Awesome Bucks.

I got to go out scouting with my brother yesterday. It couldn't have gone any better. Even though I forgot the keys to the security cages and had to make extra trips, had to saw through a cable with my new knife which is now a butter knife, and it rained like crazy all day. We saw some awesome deer all over and got some decent pics. My best camera's infrared is not working apparenly so 113 pics that would have been of awesome deer were washed out. Also, I had to send one in to be either fixed or replaced and haven't heard anything about it in 3 weeks. Don't trust Gander Mountain's warranty process, I am out one of my best cams because of it. I recently got a Gerber Instant. Its an awesome knife with assisted opening that shoots open with one hand use. The lock I had on the cable that held one of my treestands had rusted shut so I had to saw through half inch cable with the knife. It now has no blade at all but it got the job done. We will see how well the Gerber lifetime warranty works.

Lets get this season started!

Me and my camera militia hit the woods hard today. I made some security cages out of fixtures I got from the trash at work. They should at least slow down anyone looking to score some trail cameras. I set up three cameras in two spots I hope to hunt. I also got stopped by a DNR officer while I was loading my pack. He said he was just making sure I wasn't broke down. Its actually the first time I have run into a DNR officer in Michigan. I also got some pics from my parents' backyard of a doe and her fawn but no bucks.

Back and better than ever!

I took a brief hiatus from blogging in due to a number of changes that have kept me busy. I now have a new job as Lodge Lead at Dick's Sporting Goods. I now get to talk and mess with hunting, fishing, and camping equipment all day. I also traded in the Malibu Maxx for a new Dodge Journey. This should help me get down the trails a little easier. The biggest change is that I moved to the Orion, Mi area. I am smack dab in the middle of some of the best public hunting areas in Michigan. I have been out exploring a lot lately. I can be in the wilderness within 10 minutes of leaving my apartment, it's pretty awesome. Here are some things I have seen so far.

Great buck with awesome brows. Found him eating in an opening with another wider buck. Definitely at the top of the hit list.



Bottom right corner. The first buck I saw out here. Hes got a gnarly rack.



Still tons of lakes all over.



Went skeet shooting recently. Found out I am really good at it.

One of the cooler days hiking.

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.

Oh the places you'll go...

I have been shed hunting all over public land around me but have found no antlers. Today I hit the Holly State Game Area and I have been out to the parks around me a few times as well. It looks as though many other hunters have beat me to all the spots I know of. I have run into many cool things on my treks though. Not a lot to report from my trips. I will just post a few pics to sum up. I have started taking some videos though. This marten in the top video hopped up on the same log I was standing on. He was about 3 feet from me and never even looked at me.

Came across this guy in the middle of the woods.

Had to cross this log, didn't work out so well.

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.

New Toys and an Alien Invasion.

I have sold my PSE. It was a decent bow but since joining the Archerytalk.com forums I fell in love with the Rytera Alien X bows. I broke down and bought one off a guy on the forum with my tax return money and got a great deal on it.
Its "blacked out" which is awesome. This thing really looks like something an alien would hunt with. I bought the G5 Optix xr sight with the floating 4th pin and I am waiting to get it in the mail. I haven't decided on a rest for it yet but it has to be black. I am trying to customize everything I can on the bow without making it look cheesy like some of the other Ryteras out there. I am going to make this my priority outdoor project creating the 2010 Rytera Alien X "Adbuction". I've been trying to come up with a logo for my custom bow as well. Not sure which direction I want to go right now.

My other new toy(s) is a pair of Wildgame Innovations Trail Cameras. These are my smallest yet. They are Micro 6 Reds. I plan on cutting a metal ammo box in half and creating security boxes for them. We shall see if it will work. These bring me to 6 total cameras.  I still have one out in Lincoln on public land. I am going to pick it up this weekend. Also, I will be hitting Outdoorama this week in Novi. Going to try to get in there on Thursday to see if I can run into Tom Nelson (American Archer TV). Luckily, Outdoorama is only 2 minutes from where I work.

Kicking off 2012

I've had nothing but hunting on my mind with all the unusually warm weather. I talked myself into heading North to do some small game hunting and post-season scouting. I also hit the local hunting ground to get a better look at some areas I had yet to venture into. Here's how those trips went.

First trip: Lincoln, MI
Temp. 22 degrees
We had little to no snow here and I had heard many people complaining of the lack of snow up north that kept them from being able to snow mobile. I was thinking to myself that I might not get an opportunity to get into the Northern woods this time of year again for a while. Typically there are feet of snow right now. I talked myself into heading up with my 20 gauge to possibly harvest some rabbits and set up a trail cam.
As I hit Standish the snow started showing up. By the time I got to the two-track into my little piece of heaven there was about 6 inches of snow. The trail back wasn't too bad because it was downhill. The only other tracks were from snow mobiles that had packed down some of the trail which pretty much was the only way I was going to get my Malibu Maxx 2 miles back in half a foot of snow. I pushed a lot of snow but made it to my destination. A few snow mobilers came riding up from behind me as I was putting my boots on and I don't think they could have looked more puzzled as to how a car got back in the woods that far. But, my malibu is a tank.

The woods were amazing. Every little branch no matter how small had 4-5 inches of snow piled on it making both sides of the trails I walked look like a hallway with zebra print wallpaper.
I saw a few rabbit tracks, lots of deer tracks and beds and a lot of coyote tracks. I saw a couple squirrels and 2 deer but never got a chance at any rabbits.

I set up my trail camera in front of a trophy rock I poured acorn rage on. I was able to hide the camera pretty well on a pine tree about 10 yards from the bait. I hope to pick the camera back up sometime in February if the weather permits and it isn't stolen.

I hiked about 4 miles that day. I was worried about my Danner boots getting wet and my feet getting cold but they worked flawlessly. I can't believe I have used these boots in 90+ degree heat and now in freezing temps and have not had a single problem with them.
I had to rock my way out of getting stuck a few times on the drive out. Including burning through half a tank of gas in one 100 yard stretch but I made it to the road luckily.

Second Trip: Holly, MI
Temp: 32 degrees

Today I hit one of my favorite places in Oakland County. I was just out to get some exercise and maybe find an antler shed. I walked many of the areas I have been waiting for hunting season to get over to check out. I jumped 3 big deer in one spot and found 5 or 6 new tree stands I hadn't seen before. It was supposed to be nasty and windy but it was relatively nice. I found an old car flipped over in the middle of the woods which was pretty cool. It said Roadmaster accross the front I am going to google it later to see what kind of car it was. I didn't find any sheds and didn't really find any new spots to hunt but I put 3 more miles on the gps and had a good time.

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.

Rose Oaks Oakland County Park

Well I have only been out twice in the past two weeks. Work is getting crazy and finding time is getting harder with this new class I'm taking. I hit Rose Oaks County Park with my fiancee last week. We mostly walked around so I could show her the area and how cool it is with all the lakes and trails. We tallied up about 3 miles of walking and finally settled in near a lake but didn't see anything. On the way out we bumped into deer about 6 different times. It was mostly a scouting trip since I have only been in that park one other time in September. I am one of the lucky few who's significant other is willing to enjoy the outdoors with them. She doesn't want to hunt and will not accept me even drawing on anything less than a mature buck but I we have the best time in the woods.

Tonight I hit the same park again this time alone. I got to the empty parking lot at 2:30pm and headed in to investigate the parts of the park I hadn't yet. It was very windy so I took advantage of the extra noise and movement of the environment. I probably saw 18 tree stands and one bait pile. One of the stands had 2x4 boards screwed into the tree about thirty yards away from another guy's stand. Pisses me off when people don't follow the law. Must have pissed off the other guy too because he left a message on one of the steps for the jerk.

I found a gut pile so somebody got lucky this morning.
I put on about 4 miles of scouting. I found two really good spots with awesome rubs on large trees and a few scrapes. I have the spots marked on my GPS so I can bring in a tree stand with me next time. On the way out there were 4 other vehicles in the parking lot. I talked to a guy who said he missed a giant 8 pointer.

My Dad and Brother have been seeing pretty good amounts of deer back in Croswell. My Dad even shot under the biggest buck he's ever shot at. Hopefully I can get there soon and show them how to put them down.

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.