About Me

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Lansing, Michigan, United States
A two-time graduate of Michigan State University. Now a marketing specialist at Cabela's helping others enjoy hunting, fishing and the great outdoors. If you'd like to see a post on a certain subject, feel free to leave a comment requesting it.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Michigan Whitetail Madness

It’s now August and the itch to get back in the woods is slowly setting in.  Earlier in the week I made a trip to the property I have been hunting on for the past couple of years to see what my trail cameras had produced.  To my surprise the weeds in front of my cameras had grown up to nearly chest height.  I figured there would be a very limited number of photos because of the thicket that had overgrown the area.  I was wrong.  The trail was still being used daily and the cameras had even captured a few young bucks.  One in particular I recognized instantly from last year.  I found this deer’s left shed within the first five minutes of this season’s shed hunt and was pleased to see what he had grown into.  The good news is he's now showing great potential for being a possible shooter buck in the future.  He’s a two-and-a-half-year-old with a solid eight point frame.  It’s a shame the weeds were blocking most of his body and rack in the first few photos I have of him this year, but this picture shows his head gear pretty well.


To be completely honest, after a rough season last year, hanging multiple sets and having no luck with the heavy hunting pressure, my motivation was lower than normal this spring.  What really hurt was the deer I had been after last season was tragically struck by a neighbor’s truck and died during deer season.  Three weeks into bow season I bumped into another hunter that informed me of the accident.  Having such a great deer lose his life during his prime is a sad situation, and it really impacts your drive as a hunter.  I learned that first hand. 

Last summer I was fortunate enough to get this great early season velvet photo of the deer, which preceded another great shot of him moving between fields after dark. 


This deer really tested my patience.  I hadn’t seen him during daylight hours, but I thought if I kept up my intensity I could possibly get a shot at him during the rut.  I guess that’s all you really have in the end, because some things you just cannot control.


Even with the bad news, I stuck with the area because I knew there were other decent deer on the property.  Near the end of the season I had this two-and-a-half show up in front of my camera.  I had never gotten any photos of this deer, nor seen him, so it was a great highlight to the end of my deer season.


I call this buck Striker because of his perfect 10 point frame.  My cameras also snapped this photo just after the close of the deer season which was great because it showed he managed to make it through gun season.


Hopefully he will hang around the area for the upcoming early season this year and give me a shot.  I can’t wait to finally see him in person or get a photo to see what he has to offer this year.  He is definitely on my hit list, and I’ve got my fingers crossed that everything works out.  I'm a believer that good things come to those who wait.  I guess we'll see.