December, in my mind, is the ficklest month of the year when it comes to weather. There are times the transition of fall into winter can get a bit confusing, while the weather makes up its mind to go one way or another. As a kid, I can remember when winter arrived, it usually brought lots of snow, and stayed until spring, but it seems like that predictability is all in the past these days. Being outdoors a lot, I’ve seen a steady transition, at least in my neck of the woods, of matters tending … Read More
The Mobile Hunting Movement
Time and technology have a way of changing the way we do things. Well, at least for those willing to embrace change and learn something new that is. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with sticking with the tried and true, but what if you’re missing out? It seems that more and more deer hunters are going mobile these days and are migrating away from traditional methods like tree stands and blinds. In recent years, tree saddles have become very popular among a new generation of hunters, calling themselves “Mobile Hunters”. Now mobile hunting isn’t really … Read More
Michigan’s most popular opening day – November 15th
The truth be known, I never bought a Michigan hunting license of any kind until just before the firearms deer season in November 1963. Being a Thumb farm kid back then, a hunting license wasn’t required for hunting small game on your family’s land where you resided, and I had started hunting pheasants, squirrels and cottontails with my granddad’s single-shot .410 at an early age. Yep, folks, I was a bit annoyed when I had to wait until I was 14 years old to go deer hunting. I bought my deer license at the Albee … Read More
A missing dog found while anticipating opening day
Going into a countdown for the November 15 opening day of Michigan’s Firearms Deer season is a tradition of mine, and I was in that mode with only 4 days to go on Tuesday evening. I was in the process of tossing hay to my horses in the pasture with my female GSP shorthair, Zelda, at my side. I’m assuming she spotted a rabbit in our nearby orchard and gave chase while I was looking the other way. All I knew when I turned around, she was gone. What I call my “rabbitat” borders the … Read More
The Science of Buck Fever
It’s opening day of Deer Season 2025, at least for gun hunters. So much preparation and anticipation goes into this annual activity. For some, it involves year round scouting. As the days of the hunt draw near, serious planners consider not only deer sign, but wind direction. As such, they would do well to have back up sites ready to go based on this factor alone. For those hunters fortunate enough to have a shooting opportunity, their next challenge is surviving a sudden surge of adrenaline that at times does not serve them well at … Read More
A Snowy Deer Recovery
There’s something about the first snow that has always excited me. As a young boy it meant snowmen, forts and snowball fights. Now as a grown man, the first snow brings with it beauty and peace, the thoughts of approaching holidays and time spent with loved ones. And of course, if the first snow comes early enough, I get the chance to hunt deer with snow on the ground. This year, that day was November 9th. It had been forecast that we would see accumulation that day, so I made plans to be in my … Read More
Rifles for deer hunting are the most popular in southern Michigan today, but don’t sell shotguns short.
The shotgun has played an important role throughout the history of firearms. From matchlock and flintlock “fowlers” to today’s wide array, shotguns can be considered as multitask tools because they can handle a wide variety of shot, including heavy duty buckshot, and even solid projectiles for a heavier and very effective “punch”. This was originally a large lead round ball, but it was usually not consistently accurate at long range. All of this would change when Karl M. Foster, who wished to help American hunters put meat on the table during the Great Depression, developed … Read More
Rutting whitetails and jack-o-lanterns are a timeframe which goes hand in hand
Jack-o-lanterns and whitetail deer have something in common because Halloween is the key timeframe when the whitetail rut in Michigan starts warming up. It is a time when using various deer vocalizations, as well as rattling, can pay dividends for hunters. I’ve been using deer vocalizations and rattling for quite some time, and knowing what call to use, and when, was a trial-and-error learning process. Calling in whitetails remains to be my favorite deer hunting technique, and today there are even how-to DVD’s available along with a wide array of deer calls, and with something … Read More
Putting a focus on targeting prime venison
One of the most daunting tasks for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, is to get deer hunters to harvest a doe and when you check out the data of the overall annual deer harvest, antlered deer always outnumber antlerless deer. It is readily apparent that decades of a hunting tradition passed down through generations of Michigan deer hunters, that a female deer is the “Sacred Doe” of the forest, and making killing a doe in the past a literal taboo in the deer woods. This deeply seated attitude relates to Michigan creating the “Bucks … Read More
Liberty hunt memories – deer camp jokes and paybacks
Ever since the Liberty hunt came into being, I’ve made a point of taking a kid out hunting during it, and I have some fine memories in doing so. It was 8 years ago when 13-year-old Dale Skinner of Akron took a Hunter’s Safety class I was helping with. He was seeking to get a hunting certificate, but having recently lost his father, he had no one to take him hunting, and yep, folks, I gave him an invite. Whenever the occasion occurs, my wife Ginny and I call our home “deer camp”, and during … Read More