Some great July Velvet Pictures

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.

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

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

BDD (Big Doe Down)

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

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

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

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.