles farther north of the other two locations and statistically bucks up north tend to be smaller and grow less bone compared to a same aged buck in southern Michigan. I also knew of at least 2 other bowhunters that had location set-ups within 100 yards of mine, but had no clue as to how frequently or even if they had hunted those stands.
My tree line location is in a red oak located along the edge of a stand of mature timber and the interior of the timber has understudy in it that’s suitable for deer to bed in. There’s a 22 yard wide buffer of tall weeds separating the timber’s tree line edge from what was a standing cornfield that year.
The tree line is made up of mature red oaks and soft maples and about 10 yards into the tall weeds was the scrape lined runway and it paralleled the tree line. Every single branch along the runway that hung low enough to be utilized as a licking branch was, and had an active scrape beneath it.
My first evening hunt was quite action packed and I began seeing deer before I was totally situated. Fortunately my 32 foot height up the tree allowed me to cautiously finish my dressing in the tree routine without getting picked.
Deer just kept appearing from everywhere but primarily from the standing corn. By the end of the hunt I had seen 15 does and fawns, a spike, 4 point, 5 point, 1 ½ year old 8 point, and a huge bodied, small but heavy antlered 6 point. The 6 point was at least 3 ½ years old and was just peaked out in antler growth. He was definitely one of the areas dominant bucks as whenever he so much as moved towards another buck, they would back away.
None of the bucks worked a scrape but the big 6 chased a particular hot doe all evening, going primarily in and out of the corn. It was the most deer I’ve seen on a hunt in Michigan in many years. I came back the next morning and saw pretty much all the same bucks, other than the big 6.
On the morning of November 13th I was back downstate in the big white oak along the cornfield and was surprised and excited to see the corn still standing and this time my entry went undetected.
My plan was to hunt the morning, leave my gear in the tree and go take a nap and return to hunt again that evening. Spend the night at a friend’s and hunt all-day on the 14th in the burr oak location which was about 40 miles west of this location.
Shortly after daybreak, about 150 yards down the field’s edge I caught sight of a good buck stepping out of the corn and moving through a narrow buffer of tall weeds that connected the crop field to a marsh consisting of tall weeds and scattered brush. During seasons when the crop field is in beans or once the corn is picked, the large marsh is the areas primary bedding area.
There’s a narrow tree line along the marshes edge and the buck stopped under one of the trees and worked what was obviously a scrape and its overhanging licking branch. I had never set-up a location in those trees as they seemed too small and had no background concealment cover once the leaves fell, which they had.
The remainder of the morning’s hunt was uneventful and although that location was best suited for evening hunts, I had a decision to make. The buck I had just seen had a larger rack than the 8 point I had seen on my 2 previous evening, so do I leave my stuff in the tree and come back or freelance and go in and set-up at the scrape the buck worked and hope for the best, knowing my odds of getting picked would be high.
There’s one relatively consistent pattern to scrape hunting during the rut phases. Whenever you see buck’s work a scrape in the morning after daybreak, unless they find a hot doe during the day, they will likely return to the exact same scape in the evening to check it for doe activity.
Although I pondered the situation as if the choice was yet to be made, in reality the decision was made immediately after watching him disappear into the tall marsh grass. In situations like this, they don’t come to you, you have to go pursue them.
I skipped the nap because I wanted to get in as early in the afternoon as possible to prepare a tree quietly and slowly so as not to work up a sweat. At 1 o’clock with a freelance fanny pack full of Cranford steps, wearing a Scent Lok suit so as not to leave odor, and carrying my hunting gear I headed out.
There wasn’t much wind that afternoon and as quietly as possible I worked my way down the cornfields edge. At one point I stepped on and snapped a twig and of course thought the world had just come to an end. I was quite sure the buck was bedded in the marsh, but had no clue as to how far in and whether the snap got his attention. Most hunter’s, including myself, usually think the worst case scenario, but after mumbling a few choice profanities to myself I continued on.
Once where the buck came out of the corn I walked the several yards through the buffer of weeds and lo and behold, less than 10 yards from the largest tree, was 3 very active scrapes and several large rubs. This was in fact a new primary scrape area as it was not there during my post season scouting venture the previous April after the snow melted.
The large tree was perfect for a set-up as it; was close to the scrapes, didn’t require any shooting lane clearing, was tall enough for a 25 foot high set-up, was large enough diameter to allow me to cling to it in my sling to the point that from a deer’s perspective I would be part of it.
After nearly an hour and a half of sloth speed tree preparation and get ready motion I was hanging securely in my sling in the ready to kill position. The scrapes were directly to my left, the marsh was behind me, and the narrow weed buffer and standing corn were in front of me.
My only issue was that I needed to remain as motionless as possible due to no background cover, and couldn’t watch over the marsh to see what may be coming so I could be more prepared if and when it did. Oh well, it’s pretty rare when all hunting situations are perfect and this would be a fly by the seat of your butt, Hail Mary hunt anyway.
Until around 5 o’clock the only thing I saw was the tops of a few cornstalks moving around as deer were feeding on their attached ears.
I can’t even begin to explain to a non-hunter how gratifying it is to just sit and watch nature as it flows. I really feel sorry for anti-hunter environmentalists that make feeble attempts in trying to intelligently talk about how hunting hurts the ecosystem when in deep reality, they never witness nature as hunters do, nor do they put the dollars towards the protective management of wild animals as we do with our license fees.
Anyway, a little after 5 something I didn’t expect happened. Out of a woodlot more than 200 yards from me stepped the buck I had seen that morning and he was making a beeline towards the scrape area. Once at the corn he kept coming through the narrow buffer of tall weeds as if on a mission. He came right in and began working the farthest scrape which was a mere 10 yards away.
I had already lifted my Mathew’s Conquest off its hanger and was at full draw. He was quartering about 45 degrees towards me and if he stopped and went to his right, within a few feet I wouldn’t have a shot, so I let my Carbon Express arrow fly.
The hit looked good and I watched as he ran off into the marsh. After about 80 yards he stopped and laid down for not more than two seconds before getting up and walking out of sight. That’s kind of strange behavior for what I thought was a double lung shot deer, but I was confident he wouldn’t go much farther before lying down permanently.
I immediately began my descent and by the time the steps were removed and some of my clothing was taken off for the search, a half hour had elapsed. From the location where the buck bedded he only went another 40 yards.
Upon lifting his head from the weeds, I counted 10 points. The Rocket Sidewinder broad head had skewered both lungs and cut his liver which explained him wanting to bed down. Liver hit deer commonly lay down after a short distance.
My Michigan season, as far as bucks were concerned, was for me outstanding and now over and my next bowhunting adventure would start the following Monday in Kansas.
