Borculo Property Breakdown

I thought I'd run over the property in Borculo with a couple ariels of it and why I think its such a good little piece of property. You can see on the picture below which is more zoomed out, the general layout of everything. The red X to the north is my really good stand. The red X to the south is a new stand I moved this past year but never actually sat in it. I waited to long to put the stand there in my opinion. The green dotted lines are the trails and the general movement of the deer on the property. Green circles are bedding areas. Pink is crops, which is normally corn, beans or alfalfa. The blue circles are the ponds/water sources. The yellow lines represent the areas that the deer don't really cross and thus they are natural funnels. I also added where I shot my 10 pointer in 2010 which is the white square, his path after I shot him, the white dotted line and where Ross, Eric and myself found him, the white circle. This is also the trail i saw all the action on this year.


The new stand will allow me to hunt with a N, NW, and possible W wind. This past year the trail that runs through here was tore up like I have neve seen before and I really wish I would of pulled the trigger sooner but hind-sight is 20/20. But I have a stand there now and it will be waiting for me come late Oct or Nov.





Below is the zoomed in picture of my really good stand. You can see the deer trail/s, green dotted line, my stand, the red "X" and my access route, red dotted line. You can see why its such an awesome funnel. There is a small creek/ditch to the east of the stand that they really don't bother crossing because it would take them to close to the house and then to the SE of the stand you can't see on the ariel but there are trees that are knocked down and it forces them to go around which funnels them from that side. The distance between the two yellow lines is no more than 40 yards and my stand sits right on the edge and when the wind is out of the E, SE, or S it is absolutley perfect, especially in the morning during the rut. If they come through there they will be within 30 yards at least and if they take the money trail its a 10-15 yard shot depending on the direction they are traveling.

Hopefully, with the deer I saw and my plans of putting out minerals here I can get a bigger deer to set up shop this coming fall.

New Year New Plans

Here I am again at the beginning of a new year filled with anticipation for what this coming year will bring. As much as I love bow hunting I probably enjoy now until Sept just as much. To me the enjoyment of bow hunting is not just harvesting a deer but all the work and preperation that goes into it. I am very fortunate to have some really great hunting properties that my family allows me to hunt and I love the homework involved in figuring out how to hunt these properties.
Last season I had some plans that I thought were pretty rock solid and I still believe they were even though I did not harvest a deer, We saw the deer we were hunting for and I passed on some nice little bucks. I just couldn't close the deal on a couple of deer because they showed up to early or late or in one case just didn't come the right direction same goes for Julie. Like I said I also got to see and pass on a bunch of younger bucks, in fact I officially passed on a 3,4,5,6 and 8 pt. They were all in my shooting lanes and within 30 yards, just not what I was looking for. I feel like I can pass them because I have pictures of the deer I know are on these properties and knowing what bigger deer are there makes it really quite easy to pass on the little guys. Also, my plans may have not worked the way I wanted them to while I was in stand but Julie on the other hand got to see 2 of our "hit list" bucks, one of which was 2 steps away from her flinging an arrow at him but he decided to do a 90 degree turn at the wrong time. Oh by the way he was #1 on our list a big wide 10 pointer. (side note-my luck this year could of been a little better, I had some pretty crazy things happen that you cannot plan for and there is no question they affected my season, from coyotes, to weather, to neighbors and their dog it was one crazy year. Every time I went out I would wonder what was going to happen that time, I know I can't control everything but my attitude is going to be better this year so hopefully that will ward off some of the bad vooddoo)

Anyway, on to 2012. In Gobles I am going to focus on the same general areas for the shooters however, one big difference is that i am planning on putting in some food plots. I am hoping that I can get the bigger bucks to use these as staging areas and get them up on their feet a little earlier than normal in the evening. I am going to plant varieties that will peek late Oct and Nov. which will get the doe in them during the rut and hopefully a big boy not to far behind.

I am also going to be using "mineral stations" down there more than I did last year. Last year what I did was put a trophy rock out in June and kept it out all summer. If you look back I got some fantastic pictures of some great deer. This year I have already put out minerals, in the form of trophy rocks and also a product called BB2. Its a corn product mixed with a lot of minerals that Deer love. The only issue is the deer will blow through it pretty fast especially once they find it. So my plan is to always have at least the trophy rocks out because they last forever and then periodically put out BB2 thoughout the spring but more heavilly in the summer months when they start to grow antlers. My hope is by having these stations that the deer will become used to coming in to them when they need the minerals that are essential to their developement. The more I can get them to visit the property the better and maybe some will stay close with the combination of minerals and food I am planning.

The stands will be pretty similar to last season with a couple of new ones in areas that will allow me to hunt a spot with multiple winds. The biggest difference/change for me is that I am going to wait until the last week of October to hunt. I will hunt the first week but it will be in a low impact stand and maybe once in Gobles and once in Borculo. The first week is a good time to catch a buck still on his summer patterns, like the buck I shot 2 years ago so it is worth a shot, I just need to be careful. My good areas I want to wait to hunt until the big bucks are starting to get into the rut phase. This past season, I went in to early into my better spots and I think it cost me. This is going to be tough for me because I love to hunt and when Oct. rolls around I just want to be in a stand. However, this year was a learning experience for me. I did not see near the deer numbers I am used to seeing, they were there I could tell by the deer sign and whatnot. They were mostly coming through at night so all I was doing was educating them every time I sat out and it hurt I could tell. We(Julie and I) did see a lot of bucks and 3-4 of them were shooters, so that part was good I just feel like we need to hold off until late Oct. to kill those bucks not just see them.

My Mom's property in Borculo is my little gem. It is not the biggest piece of property but it hunts pretty big. I saw so many little bucks here in the few times I sat here it was a lot of fun. One morning I had a small 6 pointer dogging a doe and they went right by my stand he was just grunting away. Then 5 minutes later a 4 pointer comes down the same trail he wasn't even gone and the little 6 came back by again. Another time I had messed up 5 point bed down about 30 yards behind me, I was actually able to sneak down the tree but he saw me when I was on the ground. Another morning I had a small buck grunting and running back and forth in front of me just before light all I could see was a dark form. This is all the same stand and same trail I killed my 10 pointer out of 2 years back. Its a really good spot, in fact its my best stand because if they go through this area they have to come withing 30 yards of my stand. Its easy to get in and out and its on the edge of bedding areas so the bucks just cruise it looking for does. The majority of the property is pretty thick, swampy and great for bedding. My plan is to start a mineral station there as well with a camera. If I can get a good buck to come on that property there is a really good chance he will stay because of the great bedding areas, water and food all around.

So there you have it my "plans" for 2012. Once again I feel like they are pretty rock solid but who knows what will be thrown at me this year, but hopefully Julie or myself can put it together and put one of these guys down. Good luck to all and have a great year!!

Here are a couple pictures of Scotts deer that I mentioned in the previous post. I also forgot to mention he and Ross both shot does this year as well. So a great year for both those guys.

Hunting Season Wrap Up

Its been a little while since I have posted anything but to honest there has not been a lot to post on. I have had a relativley slow season when compared to the last 2-3 seasons. I have seen some smaller bucks and have actually passed on a 3pt, 4pt, 5pt, 6pt and an 8pt. All have been in my shooting lanes and within 30 yards but just not old enough. The 8 point was a really nice deer for a 1.5 so hopefully he makes it until next year. I have seen shooters, just not close enough or it was too dark when I have seen them. The last encounter was probably my best this year. It was a very steady rain and I was hunting in a ground blind near an area I call the sanctuary. About 45 minutes til dar I spotted a deer stand up in the middle of a bunch of briars. I could barley see him but caught his tail flick then he turned his head I noticed he was a nice buck. However, instead of heading up the hill to the cut corn and to me he exited out the back and went to the apples trees. That bummed me out but it was good to see him.

Julie has gotten out a lot more than she did last year and it has paid off for her. She was out with me late October and she was abel to see the 9 point pictured above. He was within 30-35 yards just on a good run, so no shot opportunity on him. She also had a great chance at a big 10 point we call Tommy Boy. His picture is above as well. She had some turkeys behind her making a lot of racket so she kind of started not paying attention to them. Then when she looked over her right shoulder there he was working along the field edge behind some big sasafras trees. He stayed right behind those trees until he got 20 yards from her and turned strait out into the corn field that made him work his way away from her. She tried grunting him back but he kept on going. She needed him to take 2 more steps along those trees and she would of had a shot. She played it cool though and you can't control where they walk so that was a great encounter for her. She also had a couple doe with in 10 yards that she passed. So she has had a great year.

There have been a couple of success stories this year. One was Scott Gruppen he shot a really nice 8pt during gun season. He has had a bunch of encounters with bucks this year. Just like year's past and has passed on some smaller guys. It's always nice to see it pay off for people. The other was Ross Graveling who shot a really nice 9 pt in Illinois. He had multiple encounters with this buck the days prior to shooting it and had him at 40 yards in his food plot the day before he killed him. They moved his stand and the rest is history. Both of these guys showed patience and the ability to adjust to the deer they were seeing and it paid off big time. So big Congrats to Scott and Ross.

For the rest of the year I am planning on hunting whenever possible but time is running short and with the lack of snow and cold temps, my late season plans are not producing the encounters like I had planned. Nothing ever goes according to plan but this year for me this has been the rule of thumb. October was very slow and I didn't see a doe until November and that was in Borculo at my mom's. I finally saw one down in Gobles the week after that, this is compared to around 30 the year before. It was so strange. My theory is that it was a very tough winter last year and a lot of the smaller does didn't make it. What it did do though was get the bucks up on their feet because they had to work for their women this year. We have never seen as many bucks in years prior as we did this year. That is why we are out there so it is hard to complain, it just has made for some really long sits with seeing no deer. In fact Julie put in an all-day sit without seeing anything, you want to talk about frustrating, but she did it and I was very proud.

So we will keep at it for the rest of the year, but I am not going to get my hopes up to much, so we will see what happens.

Charter Fishing on Lake Michigan

We always try to go on a charter fishing trip out of Grand Haven for my work. Its how we celebrate the end of our seasons. Well today we went and man was it good fishing. We booked 2 charter boats and split up in groups of 4. Our morning started with a fish on before the first mate could get the second line in and while Paul was fighting that fish we had another on and Kevin brought him in. For the next hour and a half it was like that. We had multiple doubles and ended up coming up one short of our limit of 20. 19 fish in 4 hours not to shabby. The other nice thing was they were really nice fish. Except for about 3 of them they were 8-12lbs. Looks like we will be eating Salmon for a while.

Kevin hauling in one of his 5 Kings.

Scott with a big King

One of my Kings.

This is a beautiful sight right there.

This is even more beautiful. Someone else cleaning our fish.

Knocking on the door

I cant believe its that time of year again. Man am I ready. I just helped my father-in-law sight in his new crossbow. What a difference between those and a regular compound. He let me shoot it also, I am sticking with my bow but they sure are nice especially for someone like him who has some issues moving and adjusting in the stand. I think its going to work out really good for him. Julie was shooting her bow tonight as well and she is more than ready, I probably said it before but range finders are difference makers. Ever since we got ours there has been such a noticable difference, it is quite something.
Below are the top three bucks on our "hit list". I hate that term but it works I guess. The first one is really nice 2.5 year 9 point that we have been getting a lot of pictures of and we have a great plan in place for him. The second is another deer that I believe to be Sanctuary but its tough to tell. He is a 3.5-4.5 10 point. I have a long history with this deer and would love to see him at 20 yards this fall. He is the reason I was moving my tri-pod stand in March already. I am so excited to get in that stand. The third deer is a buck we call Peeping Tom but now I just call him Tom or Tommy. He is a 3.5-4.5 year very wide 10 point. He showed up last January during a really long cold spell when Barry had the only food for miles I think. We watched him eat the landscape bushes 10 feet out the window one night at about 2am. Thus the name peeping tom. If he stayed on the property I have a feeling he will be where I put the tri-pod for sanctuary. Now you know why I am so excited to get into that stand.
Anyway those are the bigger bucks we are hoping to see. There are numerous other smaller deer that I have a lot of pics that I believe stayed so it should be a pretty good year. I will keep you all posted.

Watching Them Grow

I haven't posted much on here lately because I have been super busy lately. Although I have found time to check my camera here and there. Its actually been my best year to date using my camera. I have roughly 400 pictures already using one camera (thank you trophy rock). Although, nothing huge has showed up recently (except Tommy Boy in early June) I have gotten some pretty good deer. Most recently I have been watching a nice 2.5 year old 9 point who has showed up regulary for the last 4 weeks. He is not a huge deer but a very nice one. So I thought I would post his pictures from the last 4 weeks and you can see him grow a little bit.








This is about 4 weeks ago weeks ago





Here he is 3 weeks ago

2 Weeks ago

1 week ago, notice how much longer his g2's are compared to the first picture

The thing I like about this deer so far is how he is showing up during the day, mostly. What this tells me is that he is bedding pretty close by this area. I have a pretty good idea where so I moved one of our ladder stands this past Sunday in anticipation of this deer continueing to bed in this area. If he does then we have a good shot at seeing this deer in October during shooting hours. Especially the first week. Julie is going to get first crack at this guy. The first S,SW wind we get she will be in this stand. The cool thing is I also have pictures of a 7 point, another 8 point and a 6 point all visiting this spot frequently so it should be pretty good depending on who hangs around.

The good thing about this area is that just to the SE is a huge bedding area for does, they work their way through this area to go feed at night. I didn't sit here much last year becasue I was obsessed with the Sanctuary Buck, but 2 years ago on numerous occasions I saw 15+ deer while sitting here in the evening and when you see them they are generally close, because its a great pinch area. In fact the one night I drew back about 5 times and missed one doe at 25 yards. So it can be pretty crazy and you can get covered up in deer in a hurry.

So yes I am pretty excited for Julie to sit there because I want to put her in front of a good buck this year. She passed up a little fork horn at 10 yards last year (which made me very proud) and just barely missed a big old doe (which are harder to shoot than a lot of bucks, they are smart) So I can feel she is getting close we just need to have this stand work like it did 2 years ago and I firmly believe it will this year.