At a young age, I became infatuated with the Whitetail Deer.  No rhyme or reasoning why.  My father had hunted some when I was younger, but his bow hunting career was short lived after a tree stand accident.  While growing up with this obsession, I can remember the first time I watched a filmed whitetail deer hunt.  It was guys like Jackie Bushman and Bill Jordan that fed the fuel for my desire to hunt.  I can remember when Milo Hanson broke the world record of the James Jordan buck.  I could quote scores, inches, and other records off the top of my head.  Around the few men I knew that hunted, it was quite impressive for an eight-year-old kid explaining what a G2 was.  In 1996, I was 9 years old when I could finally hunt.  Thirty minutes into my first hunt, I harvested my first deer, a little doe.  I was on cloud nine and was hooked for life.  My father “in true hunter’s fashion” wiped some blood from my first kill on my face, which I thought was gross until I arrive at our local coffee shop.  With my proud “war paint” on I walked in and was met with congratulation and handshakes from the local hunters.  The ones that I would almost irritate daily wanting to hear another deer story.  It was from that day on I knew I was going to be a deer hunter.  My success was short lived though.  It would be four more years before I would hold another one of my harvest in my hands.  The little local coffee shop remains & most of the men there that day have passed or have retired their guns and bows… but in true hunter’s fashion at age 31, I still take every harvested animal up there for show – always barring my local “war paint” trademark.

Fast forward 20 years, hunting has changed a lot.  From how we hunt to what we use to hunt.  Over these past 20 years I had learned from how a deer reacts, to what a deer needs to survive.  The ever-growing combination that all of us as hunters try to master.  Throughout these years I was maturing as an avid bow hunter, and had a new infatuation of shed hunting.  I was starting to see the same bucks from year to year.  Noticing which ones were growing and how many inches one could grow on a good weather year.  It was at this point in my hunting career that it turned into a game of inches.  Not a game that is well mastered or one that comes easy.  While living on and working on our family grain farm, it never made any sense to my father to plant food plots since there were surrounding acres of corn and soybeans along with hay fields of white and red clover.  Though as the years passed I started doing what I could in terms of planting food, with what I had to work with.  Finally, my father gave in and we started establishing some small food plots, which in a few years, turned into some larger ones… usually about 1 to 3 acres.  At the peak of this I had also been running trail cameras on our farm and was able to prove the success of what we were doing and I was setting the stage for the years to come.

The 2015 season started out like most.  I had started running trail cameras on our farm around late June.  From these velvet pictures I usually set up an inventory of deer and then decide on which deer I am going to pursue.  Granted, some deer only show up a few times, you can still determine which deer are your home deer.  One buck that stood out was this very young, small bodied twelve pointer.  He had a clean five-point side on his right and his left was also a five-point side sporting a double brow tine and a split G3.  This deer was not nearly the largest or oldest buck this year, but definitely stood out.

As the late summer progressed and velvet had shed off, he was a definite home buck.  He hung around and traveled all around our farm and it was almost like he enjoyed having his picture taken.  As the season started, he was still holding tight.  He had many characteristics in his antlers from deer I had hunted in the past.  Wondering what his true potential could be from past experiences I had had with his elders, I immediately contacted all my neighbors and asked that this buck please get a pass.  Having good neighbors is one thing but having neighbors that are good hunters is another, and with a bad out break in 2012 of EHD, we were all on the same page.  So, it was established that “Baby”, named from his small body, would get the pass.

As the season progressed, I encountered “Baby” one morning while bow hunting in a ground blind. Now trail camera pictures are one thing, but being eye level with him, I just couldn’t believe how little this deer was in size.  He was short and stocky, yet still sporting a 120-inch rack.  Thinking it was impossible for this deer to be a year old, I determined he was 2.5 years old but still yet smaller in the body.  This made his rack look a little more appealing.  I was the first to pass him that year.  I continued to hunt other deer on the farm, but as he always did, he would pop up on trail cameras, almost as if he never left or had a reason to leave.  One afternoon while walking in to the stand, during the firearm gun season, I was approaching a pond when I had seen something shiny from the sunlight glaring back at me.  I immediately realized it was a deer antler. As I laid down in the prone position with my shot gun, I ranged him bedded at around 70 yards, which was well within my ability.  As I prepared to take the shot, the buck turned his head and that’s when I noticed the split G3.  It was “Baby”.  The rack looked somewhat impressive in the quick glance I had in my fight or flight response, but I quickly laid down my gun and took a minute to think about what I almost did.   Here I am, the one begging for this deer to live, but it was at this moment I almost made the mistake of harvesting him.  I laid there and watched him as he got up and walked off. This was the second time I let him walk, and as the rest of the season went on, I would learn that he was staying in the hay lot behind the pond.  With this knowledge I vacated that area and left him be. He was such a common deer on trail camera, that the second week of December, I noticed he poked out his left eye.  I assume from fighting, but from then on, all the pictures of him his left eye would not shine.  After season was over, I contacted the neighbors to see how their season had went and to my surprise, none of them had an encounter with “Baby”.

The 2016 season started as the years before had.  My father started farming the field by the pond where “Baby” liked to stay.  This year, it was planted in soybeans, so around the 1st of July, I drove a t- post in the standing beans, and hung a trail camera on it.  A week or so later, I checked the camera for pictures and sure enough there was a good rack buck with a blind left eye.  It was “Baby”.  “Baby” blew up and tacked on some mass and extra points.  More than his ancestors had in a year’s time.  He was still sporting his main frame 10-point rack with inside points and extra off his G2’s and G3’s.  I couldn’t believe the number of inches he had grown.  Mind you, this deer was approximately three years old.  I knew that he wouldn’t be easily passed if I was to plea for his survival again.  Also, with the knowledge of one of his elders that I had harvested in 2013, I feared for what might happen.  In 2012, I had a buck that was sporting fourteen points at the age of two.  A main frame ten point with four extras on his G2’s and G3’s. This buck in 2013 had fell sick or something, and lost most of his potential and was only a bladed five by four.  So, in that season I harvested this deer with a muzzle loader at three years of age.   But “Baby” was different. He too, now had fourteen score-able points, but was extremely heavy in mass.  Which dubbed his name from then on as “Baby 14”.  He wasn’t the largest deer on the farm yet, but was carrying the most points.  I knew if I harvested this buck, he would be my largest deer, and I would be proud to have him, even knowing he was only 3.5 years old.  So, I put him on the list.  This year “Baby 14” was moving quite a bit, all at night. I had trail camera photos of him on three different pieces of property, basically working a one-mile triangle around my house.  My head was telling me go ahead and get in the tree, but with my gut telling me no.  I waited till the second week of November, and I moved in on the timber behind the pond where I had passed him almost a year before.  About an hour before dark, I heard something crashing through the woods and sure enough here came “Baby 14” chasing a doe.  I watched him for about 15 minutes.  Studying his rack and his new found heavy weight body, I decided to try it.  I grunted a few times at him, mimicking the sound of another buck chasing toward his doe, and here he came.  As he made his way into range, I had to draw my bow back on him twice.  The first time, at full draw, I did a quick assessment of my bow, and realized the bow hanger was sticking between my string and cables, which would be a catastrophic disaster if I was to shoot. So, I reassessed everything, and drew back for the second time and stopped him. When I released the arrow, “Baby 14” picked his head up and walked off.  I had hit the shoulder blade.  As I watched him top the hill, licking his shoulder, I regretted ever shooting at him.  I felt ill to my stomach.  I had two years of history with this deer. What if I did kill him and don’t find him?  I was going from an all-time high, to one of my lowest.

That night, the blood trail was about a hundred yards with no recovery.  The next morning the arrow was retrieved, and I saw there was little penetration.  The rest of season, “Baby 14” was a no-show.  I was almost a 100% sure that the hit was not lethal, but he was gone.  For the rest of the season, I hunted a different side of the property, in hopes he would come back and feel safe again in his hay lot where he had been staying the last two years. He was nowhere to be seen though.  After the season was over, I started shed hunting hoping to find his sheds or find him.  I searched for about three weeks, and finally got permission to walk a piece of neighboring ground. I was on top of a hill, looking across a bottom with binoculars, when I spotted what looked to be a set of sheds lying on top of one another. As I approached them, I realized it was one shed with a lot of points. It was “Baby 14’s” shed.  I took off running, and even tripped and fell trying to get to it as fast as I could.  He was alive.

The 2017 season started out different than any other, due to a change in careers.  I would not have the time to hunt that I was used to, but we all make sacrifices when we need to.  My father had seen a nice buck in velvet in one of our standing soybean fields.  So, later that week, I snuck back there with a pair of binoculars and started to glass.  There was indeed, a very nice ten pointer that I was familiar with from the year before.  As I watched him, and some does feed in the beans, I saw another extremely wide buck come out of a thick draw into the bean field.  It was also another buck I had a past with.  While watching this second buck, I could see movement behind him.  It was another buck.  A giant with points everywhere.  It was “Baby 14.”  Once I realized it was him, I quickly backed out and walked back to the truck.  I was wearing just regular clothes since I was just going to take a quick glance.  I returned the next evening in camouflage and with my spotting scope.  I hunkered down in the standing beans and waited.  That night, more deer showed up but not “Baby 14”.  It was almost as if I had every buck in the township in our field.  The next night was the same, he was a no-show.  After a few evenings, I started to second guess myself. Did I really see what I thought I saw?  So, I once again drove a t-post in the standing beans and hung a trail camera.  About a week went by and I couldn’t take it anymore.  I had to check the trail camera for photos.  Sure enough, there he was, a giant with a blind left eye.  Now I had him.  I had proof.  This was going to be the largest deer I’ve ever had the chance to hunt. Will he do the same as the last two years?  Will he hold tight?  He is now 4.5 years old, and definitely the biggest, but not the oldest buck.  I just hoped he wouldn’t get pushed out by another mature buck.  As the season went on, the pictures were few, but he was still around.  I hunted every chance I had.  He was nocturnal, but I hunted anyways in case he made a mistake.

Years ago, a guy told me it’s a lot harder to hunt A deer, than just any deer.  He was right.  I told myself “I was hunting him and him only”.  I’m not saying I wouldn’t shoot a lesser buck, but I was passing every buck opportunity I had to to get to him.  It wasn’t until my father started harvesting our corn, that “Baby 14” started to move.  In fact, the night my father harvested the corn by the pond, “Baby 14” came out of the standing corn, and walked right up to a random trail camera I had placed on a maple tree, for no apparent reason.  It was this trail camera video, that I learned that “Baby 14” was sporting twenty-four score-able points.  A day or two goes by, and my father started shelling corn in the field across the property.  This evening, I was hunting the timber by the first field that was now harvested.  I was pulling in my driveway that evening after that hunt, while my father was still shelling the corn in front of my house.  When I pulled in my pole barn driveway, there he was.  Blind eye and all, “Baby 14” was standing in my yard.  He quickly ran off and went into another standing corn field.  Now, I’m putting the pieces together. How do you hunt a deer that is nocturnal and staying in standing corn?  This drove me crazy for about two weeks.  During these two weeks, the rumors started to fly.  He was being seen traveling from standing corn to standing corn.  Currently, the rut was starting.  So, I put myself in every position I could to intersect him with no result.  Finally, a week before the firearm gun season, one neighbor finally harvested the last standing corn field, which would force “Baby 14” back into the timber.

The day before firearm opener, I had worked all night, but had the opening day off.  The only day I would have to firearm hunt this deer.  While I was at work, a neighbor had sent me a message saying there was a big buck in our wheat field.  Could it be him? I wondered….  Then I got a message from a friend saying your big buck just jumped the road and left your property.  So opening day of firearm season, I arrived at home about 4:00 am.  I got my gear together, and headed to the timber.  Opening day was cold, with a heavy frost.  The leaves would fall, making the sound of shattered glass.  I hunted most of the morning, and came out to see a friend of mine’s buck that he had harvested, which was a buck I had some history with.  He was also the one who seen “Baby 14” jump the road the evening before.  After congratulating him, I headed back to the woods.  I hunted most of the evening from a box blind, passing every deer I seen, because it wasn’t “Baby 14”.  As I sat there, I had been awake for over thirty hours.  I got to thinking about what my friend and neighbor had said they had seen the night before.  This is my one day to hunt.  I know this deer, I know where he wants to be, and I know why he’s in a field in the day light.  He must have a doe in this finger of honey suckle.  So, about an hour before dark, I got up and started making my way towards the field.   My truck was on the way, so I stopped and dropped off all my gear, and headed for the wheat field.  I swung way out around this finger in the field to get my wind right, and as I approached the tip of this finger, I caught movement across the field.  It was a big buck.  I quickly took a knee, and rested my elbow on it, while shouldering my shot gun.  I squeezed the trigger, and the buck dropped.  In a rush of excitement, I started toward the down buck, and he started to get up, so I shot a second round into him.   Still not knowing what buck I had just shot (but knew it was a large one) I approached the deer and saw the amount of points and bone he had on top of his head.  It was him.  I had harvested “Baby 14”.  It was at this time, I realized what I had done.  I got a phone from a local neighbor, because my phone was dead from working all night, and called my father who was in town, and I said, “get here now!”  When he answered the phone he heard me stuttering, and he said are you ok?  I replied, “I got him”.  It was at that moment, reality started sinking in.  I drove home and got my wife.  She came back with me to where the deer laid.  I hadn’t put my hands on the deer ’til she was there.  As I picked up his rack for the first time, my Dad pulled up in his truck and saw me holding this giant.  As I approached my Dad, I hugged him with tears in my eyes just as I had twenty-two years ago, when I harvested my first deer.  After some more close friends arrived, with my “war paint” on, we loaded him up, and headed to the local coffee shop.

After our run to the coffee shop we headed back to my pole barn with a crowd of friends and family.  As we took pictures, more people started to show up.  It wasn’t long before some guesses of the score started being questioned.  As the crowd started to grow I got together the necessary instruments needed to preform a green score.  Not wanting to score my own deer I was the only one with the knowledge of scoring a deer at this level.  As the numbers kept growing, and everyone was adding them out loud, I asked everyone to please wait until the end.  I too was noticing the number of inches growing.  It was determined that “Baby 14” would indeed green score over 200 inches.  Even I, with the history I had of this deer, was beyond surprised.  The numbers were re-figured a half a dozen times because I would not accept the fact that he grossed over 200 inches.  I just couldn’t believe it.  The next 48 hours seemed unreal.  The word spread like wildfire through text messages and social media.  Granted he is no record breaker, but to my knowledge a 200-inch whitetail had never been taken in my township.  The calls and text messages poured in congratulating me on my harvest and wanting to know when they could come see him.  Calls from some of the men that were in the coffee shop the morning I harvested my first deer.  Some of these calls were very emotional for me. Mostly congratulating me but also telling how proud they were of me and letting me know how they enjoyed watching me mature into a true trophy hunter and how deserving I was of this deer.  Even after all the excitement and celebration was over I still would not accept the score that I had measured, until 60 days later when he was officially grossed over 200 by Boone & Crockett.  Even with having two of his original twenty-four points broke off.

I hope every hunter finally gets the buck there after, but I must also say it is very bitter sweet.  The chase is the biggest part of the hunt.  The harvest is just a small portion.  Though it felt like a huge weight was taken off my shoulders, there was now this empty feeling.  Almost as if the drive was gone or as if I had lost an old friend.  I set goals for myself in hunting.  Goals that I knew I would never reach.  Goals that would keep me out there year after year in the cold sunrises and sunsets.  My goal was not only to harvest a 200-inch non-typical, but to do it on my small family farm.  I proved myself wrong and proved that it can be done.

As I look back and think about all the years I hunted on the same property, I think about everyone who also had a hand in my success.  Everyone from family to friends.  My accomplishment was not all mine.  I also looked back on everything that I missed while chasing my goals.  I noticed what all sacrifices my family had made for me to be able to spend so much time in the woods.  Once again, I hope every hunter has the chance to fulfill their goals and harvest the big one, but nothing will prepare you for what happens when you do.  I always thought the hardest thing was getting close to a whitetail deer, but once consumed, the real sacrifice as a hunter is seeing how far you can stay away.

Jordan Hanks 2018

So we finally get to Montana.  Each day, my friend Todd and I hike from 5700 to 8400 feet to get top of the Mountain.  We were seeing lots of elk sign so we decide to do a morning set up up top, waiting for the elk to come through the passes.  The elk will not go over the high points because of the deep snow, so they use the passes.

A few days of hard hunting goes by.  The temperature went from -7° to 41° in just 20 hours, which is a wild temperature change in this rough country,  with rocks, snow, ice sliding and miles and miles of hiking.  We see Grizzly Bear tracks one morning and come to find out, a horse had a heart attack and died on top of the mountain we were on.  The bear had been eating on it.  Turns out the DNR actually goes up there to blow up the horse with dynamite to dispose of the carcass.

So the next day I decide to go all “Lone Wolf ” and go solo way back in….. staying away from all the commotion.  We had previously seen elk at about 900 yards, and this was a place where most hunters will not walk because it’s just rough country.  Well because of this, I found out there is tons of elk sign.  I walk over an hour and a half, straight up into the mountains in the dark the next day, weirdly sweating even though it’s 20° out.  (I learned the physical shape you need for this hunt, is not for the average hunter)  I walk over ridge-line where I knew a lot of beds were.  Sure enough, the elk were already moving their way up the mountain and we’re already 100 yards away from me!

I could count five elk, but they were in the dark heavy timber.  Next, a 4 x 4 bull walks out.  I could’ve shot him many times but I decided to wait for something bigger.

Waiting to see what else was coming through, 10 or more came out.  One of them I could tell was an absolute stud.  He walks out broadside and stands right behind a tree.  The 4 x 4 is now 40 yards from me and winds me, or senses something is going on.  I had to make a quick decision to either shoot the 4 x 4 or the large elk.  The large elk turns just right and I put a bullet right through his neck into his chest.  I took another shot just to try to put him down as he goes off a plateau and down beyond.  As I walk to the edge of the giant plateau, I hear crashing.  I immediatly look up, and the elk actually went down and around, and then back up toward the top of the mountain.  He stumbled only another hundred yards or so, and then he tips over and goes sliding down the mountain a couple hundred yards.  SMACK!  He smacks a huge pine tree, which stopped him right there.  I knew very soon I would be staring down at my very first elk.  A 6 x 7,  300+”  trophy bull.  Success!

-Eric McKay

My coworker’s dad ironically is training a 7 month old Bavarian Mountain Hound and he wanted all the tracking he can get to build the dog’s success rate and confidence. So we meet at 4pm to get the dog on that deer. Dog brought us straight to deer about 125 yards from stand. A total of 160 yards, with its loop. It was cool getting the dog some training.  I had the deer tagged, drug out, field dressed, and loaded by 5pm.  Here’s where my bigger buck comes in…..

Of course I tracked the smaller buck without wearing my hunting clothes with the exception of my snake boots.  Boots had lots of scent on them from gutting the deer just an hour previous.  With nothing but water and scent killer spray I took a “field shower” and drove a country block west where my lease is.  I had only 1 stand in favor of the wind that day, but I was still skeptical of my scent.  I was in my stand just over an hour with my back to 3 acres of corn, and facing a 4 acre wood parcel with a bean field to the south and alfalfa to the east.

2 does came thru my corn plot just 1 and 2 rows in (so hardly in the corn) and presented 20yd shots but I wasn’t ready to tag does so they passed by.  After already standing up and turned all the way around, I got the glimpse of the buck following the doe’s trails.  He picked up on my foot trail about 40 yards from me, just on edge of the cornfield. He was curiously coming towards me, directly on my foot trail.  At about 20 yards, he was facing my direction and he put his nose straight up in the air.  He was scenting it all but he was curious as ever, and not a bit worried.  I had not drawn yet, and he’s walking right at me.  He gets to base of my tree and turns in to the woods.  I knew I now had my opportunity.  I drew then, and had nothing but spine in my sights at a straight down shot which I will not take.  I followed him away from my stand and his first step to his right was his last mistake.

It was a 15 yard chip shot with a 2″ Swhacker braodhead, and the arrow passed through​ his lungs.  He ran 30 yards and folded.  I danced the dance and sat confidently another 45 minutes for it to get dark, and waited for the in-laws & friends to arrive.  He scored at 115.25″ and I’m darn proud of him.

Now I’m having even more fun dedicating all my time to mentoring my son and getting friends in my hot seats.  I’ll shoot a doe soon but I never take more than 1 doe out at my lease.  I’ve got state land Allegan & Barry county doe tags to fill!

-Dale Snider

It was the evening of Friday the 13th, and I contemplated even going hunting because it was so warm out, but like I’ve heard a million times… “you can’t shoot them on the couch!”

So I grabbed my Mathews bow and went and sat in an elevated blind out behind my home, where I have good bucks on trail camera mostly at night. I got out a little late but knew they would come by close to dark. As the night went on I heard some squirrels and saw a cat go by. Then when I heard the twig snap, I knew something was up. I couldn’t see anything or hear any more movement, but I sat dead still and calmly waited.

Trail cam pics from earlier that day

All of a sudden some leaves rustled right in front of me and wouldn’t you know it, a big buck was standing there at 20yds. I was so shocked that this thing was able to get there without me knowing! I grabbed my bow and was able to draw back slowly, then sneak up the the blind window. I found my spot, and sent a New Archery Products Spitfire DoubleCross through both lungs. I watched my Nockturnal run off through the woods about 60yds and then silence. I was hoping that’s where he crashed. I then ran into the house and told the wife that I had shot a big one. After firing off the BBD text to the boys, we had a whole tracking crew ready to go.

The deer had gone onto the neighbors property so I drove down to his house to get permission to track my buck. He gladly let me. So we took off into the woods where I shot and quickly found 3/4 of my arrow next to a great blood trail. As we pushed through the woods a reflection of an eye caught our attention and we froze. One of the fellas slowly walked towards it and said white belly!

As we approached him I saw it was the big 8 from my trail cam pictures that I’ve had since early spring. As I walked up to check him out my wife came up to me and gave me a big hug and said “You got him!” with tears of joy running down her face. We drug him to the pickup and went home to take pictures and celebrate.

As I held his tall rack I said “I finally got my big buck with my bow.”

Brian Sitka – Outdoor Devotion

Trail cam pics from earlier this Summer

Bucks and Does are statistically born at a 1:1 ratio, so theoretically you should be seeing just as many bucks as does.  Anyone who hunts knows that this is usually not the case, but that doesn’t mean this birth ratio is far off.  Unless you are hunting/managing very large pieces of property, your herd is most likely spanning over multiple parcels, making this difficult to confirm with precision.  This can present a few challenges when trying to manage, because we all know that the neighbors rarely have the same goals in mind, at least in my experience.  Ideally, we would like to have all the neighboring hunters on the same page, but by at least having an idea of how they hunt, is a step in the right direction.  If you are fortunate enough to have a close relationship with the hunters on the neighboring properties, you should collectively share information you gather from trail cameras and visual surveying.  Don’t worry; you can still keep your 4.5-year-old “Booner” a secret.  With this shared information, you can now gauge the ratios to the best of your abilities, and develop a management plan to implement.  This also calls for open communication of what has been harvested throughout the season, ensuring there is not an over or under harvest to the agreed upon management goal.  If you are not close with the neighbors, you should at least try to talk with them, without preaching your views, and gather what information you can on how they hunt or what their property is holding deer-wise.  Even if they don’t hunt, they may be open to letting you survey their land for deer quantities.  If you’re lucky, it may even land you access to some additional ground either for hunting or accessing your properties stand locations!  Once you have gathered this crucial information you can go from there with your property’s individual goal.

Now that you have decided if and how many does should be taken, it is always better to do so early in the season, for a few reasons.  First, the deer have not been subjected to the hunting pressure that they will likely be feeling later in the season, meaning they will be less skittish, will not be herded up together, and increase your odds of getting a shot.   Secondly, you run less risk of shooting a button buck.  As the season progresses, young bucks will grow to similar body size of a mature doe.  There is no gut dropping feeling like walking up on what you thought was a doe kill, only to realize it has little nubs popping out of its head.  When this occurs, you have not only missed contributing to the doe harvest goal; you have gone negatively against it.  The kicker is, taking your does early will alter the ratio in a given area, and this can help increase/intensify rutting competition within that same season!  Who doesn’t want that?  Lastly, why not scratch that itchy trigger finger, dust off any cobwebs, and get some meat in the freezer to start the year?  You would be surprised by how patient you can be waiting for “Mr. Big” after you’ve had a successful harvest and secured some tasty back straps!

 I know these practices are nothing new, and some have probably heard something similar before.  Just like anything, it never hurts to get a refresher, hear it from a different perspective or read something new that brings it all together.  Hunting is something that we all love, so why not make it better?  How many of us know what needs to be done, make a plan, then opening day gets here and it all goes out the window because we had 1 trail cam photo of a nice buck in September?  I know I’ve been guilty of it in the past.  Make your plan, stick to it, and get it done early – that is the best recommendation I can make.  Before attempting, make sure you do your homework, know your local antlerless regulations, and determine if it’s applicable to the herd and your own hunting goals.

Thanks for reading and stay devoted!

– Pat Cross

Outdoor Devotion

Listen to the podcast here:

http://www.whitetailrendezvous.com/ata-09-outdoor-devotion-jared-van-hees/

Thanks for reading!

Boom – a lot of new pics (thanks to my nephew Casey Jordan for baiting our spots weeks before).  My decision was made easier to hunt the ladder stand because of several mature bucks showing up camera at that particular location.

The week made its’ way to Sunday afternoon and I settled in for an awesome evening hunt…..and guess what….the first deer to show up just happened to be the big ten.  Thankfully, I had enough time to calm my nerves and and settle in for the shot.  I steadied my CVA and put the crosshairs just behind the shoulder and slowly squeezed the trigger.

With no wind, the smoke just hung there!  This completely  blocked my view of the direction of the bucks departure, and with the emotions flowing I couldn’t stand it any longer.  I made the decision to get down, and went to the place of impact – finding a good chunk of hair and a awesome blood trail from my light field sabot.

After a 70 yard track job I came across my trophy, a beautiful main frame 10 point. I have hunted hard and have hunted far from home once again this Fall.

It’s always worth the time and work just to be in the woods, but feels best when the plan finally comes together for a harvest.  This plan is proof that the use of trail cameras can be one of the most valuable & deadly tools in you’re hunting arsenal…if used wisely.

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So about a week earlier, I got permission from a land owner to hunt his property in Mount Pleasant, MI…where I go to school.  That same day he drove me around, showed me some of the areas where people had been successful in the past, and where some of his other hunters had food plots set up. After that, I went on my own and hiked the property.  I knew it would take some boot rubber to find the freshest sign.

Along the south edge of this property is a private lake, with a lot of thick brush around it.  There are a few areas where some swamp starts and transitions into the wood lot.  I approached the swamp from the east that day when scouting, and just when I got to a clearing where I could see the entire swamp, I heard something get up and take off through the swamp!  About 60 or 70 yards out, I see a nice buck go into the woods.  I carefully and quietly backed my way out of the swamp, went all the way around, and started finding my way to where I thought I saw the buck go into the woods.  I made my way through the woods and found a decent spot to setup on that far side of the swamp.

The next week was busy for me, but I was able to get out and hunt on Thursday, October 6th.  I had planned on being in my spot by 4:45pm but I ran late and probably didn’t get setup until 5:20ish.  I took the longest way around that I could that day because the wind would’ve blown my scent right across the swamp if i hadn’t.  I setup in the thick brush where there was a little opening on the edge of that swamp(pictured above).  I just sat on the ground in a camo fold up chair, under a big bush to help break up my figure.

It rained lightly for 15 minutes or so, and then it stopped.  It had been an interesting day with the weather.  The air was thick and humid and there was some fog throughout the woods, coming off the swamp.  Not long after(about 6:10), I saw some movement about 30 yards out in between myself and the swamp.  I got in the right position to support my crossbow and got ready to make a steady shot.  I watched as more of a body became visible and finally saw some antlers.

From there it was game on.  The shakes and a racing heartbeat came over me.  The stuff we all dream about.  The buck was now about 25 yards in front of me.  From out of the brush and through the fog, I see my boy approaching slowly.  The same buck from the week prior in the same spot I had last seen him!  He walked in and stared me down….   I froze for what felt like forever, but was probably 30 seconds.  He broke his stare and then took 2 or 3 steps to his right.  He was quartering to me, only 20 yards out.  I settled myself and took the shot.

THWACK!!!

He took off to his right and missed a step or 2, then headed straight for the swamp.  I cooled myself down, and went to find the first blood.  I called my brother Jared and told him I’d just shot a nice buck, and asked him how long to wait before I began tracking.  As there were other hunters out on the property, we decided it was best for me to mark the blood trail and get out quietly without screwing up anyone elses’ hunt.  More importantly, we wanted to play it safe, and didn’t want to push the buck in case he was still in earshot.  Jared told me he was coming up from Brighton to help track my buck.  He also had informed my Dad who was now driving up from Grand Haven, both to help me track this buck.  This meant I had to go back to town and keep myself from going crazy until they got here at 10 pm.

It was about 10:15 pm when I met them both out at the property and I explained everything.  Just about 5 minutes after we got back in and on to the blood trail, the rain started again, and then the lightning.  We were making little progress, the blood we were seeing was not near enough to last through the rain.

We tracked blood to the edge of the swamp and then we stopped.  Jared had a guy with a deer tracking dog on standby and we decided to call him in.  While we waited in the truck, during the pouring rain, I remember thinking “there’s not much blood, I’m not sure if I made as good of a shot as I “thought”.  I remember getting a sick feeling in my stomach, and doubting my memory of what happened.  I was going to feel really bad if my Dad and Brother just drove all the way up here to help me look for this deer, if we didn’t find it.

Around 11:45 pm, Gordy and his dog Chopper from Bogart’s Whitetail Trackers show up.  We get them back into the spot and all he needed to know was where the deer was standing when I shot it.  Chopper got on the trail, made it to the edge of the swamp in 30 seconds and went right it.  We followed Chopper for about 60 or 70 yards through the swamp and we hear Gordy yell “Dead buck!”.

There he was!!! Right in the spot I had jumped him out of the week before near his bed.  My G5 T3 hit him in front of the shoulder, took out the heart and a lung.  He had been dead for a while.

I hadn’t planned on hunting this specific property, as I normally hunt with our good friend Tom just West of town.  Tom, who’s property I planned on hunting this Fall like last Fall, passed away unexpectedly in late September.  For my first hunt of 2016, on a brand new property, and within the first hour, I think I lucked out!  I like to think Tom had something to do with it…

Overall, it was a great night doing what I love with my brother and my dad.  A night I’ll never forget!

– Drew Van Hees