Tomorrow is the Opener!

The last few weeks have been rough. My spots have had a huge influx of last minute scouters, thieves and poachers. I had two of my cameras stolen and found a gut pile two weeks before season in one of my parking spots. I am still getting pics of deer roaming around me stand though and one looks to be a decent 8. It might be tough tomorrow to pass on does and smaller bucks to wait on a decent one. I am hitting the road by 3:30 am to get to my spot as early as possible. Good luck to everybody hitting the woods tomorrow!

6 Point that hangs out under my stand 3 times a day.

An 8 point that visits periodically. Put my camera a little low.

Another shot of the little 6.

Product Review:
I tried using a new product called Rubline Slime made by Wildgame Innovations. It is a slimey closer-to-liquid gel that resembles something from nickelodeon. You are supposed to create your own rub or slap some slime on a real one and bucks will hit that rub. It doesn't stick as well as it is supposed to to trees. I tried making my own and set up some cameras on them but those cameras got stolen. After I made a few new rubs and set up another camera I got zero interest in any pictures from bucks. I would say the product does not work. There was no evidence the deer even noticed the rubs I made or the product.

Week One of Bow Season Blows In

As any other Michigan hunters know the opener resembled videos of hurricane devastation rather than October 1st in the Thumb. I headed out in 40-50 mph gusts that seemed to freeze the rain before it stabbed my face. I got into my stand well before daylight. I was soaking wet and freezing even with multiple layers on. I knew as daylight hit that when I could feel the 12 foot around tree trunk I was hanging in moving it was time to go. I rain had not stopped and the wind killed all animal movement. I had a wedding to attend that night so I was not able to hunt opener night.

I did get back into the stand a few days later. I hunted in the morning with my brother in the same spot I tried on the opener. It is an oak/maple/apple tree line about 40 yards wide that runs between a bean field and a crp field. It is filled with acorns and apples but everywhere is right now. The morning started on a bad note as we entered the woods in complete darkness only to hear a deer take off from under our stand. We got into the stand and it was foggy! Raccoons, birds and hundreds of squirrels were very busy and noisy as daylight hit. Apparently we shared our tree with a family of squirrels who were very unhappy with subletting their tree to us.

One squirrel repeatedly tried to climb into our pockets. As he was barking in our faces a flash of brown came crashing into the woods. A hawk had grabbed the squealing squirrel and in seconds pinned him to the ground and ripped him to shreds. It was an amazing sight. We saw no deer while in the stand. As soon as my brother's feet hit the ground to head in I turned to see 5 does running into the bean field behind us. Something had spooked them out. They stopped only for a second to wind us as they came out directly into our wind. They again took off. That was the extent of the deer action for the morning.

In the evening my hunting partner stood me up so I headed out alone. I didn't see anything while in the stand except for our favorite squirrel friends. Somehow the population has boomed even though we hear coyotes in large packs most summer nights. I climbed down a little early to peek into the bean field. I spotted two deer at about 200 yards. I zoomed in with my video camera to find it was two decent bucks fighting. It seemed weird for this time of year. They were going at it pretty hard for about fifteen minutes. That is when a monster buck stepped out. The two bucks who now seemed small took off further into the beans. I watched the large mature buck through the video camera as it tried to fight the oncoming darkness which made zooming and focusing nearly impossible. I don't know how big the deer was but I could tell he was very mature and his ivory rack reflected what was left of the daylight very well.

The best shot I could get of the two bucks fighting.