My Outdoor Year in Review

Well this year was the greatest I have ever had in the outdoors. It was not my most successful, nor was I able to get out in the wild more often but I had far more adventure than ever before with the time I did get to spend "outside." My trip to North Dakota was amazing and has sparked a need in me to go out West again and again. My bow season was pretty uneventful but I was able to uncover many new hunting locations that have me excited for the off season and next year. I was able to close the deal in the last hour of my only chance to get out during gun season on a decent Michigan Swamp Buck. I went up around Lincoln, Michigan where my Grandparents have had a house for a few years. Working midnights, I flew to my parents' house after work so I could hitch a ride with my Dad and brother so I could sleep on the way. We had a blow out on the way up which seems to be a theme in all my hunting trips this year.

We hunt some public land near there and have been pretty successful. This year was a little different. Very little deer sightings and not a lot of deer sign either. I had only seen a three point in 3 days of sitting starting November 15th. On my last day up there I took a walk with my brother out to a swamp we knew about a mile away from where we park. I carried the Classic Michigan Gun Season Firearm; Marlin 30/30 with open sights. I had many different options to carry but I figured with walking in thick woods I might as well have open sights for a quick shot. My brother carried his scoped super slug gun. We jumped a few deer on our walk and decided to slow down. We found amazing buck sign about 2 miles into our hike. I caught movement ahead of us on the trail and saw a good size buck with antlers outside its ears stepping out onto the path and stopped about 100 yards away. I dropped to one knee, cocked my hammer and yelled "Shoot it Robert!" I looked over to find my brother covering his ears with his gun leaning between his legs. I had to man up and took the shot. The deer was slightly quartering towards us but the old Marlin dropped the buck where he stood. Not a bad shot for such a long distance with open sights. He ended up being a very wide 4 point. A lot of celebrating took place after a LONG drag. I finally scored with literally minutes left on my season. What a great year.