Field Notes Michigan

[TreestandSparty]

Got out late for evening hunt on 11-5. Deer were feeding in stubble when I got out there. I got on the other side of fence row. Crouched over....put my bow over my head & walked toward the feeding deer. When I got within 80 yds....I got on my knees & crawled through the freshly chizeled plowedfield . I got within 60 yrds...& the deer walked back into the woods. Hope I get these oppertunities during gun season.

11-6 Out early in morning. Sitting in my eastern ladder stand. I have 3 stands that run parrellel with a drainage ditch.. The crops are on the south side. With the woods on the other. I have the other stands in the middle & on the west side. Around 8:30 am a fork horn walked by. He was 30 yds away. But he was young & very scrawey. I let him pass....put some meat on his bones.

In the 3 years of hunting on this farm, I have noticed a lot of fork horns walking around.On opening day (10-1) I saw the granddaddy of all forkhorns. His forks would make great clubs. They were huge. He was very grey around his eyes & snout. He was also wise....he walked downwind of me....sniffed me out & walked away. The locals that also hunt this property have never seen him.
I would love to bag this trophy....

[OldDoe]

[font="courier new"]Strangely relieved to read it is not just me not seeing much this season.  Just got back from my second 5 day hunting in 3 places in the Tawas area.  This is my third season bow hunting. Maybe it was beginner's luck that I got a doe my 1st season.  Although I feel like I've learned so much more, I'm seeing so much less action this year so far.  Nothing for weeks, then suddenly had a 4-6 pointer chasing a doe through our food plot - at 2:40pm on Tuesday!  2 hours later had a yearling fawn grazing for an hour 15 yards in front of my tree stand.  Made for an great time in the woods on an already beautiful day[/font]!

[mag30079]

I finally got a big buck. The 14th I got out on stand in the morning I didn't see anything until just before 12pm. A 6 point came in I came to full draw waiting for him to step out. He didn't he stopped and looked up at me, acouple minutes went by and my arms were shaking holding the shot back for so long. He finally went behind a tree and I relaxed the bow. He jumps back and looks up at me again. Then walks off the other way. I was bumbed out, my stand was only 10-12 foot off the ground cuz the tree was crooked. I climbed down and set up in a different tree about 10 yards away and 90 degrees to my right. Much better setup, I trimmed some trees and sat back and waited it was about 2pm now. At 4pm 2 does come running in with a big buck behind them and 2 more deer behind him. The buck was 15yrds when I released my arrow. He ran about 50 yards and fell over, then I lost track off him. I waited a half hour and climbed down, my arrow was no where to be found. I went to where I shot him and had bubbly blood and was relieved to find that. I called my Father-in law and told him I needed a hand. I left the blood trail alone until Dad showed up and decided to back track down a main trail. I then saw my buck 5 feet from where he crashed next to a tree. A 9 point with a few broken tines, I scored an 8 point just to be safe.[/align]The next day I found my arrow. [/align]I took my deer to the DNR check station and they confirmed the deer was a 3 1/2 year old 9 point dressed out at 219lbs.[/align] [/align] [/align] [/align] [/align]He will be hard to top next year.[/align]

[Sailfish]

Here is what I observed from Carson City though Gratiot so far:

Around Friday the 12th we started seeing solo bucks running the roads, fields etc with their noses down.
the 13th I observed an actual breeding in an open field. Saw other does 5-6 at a time and a couple times there'd be a buck or two tailing them in the distance.

Opening day however, we started seeing the bucks really after the doe(s).
Saw  5 bucks running one doe HARD. Other times it was 2-3 or 5 does running and 2 bucks hot on them.
Day 2 we saw lots of pairings. One doe, with one buck moving.
I think it's really just about a peak time to nail what wasn't taken yet. Not many hunters in the woods Wednesday but still saw decent movement, even does standing in the wide open feeding, with a buck 20-30 yards around them. This w/e might produce some nice deer with more hunters out and the rutting.
This year with all the corn out for once and the later rut has been fantastic for buck sightings, many, many bucks.

I took my 9 on Tuesday. There is a 12-14 still running our woods (and the neighbors) he was sighted Tuesday on the edge of our cornfield with 11 doe and a spike. Didn't hear any shots close by since. Here's to hoping.


 

[DeerCamp]

Well I just got back from my trip to the UP. I am a little bummed to say this but I lost my book I wrote all my notes in. I’m hoping its in the camper. So Ill give a little recap of everything that went down.

I checked my camera on 11/10/2010 when I got there and it said it was FULL!! That’s over 5000 pics!! Well when I put the chip in it was taking pics every 30secs.. Grr..Anyway I had 3 different bucks on the camera. An 8, 10, and a 12 with split brow tines and stickers!! They were all shooter bucks.. I was pretty pumped.

Opening day came and I saw a 3pt in the early morning. I also seen a doe shortly after... Then it happened. The 12 pt came walking by at 1:55 and I took my shot. He noticed me and only gave me a brisket shot. I got down and couldn’t find any blood! I about cried I had MISSED!! So I went back to my blind and sat for a few mins to calm down. I went back out and I went down the trail he went in at. Still no blood. I walked in about 15 more yards into the swamp and there he laid!! I was pumped! He didn’t bleed at all! After jumping around and doing Indian dances I gutted him and dragged him back to my blind. I sat the rest of the day and saw a 2pt. (He had one antler missing.

--No one else from camp got a deer opening day, however all seen at least one.--

Day two, Dave in our group shot a great 10pt while still hunting.

--No one eles got deer from our group.--

Day 3. I moved around from blind to blind and found myself over looking a field on day 3. I wasn’t in the blind more than 10 mins when a nice 8pt came out . Now this buck I surely did miss.. After that I went to another blind and shot a doe at night. I also saw a monster but couldn’t get a shot off.

--No one else got deer this day from our group.--

Day 4. Joey shot a 4pt and Jessie shot a monster 6pt that is very tall and he is going to have mounted.

Day 5. I didn’t see any deer..

All in all it was a great time. I’m glad I got 2 deer out of the trip and they will taste and look great on the wall. I just took the 12pt to Jays Sporting Goods. It should be about 6 months before I get him back. I also found out the doe was a year and a half old doe, and the DNRE thinks that the buck is a 3 1/2 year old buck.

I will post pics soon!

[cjgaleana]

Been hunting Howell for the past two days. Been in the mid to low 30's and the wind has been around 15-25 mph. Was on 80 acres of private land. Haven't seen anything move. Saw a huge buck print that must have been from thanksgiving but no sign of him anywhere. Not a pro by any means so i was wondering with the weather being the way it was and how late into firearm season we are in, could that be a reason why there wasn't any movement? Going back out there tomorow for a little while and then going to spend the rest of the year out there with my bow.
Another question if someone doesn't mind answering: During the winter season for archery, where is it best to hunt up in a tree stand or down in a ground blind?

[cjgaleana]

Deercamp,
Stupid question but I have to ask,
When taking your field notes how and what kind of notes are you taking? Do you take them while you are hunting or before the season starts or both?
Also with your trail cam, I bought my first one this year and set it up on state land near my uncle's in Port Austin. He has been in those woods for years and never had a problem with anyone or anything. Long story short I was up there last weekend and I set it up Friday night and by Saturday evening I went to check on it because I saw hunters all over the are where I put it and where my stand is located although I didn't hunt that stand that day because of all the people around and it was stolen. Do or have you ever had this problem or do you just mainly take pics on private land?
Thanks for all the help.

[TreestandSparty]

Have had a pretty good gun season so far. Took my buddie to a a farm in Webbervile that is a good place to see deer. My friend who leases the land has a no doe shooting rule during regular firearms season. He has been leasing the same three differant farms for over 10 years. It is a good place to see lots of deer. Mostly does, but it gets the heart pumping. I have been there on other opening days and have seen over 50 deer on one day. I have another place that I primary hunt, but I wanted my friend to expeirence seeing that many deer. We were not dissapointed. My friend had heards of 12 deer at a time run right past him. No bucks but it is still fun. I seen deer also from my hunting spot. Mostly does. I spotted a fork horn on the Northern edge of the farm. 400 yards away...who was shot by the leasee's son when he ran by him. This hunting group as well as the neighbors have done such a good job of shooting the bucks, that this area is over run by does. Plus there is not enough bucks left to breed the does.
But the leasee is old school...shoot a spike horn if he with 30 does...but do not shoot any does.
I will write about day 2 later.

[dmcianfa]

ORIGINAL: DeerCamp

Well I just got back from my trip to the UP. I am a little bummed to say this but I lost my book I wrote all my notes in. I’m hoping its in the camper. So Ill give a little recap of everything that went down.

I checked my camera on 11/10/2010 when I got there and it said it was FULL!! That’s over 5000 pics!! Well when I put the chip in it was taking pics every 30secs.. Grr..Anyway I had 3 different bucks on the camera. An 8, 10, and a 12 with split brow tines and stickers!! They were all shooter bucks.. I was pretty pumped.

Opening day came and I saw a 3pt in the early morning. I also seen a doe shortly after... Then it happened. The 12 pt came walking by at 1:55 and I took my shot. He noticed me and only gave me a brisket shot. I got down and couldn’t find any blood! I about cried I had MISSED!! So I went back to my blind and sat for a few mins to calm down. I went back out and I went down the trail he went in at. Still no blood. I walked in about 15 more yards into the swamp and there he laid!! I was pumped! He didn’t bleed at all! After jumping around and doing Indian dances I gutted him and dragged him back to my blind. I sat the rest of the day and saw a 2pt. (He had one antler missing.

--No one else from camp got a deer opening day, however all seen at least one.--

Day two, Dave in our group shot a great 10pt while still hunting.

--No one eles got deer from our group.--

Day 3. I moved around from blind to blind and found myself over looking a field on day 3. I wasn’t in the blind more than 10 mins when a nice 8pt came out . Now this buck I surely did miss.. After that I went to another blind and shot a doe at night. I also saw a monster but couldn’t get a shot off.

--No one else got deer this day from our group.--

Day 4. Joey shot a 4pt and Jessie shot a monster 6pt that is very tall and he is going to have mounted.

Day 5. I didn’t see any deer..

All in all it was a great time. I’m glad I got 2 deer out of the trip and they will taste and look great on the wall. I just took the 12pt to Jays Sporting Goods. It should be about 6 months before I get him back. I also found out the doe was a year and a half old doe, and the DNRE thinks that the buck is a 3 1/2 year old buck.

I will post pics soon!

 
What no pics yet?  C'mon Deercamp, I'm achin to see this deer.  Sounds like a brute.

[DeerCamp]

Well Ive gone out 2 more times since ive been home.. I went out on Thanksgiving, and the last day of gun season. I saw one deer on the last day of season and it was really moving. Couldnt tell what it was. Both days were evening hunts. I also foudn that someone had stolen my tree stand! NOT HAPPY!! I will be typing something up shortly here that will relate to this.. Any how, my friends dad still hasnt developed the pics from camp, so you will all have to wait to see my 12pt and my doe... Believe me Ive been bugging him for them.