I sit here at my computer, staring at a blank screen, and begin to contemplate today's topic, thinking about Wednesday's archery deer opener.
Doing so gets me remembering past bow season openers. That causes a chain reaction about the past 10 openers, as well as allowing me to recall a few other Oct. 1 bow hunts.
-- Each of these bow opener provided something very special in their own unique way. The opener three years ago provided sightings of several bucks, but nothing within my 15-yard self-imposed shooting range. That changed on the second day, when a big 8-point and a 10-point locked antlers within 15 yards of my pit blind. I shot the big 8-point, and it's the earliest buck I've killed with a bow in 25 years.
-- Two years ago I saw a massive 12-point and a big 8-point sail past my stand only 12 yards away, but they were blocked by a string of tag alders. The deer would have provided good shots had they not been in the tags. I knew the 12-pointer was there, and saw him six times during the bow season but could never get a high-percentage quality shot opportunity.
I passed up five bucks on opening day that year, and eventually shot the big 8-point during the rut as he chased a doe. I killed the buck, but probably shot too soon because the 12-point was probably nearby. A rifle hunter 250 yards from me shot that 12-point on the second day of the firearm season.
-- The year 1989 was when Michigan probably had the largest number of bucks in history. That year it was possible to shoot two bucks with a bow and two with a firearm, and numerous does if you had the proper tags.
That year, on opening day, I saw seven different bucks within bow range and passed on each one. I'd seen a big 10-point, and spent my time hunting him. And in mid-November, just before the firearm season opener, I shot a buck that weighed well over 200 pounds but his rack wasn't much -- just spikes.
Those spikes were formidable. They were as big around as a silver dollar at the base and were nearly a foot long. It was a very old buck, and he appeared to be on a downward slide or perhaps he had always been a spike. His teeth were heavily worn, and no other deer ever messed with him.
-- It was that same year that I passed up 47 whitetail bucks within my established bow range during October. I drew down on each buck as if planning to shoot, but then let up and let the little guys live. I shot a pair of 8-points, a nine-point and that massive spike. It was an odd year; lots of bucks but very few racks of any size.
The bow opener has always been attractive to me. It's like the last-Saturday-in-April trout-season opener. I wouldn't miss either one.
It's a time when bucks of all ages are more gullible than at any other time of the hunting season. Recent bow hunts have been much more exciting than those of years ago, at least in terms of seeing nice bucks.
I've noticed one good thing with the huge reduction in antlerless deer in most areas. There may be fewer animals, but the overall size of the bucks is increasing.
-- My wife and I leased 300 acres in Missaukee County for 15 years, and when we began hunting there, it wasn't uncommon to see 50 deer or more each day. Forty-eight or 49 would be does and fawns, and perhaps one would be a small buck.
The landowner was a farmer, and the deer would eat almost all of his corn. He was entitled to apply for crop damage permits, but didn't want to. Finally, one year when he should have harvested four or five gravity boxes of shelled corn from one field, he managed less than half a box. He went to the regional DNR office and applied for block permits.
My group took 36 antlerless deer on those permits, and his group took 34. On 600 acres of land we shot 70 does and fawns. The following year was similar, and it was on the third year that we began seeing more and larger bucks and fewer does.
That opening day was a dramatic change from anything we'd seen in earlier years. I saw six deer that day, and three were bucks. They weren't of record-book dimensions but they were 130-class animals.
Did I shoot one of them. No, I didn't. It would have been possible to shoot all six deer because I was set up right and in the best location, but I wanted to see what else was available.
That bow hunting season produced far fewer sightings of bucks and does, but both sexes showed an increase in size. Only one major thing produces big bucks, and that is time. It takes four to six years to grow a tremendous buck. Shooting the first buck one sees is not necessarily the best way to manage whitetails.
-- I remember the 1972 bow-opener for a different reason. It was the first year the DNR offered Successful Deer Hunter patches. I wanted one badly, and was hunting near my old hometown of Clio, just north of Flint.
I had a pit blind dug at the base of a hillside, and right near the edge of a soy bean field. A fence-row behind me was crowded with sumac, and I sat in the pit and waited. It wasn't too long before a fat and hefty 8-point came feeding by within 20 yards. The buck stopped, turned at a quartering-away angle to watch other deer, and my Shakespeare re-curve bow came back and the arrow cut in and lodged against the off-side shoulder as the animal raced away.
The deer could have headed for heavy cover but he raced out into the middle of a muddy bean field and dropped. I slogged through the mud, tagged my animal, and skidded it out near the road where he could be loaded into the car. I drove him to a deer check station, had him registered, and obtained the first of what is now a complete set of Successful Deer Hunter patches, and that complete set is now worth a good chunk of money, which is why I keep it in a bank safety deposit box.
-- Ten years ago I was invited to hunt a friend's land in the eastern Upper Peninsula. He put me on stand after telling me about a big 145-class whitetail he'd been hunting for two years.
The buck was high and wide, had lengthy brow tines and G2s, and he hadn't seen him in a year. Primed and ready, I sat in the ground blind he provided me, and watched.
A bobcat stepped out of the heavy cover, walked up the hill to within 20 yards of my coop, and ducked back into the woods. Ten minutes later two deer stepped out.
One was a small six-point and the other buck was the one my friend had been hunting. They were 30 yards away, much too far for my feeble eyes to deal with, and I was content to watch.
They browsed on the available winter wheat, and I studied the big buck. He was a handsome animal, with bright white antlers, and just a bit of the early cockiness that precedes the upcoming rut.
As I watched, the bobcat stepped out of heavy cover down the hill, and began moving up-hill toward the two deer. The big buck allowed the cat to get within 15 yards before turning his head toward the approaching predator, and then he lowered his head. The cat moved slowly closer until they were 10 yards apart, and the big buck took two menacing steps toward the bobcat.
The standoff ended when the bobcat dove into the brush and disappeared. That buck provided me with a few minutes of wildlife drama that most people would never see, and although a shot might have been possible, I really wanted the owner to have the first shot at this wonderful buck. The buck-bobcat incident was good enough for me.
Other bow openers have come and gone, and for the most part, I no longer shoot bucks on the opener. Other than three years ago, when I shot that second-day buck, I usually wait until the rut before shooting a good one. It provides me with plenty of opportunities to look at the deer herd in my hunting area.
Bow hunting means vastly different things to different people. I view it as the first day of the rest of my year that will be spent hunting deer. It is important to me because it marks a very special day in my life when everything in the world seems right and I revel in the glory of hunting autumn whitetails.
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