Mid-October days are some of the hardest days to be at work when you’re a bowhunter. The leaves are changing color, and the temps are dropping but, duty calls and you can’t afford to hunt if you don’t go to work. Yet those vacation days that you have saved up for deer hunting are calling to you saying, “take a day off and go to the woods.” It takes so much willpower to get up and go to work when your mind keeps telling you “There’s just bound to be a big buck on the … Read More
Bow Season! …it is finally here.
The first day of October represents the start of Michigan’s archery deer season, and it is a long-awaited timeframe for a lot of avid bowhunters, me included. Often referred to as being “bow season”, it is an outdoor pastime I have enjoyed for over 60 years, and I have a lot of fine memories, as well as I’ve been able to witness an evolution of sorts, especially regarding gear and employed hunting techniques. My first bow and arrows were something I crafted when I was a farm kid, using a green limb from our orchard … Read More
A Rainy-Day Disaster
When I walked outside early this morning, I closed my eyes and smiled as I drew that first breath of the cool morning air. When I opened my eyes and looked up at the dark night sky, I saw my old friend Orion just above the horizon. The site of that group of stars always gets me excited for the approach of Autumn and all that comes with it. It’s by far my favorite season, and these days fall means high school football games, and of course Archery Deer season. Like many of you, I … Read More
Grunt Calls, are they worth using?
If I had to pick just one item to carry to my deer stand besides my bow or my gun, it would be my grunt call. Like many of you, I’ve watched my share of monster buck videos. One thing you’ll notice in just about every video, the hunter is using a grunt call. Folks, let me tell you, it’s not just for show and it’s not just to sell products. Those things really work! It was the year 2000 and I had just gotten permission to hunt a small section of property across the … Read More
Bow Hunting On A Budget
Are you considering bow hunting but aren’t sure if you can afford all of the equipment that everyone says you “need”? I’m here to tell you that you can get started bow hunting for far less money than most people will tell you. Before we get started, there is one piece of equipment that I will say is an absolute must. As I am a certified Bow Hunter Safety instructor, it would be wrong of me not to stress how important a good quality safety harness and life line are. Don’t leave the ground until … Read More
Location Preparation Tools – John Eberhart Shares His Expertise
Proper location preparation can make the difference in whether or not you have success stories to tell. While your on-foot scouting only required the use of maps and or a notebook, location preparation requires specific tools and a great amount of physical labor. I finished drywall for 14 years and like any trade job, the more prepared you are concerning tools, more thorough and expedient the job will be done. The ideal scenario is to be able to pack in and carry the necessary tools to totally prepare a location yet be mobile enough to … Read More
Reality Of Bowhunting
Pre-Season Scouting/Speed Touring Mature whitetails are creatures of habit and once deer season is over it doesn’t take them long before calming down and reverting back to set routines which include more daytime movements. Their routines will take on slight alterations throughout the year primarily due to changes in weather conditions, preferred food sources and during spring fawning there will be alterations as does break with wintering social groups, force their previous spring’s fawns away, and birth their new ones. Bedding to feeding area routines by mature bucks also remains constant throughout the summer until … Read More
Scout NOW For Next Fall & Why! (Part II)
In order of importance, once on foot focus your attention on the following sign for stand locations: primary scrape areas, fruit and mast trees, within bedding areas, funnels between bedding areas and terrain feature funnels, areas offering security cover that protrude out into crop or weed fields, scrape lined runways, narrow draws offering transition security cover that protrude into crop or weed fields, funnels between bedding and feeding areas, clusters of rubs and rub lines, convergence points of several runways, and water in areas with minimal water sources. Primary scrape areas A primary scrape area … Read More
The Bedded Buck
By: Robert Weller. I was having a busy October. Busier than I had wanted it to be that’s for sure. I had intended on taking every weekend off in October and November so that I could get some quality time in the woods, especially during the early archery season here in Michigan. I think I made it out a total of five or six times to sit in the tree stand the entire month of October. To say I was getting frustrated with how my 2023 archery deer season was going would be an understatement. The … Read More
The blind-siding way for savvy whitetails – Made in Michigan Lucky Hunting Blinds pave the way
By: Tom Lounsbury. There is no question that the whitetail deer is the most popular big game animal in North America with a big following of avid hunters. Michigan itself has more than 500,000 deer hunters in the woods by daybreak on November 15, a day I personally believe should be a state holiday. Until the 15th arrives however, I start being real serious about pursuing bucks from Halloween on, with archery tackle, due to the whitetail rut which is kicking in and peaking over that early to mid-November timeframe which I quite literally live … Read More