Throwing in the towel.

I am giving up on my spring shed hunting. After spending $100 in gas and a full day, 20 mile hike with nothing found; I'm done. I am not as bitter as I sound though. I did find some sweet honey holes for the upcoming season and saw some cool stuff.

Almost stepped on this 60lb.+ porcupine.

Recent Stuff

I got my skull back from Bizzy Bugs. It looks sweet. I would recommend them to anyone who wants their deer head done quickly. They are located between Yale and Capac, Michigan.

I received the sight I ordered off eBay. The idiots sent me the camo version. I am pissed! They haven't emailed me back yet. The description and pic was for the black version and even included the manufacture number for the black one. I am going to tear these people up unless they fix this for me. We shall see. I don't think I will be using eBay for important hunting gear anymore.

I went up North with my brother to finally retrieve my camera. The first pic shows it perfectly straight but the next couple pics show the camera off center and all the pics were of branches. We buried the Chevy Yukon we drove in 3 feet of snow, walked 4 miles in a foot and a half of snow, and I lost my cell phone in the snow for no pics. It was a fun trip though. Always a good story. I set up another camera so we'll see if I get anything this time. I am not going ot get it until the snow is gone though.

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.