Post by cmuhuntinkid on Jun 23, 2007 15:12:55 GMT -5
Hey guys...i got a real good/crazy story about a hunting experience i had a few years back..
It started off when i was 15 and my dad surprised me by picking me up from school and taking me up to our cabin in northern Michigan (Moorestown, MI) for a father son hunting weekend. It was great to get away and we wanted to get in a few hunts before heading to deer camp the last few days of bow and the first few of rifle. We got up to the cabin later in the day Friday and set our stands up in our usual spots on some state land surrounding our cabin complex. We decided to go sit out anyways Friday night even despite our late start and just see how things were looking...
As usual for the area, we saw nothing Friday night but had a nice night with a few beers and enjoyed just being together and away for a few days. Saturday morning came and went and it seemed as though this weekend was going to be a wash having not seen ANY deer between the two of us. We continued to enjoy ourselves however and before we knew it was 3 o'clock and time to start heading out for the evening hunt. Within the hour we were in the tree, ready and waiting...
Well almost the whole evening hunt went by and after sitting in my new SS Lounger treestand from Cabela's, i found myself getting a little tired and ended up dozing off for about a half hour. When i woke up, i slowly opened my eyes to see the sky had darkened quite a bit as dusk started to set in. As my eyes followed the from the clouds to the tree line and then to the ground, there he was... While I was asleep i had BEAUTIFUL spike walk in and was munching away at my bait. Instant buck fever set in as this was about to be my first kill in my hunting career and i tried to make all the right moves from my sleeping position to shooting position. I drew back and with the squeak of my boot on the treestand, all at once i let the arrow fly, the deer flinched, and as it hit, he did a barrel roll over sideways and took off on a dead run. After gaining my bearings i radioed to my dad and told him of my shot. I waited till darkness fell and headed in to meet my dad. We went back to the cabin, grabbed the tracking gear and a few beers and headed out to find my deer.
From where i first hit the deer, we saw major amounts of blood and was following it hard core for about 100 yards, finding pulses of blood about the size of a plate with little air bubbles. Figuring it was a lung shot, we continued to track and the farther we got the less and less we found until the blood trail just vanished out of nowhere. Some of our buddies from our cabin complex joined in the search and the four of us searched for 3 and 1/2 hours only to end up giving up. I was very disappointed. We looked in the day light the next day after the morning hunt and still found nothing. I felt horrible.
Welllll here comes the crazy part...
(Three weeks later...)
Every year a bunch of my family gets together for our annual deer camp that encompasses the last three days of bow hunting and the first three of rifle. Well this happened to be my second year participating in the family tradition; the rule is the year you turn 16 you can come up with the guys. Our camp includes a mixture of family and friends and there are about 18 of us all together.
Well no one struck any luck the first two days of bow, however the last night of bow, As luck WOULD have it, i heard a call come across my radio not to long after being in the tree saying "I GOT ONE!!!" My dad had shot at a nice size 6pt. (which is rare for our area). Well we tracked that night only to find his deer crossed paths with another wounded deer and before we knew it, we were all turned around and come to find out he didn't get as good of a shot as he thought. We tracked 5 hours into the night only to come up empty handed again. That is NOT the way we like to hunt.
The next afternoon was opening of rifle and despite the season beginning and the activity, my dad and I headed out to the woods to track his deer in the day light a litter further. Once again we ended up turned around but the blood trail lead us to a near by group of guys camping out in the woods. We walked over and politely took a look around to see any hanging deer or gut piles and made some small talk. One of the guys in middle of telling us about his morning hunt said one of his buddies had saw a deer in the woods with what looked like an arrow in its head. He couldn't get a decent shot and the deer never came in close enough. Following our nice conversation with the guys, we headed back to camp to get ready for the night hunt.
We headed out and was in the tree before 4 again ready, waiting and hoping for the best.
It wasn't exactly the best night; traffic down the ORV trails were heavier than usual, and I had an unfortunate encounter with a few hunters who got a late start and started wandering around trying to find a good spot to throw a stand in the tree. Also
a slight voice recognition mistake had me following someone else's directions to get out of my tree and head to the truck thinking it was my dad. Well after finding out it wasn't him, i walked back to my tree stand frustrated and angry. As i sat back down in my tree, i kept thinking this is pointless I've been up and down, talking on the radio, and i was in the middle of explaining my frustrations at high voice to my dad over the radio, i started hearing some noise coming from behind. I quickly ended my conversation and got into position... As i slowly turned back to see what was coming my way, low and behold it was the damn deer with the arrow in its head! Well with my .30-.30 in place he came into position and stood broad side to me, to which i took the shot and he was down in 10 yards.
I radioed back to my dad and told him what i just shot and was so excited. We waited until the hunt was over and i climbed out of my tree and headed out to take a took at my trophy. Welllll..as i got closer...i thought to myself hmmm, those veins look familiar to me....and as i bent down to check HIM out....the beautiful spike from three weeks back, with MY arrow in its head, was laying dead from MY bullet. It was unbelievable. As i look back to the other weekend, it all fell in place....
The deer was facing more towards me than broadside, and as my foot squeaked, he threw his head around to the side to look back and it was right in front of his lungs/heart area. The arrow came in and pierced threw the eye brow, missed the eye and came to rest between the skin and the nose bone.
It was awesome, i finally got my deer. It might have taken an arrow and a bullet but he was finally mine.
Hope you guys enjoyed it!
*Thats a picture of our Deer Camp setup...its as close to heaven on earth for us*
It started off when i was 15 and my dad surprised me by picking me up from school and taking me up to our cabin in northern Michigan (Moorestown, MI) for a father son hunting weekend. It was great to get away and we wanted to get in a few hunts before heading to deer camp the last few days of bow and the first few of rifle. We got up to the cabin later in the day Friday and set our stands up in our usual spots on some state land surrounding our cabin complex. We decided to go sit out anyways Friday night even despite our late start and just see how things were looking...
As usual for the area, we saw nothing Friday night but had a nice night with a few beers and enjoyed just being together and away for a few days. Saturday morning came and went and it seemed as though this weekend was going to be a wash having not seen ANY deer between the two of us. We continued to enjoy ourselves however and before we knew it was 3 o'clock and time to start heading out for the evening hunt. Within the hour we were in the tree, ready and waiting...
Well almost the whole evening hunt went by and after sitting in my new SS Lounger treestand from Cabela's, i found myself getting a little tired and ended up dozing off for about a half hour. When i woke up, i slowly opened my eyes to see the sky had darkened quite a bit as dusk started to set in. As my eyes followed the from the clouds to the tree line and then to the ground, there he was... While I was asleep i had BEAUTIFUL spike walk in and was munching away at my bait. Instant buck fever set in as this was about to be my first kill in my hunting career and i tried to make all the right moves from my sleeping position to shooting position. I drew back and with the squeak of my boot on the treestand, all at once i let the arrow fly, the deer flinched, and as it hit, he did a barrel roll over sideways and took off on a dead run. After gaining my bearings i radioed to my dad and told him of my shot. I waited till darkness fell and headed in to meet my dad. We went back to the cabin, grabbed the tracking gear and a few beers and headed out to find my deer.
From where i first hit the deer, we saw major amounts of blood and was following it hard core for about 100 yards, finding pulses of blood about the size of a plate with little air bubbles. Figuring it was a lung shot, we continued to track and the farther we got the less and less we found until the blood trail just vanished out of nowhere. Some of our buddies from our cabin complex joined in the search and the four of us searched for 3 and 1/2 hours only to end up giving up. I was very disappointed. We looked in the day light the next day after the morning hunt and still found nothing. I felt horrible.
Welllll here comes the crazy part...
(Three weeks later...)
Every year a bunch of my family gets together for our annual deer camp that encompasses the last three days of bow hunting and the first three of rifle. Well this happened to be my second year participating in the family tradition; the rule is the year you turn 16 you can come up with the guys. Our camp includes a mixture of family and friends and there are about 18 of us all together.
Well no one struck any luck the first two days of bow, however the last night of bow, As luck WOULD have it, i heard a call come across my radio not to long after being in the tree saying "I GOT ONE!!!" My dad had shot at a nice size 6pt. (which is rare for our area). Well we tracked that night only to find his deer crossed paths with another wounded deer and before we knew it, we were all turned around and come to find out he didn't get as good of a shot as he thought. We tracked 5 hours into the night only to come up empty handed again. That is NOT the way we like to hunt.
The next afternoon was opening of rifle and despite the season beginning and the activity, my dad and I headed out to the woods to track his deer in the day light a litter further. Once again we ended up turned around but the blood trail lead us to a near by group of guys camping out in the woods. We walked over and politely took a look around to see any hanging deer or gut piles and made some small talk. One of the guys in middle of telling us about his morning hunt said one of his buddies had saw a deer in the woods with what looked like an arrow in its head. He couldn't get a decent shot and the deer never came in close enough. Following our nice conversation with the guys, we headed back to camp to get ready for the night hunt.
We headed out and was in the tree before 4 again ready, waiting and hoping for the best.
It wasn't exactly the best night; traffic down the ORV trails were heavier than usual, and I had an unfortunate encounter with a few hunters who got a late start and started wandering around trying to find a good spot to throw a stand in the tree. Also
a slight voice recognition mistake had me following someone else's directions to get out of my tree and head to the truck thinking it was my dad. Well after finding out it wasn't him, i walked back to my tree stand frustrated and angry. As i sat back down in my tree, i kept thinking this is pointless I've been up and down, talking on the radio, and i was in the middle of explaining my frustrations at high voice to my dad over the radio, i started hearing some noise coming from behind. I quickly ended my conversation and got into position... As i slowly turned back to see what was coming my way, low and behold it was the damn deer with the arrow in its head! Well with my .30-.30 in place he came into position and stood broad side to me, to which i took the shot and he was down in 10 yards.
I radioed back to my dad and told him what i just shot and was so excited. We waited until the hunt was over and i climbed out of my tree and headed out to take a took at my trophy. Welllll..as i got closer...i thought to myself hmmm, those veins look familiar to me....and as i bent down to check HIM out....the beautiful spike from three weeks back, with MY arrow in its head, was laying dead from MY bullet. It was unbelievable. As i look back to the other weekend, it all fell in place....
The deer was facing more towards me than broadside, and as my foot squeaked, he threw his head around to the side to look back and it was right in front of his lungs/heart area. The arrow came in and pierced threw the eye brow, missed the eye and came to rest between the skin and the nose bone.
It was awesome, i finally got my deer. It might have taken an arrow and a bullet but he was finally mine.
Hope you guys enjoyed it!
*Thats a picture of our Deer Camp setup...its as close to heaven on earth for us*
