The weather report didn’t look so good  for sitting Saturday morning(10 degrees) so Matt and I decided to head down to Marshall again and stalk some corn. Only this time we were taking a kid, Well kind of..Corey is 17 years old and has shot 2 deer before but has never shot a Muzzleloader let alone went hunting with one.

The day started out at my place with Corey shooting my Uncles gun to make sure he was comfortable shooting it. After his first shot was a bullseye I figured he was good to go! We also brought video camera’s along to film his first hunt hoping to get a kill on film. My 11 year old son also tagged along to film me while Matt went with Corey to film. After about 15 minutes of walking the corn Matt radioed me to let me know they were on a deer. Seconds later the shot rang out and Corey’s first deer of the year and first deer with a Muzzleloader was on the ground. I met up with them and there were high fives everywhere!

Even though it was button buck the look on his face screamed of monster buck it was priceless! We got most of the hunt on film but my nice camera decided it didn’t like the cold weather and messed up and didn’t record some of our hunt(figures!). Being that we had just started we decided to walk the rest of the corn through. Which payed off cause I ended up filling my 4th doe tag of the year!

As of right now my freezer is pretty full. But with one more week-end left of ML season you can bet I’ll be out looking for a buck come this Saturday.

If you ever get a chance do yourself a favor and take a kid out hunting it’s well worth it!

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Well right now it’s Muzzleloader season here in southern Michigan. Matt and I decided to go out Sunday morning and sit for a few hours. With the cold temps and 3 deer in the freezer along with breakfast calling our names we got down and headed in to eat. After eating we headed down to our lease in Calhoun County Michigan to film a “stalking the corn’ segment.

As luck would have it we came up on this big doe bedded in the corn. I’ll let the video we got coming up tell the story but it was a pretty fun hunt. She ended up dressing out at 121 lbs! If you have never stalked a standing corn field you really are missing out!

Here’s to sleeping in! LOL

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Jeff, in his typical short-order fashion, posted a picture of the buck Justin took last Saturday night, but didn’t really tell the whole story of Justin’s season.  If any of you faithful readers have been paying attention, that was actually Justin’s second buck of the season, and this particular kill increased his taxidermy bill immensely.

Just a few short weeks ago, Justin killed this buck with his bow.  Anyone would be proud to hang that buck on the wall, but Justin just wasn’t satisfied apparently.  And thankfully he listened to my sister, his girlfriend, and sat the property on Saturday night that he did – and not the property on the other side of the road.

I do hate Justin just as much as Jeff does, though.  Most hunters – in their lifetime – would  be plum happy shooting a buck like Justin’s first one of the season, let alone shooting two bucks of this caliber IN THE SAME YEAR!  Too be honest, I would be happy with shooting either buck in my hunting lifetime.  I just don’t see it in the cards, though.

Thankfully, Justin is done for the season.  He can shoot a few more does if he wanted to, but to be completely honest, if I had a two bucks of that caliber on the ground already, plus a doe in the freezer as well, you can bet your you know what that I would be sleeping in for awhile.

Maybe one day I’ll get my shot.  But until then I’ll just have to live vicariously through Justin.  What a (you fill in the blank here).

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I can sum up my gun opener with two words: no deer.  Jeff’s son and I sat the entire day, with a minor break for lunch and to allow the younger ones to warm up, and still didn’t see anything.  We were surrounded by shots, and Jeff had deer around him all day, but Tyler D. and I didn’t see anything.

Jeff and his step-son, Tyler G., had a great day, however.  Jeff managed to put down a huge swamp donkey ( a doe), and Tyler had a few cool experiences as well:  he was surrounded by deer all day, got to see a buck running does for his first time, and missed on two separate chances at a spike.  Even so, though, he was still very excited at the end of the hunting day, and after his early success this year, I’m hoping he’ll be addicted for life.

My sister had a successful opening morning as well.  She managed to down the second deer of her hunting career – a nice healthy doe.  The doe offered her a 15 to 20yd shot, and Melissa dropped her in her tracks.  Congrats, Lis.  And I guess we’ll forgive you for the evil joke you played on us.

Last night, my sister’s boyfriend, Justin, also put down a nice doe.  And my cousin, Ron, who’s had a rough archery season this year, was lucky enough to kill a doe last night as well.

The family has had a lot of early success, and the season is still early.  Hopefully, in the next few weeks, I can manage to put myself on the board as well.

Stay tuned!

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Last Saturday, Jeff and I headed out for a bittersweet hunt – our last hunt before the Opening Day of Firearm Season.   I was setup in a stand that we had hunted a few times, and Jeff was setup in a new location.  On this morning, however, I decided to enter the stand by using a different route….and it almost paid off big time.

It hadn’t been light for an hour yet, when I noticed movement in the tall grass field in front of me.  I could see multiple deer running around, but couldn’t quite make out if they were bucks or does.  I figured, though, being the time of the year that it was, that what I was seeing was rutting activity – a buck running some does.

After about ten minutes, and after watching the deer running in circles, while also being able to hear the buck grunting, I knew for sure that a buck was running these does hard.  The area was so thick, though, that I was having a hard time getting a good look at the buck; I couldn’t really tell how big or how old he was.  Once I did get a good look at him, though, I almost fell out of my treestand.

He has to be a 140 class buck.  I was so rattled by how big he was that I honestly had to keep telling myself over and over to, “concentrate on vitals”, “concentrate on vitals”.  I have never seen a buck – with my own eyes – that was this big.  He was huge!!!!  I was lucky enough to be able to watch him run these does for about an hour and a half.  The only problem with the whole thing was that I never could manage to get him close enough for a shot.

I grunted, and used the estrus doe bleat, but to no avail.  I did have the does at about 35yds, but just when I thought they were going to come to me, and bring the big boy with them, they turned and headed back in another direction.

After the hour and a half of watching him, he eventually moved off after one of the does, and I never saw him again………until about 7 hours later.

On Saturday night I setup in the same stand.  I wasn’t in stand for a half hour when I noticed a doe working her way through the timber.  Then, about 15 minutes later, I heard movement to my right – a doe was working her way down a trail near my stand.  Right behind her, grunting his head off, was the same big buck from the morning’s hunt.

He emerged from the secondary trail, and once again I got to witness his pure awesomeness.  He’s big.  And even bigger than I originally thought.  Unfortunately again, though, he hung up at 50yds, ignored my grunting and estrous call once again, put his nose to the ground on a hot doe trail, and headed right towards Jeff’s stand location…..and out of my dreams forever.

Jeff did get to see him as well, but he was 60yds away and didn’t offer Jeff a shot either.   I’m not sure we’ll ever see him again, but I’m glad we got at least one chance to lay eyes on him.  At least, for a few  minutes anyway, I was able to feel like I was on the Outdoor Channel; or hunting with an outfitter in Pike County, Illinois.

It was awesome.  The best few moments I’ve had in the hunting woods – and it didn’t require killing anything.

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