West Michigan Sportsmen

Winter Pictures

2012-02-04T17:04:00.002-05:00

2 Weeks ago I put out two cameras and some BB2, which is a mineral mix that you poor out and it has some corn mixed in as well. You can see it in the photos. Today, Satureday, I checked both cameras. The one camera had about 8 pictures of deer but nothing to serious just some does. The BB2 was just about like I had left it 2 weeks ago. Then we checked the other camera where I had put the BB2 in the pines. What a difference. I had 162 pictures and the BB2 was gone. After looking at the pictures I found out why. The turkeys found it and they put a serious hurting on it. However, I was able to get some bucks on camera and one of which is new. I really don't think I have seen him or have any pics of him. It looks like he is a really good 9pt.

Group of Jakes going to town.
That is a nice beard on the bird to the right.

Two strutters.

This gets me excited for spring!

The deer were getting in on the action also, here is a group of does. This is a later picture look at what the "pile" of BB2 looks like compared to the picture above.

This is a picture after the snow we had last Sunday. This little buck is go after it through the snow.

Nice little buck here. It actually looks like he might have the start of a drop tine on his left side. It also could be the snow in the back ground. A guy can dream though right?

Here is the big 9pt I mentioned above. Those are some really good g2's and g3's on his right side. The left side almost looks like something might of happened in velvet or it could just be the angle of the picture. Either way I hope to see him again.

The boys and I did do some quick checking around for some antlers but no such luck. It is really early so I didn't expect much. My plan is to check back in 3 weeks and see what is going on. I did replenish both spots. It was pretty obvious though they like the mineral station that was in the cover as apposed to the other which was not so much.

Borculo Property Breakdown

2012-02-02T09:30:00.004-05:00

I thought I'd run over the property in Borculo with a couple ariels of it and why I think its such a good little piece of property. You can see on the picture below which is more zoomed out, the general layout of everything. The red X to the north is my really good stand. The red X to the south is a new stand I moved this past year but never actually sat in it. I waited to long to put the stand there in my opinion. The green dotted lines are the trails and the general movement of the deer on the property. Green circles are bedding areas. Pink is crops, which is normally corn, beans or alfalfa. The blue circles are the ponds/water sources. The yellow lines represent the areas that the deer don't really cross and thus they are natural funnels. I also added where I shot my 10 pointer in 2010 which is the white square, his path after I shot him, the white dotted line and where Ross, Eric and myself found him, the white circle. This is also the trail i saw all the action on this year.

The new stand will allow me to hunt with a N, NW, and possible W wind. This past year the trail that runs through here was tore up like I have neve seen before and I really wish I would of pulled the trigger sooner but hind-sight is 20/20. But I have a stand there now and it will be waiting for me come late Oct or Nov.

Below is the zoomed in picture of my really good stand. You can see the deer trail/s, green dotted line, my stand, the red "X" and my access route, red dotted line. You can see why its such an awesome funnel. There is a small creek/ditch to the east of the stand that they really don't bother crossing because it would take them to close to the house and then to the SE of the stand you can't see on the ariel but there are trees that are knocked down and it forces them to go around which funnels them from that side. The distance between the two yellow lines is no more than 40 yards and my stand sits right on the edge and when the wind is out of the E, SE, or S it is absolutley perfect, especially in the morning during the rut. If they come through there they will be within 30 yards at least and if they take the money trail its a 10-15 yard shot depending on the direction they are traveling.

Hopefully, with the deer I saw and my plans of putting out minerals here I can get a bigger deer to set up shop this coming fall.

New Year New Plans

2012-02-01T11:45:00.005-05:00

Here I am again at the beginning of a new year filled with anticipation for what this coming year will bring. As much as I love bow hunting I probably enjoy now until Sept just as much. To me the enjoyment of bow hunting is not just harvesting a deer but all the work and preperation that goes into it. I am very fortunate to have some really great hunting properties that my family allows me to hunt and I love the homework involved in figuring out how to hunt these properties.
Last season I had some plans that I thought were pretty rock solid and I still believe they were even though I did not harvest a deer, We saw the deer we were hunting for and I passed on some nice little bucks. I just couldn't close the deal on a couple of deer because they showed up to early or late or in one case just didn't come the right direction same goes for Julie. Like I said I also got to see and pass on a bunch of younger bucks, in fact I officially passed on a 3,4,5,6 and 8 pt. They were all in my shooting lanes and within 30 yards, just not what I was looking for. I feel like I can pass them because I have pictures of the deer I know are on these properties and knowing what bigger deer are there makes it really quite easy to pass on the little guys. Also, my plans may have not worked the way I wanted them to while I was in stand but Julie on the other hand got to see 2 of our "hit list" bucks, one of which was 2 steps away from her flinging an arrow at him but he decided to do a 90 degree turn at the wrong time. Oh by the way he was #1 on our list a big wide 10 pointer. (side note-my luck this year could of been a little better, I had some pretty crazy things happen that you cannot plan for and there is no question they affected my season, from coyotes, to weather, to neighbors and their dog it was one crazy year. Every time I went out I would wonder what was going to happen that time, I know I can't control everything but my attitude is going to be better this year so hopefully that will ward off some of the bad vooddoo)

Anyway, on to 2012. In Gobles I am going to focus on the same general areas for the shooters however, one big difference is that i am planning on putting in some food plots. I am hoping that I can get the bigger bucks to use these as staging areas and get them up on their feet a little earlier than normal in the evening. I am going to plant varieties that will peek late Oct and Nov. which will get the doe in them during the rut and hopefully a big boy not to far behind.

I am also going to be using "mineral stations" down there more than I did last year. Last year what I did was put a trophy rock out in June and kept it out all summer. If you look back I got some fantastic pictures of some great deer. This year I have already put out minerals, in the form of trophy rocks and also a product called BB2. Its a corn product mixed with a lot of minerals that Deer love. The only issue is the deer will blow through it pretty fast especially once they find it. So my plan is to always have at least the trophy rocks out because they last forever and then periodically put out BB2 thoughout the spring but more heavilly in the summer months when they start to grow antlers. My hope is by having these stations that the deer will become used to coming in to them when they need the minerals that are essential to their developement. The more I can get them to visit the property the better and maybe some will stay close with the combination of minerals and food I am planning.

The stands will be pretty similar to last season with a couple of new ones in areas that will allow me to hunt a spot with multiple winds. The biggest difference/change for me is that I am going to wait until the last week of October to hunt. I will hunt the first week but it will be in a low impact stand and maybe once in Gobles and once in Borculo. The first week is a good time to catch a buck still on his summer patterns, like the buck I shot 2 years ago so it is worth a shot, I just need to be careful. My good areas I want to wait to hunt until the big bucks are starting to get into the rut phase. This past season, I went in to early into my better spots and I think it cost me. This is going to be tough for me because I love to hunt and when Oct. rolls around I just want to be in a stand. However, this year was a learning experience for me. I did not see near the deer numbers I am used to seeing, they were there I could tell by the deer sign and whatnot. They were mostly coming through at night so all I was doing was educating them every time I sat out and it hurt I could tell. We(Julie and I) did see a lot of bucks and 3-4 of them were shooters, so that part was good I just feel like we need to hold off until late Oct. to kill those bucks not just see them.

My Mom's property in Borculo is my little gem. It is not the biggest piece of property but it hunts pretty big. I saw so many little bucks here in the few times I sat here it was a lot of fun. One morning I had a small 6 pointer dogging a doe and they went right by my stand he was just grunting away. Then 5 minutes later a 4 pointer comes down the same trail he wasn't even gone and the little 6 came back by again. Another time I had messed up 5 point bed down about 30 yards behind me, I was actually able to sneak down the tree but he saw me when I was on the ground. Another morning I had a small buck grunting and running back and forth in front of me just before light all I could see was a dark form. This is all the same stand and same trail I killed my 10 pointer out of 2 years back. Its a really good spot, in fact its my best stand because if they go through this area they have to come withing 30 yards of my stand. Its easy to get in and out and its on the edge of bedding areas so the bucks just cruise it looking for does. The majority of the property is pretty thick, swampy and great for bedding. My plan is to start a mineral station there as well with a camera. If I can get a good buck to come on that property there is a really good chance he will stay because of the great bedding areas, water and food all around.

So there you have it my "plans" for 2012. Once again I feel like they are pretty rock solid but who knows what will be thrown at me this year, but hopefully Julie or myself can put it together and put one of these guys down. Good luck to all and have a great year!!

2011-12-20T09:15:00.004-05:00

Here are a couple pictures of Scotts deer that I mentioned in the previous post. I also forgot to mention he and Ross both shot does this year as well. So a great year for both those guys.

Hunting Season Wrap Up

2011-12-19T09:08:00.006-05:00

Its been a little while since I have posted anything but to honest there has not been a lot to post on. I have had a relativley slow season when compared to the last 2-3 seasons. I have seen some smaller bucks and have actually passed on a 3pt, 4pt, 5pt, 6pt and an 8pt. All have been in my shooting lanes and within 30 yards but just not old enough. The 8 point was a really nice deer for a 1.5 so hopefully he makes it until next year. I have seen shooters, just not close enough or it was too dark when I have seen them. The last encounter was probably my best this year. It was a very steady rain and I was hunting in a ground blind near an area I call the sanctuary. About 45 minutes til dar I spotted a deer stand up in the middle of a bunch of briars. I could barley see him but caught his tail flick then he turned his head I noticed he was a nice buck. However, instead of heading up the hill to the cut corn and to me he exited out the back and went to the apples trees. That bummed me out but it was good to see him.

Julie has gotten out a lot more than she did last year and it has paid off for her. She was out with me late October and she was abel to see the 9 point pictured above. He was within 30-35 yards just on a good run, so no shot opportunity on him. She also had a great chance at a big 10 point we call Tommy Boy. His picture is above as well. She had some turkeys behind her making a lot of racket so she kind of started not paying attention to them. Then when she looked over her right shoulder there he was working along the field edge behind some big sasafras trees. He stayed right behind those trees until he got 20 yards from her and turned strait out into the corn field that made him work his way away from her. She tried grunting him back but he kept on going. She needed him to take 2 more steps along those trees and she would of had a shot. She played it cool though and you can't control where they walk so that was a great encounter for her. She also had a couple doe with in 10 yards that she passed. So she has had a great year.

There have been a couple of success stories this year. One was Scott Gruppen he shot a really nice 8pt during gun season. He has had a bunch of encounters with bucks this year. Just like year's past and has passed on some smaller guys. It's always nice to see it pay off for people. The other was Ross Graveling who shot a really nice 9 pt in Illinois. He had multiple encounters with this buck the days prior to shooting it and had him at 40 yards in his food plot the day before he killed him. They moved his stand and the rest is history. Both of these guys showed patience and the ability to adjust to the deer they were seeing and it paid off big time. So big Congrats to Scott and Ross.

For the rest of the year I am planning on hunting whenever possible but time is running short and with the lack of snow and cold temps, my late season plans are not producing the encounters like I had planned. Nothing ever goes according to plan but this year for me this has been the rule of thumb. October was very slow and I didn't see a doe until November and that was in Borculo at my mom's. I finally saw one down in Gobles the week after that, this is compared to around 30 the year before. It was so strange. My theory is that it was a very tough winter last year and a lot of the smaller does didn't make it. What it did do though was get the bucks up on their feet because they had to work for their women this year. We have never seen as many bucks in years prior as we did this year. That is why we are out there so it is hard to complain, it just has made for some really long sits with seeing no deer. In fact Julie put in an all-day sit without seeing anything, you want to talk about frustrating, but she did it and I was very proud.

So we will keep at it for the rest of the year, but I am not going to get my hopes up to much, so we will see what happens.

Charter Fishing on Lake Michigan

2011-09-28T17:27:00.004-04:00

We always try to go on a charter fishing trip out of Grand Haven for my work. Its how we celebrate the end of our seasons. Well today we went and man was it good fishing. We booked 2 charter boats and split up in groups of 4. Our morning started with a fish on before the first mate could get the second line in and while Paul was fighting that fish we had another on and Kevin brought him in. For the next hour and a half it was like that. We had multiple doubles and ended up coming up one short of our limit of 20. 19 fish in 4 hours not to shabby. The other nice thing was they were really nice fish. Except for about 3 of them they were 8-12lbs. Looks like we will be eating Salmon for a while.

Kevin hauling in one of his 5 Kings.

Scott with a big King

One of my Kings.

This is a beautiful sight right there.

This is even more beautiful. Someone else cleaning our fish.

Knocking on the door

2011-09-26T20:01:00.002-04:00

I cant believe its that time of year again. Man am I ready. I just helped my father-in-law sight in his new crossbow. What a difference between those and a regular compound. He let me shoot it also, I am sticking with my bow but they sure are nice especially for someone like him who has some issues moving and adjusting in the stand. I think its going to work out really good for him. Julie was shooting her bow tonight as well and she is more than ready, I probably said it before but range finders are difference makers. Ever since we got ours there has been such a noticable difference, it is quite something.
Below are the top three bucks on our "hit list". I hate that term but it works I guess. The first one is really nice 2.5 year 9 point that we have been getting a lot of pictures of and we have a great plan in place for him. The second is another deer that I believe to be Sanctuary but its tough to tell. He is a 3.5-4.5 10 point. I have a long history with this deer and would love to see him at 20 yards this fall. He is the reason I was moving my tri-pod stand in March already. I am so excited to get in that stand. The third deer is a buck we call Peeping Tom but now I just call him Tom or Tommy. He is a 3.5-4.5 year very wide 10 point. He showed up last January during a really long cold spell when Barry had the only food for miles I think. We watched him eat the landscape bushes 10 feet out the window one night at about 2am. Thus the name peeping tom. If he stayed on the property I have a feeling he will be where I put the tri-pod for sanctuary. Now you know why I am so excited to get into that stand.
Anyway those are the bigger bucks we are hoping to see. There are numerous other smaller deer that I have a lot of pics that I believe stayed so it should be a pretty good year. I will keep you all posted.

Watching Them Grow

2011-08-30T08:28:00.004-04:00

I haven't posted much on here lately because I have been super busy lately. Although I have found time to check my camera here and there. Its actually been my best year to date using my camera. I have roughly 400 pictures already using one camera (thank you trophy rock). Although, nothing huge has showed up recently (except Tommy Boy in early June) I have gotten some pretty good deer. Most recently I have been watching a nice 2.5 year old 9 point who has showed up regulary for the last 4 weeks. He is not a huge deer but a very nice one. So I thought I would post his pictures from the last 4 weeks and you can see him grow a little bit.

This is about 4 weeks ago weeks ago

Here he is 3 weeks ago

2 Weeks ago

1 week ago, notice how much longer his g2's are compared to the first picture

The thing I like about this deer so far is how he is showing up during the day, mostly. What this tells me is that he is bedding pretty close by this area. I have a pretty good idea where so I moved one of our ladder stands this past Sunday in anticipation of this deer continueing to bed in this area. If he does then we have a good shot at seeing this deer in October during shooting hours. Especially the first week. Julie is going to get first crack at this guy. The first S,SW wind we get she will be in this stand. The cool thing is I also have pictures of a 7 point, another 8 point and a 6 point all visiting this spot frequently so it should be pretty good depending on who hangs around.

The good thing about this area is that just to the SE is a huge bedding area for does, they work their way through this area to go feed at night. I didn't sit here much last year becasue I was obsessed with the Sanctuary Buck, but 2 years ago on numerous occasions I saw 15+ deer while sitting here in the evening and when you see them they are generally close, because its a great pinch area. In fact the one night I drew back about 5 times and missed one doe at 25 yards. So it can be pretty crazy and you can get covered up in deer in a hurry.

So yes I am pretty excited for Julie to sit there because I want to put her in front of a good buck this year. She passed up a little fork horn at 10 yards last year (which made me very proud) and just barely missed a big old doe (which are harder to shoot than a lot of bucks, they are smart) So I can feel she is getting close we just need to have this stand work like it did 2 years ago and I firmly believe it will this year.

Some new trail camera pictures

2011-07-24T20:04:00.005-04:00

Well I didn't get any really big ones this time but some really cool pictures and some nice looking bucks.

Some really cool trail camera photos

2011-07-17T16:33:00.005-04:00

I got an opportunity to check my camera this past thursday evening and man was I happy to see what was on it. I had about 90 pictures and 80 of them were of bucks. A few small bucks but a few really good looking deer, especially considering its July.
However, what I am most excited about is I can show you all a deer I have named "Peeping Tom." This is a buck that Julie and I saw 3x in 2 days last January when we were down on the farm house sitting and baby sitting. It was when we had 2 feet of snow on the ground and it was getting down to -10 degrees at night. The food was scarce and the deer were coming up to the house to eat the landscape. Julie woke me up at 3 am to tell me some deer were outside, we did not expect to be able to see "Peeping Tom" and "Sanctuary" only 10 feet outside the windows. It was an experience we won't soon forget. Fast forward to this past spring and the farmer who farms Barry's property road over this deers shed and punctured his tire.
So anyway, take a look at some of the better pictures below and you won't have any problem telling which one is Peeping Tom. He is a wide 10 point for sure, thats what he sported last year and if you look close you can see he has started his G3's already. When I looked at the shed the farmer road over I could see he might grow g4's this year making him a 12pt. Even if he doesnt he is one heck of a big deer for around there.

This one looks to have pretty good mass at his bases.

Hard to tell on this one but he looks pretty good to.

I got quite a few pictures of this guy and I want to get some more because it looks like there is a lot of mass at his base so I am curious what happens with him.

Same thing with this guy. He seems to have a really good start. I would say an 8pt for sure.

The next two are the same deer. I only have profile pictures of this one but he looks pretty good to.

Nice looking picture here. Not to shabby buck either.

This is a really nice looking deer. It looks like he has a way to go too.

Well hi there. Both of these guys have a good start. Really exciting to see two like this.

This is a bad picture but I am pretty sure this is a deer I call Santcuary.

Here is Peeping Tom. If this doesnt get your blood flowing I don't know what would. I actually got about 7 pictures of him and he gave me a all good angles, I hope he stays around and if he does I have a really good idea where he will be.

This shows his width. Notice how much longer his right brow tine is.

This is the angle that you can really see what is going on. I would say his g2's are done and g3's are just started (especially on his left side) and there is pretty good mass at the ends yet which I believe will be his g4's. Making him a 12pt.

So now you can see why I/we are pretty geeked for this year. I will give the camera a couple weeks and see what happens but this is a really good start.

My "Hail Mary" Stand/Plan

2011-07-12T08:41:00.006-04:00

I think this is going to be my outside the box year as far as what plans I have in place for this coming hunting season. I hung a new stand a couple saturdays ago on a tree line that I have hunted before but not in this spot. When I hunted it before I was farther to the east and really never had a deer close enough to shoot at. I am calling it a Hail Mary because it really is in a spot I feel is either going to be awesome or stink.

My theory is this. Last year there was a small tornado that hit here. Although it was rated F0 it did some pretty significant damage to the neighbors house and camper trailer. Their fifth wheel camper ended up on their house. It also knocked down about a 50-75 yard swath of trees in this tree line. (yellow circle on the ariel below) What I believe has happened is a buck is using these trees to bed in. They are still laying down, the farmer to the south had pushed them off of his property but they are still lying all over the place. Its made for some pretty good cover in my book. So if this holds true I think I have a good set up to catch a buck moving in and out of this area. The green dotted lins are travel routes that I know deer use. So regardless if a buck is in that area it might still be a good stand. What you can't really see on the picture is the fence that goes around the neighbors property, it goes east to where the green dotted line crosses the green field on the ariel. This fence causes the deer to go around it and thus makes a pretty good pinch point at the SE corner of the fence just to the left of where my stand is.

The area to the north outlined in Red is the sanctuary and I know that the heaviest area of travel is from the SE corner of the Sanctuary down across corn field and then across the driveway to this fence line. In fact I found the shed to the buck i named "sanctuary" on this fence line. So this might give me a chance to go after him or "peeping tom" with a north, northwest, or west wind(blue arrows) which I cant hunt in the tripod next to the sanctuary.

I am going to leave my camera over the mineral block for the rest of July and maybe into August, however once it gets late in August I am going to move it to this fence line. I will probably put it near the driveway for a week or two. See I see anybody going through there and what time they are, then I will put it to the east of the stand on the tree line, probably facing the corn field to the south and see if anybody is moving through there. This will give me a great idea of whats going on without getting in to close to this area.

When I first started hunting here I would see a really nice buck in this spot quite a bit when leaving at dark after hunting. So I know it has held them before and I have a hunch it will again this year. We will see.

June Trail Camera Pictures

2011-07-12T08:18:00.004-04:00

Well it is that time of year again. Actually I had my camera out early June already. With the lifting of the baiting ban it will be cool to have a mineral block out and see who shows up. I have already had some good signs as you can see below. One word of advice I can give is if you put a camera out make sure you account for the fact that not everything has grown up yet. When I put my camera out in early june a lot of the weeds and trees were not fully grown yet. You will notice the branch in the screen. It got leaves and dropped into the view of my camera so I got about 150 pictures of it whenever the wind blew it. So when I checked the card last Jacob and I did some major clearing of the tall weeds and that branch. So the July pictures should be much better. July and August are the big months for antler growth so the next couple posts should be much better pictures.

However, I was able to get about 60 pictures of deer though in June which is much better than I normally do. As you can see below some of them are really starting to grow already. Its hard for me to tell now if any of these are any of the bucks I am looking for, namely "peeping tom" and "sanctuary" but the one in the first, second, and last pictures seems to be a really nice size bodied deer. The bases of the antlers just don't seem that big so I don't think its either of them. Like I said earlier its really hard for me to tell at this stage who is who. Hopefully, in a couple weeks I will have some pictures of one or both of those deer.

Anyway, I posted some of the better pictures below.

Canada Fishing Trip 2011

2011-06-22T15:03:00.005-04:00

Well we completed our 2011 fishing trip into Canada. As usual it was a blast, we ate great and caught a bunch of fish. The one thing we did notice this year was that we were not catching the numbers like we usually do up there. However, the weather was very nice this time and it was pretty nice for a change. It kind of felt like everything was a couple weeks later up there since it had been pretty warm for a while and the ice had been off for some time as well.

Even though we didn't catch the numbers we were used to the size of fish we caught were much bigger than normal. We caught a lot of Walleye 20" to 25" and that is really good size for that far north. Also, we caught some really big Northerns, although we did not get over that 40" mark that we have been striving for since we started going up there. How close did we come? Uncle Ron missed it by .5" his Northern was 39.5" This tied the Northern caught by my father in law the first year we went up there, in fact it was the first fish caught of everyone.

The day my uncle caught that Northern will go down as one of my best days fishing ever. It all started with him hooking into a really nice Northern in the morning 35-37" just before I was going to net the fish it did the northern barrel roll and snapped the line at the boat. We were discouraged and didn't expect to see another fish like that. So we started to troll around the area and about about an hour later I hooked a nice 31" Northern. We took pictures, measured him and let him go. I retied my line and through back out and set the hook on another nice 30" northern. Now I was getting excited. I let him go through back out and set the hook on another big pike 32" this time. We took pictures measured him and let him go. As you can imagine I was very excited because it is hard to catch a pike over 30" let alone 3 in a row within a half hour or so. So we kept fishing I caught a walleye and then in the exact same spot I just caught the 31" and 32" I hooked and caught a 35.5" Northern. 4 Northerns over 30 inches in 45 minutes. Best day fishing for me ever.

I had not even finished celebrating my catch and my uncle set the hook. After one heck of a fight we netted the biggest fish of the trip. His 39.5" Northern weighed 14 lbs. So 5 Northerns of that caliber in about an hour to an hour and a half is not to shabby.

Ron's 39.5" Northern

My 4th northern 35.5"s

My first one 31"s

Biggest Walleye of the trip 25.5" I caught him on the first day.

Some new faces and some new names.

2011-06-01T10:42:00.004-04:00

Well I got a chance to compare my big shed to the shed the farmer ran over with his tractor. Despite my first assumption they are not the same deer. The shed that he ran over was from the wide 10 pointer that we had seen last January while house sitting. He is the same deer that was eating the landscaping and standing about 5' outside the window. I guestimate him to be 18-20" wide and a 3.5 year old deer. So that makes two 3.5(now 4.5) year olds that are hanging around and I feel pretty good about how I am set up for them. Really good in fact. The only unknown is who will stay and who will go.

Now the other problem is I gave this deer the name "flat tire" but I was thinking it was the same deer. Now that I know this big one is the same one that was looking in the house I think the name "peeping tom" is a good fit. So we have "Peeping Tom" who just vaulted to the top of my list and the other 10 pointer that I have a lot of history with who I am going to name "sanctuary"

Then there is a 6 pointer that I saw a lot last year who was 1.5 and now will be 2.5. The boys and I found his shed and I saw him a couple times. He was always near "sancuary" so I am going to name him "Sidekick" I think he will be a pretty decent deer, pobably an 8 point, this year, however, he will be getting the pass from me, unless he absolutley explodes this year.

I also got my camera out this past weekend and won't check it for a good couple weeks. So there should be some pretty decent growth goeing on by that time. I put it where I have a pretty good idea that either "peeping tom" or "sanctuary" is going through or both of them. I saw a couple of really good size tracks, really good.

So to say I am anxious is an understatement. I cant wait to see if my plans work. I am going to use my camera to pinpoint where these deer are bedding and once I can figure that out....game on.

Nathan's First Bass

2011-05-22T20:02:00.002-04:00

I started packing today for our Canadian Fishing trip today and the boys got excited about going fishing. So after supper we went to my Grandpas and Nathan caught his first bass by himself and Jacob got one to.

$200 Shed and a new name

2011-04-18T19:46:00.003-04:00

The farmer that farms the field on Barry's property got a flat tire last week. You can see the culprit below. At first all I knew was that it was a nice 5 point side and pretty big. Barry had Andy the farmer send me the picture below and I had to see more of course. Here is another picture of it. The G2 got cracked off in the tire. After hearing where he road over it and looking at this picture I am 95% sure that its the other side to "The Sanctuary Buck" You can see the pictures below. Next time I am down there I am going to Andy's and we are going to hold them up together but I would be very surprised if they don't match.

You can see the mains are both pretty wide the brows are very similar and they both have long skinny tines.

So this is also brought me to a name change. "The Sanctuary Buck" doesn't really have a great sound to it but I thought it was fitting. I think his name will be "Flat tire" from now on. I will post pictures of the two of them together when I get the chance to go down there and compare them.

My Plan for "the sanctuary buck"

2011-04-05T10:15:00.005-04:00

Well by now most of you know about this buck that I saw 3 times last bow season and missed my chance at during gun season, with Julie there to see him as well. I figured its time to give him a name so I have named him "the sactuary buck" named after where he is living and spending most of his time, well last year anyway. I have become quite obsessed with him, especially recently after finding one of his sheds. (see my post 2x ago) He is going to be a 4.5 year old deer this year and that is going to make things even more difficult but this is the best chance at a deer of this caliber I have ever had, so I have to give it my best try. Well the sanctuary is a small 5 acre area that is all tall grass, scrub brush and thorns. It is tucked behind some houses and the topography makes it a very secluded area and perfect for holding a big mature deer. It has little or no trees to hang a stand in, well one tree and that is where I sat last season. Its an ok spot for a stand but I was just a little to far away from the action and my approach route was to much in the open. If you look below at the ariel photo you can see what I am talking about and see why I needed to move. The blue "X" on the top left is where my treestand was last season. The blue "X" on the top right is the ground blind where I missed him from. The yellow circle is where he was when I missed him. The dotted lines are the different routes he took everytime i saw him last year. The area inside the yellow line is the corn field, I know part looks like grass but its all crop field now. The green dotted line is my new access route through the corn field and the red "X" is where I put my tri-pod stand last sunday. The yellow arrows are the only wind directions that I would hunt this stand, south or southwest. Also, one more thing to note where the blue and purple lines converge in the upper left those are apple trees. They did not have any fruit last year but he still was bedding down in there. If there is fruit on them this year its going to be even better. 2 years ago the corn field was beans and I watched dozens of deer pour into this area every night for a week strait from accross the property early season and I didn't know why. I found out that these trees were in here last spring but the late frost killed all the blossoms I believe. So what I did was move my tripod stand into this area. I put it as far into a white pine tree as I could and even dug the feet of it down about 18" into the ground to get the platform lower into the tree. You can see by the pictures below that it worked really good. I will be able to get into this stand when the corn is up undected and when I am in it i am shielded from the sanctuary because of the two trees, so if he is laying anywhere in the sancuary he should not see me get in or sitting in it. Also, this spot is uphill from where i was last year and I can see much better into the sanctuary. I am going to bring more branches in my first sit and zip tie them onto the stand and that will give me even more cover. So now that I have it set up, I am not going to go by it or near this are until Oct. when I hunt it for the first time. I want him to think its safe and to go back in there again and I have learned that if he senses the least bit of pressure he is gone. It would be nice to have a trail camera in there to know what I am up against but I can't risk it so I just have to go off of what I learned last season and my instincts that he will be back in there or worst case scenario, another shooter buck. Anyway to say I am excited about this stand is an understatement.

You can see how well the platform is hidden. My only concern is being silohetted against the sky if the deer are withing 15-20 yards of me so thats why I want to bring in a few more branches.

Barry was on Spring Break but he let me use his tractor and hay wagon which worked awesome because we moved it with just Julie and I. Thanks Barry.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share with everyone because I am pretty excited about this stand and this buck, but also to show what process I use to decide how to set up a stand and that sometimes you have to be a little creative. I love using ariel photos(even on property I know very well) and mapping out the information I know, it gives me the big picture and I use that to determine where I need to be, how I need to get into that spot, what wind, etc. Then after that I figure out how to set up in that spot, hang a stand, ground blind, or what I did here. Hopefully I will get a crack at "the sanctuary buck" and I can feel really proud about how much thought and work myself and Julie put into going after him.

More Sheds!

2011-03-20T16:31:00.003-04:00

Me and the boys went for a "little" walk this past Saturday looking for some more sheds.

Jake was pretty proud of himself because he kept up with me all day. Naters really did good to even though I did have to carry him a couple times. We put close to 2 miles in so I was more than impresssed.

Here are the two we found this Saturday. The 3 point is a shed from a six point that I saw 4 times this past fall. I am really excited to see what he becomes because he looks like he has some really good potential and he is only a year and a half. I hope he makes it 2 more years because he will be a stud if he does.

Here is all four of the sheds we've found this year already. All from different deer. You can see there is quite a differance between the three 1.5 year olds as far as size and quality. Also you can see the differance between the 3.5 year old and the others. Also the 3.5 year old and the 6 point bedded together a lot this past fall for most of Oct. and into Nov. So should be interesting to see what happens this year.

I know a lot about that 3.5 year old so I am really excited for this fall. He is going to be quite a deer. I just hope he goes back to his old patterns, because I have a new plan to go after him and if he does what he did last year, we should cross paths.

Jake could resist climbing on the lay downs and my ladder stands. Kind of interesting about this particular lay down. I found a buck bed under it last season and there is one under it again this year. I don't know who is laying here but its a big bed and I have a stand set up about 100 yards behind Jacob. Hopefully I can catch him sometime next fall.

Great Day Shed Hunting

2011-02-20T12:27:00.003-05:00

Julie, myself and the boys went shed hunting yesterday (Sat.) down at the farm and found 2 sheds. One was a 1.5 old that I have a ton of pictures of 2 of which are below. The second was a 3.5 year old that I am 90% sure was the deer I was chasing during bow season and then the same deer I missed during gun season. There was still quite a bit of snow in the pines where I know some really big bucks have been bedding so we will give a couple weeks and see what happens weather-wise.

This is how we found the big shed. I could actually see it from quite distance away. This is actually the first shed I have ever found myself. Julie found the smaller one and also a shed 2 years ago.

2010 One to remember!

2011-01-11T17:05:00.003-05:00

Well most of you know how my season went this past year. It all started with me and Jacob putting down a turkey in April and then in October I was blessed with a great buck. Having encounters with other bucks and finding a fully in tact skeloton of a nice 9 point. I for one will remember and cherrish this past year as being a personal best for me. From all the great encounters and stories to being able to harvest some awesome animals in some great settings.

I am really looking forward to this coming year. I have already started thinking about where my stands will be and how I am going to hunt them. Jacob has told me we are going after a "big boy" turkey this year so no more jakes for us, I guess. My semi-annual fishing trip is this coming June and that is always a great time. I feel very fortunate and blessed to be able to spend the time I do in God's creation and I hope everyone else does to. Take care and lets make it a great year.

Made a great find

2010-12-06T08:49:00.004-05:00

I went hunting on Saturday the 4th of December at my moms. Well the wind was out of the North so I decided to try a spot I was looking at putting a stand at next year. I decided for now to just build a ground blind and give it a go that way. There are a bunch of small pines around there so I was using branches from thos for cover. I was cutting some branches off of them and I looked down at the ground and I saw antlers sticking up out of the snow. I grabbed them and pulled them up and they were attached to a perfect skull. I was really excited as some of you already know. Its one thing to find a shed but to find an intact skull with the antlers is unreal. There is not a chew mark on them either. There was a little skin on it just under the antler bases so best we can figure is sometime early fall. Maybe a bowhunter but its impossible to tell. We did go back the next day and dug in the snow and the rest of the skeleton was there. You can see from the pics he is for sure a 9 point with a little 1/2 inch tine that could make him a 10 point. His spread is 15 inches. Thats compared to 13 inches on the one that I shot. I think that this one was also a 2.5 year old. It sucks in a way because this is one less that made it but at least I found it and it didn't go to a complete waste. Anyway it was a once in a lifetime find and I thought I'd share.

Crazy Saturday for Julie and I

2010-11-21T08:33:00.003-05:00

Well most of the people that see this already know what happened yesterday but I wanted to post it anyway. So I can look back at this in the future and hopefully laugh it off.
Since our family got back from Disney World on Thurs the 18th Julie and my gun season's started yesterday(Saturday). We spent the night down at the farm and got out in the morning. Julie sat in the tri-pod and I sat on the other side of the property against a cut corn field. It was a great morning I had seen 7 deer by 8 am. I was watching a small spike or fork in the corn field about 50 yards behind me when someone blasted 5 shots at this deer. The shots sounded like they were 50 yards behind me. Turns out they were. I didn't realize that there were 3 other hunters, a guy, his wife and daughter's boyfriend all within 150 yards of me. (I love gun season) So after watching the wife climb down from a tree stand that was about 40 yards from me I decided my morning was ruined so I might as well help them look for that deer. We looked a little bit couldn't find any blood and they weren't listening to any advice from me so I let them look for themselves. So I called Julie and she said she wasn't seeing anything so by now it was about 8:45. So I made the call to bag the morning and build a ground blind in an area where I knew a 6 point was hanging out and we had seen him on the driveway the night before when we drove in and watched him go back to this area.
Side story here--about a week after I killed my 10 point I went down here and hunted this area because I had a hunch it would hold a good buck because of its seclusion from everything and it is just a perfect area. So my first sit at about 10 minutes before dark I saw a really big 3.5 year old 8 or 10 come out. Probably 120 inches. I watched him go from the corn field to some apple trees right where I though one would bed. I was geeked!! I had found a deer bigger than the one I just shot. I was very careful with him and waited for the perfect wind to go back in and try again. It was 3 days later I tried in the morning which I was so nervous about because his night-time bed was only 40 yards from my treestand so I had to be dead quiet getting in but I risked it. I got into my stand and settled in. 10 minutes after that I looked and saw him going along the hill up from the appletrees. It was still pitch dark and I saw him only because of the lights from the grocery store nearby. Fast forward 4 more days it was a nightime hunt this time and he came out 5 minutes before dark and followed some does up the hill away from me. So I kept seeing him but really early or really late. Then 3 or 4 days later the neighbors to the north say they shot "nice" 8 and my heart sank. Where they shot was a ways away from his core area but with does coming into esterus you never know what they will do. So I sat there that night and saw nothing but a small 4 point. So I didn't know what happened and we had to leave for vacation.
Fast forward to Saturday--Julie and I snuck down to within 75 yards of this "sanctuary" area. I was making the ground blind in a small 8 foot white pine. Which work perfect for grounds blinds fyi. I kept looking down into the sanctuary and sure enough there were 4 doe, so that go me excited for Julie for that evening. I was putting the last branch in place when I looked down there again and saw that buck coming up out of the sanctuary into the cut corn field. I told Julie to get down and get me my gun. I was able to get into position and he came out. It was my first really good look at him. He fed for about 5 minutes and started to turn to go back in. I had one shot and he turned a little bit quartering away and I shot. He bounded into the sanctuary and then walked away up the hill low to the ground looking injured. We waited 30 minutes then went to look for blood. Nothing!!. My friend Ross was kind enough to drive down and help we came up with a plan. With Barry my brother in law, Julie, Ross and his son Isaac and my self we scowered the sancuary and found nothing. We are calling it a clean miss and that he was spooked by my shot and sneaking back into safety. I told Julie after I shot that even if we didn't get him I have had an amazing season and I stand by that. Just to see the deer I have seen this season is a unreal. So hopefully he comes back and we get another crack at him in a week or two. Sorry for the long story but I needed to post this.

Oh so close

2010-11-05T10:21:00.002-04:00

Well I sat in the same stand that I killed my 10 pointer out of early this season for the first time since. Its been my plan to apply very little pressure to this spot. It started off cool and quiet. Not a lot of movement until about 9:15 am. I had a mom and twin button bucks come down right under my stand. Hung around a little mom was nervous the whole time. Then I noticed the buttons looking behind me and sure enough here comes another deer. It was a lone doe so I decided if she gave me a shot I was gonna take it. The mom and the buttons trotted off so it was just me and the other doe. She finally started to come in at about 25 yards. She came out and I shot. My string hit my sleeve and she jumped really bad at the shot my arrow went right over her. Probably missed by an inch. It was a great morning hunt though and I came so close to going 2 for 2 out of that stand. That would have been really cool.

Scott smoked a doe

2010-10-29T09:38:00.003-04:00

Scott shot this doe this morning. Double lunged her at 8 yards she didn't go far. Some good eating for sure. Nice shooting Scott.

Close!!

2010-10-13T22:12:00.002-04:00

Well Julie gave a doe a haircut tonight. She shot and the doe jumped at the sound of her shot and she just missed. We found a bunch of dark hair on the ground but no blood. I told her better to miss like that than to hit the doe high. We will keep trying. Its a never ending learning process.

FINALLY!!!

2010-10-07T20:48:00.003-04:00

Well a lot of you might know but I finally got a buck today. I shot him on Weds evening Scott and I tracked him for an hour and a half, lost the blood trail and decided to give him the night. The next morning myself, Julie and Jacob went out and Julie and Jacob found some blood about 50 yards from where Scott and I lost the trail. So I am pretty sure I would not have found this deer if it werent for them. Well we looked until about 11 and called it quits for the morning. I got back out there at 3:30 and this time Ross and Eric helped me and after some great advice from Ross we found him laying about 30 yards from where Julie, Jacob and myself quit in the morning. So I just want to say thank you to all of you guys for helping couldn't of found him with out you.
He is a 10pt and i measured his inside spread at 13 1/2 inches his g2's are both 5 1/2 inches not to shabby for a 2 1/2 year old deer. I wonder what his dad looks like. Thanks again everyone!!!

Some Bucks without velvet and Jakes first doe hunt

2010-09-19T22:04:00.002-04:00

Well below are some pictures of bucks with their velvet off. I got two of the tall 8 I have been posting on here for 3 months now. He is looking pretty good. Also got a new six pointer that I have not gotten any pictures of before. His rack looks really nice. Hope he makes it to next year.

Also, I took Jacob out tonight for the early doe season and his first deer hunt. Well we got skunked but he did great sat nearly 2 hours and complained very little. Of course when we left there were three doe in the hay field which was where I originally was going to sit. Oh well thats the game we play.

Still Growing and some other cool pictures

2010-08-29T20:22:00.003-04:00

Here are some new pictures. My batteries ran out last week so I didn't get a ton of pictrues but here are some of the better ones.

Now the next picture is the tall 8 I have been watching grow all summer. The top picture is the latest and the bottom is from about 2 weeks ago. You can see he is turning into a good little buck. Its just really cool to watch them grow.

Fixed Pictures

2010-08-11T10:11:00.003-04:00

Well I did some playing around with that picture of the bigger buck and got it where you can see his antlers a little better. Hopefully I get a better picture this week and then there won't be any guess work but I think I can count 5 on each side. Either way I am excited now for this coming season and he is on top of the list.

New side of property new set off bucks

2010-08-08T21:30:00.002-04:00

Well like I said I moved my camera to the other side of the property to catch some different deer. I was really happy with what I found. From what I can see I have 1 new 1.5 year old, a nice looking 2.5 year old 8 point, and a really big deer that looks to be 3.5 for sure. Take a look.

This looks like to me to be a possible 6 point, although its hard to tell with one side missing.

This is a nice looking 8 point.

Now the picture above and the one below I think are the same deer. You can see he's got a really big body. In the picture below if you click on it and look at the picture from a different angle when its bigger, you can see he has a really nice rack. This is the deer I am thinking to be 3.5 for sure.

No big boys, but i got one that is looking pretty good and a lot of small 1.5's

2010-08-06T14:27:00.004-04:00

This is the 6 point that I passed last gun season. He is looking like an 8 for sure maybe a nine if he grows another g3 on his right side. It looks like he has a kicker on his right side so that would make him a nine point.

I moved the camera to the other side of the property so hopefully I can get a couple other bigger guys on camera. Its looking like a lot of 1.5's this year so might be a lot of dummys chasing does this year. Lets hope one of the older boys makes an appearance also. I am going to also go out for the early doe season with Jacob this year. He is really excited because he wants to go out with me in a tree stand. He wasn't to happy about only hunting does. I have a feeling we will see a buck when we go out and I am going to have to explain why we can't shoot it.

Their getting bigger.

2010-07-24T13:52:00.002-04:00

Some great July Velvet Pictures

2010-07-18T16:39:00.003-04:00

These pictures are from the last week and a half. I picked out the best ones I had 34 pictures in a pretty short amount of time so that was pretty cool. Jake and I also spent the day today moving and setting up tree stands. It was hot!!! I got two no spots all ready and I am pretty excited about hunting them.

2010-04-26T22:11:00.002-04:00

Well I promised Jacob we would make it out turkey hunting. So tonight (monday) i got off of work at a resonable time and I called Julie to bring him to the greenhouse and we would give it a shot. My boss was kind enough to let me hunt his property behind where I work. We sat on an edge of a corn field and I had only been calling for a half hour. Jacob was a real trooper keeping quiet and stil even with the bugs and thorns. Then I saw a turkey coming from our right and I could tell it was a male just couldn't see how big. As it turned out he followed the edge of the field to within 10 yards. Jacob was rock solid even when the bird stopped and I thought for sure it was going to bust us. But it took a couple more steps and I had an opening. Well the rest is in the pictures above. Turned out to be a young Jake 4" beard but that really didn't matter to me. This was by far the best time I have ever had in the woods. Jacob was really excited as you can see in the pictures. He is already talking about next year and getting a bigger one. Sounds like a hunter to me. I think he's hooked. I told him he was goning to have to sit in my treestand this fall now.

Mitch's U.P. Buck from 09 firearm season

2010-02-16T12:36:00.002-05:00

Mitch and his buck from the U.P. Nice job man!!!

BDD (Big Doe Down)

2009-12-31T10:42:00.002-05:00

Well it took us until the end of the season but we finally got a doe. Ross and I took Caleb and Richard (Two 14 year olds from Ross's Church) hunting for Richard's first time and Calebs 8th time ever. Richard didn't have a license so he was just there for moral support and Calebs was armed with Ross's muzzle loader. They had 4 doe and a button buck come in right at dark and after waiting for a couple snow mobilers to clear the field Caleb let her have it. She was a really nice doe, about 100 lbs. It was a great way to end the season and I think we have another young hunter hooked.

Hunting Season Update

2009-12-21T09:04:00.004-05:00

Well its been one of my personal best hunting seasons so far. However, I have not killed a deer that part is not what I expected when this year's season started but as I look back on the season, I feel like there were to many times where I let a doe go. I had so many opportunities to shoot a doe its ridiculous and I had planned on shooting a doe right away. However, we (Julie and I) had patterned a really nice 2 1/2 year old 8 point and watched him 3 times coming into the bean field 25 yards from my stand. So when the season rolled in that was in the back of my mind and I didn't want to ruin seeing him. Plus my father in law saw an 8 point opening morning. Anyway, I never did see him and in the process passed up 2 perfect shots on doe opening day.

Now I have made a rule for myself that I will only shoot a buck if it has 4 pts. on the one side, thus making it at least a 7 point. I really want to try and get the younger bucks bigger and I decided to start passing them up this year. Even though the neighbors are not doing the same thing. Like my friend Ross tells me if I don't pass them up then they have no chance. So wouldn't you know it but I saw more bucks this year then all my hunting seasons combined. The biggest was a 6 point, if he makes is going to be a really nice deer next year so I am keeping my fingers crossed. I am going to get my camera back out also see if any other of the bigger bucks made it this year.

My co-workers/friends have had about the same luck. Kevin shot a buck up in Reed City only to have someone claim it as theirs, and Scott who saw an amazing amount of bucks this year was playing cat and mouse with a really nice deer and finally had a shot during gun season but hit him a little high and he got away. Hopefully he makes it through the winter and he can get a shot at him next year. By the way it was over a 100 yard shot with open sights so I was impressed he even hit him at all.

So all in all, for myself, its been a blast this year I have scene over 100 deer so there wasnt to many times I was out where I didn't see deer. Julie had a good year to. She saw a couple big bucks just not close enough or to dark for a shot but its cool to see her out there with her bow and it makes me very happy that she enjoys it so much. I got my father in law out there once and my friend Ross was able to video a really nice 2 1/2 year old 8 point that I hadn't scene before and my brother in law Barry went out for his first time ever and got to see a couple of bucks.

Anyway, I will get out 1 or 2 more times this year and hopefully smack a doe to put some meat in my freezer but I can't believe its almost over again. Time to start planning for next season already.

Warm = nice sitting but late deer movement

2009-11-09T10:51:00.004-05:00

It was a great weekend as far as temperatures go but not so nice for deer movement. The deer we saw were really late (15 minutes before dark) We still saw some bucks this past weekend but they were either small or out in the dark. I did have a little visitor in my stand Saturday afternoon. Here is a picture of him. Its always cool seeing the wildlife.

Bow hunting update

2009-11-02T14:16:00.004-05:00

Just an update on how the season is going for me and my wife Julie and some friends and family. I am feeling a little bummed today because I made, what I felt, a really good shot on a doe last night but ended up never recovering her. I found my arrow and that was where the blood trail ended. I must have hit her a little high in the shoulder area.

Above is a 4pt we jumped while tracking her.

The younger bucks are really starting to rut. I saw 2 last night chasing does. Julie saw the same 8 pt that Ross and Matt video taped. She saw him on Wednesday. So its getting really exciting where we hunt hope it is for everyone else.

Video of nice buck

2009-10-28T08:44:00.004-04:00

I invited Ross and his camera-man to hunt for some does on the farm, Tuesday October 27. They were not able to get one but did have this really nice 2 1/2 year old come in. They passed him up, per my request, and I thank them for it. Now its up to me and Julie to get him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCgpnPm3t3w

Here is the link to the video its pretty dark but it was a really good night for those guys.

Ross G and his Nebraska early season buck

2009-09-21T08:17:00.003-04:00

Here is Ross and his Nebrask 11 pointer. Nice job man!!!

Work Fishing Trip

2009-09-15T12:22:00.003-04:00

We went salmon fishing out of Grand Haven last week Friday. We did really well our boat caught 11 (mostly Steelhead) and the other boat caught 16. Here are some pictures.

Some motivation for this coming season.

2009-08-29T18:25:00.003-04:00

Here are a couple pictures of a buck that Scott shot a few years ago in Borculo. Its official measurement is 149 5/8"'s I believe. A true trophy of a lifetime.

More Trail Pics

2009-08-15T09:50:00.003-04:00

I've been having trouble catching some bucks on camera lately but here are some more pics from this past week. I did do some scouting and found a lot of really good size tracks. So they are still around.

Well they all cant be big boys here are some cool pictures of does and fawns all taken this week.

2009-08-08T20:22:00.003-04:00

Some pretty good new trail camera pictures

2009-08-02T21:33:00.003-04:00

Some new field camera pics

2009-07-23T16:30:00.001-04:00

Mitch & Melissa's trip to U.P. to visit family.

2009-07-18T19:58:00.005-04:00

Some nice Bass and Walleye caught up at Mitch and Melisa's family in the U.P. Some really nice pictures too.

Great Article for Michigan Hunters

2009-07-12T19:46:00.003-04:00

If you hunt in Michigan, especially bow hunt, you need to check out this link. I would say he hits the nail on the head. Just click the link on their home page. Their sight is also loaded with some awesome pictures.

http://www.thedeerhunt.com/

New Field Camera Pictures

2009-07-10T22:34:00.002-04:00

Here are a couple more pictures from my camera. Looks like a I got another really nice buck here. Its pretty tough to see his antlers but they seem to have really good mass and 8 points maybe 10. Julie and I also saw two bucks feeding when we left the farm today. One was a 1.5 year old with a nice rack starting. The other was a really big deer probably 3-4 years old and a very nice rack.

New field camera pictures

2009-07-04T13:55:00.001-04:00

Here are some new field camera pictures taken the last week or so.

Canada Fly-In Fishing Trip 09'

2009-06-23T14:31:00.010-04:00

Well we recentley got back from our bi-annual fishing trip up to Meta Lake Lodge, Ontario. As usual we caught a ton of fish, 1100 to be exact. That was 4 guys and 7 days of fishing. Well actually about 5 days of fishing due to snow on 2 of those days and our day long trip up to Brace Lake, which really kills a day of fishing. So all things considered we did really well. On one of the days Dan set a new record and caught 98 fish in one day. Above are some pictures my uncle took I still havent gotten pictures from my brother in law or my father in law. I will post those when I get them. The biggest Northern was caught by my father in law it was 37.5" and my brother in law caught one that was 36", the biggest Walleye was caught by my uncle it was 24 1/2 inches long. We also caught 20 northerns that were 30" or bigger and countless Walleye 20" to 24". Like I said earlier the weather was cold our stove was stoked every night but it was usually pretty cold getting up in the morning. I am already looking forward to next time.

Spring Scouting and Reminder

2009-02-23T11:34:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone,

Just a reminder to get out there soon and start scouting. I personally hunt turkeys in the spring so its a good time to look for where they have been hanging out. I little snow is not a bad thing because you can see their tracks easier. You might also stumble on some antler sheds. My brother in law found a nice 4 point shed probably from an 8 pointer. So they are out there.

Also, I wanted to remind everyone of the hunting seminar at the Fish and Game Club. Its March 12 at 7:00 pm I believe. Cost is $5.00 so that is a pretty good deal. I have gotten to know Ross, who is putting the seminar on, and he is really cool and knows his stuff. So I think it will be good.

I am also starting to get that feeling to get out on the water to go fishing. Spring must be around the corner. This year we are heading up to Canada for our "fly in" fishing trip. So that is always a blast and I am really looking forward to it. First things first though I need to get that Tom Turkey.

I need pictures

2009-02-08T21:24:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone,

I need to get your pictures of hunting, fishing, camping, etc pictures. I think that it would be cool to just start posting some pics of past experiences also. So if you have pictures from when ever go ahead and send them to me. chad182nd@yahoo.com Here is a pic of a coyote me and my brother Shaun shot 2 years ago while hunting turkeys. It actually came in and tried to attack my decoys. It took two shots of turkey load to put him down.

Hope to get some pictures from everyone else too.

Talk to you later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NEF8HsXv5c

2009-01-29T11:48:00.007-05:00

I had lunch with Ross Graveling, who is a pro-staffer with Xtreme Sports that airs on The Sportsmen Channel. He is a youth pastor at Calvary Church in Holland and a really cool guy. He sent me a link to one of his hunts in Iowa so I thought I 'd share it. Also him and his hunting partner are giving a seminar at the Fish and Game Club on March 12 at 7:00 pm. The seminar will cover food plots and how to best set up on a normal size piece of property(approx. 40 acres). The seminar is $5.00 and I highly recomend checking it out if you are at all into deer hunting. These guys really know their stuff.

New Trail Camera Photos

2008-12-08T09:14:00.003-05:00

Here are a few more pictures from my trail camera. Nothing impressive but always neat to see.

Gun Season Report for 08'

2008-12-01T10:05:00.003-05:00

Well I personally only made it out 3 days for gun season. I made it out opening day with my wife and my brother and we only saw 3 does all day. I didn't make it back out until Friday the 28th and Sunday the 30th. I saw 7 deer on friday and none on Sunday due to a snow storm. I got my camera back out Sunday so hopefully the big boys made it through this years gun season.

Anyway, I have not heard of to many success storys from friends and family. Eric and Kevin at work both shot deer. Eric shot a 7 pointer and Kevin got a 4 pointer. Other than that I have not heard of any others.

So its on to December for the last push. I personally don't have a muzzle loader so I will be hitting it with my bow. I hope that we can post at least one more post and I hope its a monster. I will post any new pictures from my trail camera as well.

Chad's Buck taken at "Harvest Moon Acres" - Friday, November 7, 2008

2008-11-11T13:47:00.008-05:00

This was my first buck taken at my bother and sister in laws new farm. I was sitting in a ground blind in a spot I had missed a 6 pointer 2 days earlier. I was using my "can" doe call and rattling. 3 does came running in and I had a feeling they were being chased. 30 seconds later he came running in grunting away. I made a 10 yard shot and he ran about 75 yards. He dressed out at 137 lbs. He was a big deer just didn't have the antlers to match. Thank you Barry and Cindy for the awesome hunting land.

Scott's Election Day, 7 pointer -Tuesday, November 4, 2008

2008-11-11T13:38:00.004-05:00

Scott works with me and he shot this 7 pointer Tues. November 4 at about 5:30 pm. He was trying to call in another buck that he saw in the field next to him. He was using the can doe call, when this deer came running in with its head in the air looking for the doe. He made a 15 yard shot and the deer ran about 300 yards.

Trail Camera pics from scouting 2008

2008-11-11T13:25:00.001-05:00

Canada Fishing Trip June, 2007

2008-11-10T21:16:00.001-05:00

Every other year we go up to Nakina Ontario and go on a Fly-in fishing trip to Meta Lake Lodge. This trip is alway a blast and we catch a ton of fish as well as see a lot of wild life. We enjoy long days on the water, short nights in bed, crazy weather and eat enough Walleye to make your head spin. Can't wait until next years trip.