Deer Trout

Cyberscouting Michigan Public Land

2025-11-13T06:16:00.000-08:00

I've had a lot of great success getting on good hunting spots the last few years with very little on the ground scouting compared to years past. Thats not because I'm some kind of scouting jedi, its because of cyberscouting- specifically, using multiple online tools that go beyond just aerials and elevation contours.

The other key was finding the Hunting Beast website. Through the Beast, I learned to look for particular things that took my cyberscouting to a whole new level, specifically in relation to predicting buck bedding areas.

I remember listening to a podcast where Hunting Beast founder, Dan Infalt, was interviewed about 5 years ago. He said he can just look at a map and predict buck bedding. It sounded like mumbo jumbo. Everything I had been taught and never thought to question said bedding was random. I just knew deer bedded in thicker areas. But it is predicatable, and now, I can predict buck bedding, too, and it's almost as much fun as hunting or scouting. Its also very rewarding to look at a map of an area I've never drove past or set foot on and say, "I think they are bedding right there," go there, and see there is a bed there in the "X" on the map.

Bedding is key. Deer are nocturnal and if you want to see them in daylight, particularly in heavily pressured areas like Michigan public land, you have to hunt where they are in daylight- as close to their beds as possible.

My cyberscouting routine is something I'm always improving and I wanted to share in hopes it might help someone else- particularly if they're from Michigan. The cool thing about cyberscouting in Michigan is a website the DNR has made available to the public for some years now called MI-Hunt. https://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/mi-hunt/. MI-hunt shows all publicly accessible land in Michigan. But more important are the layers it allows you to overlay on state-owned land. You can see leaf on and leaf off aerial imagery, topo, and my favorite part- cover types. People in other states who don't have a place to view cover types have no idea what they're missing. If you watch Dan's swamp bedding DVD, one of the things he talks about that are critical to identify but are often hard to find without putting boots on the ground are internal transition lines. The MI-Hunt cover type layer shows you these in ways you can't see from an aerial, leaf on or off, or even get a sense of most of the time from the ground. How did they do this?

GIS, or geographic information systems.

Basically, different cover types give off different color signatures that computer software can detect allowing GIS-scientists to make accurate predictions what is there without having to actually set foot there. Its pretty cool stuff I was fortunate to study in GIS and ecology classes I took in college. But you don't need to get formal training to use these GIS tools, anyone can do it. But I do think its important for serious cyberscouters to understand how these tools work. A great place to learn the basics is at the link below:
GIS Fundamentals

So lets put some of these tools to work. I randomly zoomed into an area of public land I randomly found on MI-Hunt. I have never hunted this area, and never plan to, so I'm not giving any secret honey holes away. But I actually really like the looks of this spot, so if anyone ever reads this and then goes and hunts it, let me know how it was!

First, I turn the public hunting lands and cover type layers on. Every major cover type has a designated color- oaks are brown, maple/beech dominated hardwoods are light orange, aspen is light yellow, upland conifers (pine dominated) are green, lowland deciduous (tag alder, etc.) are pink, lowland conifer are purple (cedar, etc.), grey is field, aqua green is wetland/bog, plus there are a couple others you can learn about in the legend. The numbers in each compartment represent the age class of the cover, the higher the number, the more mature.

Next, I pull up the topo layer.

Between these two images, there is an area really jumping out at me. If you look at the topo, there is a point coming out of the oaks that transitions into tag alder before it basically runs right into the river. I can almost guarantee there is a wind-based bed on the end of that point, used by a buck in the area on a southerly wind. The perfect wind would be out of the southeast right down it, in which case I would hang a stand about where the red dot is in the picture below.

The SE wind would be perfect for the deer, and by staying just off to the west, I could have a good chance of not being winded by the buck in its bed. The only risk there in getting so close is if the thermal pulled my scent up the point towards the deer after blowing past me into the tag alders.

Couple more layers in MI-Hunt Leaf on of the same spot

Leaf off

You can see that you can learn a ton about an area without ever setting foot there. The trick is to have an idea of what you're looking for and then find it.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!!!

The MIDNR also puts out a GIS website which shows where they're logging and where they wanna log in the future at this link, logging stuff Here is an example screenshot showing what kind of info this one has available.

This is awesome stuff for the serious deer hunter for finding clearcuts that aren't visible from the road or current aerial imagery. Not only that, you can find out about them and exactly where, what size and shape they'll be, etc., before they even happen.

I use a couple other mapping website to cyberscout. The first is Onx Maps. Everyone knows about it, its great to be able to use your phone as a GPS and sync waypoints between your phone and computer. So after I find a good looking spot on MI-HUNT, I record the gps coordinates and add a waypoint to that spot in onx. The other site I like a lot is caltopo. It has the best resolution topo maps on the web, better than the topo layer in onx, better than USGS, etc. There are things you can see at the higher res that you can't see elsewhere. So I will always check out the same area I'm looking at in Mi-Hunt or Onx on caltopo just to see if I might be missing something.

If I don't encounter the sign I'm looking for, I keep going. The way I think of it, is I'm hunting, not trying to get lucky. I want to be as aggressive as possible. Sometimes I lose a night I thought I'd be hunting to scouting, and I'm ok with that.

Its really no different than fishing when you think about it. You don't just stand there on a rock by the access and cast to the same spot over and over again. You move upstream or downstream until you get into fish. If they aren't eating what you're throwing, you change it up, adapting to the conditions you're dealt.

Below is an example of a piece of public land I may hunt this year. Red dots are possible stand locations I will make my way to from where I access, wind direction will dictate which dots I go to and in which order and where I access from, along with a feeling in my gut based on other intel gathered via aerials, topo, etc. My access route is pre-planned, but there are always audibles based on the actual wind direction of where I'm at, and what I'm seeing once I'm there.

Sports

2022-08-26T06:47:00.000-07:00

My toughest client is my teenage son, Coleman- his friends call him Cole. Now, you might say taking a kid fishing doesn't count as guiding, but you couldn't be further from the truth. Taking a teenaged kid fishing is the best practice a guide can get, especially when its your teenaged kid, as they know pretty much everything and don't need your help.

I don't know what the biological mechanism responsible for this is called, but my parents call it karma.

The spring sucker run is going in full force, and I figured it would be a great way for Cole to have some fun catching fish while I practiced teaching a new nymphing technique I learned from John. He picked it up quick and put a half dozen suckers in the net. There was a group of bait fishermen walking down the bank while he was releasing the last and I could tell he was being overly dramatic with his movements and sounds to make sure they knew he had just caught a fish. Smirking, I asked, "What the hell are you doing?" He knew he was busted and laughed.

On the drive home he said, "Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I bring a friend fishing with us sometime?"

"Sure! Just make sure they think we're fishing the Au Sable."

"I know, all my friends at school already think thats always where we go."

Insert proud dad emoticon face here.

The arrival of bugs means I'm on the water every day now. I started out the other morning getting skunked chasing steelhead. After losing a couple dozen flies to submerged timber, I reeled it in and swung over to the Au Sable to see if the brook trout were finished hibernating yet. They were, and despite not having any significant bug activity, they were looking up. Sometimes they'd take on a dead drift, but most fish would chase the fly down after I gave it more cow bell-- a small twitch, or a big twitch that would actually pull the fly under momentarily before the albolene made it slowly resurface.

I took my daughter's prom pictures that evening, went grocery shopping with my wife, and then put the boat in on the mainstream for the first mousing trip of the year with Chad. Mousing is best in late summer, and other than the date on the calendar, it felt exactly like a summer night- minus the mosquitoes. Air temps above 50-degrees. You could smell campfire smoke in the air- possibly from the forest fire north of St. Helen. We drank a summer micro-brew and listened to spring peepers. Every now and then, you'd hear what sounded like a nice fish rise. I'd drop anchor and we'd sit and wait for the fish to go again so we could pinpoint its location, but there just weren't many bugs on the water for the fish to feed on, so that second rise never came.

Chad did end up missing a fish blind casting a stimulator, and had one fish just below a log jam go after his mouse. Go after is kind of an understatement, that fish just plain blew that mouse up. Everytime a fish takes a mouse is an adrenaline rush, but the first mouse attach of the year is always the best. We've been waiting 8-months for that fish. Under the light of the full moon, I could see Chad's eyes explode open as he set the hook and yelled, "Holy shit!"

"I never felt him!" He said.

"I'm gonna bring you back around for another shot." I said, while circling the boat away from the fish and back upstream.

"You ever get them to go again?" He asked.

"Usually no, but sometimes." But not this time.

We finished out the float and I got home about 3:30am, simultaneously wide awake and so tired I felt drunk.

Do all the Good you Can: Remembering Dave Smethurst

2022-05-03T12:57:00.003-07:00

The following story was first published in winter 2022 edition of The Riverwatch, the quarterly newsletter of The Anglers of the Au Sable.

I’m sitting in the passenger seat of Dave Smethurst’s minivan. We are cruising through a series of sharp, bumpy curves in the heart of the Pigeon River Country State Forest. It hasn’t rained in a week, and when we stop at Hardwood Creek a plume of dust from the dirt road catches up to us and envelopes the minivan. Dave offers me a pink wintergreen lozenge, you know, those cheap candies you get at the gas station that come in a clear bag that proudly proclaims they’re two for a dollar. They taste like Pepto Bismol and Dave loves them.

It’s within this dissipating dust cloud that Dave points downstream at the creek, maybe 10-feet wide, and tells me the story of catching his first trout.

“One of my fondest memories was a time that my dad and I came here about a month after we moved here from Indiana in 1969. My dad was a lifetime bass fisherman and we were just riding around- to some places I had never been- and we saw this little flicker of water through the woods which turned out to be Hardwood Creek. We walked down to it where what I later learned were two of the holding ponds for a fish hatchery that Blue Lakes Ranch operated back in the day. I flicked my spinning rod with a rubber plastic night crawler in and caught a fish, not very long, and had never seen one before. I asked my dad, “What’s this?” He said, “You know, I think I’ve seen that on the cover of a sporting magazine like Field & Stream. I think that’s a trout!” It was, and so my first trout we didn’t even know was a trout.”

Dave takes a swig of Pepsi and smiles, “And I caught it on a plastic worm.”

Dave was an Indiana native who landed in the Gaylord area by accident. On the way to an interview for a teaching job in Saint Ignace, Dave and his wife, Sue, stopped at Sue’s hometown of Hillman, Michigan to visit with her family. Dave was reading the local paper one morning and saw an ad for a caretaker and cook at the Blue Lakes Ranch, a 3,500 acre hunting and fishing club, in the heart of what would later become the Pigeon River Country State Forest.

Dave was intrigued by the job and so he and Sue decided to take a break from the teaching world and give the caretaker gig three years. “Three years turned into twelve, and it was a wonderful time,” Dave once told me. He got to raise a family in paradise.

In-between his caretaker duties, Dave honed his trout fishing, taking up fly fishing and teaching himself to fish for brook trout in the Black River, which formed the eastern border of the property.

At the same time, a storm was brewing. Shell Oil Company had drilled several exploratory wells in the area and was making plans to drill. Oil and gas development began in the forest in July 1970 and a heated series of legal battles followed. A group of concerned citizens, outdoorspeople and environmentalists came together in 1971 as the Pigeon River Country Association (PRCA), of which Dave was a founding member.

At the time, the Pigeon River Country State Forest (PRC) didn’t exist. What we now know as the PRC was, at the time, four separate forest areas, with four managers, and four different management ideologies. Oil companies were damaging the area, so the PRCA began doing presentations, started lawsuits and attended hearings.

As the fight progressed, Dave got a tip from a member of the Michigan legislature that the oil and gas companies were likely going to win the battle, as there was an oil embargo, and it was politically unpopular to restrict drilling. It became clear to Dave that drilling was inevitable.

That’s when Dave and his team switched strategies. Instead of fighting to keep the oil and gas operations out of the PRC entirely, they reached a compromise which allowed drilling under tightly regulated conditions. These conditions were eventually adopted throughout the state and are still in effect today. Among them were regulations and orders that allowed only the southern one-third of the Pigeon River Country State Forest to be explored for oil, while the northern two-thirds cannot be drilled. Restrictions were also placed on how close to a stream oil companies could install wells.

The legal battles lasted around five years and went all the way up to the Michigan State Supreme Court where Dave testified. During his testimony, he read Robert Traver’s (pen name of Judge John Voelker) “Testament of a Fisherman” word for word in its entirety.

Dave felt very strongly that the compromise paid off. Surface impact was reduced by 75-percent. You can drive through the PRC today and you don’t know you’re driving through the middle of an oil field. Even today there are people who think Dave and his team should have never compromised, but that would have likely led to a complete loss, and to unregulated oil exploration; for Dave, that wasn’t an option. It’s a modern wildlife success story, the way I and many others look at it.

Perhaps the greatest victory of those compromises was the creation of the Natural Resources Trust Fund, currently valued at over a billion dollars, which uses royalties on the sale and lease of state-owned minerals, primarily oil and gas, to provide a source for funding for public acquisition of land, as well as resource protection and public outdoor recreation.

A few years after the legal fight was over, Dave was at a conservation event attended by Voelker. Voelker was ecstatic when he learned Smethurst was in the building and cornered him to get all of the details of the Pigeon River case. Voelker was on cloud nine when he learned that Dave’s testimony included “The Testament,” particularly because it meant that his essay would have been recorded in the official court record. After Dave recounted everything, Voelker leaned in close to Dave and whispered, “Boy, we sure got those son of a bitches, didn’t we!”

Dave went on to Chair the Pigeon River Advisory Council. His newfound love of fly fishing brought him to Trout Unlimited Meetings in Petoskey with the Miller Van Winkle chapter. Not long after, at the suggestion of former The North Woods Call editor, Glenn Sheppard, Dave started efforts to center a new Chapter of Trout Unlimited on the PRC. Headwaters TU was born, and Dave moved up through the TU ranks, eventually becoming the State Chair of Michigan Trout Unlimited, as well as serving as the President of the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy, and the Executive Director of the Headwaters Land Conservancy. He shared riverboat time with George Griffith, the co-founder of Trout Unlimited and one of Dave’s heroes. Somehow, even while wearing these many hats, he founded the Otsego Wildlife Legacy Society and Otsego County’s recycling program.

It seems fitting, doesn’t it, that Dave should serve as the hero of “The Pigeon River Opera,” an original production based on the fight against Shell Oil. “I’m pretty sure there is no other conservationist that can say they had an opera written about them.” Said Greg Walz, former State Chairman of Michigan Trout Unlimited.

After his time as caretaker on Blue Lakes Ranch, Dave taught social studies — history and law — at Gaylord High School and held several administrative positions in the school system for over the course of three decades.

“Dave was a natural born leader,” according to Ned Caveney, the first manager of the newly formed Pigeon River Country State Forest. “Dave never lost his cool or let his emotions get the best of him, and he had great people skills. He was a great listener and always tried to find a way forward.”

Paul Rose, current Chairman of the Pigeon River Advisory Council said that Dave, “was also skillful at “bringing people along” to an idea or a position without most people even realizing it. Most of us who encounter someone with a differing opinion or perspective, our tools are limited to those of argument or debate. Dave, on the other hand, would tell you what he believes, and why, without suggesting that you were wrong. Even if he was unsuccessful in changing another’s opinion, this civil manner of discourse was solely grounded in ideas and never became personal - a rare thing today.”

“I feel Dave’s biggest accomplishments were that of an educator-mentor. I’ve combined those two words because in the case of Dave, there was no way to separate them. If he was imparting counsel or sharing his knowledge on a topic, he was doing so to either help you become a better person, better at life or to become better at your passions.” said Rose.

Dave was a mentor for Rusty Gates who Dave knew since Rusty was a teenager. During the fight with the oil and gas industry in the PRC, a young Rusty was instrumental to the team’s success. Dave said, “Rusty was usually the source for getting information we needed to fight the excesses of the oil companies in the Pigeon River Forest. He understood the scientific and legal issues as well as the scientists and lawyers.”

According to Josh Greenberg, “Rusty had these very few people that would come through the shop that he would actually listen to when it came to conservation matters, and Dave was one of them. When Dave walked in, Rusty would always be like, ‘Get this man a coffee.’ Rusty would always reach out to Dave for his thoughts on important matters, and there weren’t many people that he had that level of respect for.”

John Walters was also a protégé of Smethurst, and was introduced to Dave by Rusty. In the early 2000’s, John was going down to Gates Lodge regularly to pick Rusty’s brain about conservation. When John started having questions about Trout Unlimited, Rusty pointed him towards Dave Smethurst.

Walters said of Smethurst, “Dave was always there when I needed him from a mentor perspective, he had a vision for me, and he shared some great leadership tips and skills that I was able to utilize. I had two significant mentors in my life, Rusty and Dave. They gave me the tools to do the great conservation work that we’ve all been able to do in a variety of capacities.”

For me personally, I first knew Dave as the vice principal of my school. I was not doing well, scholastically-speaking. I forget the exact numbers, but my junior year I had something like 54 detentions, twenty-something days of in-school suspension, and thirty days out-of-school suspension. After barely graduating, I was thinking about joining the Marines and the recruiter took me up to the high school so we could look at my transcripts. Dave was the guy we talked to, and he said something that changed my life.

After pointing out my grades were either A's or F's, he said I always excelled at whatever I was interested in. If I wasn't good at something, it's because I wasn't interested in it. That made me realize I could be successful at whatever I wanted, almost at will.

Five years or so later I got the fly-fishing bug and went to a fly-tying event hosted by Headwaters TU called “Tie One On,” a cornerstone program for Headwaters TU born from the mind of Dave Smethurst. Of course, Dave was there and took me under his wing, offering to teach me to cast at his house a week later and putting the conservation bug in my ear. Dave was a master of making you think his ideas were your own.

A few years later I was getting a degree in environmental science. A few years after that I was in Dave's passenger seat driving around the Pigeon River Country-- there was nothing better than driving around out there with Dave and listening to his stories, even if you'd already heard them before.

He would drive me around and teach me all about the history of the PRC. Cool stuff like where the last passenger pigeon was seen, and best of all, his secret fishing spots.

I remember asking him why he would share his most secret places with me, and he said he was showing me all of that because he wanted me to be successful on the water so I would love those places as much as he did, ‘cause I was gonna be the Headwaters TU chapter president someday. It was like he just told me I was going to be an astronaut, but ten years or so later, it came to be.

In a very literal way, the Black is my favorite river because it was Dave's favorite river. The Pigeon River Country State Forest is my favorite place in the world because it was Dave’s favorite place in the world.

Dave’s best friend, Dr. Bob Slezak of Gaylord, said that Dave was a jack of all trades, master of most. Dave was not only an expert trout angler, but he also coached golf. One of his biggest passions was fly fishing for bonefish in the Bahamas where he and his wife, Sue, vacationed each year. Dave made ice cream that Ben and Jerry would have tipped their hat to -- and it went really well with Sue’s cherry cobbler.

Dave loved upland bird hunting, particularly behind a good Llewellin setter. He loved daylilies, reading, cooking, traveling, Indiana University basketball and key lime pie. But more than all of that, he loved his family, and he loved the advice of John Wesley, theologist and cleric, which he kept on his desk as a guide on how he wanted to conduct his life.

“Do all the good you can; By all the means you can; In all the ways you can; At all the times you can; As long as ever you can.”

Man did Dave do some good. For me, and – even if you don’t know – for you too.

Dave Smethurst lost his battle with cancer at the age of 74 on November 9th, 2021. During the last 54 years of his life, there wasn’t a major coldwater conservation issue that he didn’t have his fingerprints on. Michigan Trout Unlimited Executive Director, Dr Bryan Burroughs, once told me that Dave was the heart and soul of Michigan Trout Unlimited.

While remembering Dave, Paul Rose said, “From a personal perspective, Dave helped me see that no matter how much you love a place which must be shared with others you must also respect the ideas and opinions that these others bring with them. Dave understood that welcoming new people to a wild place you love was not a threat, but an opportunity – an opportunity to recruit more advocates for this collective vision.”

When you attended a Michigan Trout Unlimited meeting, or a Pigeon River Advisory Council meeting for the first time, Dave would always be one of the first to welcome you and introduce himself. One of those first timers was Greg Walz who went on to become MITU’s Chair. “I think the biggest takeaway I have is that Dave always treated everyone with respect and listened to their arguments, no matter how deeply he may have been opposed to their position. He knew that not only did you have to do the right thing, you had to do it the right way.” said Walz.

Another former state Chair of MITU, John Walters, told me that he would not have been state chair of MITU if it weren’t for Dave. “Dave was a great communicator, there were times when his knowledge, voice and history were needed, and he always delivered. It just impressed me how he was able to time his message.” remembered Walters.

Writer and owner of Gates Au Sable Lodge, Josh Greenberg, said of Smethurst, “Dave is like a quiet little pool in a trout stream.” You know, one of those spots that just looks ordinary until you fish it, “and all of the sudden you’re like, this pool is freaking good! Adding, “He didn’t give that off, which made him really approachable.”

There is a sharp bend on the upper Black that flows through an ancient beaver meadow. It’s a place Dave showed me on one of our PRC adventures. He once told me it was his favorite spot on the whole river.

You sit on an old beaver hut on the inside bend and wait. And while you wait, you will get to see deer and elk browse through the meadow. You’ll see all the big-name trout stream insects depending on the time of year. You’ll hear a kingfisher with its dolphin-like laugh, mocking your fishing abilities as it cruises down the river channel. Once, I had an old, grumpy, one-eyed beaver swim by. And through all that, brook trout will rise, usually two or three at a time. Big ones.

The sun sets to your left over a tree line of mature aspen. And before you know it, the night is over, and you never remembered to cast.

After Dave’s wife Sue passed away in February, I would call him or stop by his house a little more often than normal. He would tell me that he was lonely but doing fine. “I give myself a 15-minute pity party each day to feel sorry for myself, and then I move forward.” Since Dave passed, I follow my mentor’s advice. My pity party always ends with a smile because I know Dave lived his best life.

DS20 Part 15: Hidden Hills

2020-04-20T17:32:00.000-07:00

Scouted a hill country spot yesterday. I’ve never physically been to this section of land though I’ve driven past the area a million times to hunt nearby. Despite being somewhat familiar with the area, I was kind of surprised by how big the hills were once you got away from the road. It was like a slightly smaller version of southern OH.

The woods had been select cut at some point in the past. It was more like a park than a forest and I went up the ridge with the heaviest stem count. Even being the thicker ridge, it was fairly wide open. This area might be a heck of a squirrel hunting spot- big trees, lots of oaks. As I neared the top, I found my first bed and decided it was from an elk. Some of the hairs in it were super long and elk colored, there was a big pile of elk scat nearby, and there wasn’t a whole lot of cover around it.

I unknowingly veered off course onto some nearby private land as I followed the ridge. There were no posted signs or fences, but I knew something wasn’t right when I saw an old steel bath tub laying upside down on the side of a hill. I walked up to it, kicked it right side up and a dang porcupine was just inches away from my legs, puffed up and ready for battle. I jumped back about 5 feet, laughed at myself, and got some video of it climbing up the closest tree. I flipped the tub back over so it could have its home back and got myself back on track towards the public.

There was a long north facing point that drew me to the area in the first place cyberscouting. From what I could tell, there were multiple spurs and ridges coming together on it. I found a rub, then a bed, then realized that what I saw on the topo was right, it was a crossroads. Still not a ton of cover though, but possibly a decent spot to catch a buck cruising during the rut. There was a dead materials ground blind a little further north, looked like a gun setup. 100yds north I finally came into some thicker cover, and it was littered with rubs. Some of them were really high off the ground and I had to really study them to figure out if they were from a mature deer or a smaller elk. A couple were really tough to decipher. I’ve found the easiest way to make this call is to look at the branches higher up on the tree- when present. If they’re broke off over chest high, its probably elk. Conversely, if the low point of the rub is below knee height, its probably whitetail. I think these rubs were all made by a mature whitetail.

I couldn’t find any beds in this area of thicker cover. There were a few spots that were kind of iffy, but nothing that was a for sure bed. I felt like there had to be a buck bed in the area, I just couldn’t find it. I have no clue if the deer that made those rubs is still alive. I’m tempted to throw a trail cam up somewhere nearby to this rub cluster, but not so close I blow the spot. Still scratching my head on where the best place for that would be. I’d rather not have a camera up and hunt it blind than have a camera, find the buck is still alive, and blow it. I think this is a good spot for a easterly or southerly wind. The south facing and east facing slopes were basically wide open. No water anywhere I could see. Still a lot to learn about this section. Despite all of the oaks, I didn’t see a ton of leftover acorns which makes me suspect last year was an off year, and this year could have a good crop.

DS20 Part 14: Eagle's Nest

2020-04-06T16:50:00.001-07:00

Had a long day planned scouting that big marsh/swamp with the points and islands from a few posts ago. The original route was about 6 miles, I had to end early to help a bald eagle I thought was injured and ended up around 5.

I made a batch of biscuits and gravy for breakfast and hit the road first thing in the morning. I wasn’t able to drive in as far as I planned and had to park about a mile north of where I wanted to get. After I hiked the road in I realized my car probably could have made it but it was still nice to walk the road and look for fresh tracks crossing. The light blue dotted line was my planned route. The yellow dashed line was my actual route. Getting around the marsh wasn’t too bad, but it helped a ton that I brought trekking poles with me. Probably would have taken a fall or three if I didn’t have them and now I’m not sure I’ll ever hit a swamp or marsh without them. The ones I have are carbon fiber so they’re really light. They weren’t too expensive for a pair, I wanna say like $40 and worth every penny. They are especially nice when you’re packing a deer out, takes a lot of wear off your knees. They are nice to have when going up and down big hills, too.

From almost the start, this place felt bucky but for the whole day, I really didn’t see a lot of buck sign. Which surprised me cause I didn’t see a lot of hunter sign either, just one treestand- a hang on that someone carried 25 or 30-foot TV antennae to for use as a ladder! The other hunter sign I saw was a full out elevated blind on one of the marsh islands. It kind of floored me that someone carried that much wood in and constructed it there. The good news is both looked like they are from gun hunters. The blind was definitely a gun blind and as far as I can tell it hasn’t been used for several years. I think it will be good for a mid-day or evening sit when the acorns are on the ground. To get from the gun blind island to the next island on the way to the mainland, I followed a waist deep channel along the length of a 100yd beaver dam. I’m sure that’s the way deer are getting out to that island. There was even one tree along the way with what looked like antler scratches- not really a rub.

I jumped a group of about 5 bedded does and marked it with a balloon and noted the wind direction. No idea if it was a regular bedding area for them, didn’t appear so, but they picked that spot for a reason. I’m not sure 100% why they chose it, but it was where the woods went from being moderately thick to a little more open. The wind was blowing from the thick to the open, which makes me think they were keeping tabs on potential threats from the thicker area with their noses and more open area with their eyes.

I had lunch on a big pine stump in a recent clearcut not far away. PB&J, a pudding cup, a cup of banana baby food, a granola bar and water. My phone still had 50% battery life but I plugged it into my anker charger and got the battery back up to 60% while I ate. After I started working my way back up the west side of the big point where I left my muck boots. There was a bowl along the way I was excited to check out and it had a few rubs around the edge. As I got to the north end of it, I see a huge bird drop out of a tree about 30yds away. I thought it was a heron at first and started walking towards it to flush it while rolling video on my phone. I was blown away to see it was a bald eagle. I couldn’t see anything obviously wrong with it, but it wasn’t flying away, just hopping through the brush. I backed out, took GPS coordinates, and bee-lined it for my car so I could drive to a place with cell service and call for help. It took about 45 minutes to get back to my car, another 20 minutes of driving before I got a small bar of service. I texted Michigan’s Report All Poaching line and explained what I saw, gave them the GPS coordinates, and told them I was driving to the nearest town so I could get a strong enough signal to talk on the phone with them. A CO called me while I was in that town and after listening to my story, he said he thought the eagle was fine, and that sometimes they overeat and can’t fly right away because they’re too heavy. He said he would go out to the coordinates I provided tomorrow and check that the eagle wasn’t still there. Pretty exciting, to say the least. First time I’ve ever been that close to a wild bald eagle. Such a gorgeous bird!

I definitely want to throw a trail camera or two up in this area for a few weeks and see what I see. I think this is definitely an early season spot and I will hunt it this year regardless of what the trail cams say. I think the islands are good for almost any wind, best wind for the deer will be out of an easterly or southerly direction.

For anyone who just started reading, I'm keeping track of my 2020 deer stats. Not to brag, but to see just how much time and money really goes into a whitetail season. I'm adding a new stat, time n stand vs time in-season scouting, just for my own curiosity...

DS20 Part 13: The Big Hill

2020-04-02T16:48:00.000-07:00

Last night was a great scouting mission. This was my first time going to this location, I initially found it by cyberscouting the mi-hunt website. From what I could see on the computer, it was in an out of the way, overlooked place with an oak ridge that borders a small wetland that has a small trout stream running through it. People from other regions would probably call it a creek. The creek bottom is extremely dense pine and cedar with some aspen mixed in. The oak stand was supposed to be small, only about 100 acres, but as I was driving towards it, I realized it was much, much bigger. The whole surrounding area was oaks mixed with pines, flats mixed with steep up and down hill country. I drove into the area on a two track that doubles as an ORV trail. My plan was to walk the transition between the oaks and dense creek bottom.

I parked a half mile or so away from where I wanted to cut across to get a feel for the place. The top of the ridge was rolling hills of mature oaks and immature pine trees. Plenty of cover for deer to move around and feel secure in the daylight. When I got to the oak ridge I was kind of shocked by how tall and steep the hill was going down towards the creek. It was more like southern OH hills and I decided to replan my scouting route. Going in, I was certain the best bedding was going to be in the creek bottom, but seeing the size of the hills, I started thinking about possible hillcountry bedding, too, and realized this place was going to need at least one more scouting trip this spring to cover everything.

I decided to go from a south facing point on the topo and work my way north and scout the bottom first. I know, I know. Hill country bottoms are notoriously difficult to hunt. But I was really torn. The best bedding cover is down in the wetland around the creek. There is also water there. I’m sure these deer use both the hills and creekbottom as bedding areas based on various conditions. I worked south along the ridge towards the point and marked an area that had a good amount of doe scat. When I got to the south facing point, there was a monster rub that was probably 2 or 3 years old. The kind of rub that screams mature whitetail.

I looked all around but didn’t see any sign that a deer was bedding on the point. Which made sense, the rub was old, but, I was hopeful. There was a faint runway going down the spine of the ridge. I followed it down until I hit the transition line to the creek bottom, and then followed the transition line back north. It was open, but not open, if you know what I mean. The Oaks and pines came right down the hill to the edge of the thick cover. In places I could hear the creek, which is at high water, gurgling over rocks and logs, but I couldn’t see it. A deer could safely eat acorns along the edge and dive into the cover or run up into the cover on the hillside if danger came. There was another large, old rub. The kind of rub height that I would think was elk, but it wasn’t elk. A little way on I had three pileated woodpeckers fighting or doing some kind of mating ritual. That was cool. And then a scrape. I felt rushed at that point and was losing light due to being down in the valley and didn’t take the time to inspect it for tracks. 50yds later, I found another monster rub with three smaller rubs nearby. Losing light fast, I hiked up the ridge shortly after.

This is definitely a place that can grow a nice buck. I can’t imagine many guys are going to go down in that valley to hunt deer. The packout will scare 99.999% away.

The thing I’m struggling with now is how to hunt a deer down in that bottom? Gonna need to search the forum archives to find tips on hunting lower elevations. Maybe if I get close to the creek and let it pull my scent away from the woods? Definitely going to throw a trail camera up at this spot to see if anything survived to the coming season.

DS20 Part 12: A New Swamp

2020-04-01T16:31:00.001-07:00

Scouted a cedar swamp marsh last night after work. The blue dotted line is my planned route, the yellow dashed line is my actual route. Parked on the side of the road at what turned out to be 20yds from an old logging trailhead. The logging road is the solid red line. I didn’t know it was there and decided to check it out after I did my scouting loop if I had time. Accidentally, I came to the end of it on my way back to the car and walked it back. Overall, there wasn’t a ton of deer sign. Typically in cedar swamps you will see a fair amount of tracks and some muddy runways. I didn’t see a lot of either. The tracks I did see were smaller. There was a TON of deer scat. Pretty much everywhere, which I attributed to deer who had yarded there this winter. It was challenging to find beds, but I did find two for sure beds and one that is probably a bed but I’m still going back and forth on it in my head. I also found a couple tall rubs, one that was mid thigh high to about the bottom of my sternum. I’m 6’ if that gives you some scale.

The surprise of the evening was a large island in the swamp. The topo showed a small hill, but in person it was much larger, maybe three times longer and twice as wide as the circle on the topo. The hill is shown on the map by the white shaded oval. Trees on the island were small and medium aspen/poplar, pines and cedars here and there. I saw a few ash and maple here and there, too. No oaks. Other than natural browse, I’m not sure what the “hot” food source in the area for deer here would be. There is some hill country a mile or so away to the east and a small farm a mile west. There wasn’t a lot of people sign. There was a small creek crossing on the logging road that someone laid some cedars across as a bridge. There was a trail along the NE side of that hill island that someone had discretely cut circles of bark off of trees as trail markers every 10yds or so. There was a pair of chest waders hanging in a tree that someone forgot or left there on purpose after they sprung a leak. And of course, there was a ladder stand.

This was the most photogenic of the three beds. The good thing, I think, was that the best deer sign wasn’t near the human sign. I feel like the area with all of the rubs would be a good contender for a trail camera. I may put one out there looking south over the north transition between the marsh and cedar swamp where most of the rubs were. That is definitely the best place for a stand, and there were a few trees that would work well for that area. Definitely a good place to hang a stand this fall for a hunt or two.

DS20 Part 11: Swamp Oaks

2020-03-31T16:29:00.001-07:00

You hear that? You hear angels singing that hallelujah song? I can. They’ve been on full blast in my head since I found out that the big point that goes out in the marsh I talked about in my last post has an island of mature oaks in the center of it. There is also another island across the marsh on the other point that was kind of cut out of the screenshot I took.

Definitely gonna to need to scout that other point, too, while I’m out there this weekend. I’d really like to hit both points in the same day, dial in where bedding is, and then knowing where the oaks are, start thinking about different stand locations for different winds.

So I changed my scouting plan, basically doubling the mileage to 6 miles. That will be a full day, gonna need to pack a lunch.

This whole area of the marsh feels like its ideal for a South or Southeast wind based on the terrain and the nearest two tracks for access. It could definitely work for a west or east wind, too, as deer could move to either side of the islands or points. The islands seem like they should be the place to bed for a northerly wind. It will be interesting to find out if the sign matches up with all that. Either way, it will be a great learning experience.

DS20 Part 10: A Plan

2020-03-30T16:22:00.001-07:00

I watched the DIY Sportsman's latest YouTube video about his workflow for scouting marshes. I really enjoyed this video as it made me realize that while I've often got a plan for which terrain features I want to scout, I don't really plan the day as well as he does or make great use of my time.

For example, the spot I talked about scouting in my last post was not a good choice to scout after work, way too much ground to cover and I was basically in a spot where I almost had to walk out when I got to where I wanted to scout and now I should probably go back one more time.

The first spot to use his work flow jumped right out at me- a giant marsh I found this winter that looks fishy. Here is the route I've planned out, its about 3 miles and will probably need a saturday or a sunday to have enough time to see everything I want to plus have time for any audibles.

My plan is to walk the main transitions from cedar swamp to marsh, and see whats been using the islands. Satellite imagery looks like there are runways galore going through the marsh, we will see what they look like on the ground. Check out the sign around the little island on the other side of the creek.

This is a small chunk of this marsh, its going to take 3 or 4 more scouting trips to cover the rest. The west side really intrigues me as it is VERY difficult to access. My plan is to work from east to west. If I could get it down to two trips, that would be great, but I think I will need three. Maybe I will camp out there this weekend, do some social distancing, and knock the whole thing out at once?

I need to find a few shorter routes for after work scouting. I think 1-2 miles for an after work scouting route would be about perfect.

I cleaned my arrow building/fly tying bench off in my man cave this weekend. Gonna take me a while to be able to find anything with everything where "its supposed to be now"

DS20 Part 9: Along the Highway

2020-03-28T16:08:00.001-07:00

Scouted a small part of a large chunk of land yesterday after work. Its roughly 2000 acres, so still a lot of ground to cover before I feel like I know it. I'd really love to post some topo and satellite maps of it here but I'm just too paranoid. But let me tell you why I'm excited about it. 1, censored. 2, it has some amazing topography and habitat types. 3, one side borders a heavily trafficed road.

I love places that border major roads. People ignore them, and deer get pushed into them for that reason.

I got about a mile and a half in and really hadn't seen much good sign other than a large'ish buck track in a saddle, and then I climbed to the top of a long ridge that pointed out into a cedar swamp. As I got to the top and stopped, a turkey gobbled. First one I've heard this spring. I sat there and he gobbled again few minutes later. I tried mouth calling him in and he went silent.

I saw a nice pile of buck poop. Got on the west side and started seeing sign. FINALLY! I followed a runway that spiraled along the side then down the point into the swamp. No large tracks, looked like a doe runway, but it took me to an area that looked like deer and even elk were spending a lot of time this winter. Felt like bedding cover but no visible beds. I got down into the swamp and found a massive old rub, there were even some time marks from 2019. Because of the size of the tree, I was thinking this might be an old signpost rub, but still not certain.

This had me really excited to keep exploring but I was losing light fast because of the hills and hiked out. Definitely going to be back to learn more and explore other corners of the property, especially the area that border the highway.

DS20 Part 8: An Overlooked Spot

2020-03-24T15:54:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I went out to the big woods after work. It's a part of the big woods I'm kind of on the verge of cutting out of my hunting spots because there are just too many elk, and where there are elk, there are more people. But! There is a place that I've never been, so I thought it might be a good time to see what's there.

I walked a big oval loop, about 3 miles, total. I was just trying to cover ground and intercept mature buck tracks or sign. I came across one 3 finger track and two 4 finger tracks. I saw at least 500 elk rubs. That might sound like an exaggeration but it was probably more like 1,000.

This spot may be worth a hunt or two, I found two areas that I will use as starting points to scout during the season and see what happens. Maybe I end up climbing a tree, maybe I will just walk around some more.

DS20 Part 7: A Fresh Look at an Old Spot

2020-03-22T15:52:00.001-07:00

Snow is disappearing, I'm guessing a week or so and south/east/west facing land will be dry ground again. Been some good finds out scouting and it's nice to be getting outside again without being all bundled up, and even more nice to be in a place safe from covid-19 headlines and people panic buying toilet paper. No better way to escape all that than the deer woods.

DS20 Part 6: Weekend Scouting Trip

2020-02-23T15:49:00.001-08:00

Had an awesome time camping and deer scouting this weekend. The area is in the heart of the big woods up here. The sign came in waves. A whole lot of nothing for a mile or more, then several runways then more nothing. I found one spot that would be worth throwing an observation sit at, but didnt see enough in thus area to make me excited about it.

The best spot was where four runways converged coming down a ridge from multiple directions into a little hub and then split into two. I marked a tree and followed them both but never found any bedding. More of a just passing through area for them. No buck sign from 2019 to speak of, and just one old rub, at least 3 years old.

DS20 Part 5: Winter Camping Prep

2020-02-20T15:42:00.001-08:00

All packed up for a backcountry camping and scouting trip this weekend. Going to meet up with a buddy and hike about 2.5 miles into a local public land area and set up camp for the weekend. He plans to just kind of explore the area back there, I am going with plans to deer scout all day Saturday and maybe a little sunday morning. We will hike out sunday around lunch time.

Night time temps friday night will be the worst of it, mid 20s, and then it isnt too bad, low of around 30 Saturday night. Both days will be pretty dang nice, mid 30s saturday and low 40s sunday. Snowshoes are packed, we are sitting on around 2 or 3 feet of snow in the woods, it's been a pretty mild winter with most of that accumulating over the last month. At least it feels that way.

I'm not expecting to learn a lot from actual deer sign, most rubs are going to be under snow and all sign will be late winter sign, but I'm hoping to find a big track or two, backtrack, and locate bedding locations.

DS20 Part 4: Switching to a Saddle

2020-02-12T13:50:00.001-08:00

It was good to kind of not think about deer in January, my batteries are fully charged again. My saddle came from Aerohunter. The flex is super comfortable. I am kind of through the weight weenie phase, but I was curious what kind of weight savings the saddle would give me. It's a lot.

My climbing method will still be beast sticks, so no weight difference there. Same for my linemans rope and tether- been using a tether style rope as a tree strap for years. The differences are going from a full body harness to a saddle and treestand to a ring of steps.

My harness is a muddy ambush or something like that and weighs 2.78lbs. My flex with sewn in webbing bridge weighs 2.36lbs. So I save a half pound there. My treestand weighed about 12.5lbs. The ring of steps (4 squirrel steps with an OCB strap) weighs 1.3lbs, so I'm saving about 11lbs there. I'm also saving the 2lbs that my hunt comfort seat added.

Roughly 13.5 less pounds is kind of huge.

I am doing homework on a new arrow build for next season. I'm really sick of all the red on the maxima reds. I know it seems silly, but it just drives me nuts looking at that wall of red in the quiver. Deer must see it for miles... Lots of shafts out there so I let my OCD kick in and I entered the spine, grains per inch, ID, OD, and straightness for every Easton, carbon express, gold tip, victory, black eagle, day six, etc shaft currently sold. Computer isnt in front of me but it was like 450 different shafts. It took about 4 hours, but it was totally worth it cause I'm turning that spreadsheet into an arrow calculator. Working out some of the more advanced formulas and will share it with the forum when it's done. It will predict or calculate FOC, speed, KE, momentum, etc. All the numbers. Like I said, OCD...

DS20 Part 3:

2020-02-03T13:42:00.001-08:00

February came kinda fast. Been doing a little cyberscouting here and there, and my first on the ground scouting yesterday. Floated 6 miles of river and marked all of the deer crossing and watering locations. Been packing away at the gear needed list. Picked up a ring of steps to use with my saddle purchase, also got a new pair of mittens bringing my gear purchase total to $443. Kinda hoping my wife never reads this. Still need arrows, broadhead blades, and kill tags.

DS20 Part 2:

2020-01-10T13:40:00.001-08:00

1/10/2020

End of preseason week 1 update- or maybe it's the end of the first week of the post-season?

Either way...

One week has passed since the 2019 season ended, and this is what I've done to prepare for 2020.

Rutcation dates are requested off at work and approved. I will be travelling back to OH after work on 11/6 and hunting till 11/15. That's a few days later than I normally go and a couple less days. I have two seasons under my belt there and feel like I've really got a good grasp of how deer use my hunting spots there. I cant wait, this is the best week of my year and something I think about daily.

I'd like to do a quick 4-day trip down in the early season, we will see how that plays out.

Been shooting my bow every day in the basement, 6 shots a day. It's about a 14yd shot and a nice stress reliever. Cyberscouting, too. Always cyberscouting, but starting out by looking at my current hunting areas, thinking about where I saw deer and how they were using the terrain this year., and trying to gain what I can from it. There were definitely some good lessons learned. The one Ohio spot was a real eye opener and I'm feeling pretty cocky about hunting it now. Cocky enough that I will be picky about what I shoot there, if that means anything. Still no boots on the ground scouting, hopefully that changes this weekend.

DS20: Part 1 Looking Back on 2019

2020-01-02T13:33:00.000-08:00

Our deer season ended yesterday so I guess preparation for the 2020 season-- DS20-- starts now. I had a lot of fun writing a hunting journal here last season, my only regret was that I didnt start it until mid-summer.

Before you can prepare for the next season, you have to reflect on the last. 2019 wasnt my most successful season as far as pounds of meat in the freezer or inches if horn on the wall, but it was my most successful season to date by a mile- particularly my out of state hunts. I had more nice buck encounters, and more mature buck encounters than any season prior. I put lessons learned from past seasons to use and was 100% I was going to let an arrow go during every hunt. I learned some new areas, and I covered some serious ground, hunting 6 counties here in my home state and another on my out of state hunts around 9 hours away. All that despite hunting the same number of days as any other year, 28 hunts. 26 of those with a bow, 2 with the muzzleloader.

All that said, I spread myself too thin hunting so many areas in my home state, taking first time sits to the extreme. Instead of working a few select properties, and squeezing a little tighter and tighter until I got the kill, I bounced from one property to another based on phase of the season, conditions and wind direction. I have complete confidence scouting my way in and doing a first time sit, but I was so mobile I was really just trying to get lucky. I was also giving up on properties too soon. That wasnt the case out of state as my options were a little more limited and it paid off.

I put meat in the freezer, but I missed shots on two bucks, both of which would have been personal bests, and one of which would have been my first P&Y. I practiced my but off in the off season and could make those shots with my eyes closed in practice. But real deer arent block targets. I've gotta pick better shots, and practice even harder. Target panic on the P&Y also has me considering back tension.

I failed to locate a mature buck in the preseason in my home state. It wasnt for lack of effort. I scouted in the spring and summer. I shined 2 to 4 nights a week. I had trail cameras out. If I'm going to shoot a mature buck here, I have to find one first. I need to scout earlier and more often.

I let my trail cameras sit too long between checks. They weren't in anyone's bedroom, there was no reason to leave them alone that long. If I checked them more often, I could have moved them around more and maybe located a mature deer.

I let my guard down. That P&Y I missed at 30yds...well, if I had my act together, I could had a shot at 9yds where he was when I first saw him.

I wasted too.much time finding the right tree to sit in. Scouting my way in means I never knew where I would end up exactly, which meant finding a tree when I found sign I couldnt walk past. There were.a couple instances I spent 30 minutes finding the right tree, leaving an obscene amount of ground scent. One of those times another buck that would have been a personal best hit some of that tree searching ground scent and hung up out of range before backing out.

I hunted more mornings, and I liked them.

I used my full body harness as a saddle with my beast sticks as a platform a half dozen times or so. I loved it, but am going to a saddle in 2020 to increase comfort.

Those were the lessons that are jumping out at me, I'm sure I will think of others as the offseasons progresses. Now it's time to think about winter scouting. Should be able to take a walk on Saturday and see what I see. The number one priority is to locate a mature buck close to home. They're a needle in a haystack, but they're out there. 10/1 will be here before we know it, time to get after it.

DS19 Part 39: Still Hunting with the Muzzleloader

2019-12-15T09:22:00.000-08:00

I didn't get out at all during rifle season. It was kind of on purpose and kind of a case of the time just slipping away during a few weeks of craziness at work playing catchup after being gone, heading back to Ohio to visit family for the Thanksgiving holiday, and if I'm honest, needing a break from the woods to recharge my batteries a little.

Drove around the PRC a little yesterday to scout where muzzleloading hunting pressure is. Tons of people in the woods right now with late elk season also in progress. Saw a little deer sign driving around and figured out where I would hunt today.

First stop was Lance's to borrow his muzzleloader. I sent him to a spot a couple weeks ago and he got a nice 8pt with his rifle. That was pretty cool and he was grateful for the tip, and insisted I take his muzzleloader for a walk.

I still hunted a long transition between a marsh, pines and an oak ridge. 20 minutes into the hunt, a deer crossed in front of me but I wasn't able to get the gun up fast enough to get a shot. A few steps later, another passed. The woods opened up 20yds in front of me, if I could just get around a small group of pines, I'd have a shot at one. I stalked forward through the shin deep snow as quietly as I could, but 5yds before I got to the pines, the deer bolted.

I probably won't be able to get out again until the weekend after Christmas. Two tags still need to be filled.

DS19 Part 38: Jason Finds His Buck

2019-11-09T08:54:00.000-08:00

We slept in till 7am and hiked in to where Jason shot his buck. He did a good job finding the spot, and was basically within bow range of where I wanted him to set up when I sent him there. On the hike in we almost got trampled by a group of doe that were getting pushed by a small buck. Both of us scrambled to hide behind trees as they ran past us. I felt for sure I was going to get run over.

I had him walk me through his hunt and we quickly got on the buck's trail. There was no blood, just running tracks in the leaves. As we came through some briars, he spotted his dead buck just down the ridge, a 2.5 year old 8pt.

While he quartered it, I scouted the area and found some classic buck bedding.

Note the bed at the base of the tree. Classic!

Also found a double sign post rub. Cant wait to go back next year. Both of these trees were about 10" in diameter. Its like a cathedral.

On the hike out, we dropped the pack and gridded the area I hunted. The mule kick I saw when I shot at the buck the night before still haunted me. But we didnt find a dead deer or any clues that I hit it. The rest of the day was spent processing our deer back at camp. Tagged out, we're both heading back home tomorrow.

DS19 Part 37: If its Brown, Its Down

2019-11-08T08:52:00.000-08:00

High temp of 38 was forecast so I packed an extra layer. Was set up before first light and sat until noon, didnt see anything. Met Jason back at the access and we hit a small diner to warm up and eat lunch. While eating we talked and I decided it was the point in the trip where I would shoot the first adult deer that gave me a shot. He already had a doe and said he would take the first branch antlers buck that came by.

I took him to a new spot, it's quite a hike through some pretty rugged terrain. He thought I was joking when I told him not to fall off any cliffs. This place is the epitome of an overlooked spot or the epitome of a spot most guys wont put the effort in to hunt. I found it cyberscouting and scouted it last year and gave it one sit and saw deer. I had a ridge in mind for both of us and told him where to set up and we split up.

I kind of laughed watching his reaction to the terrain and told him to turn the topo layer on in onx and go around the ravine ahead and up the next ridge.

I get up to the point on my ridge and start scouting. I find a tree between two bedding areas where the wind will blow my stink to no mans land but is right for the deer. The other reason I chose the tree I did was any deer that came in would have to come in upwind of me, and if they looked at me, they would have to look into the sun. I got my sticks on the tree and before I even had my safety harness hooked up, a 2.5 year old 8pt came in. I pulled my bow up and laid it across my linemans rope, put my release on, ranged him, and shot. He mule kicked just after I lost the flight of the arrow and ran a 20yds then started walking normally. If I hadn't seen the mule kick, I would have thought I missed by his body language. I waited 30 minutes and went to go look for my arrow or first blood to see what happened. Coukdnt find either and was pretty certain I missed, but the mule kick made me uncertain. Do deer mule kick when you miss? I got back up in my tree, ran through everything in my head and got back down again and looked for some sign to tell me if I hit or missed him. No blood, no arrow, no hair.

I got back up in my tree. 30 minutes later a few doe came in. They were in a patch of super thick briars and grape vines that made the bedding area just north of me. I could see a deer body part here and there as they milled around. Finally, one moved towards my side and I had a 6" hole through the thorns at the vitals. I drew and fired, the impact sounded good and blood was pouring down the near leg and then both legs within the first 15yds. She stopped and tipped over at 20yds. I felt relief. I dont know if I could miss another deer this trip and be able to look in the mirror.

The game bags were hung by the grills and smokers with care

I didnt want to interrupt Jason's hunt so I packed everything up and hiked out, swapped my sticks and hunting stuff for my game bags and knife and hiked back in. I had her quartered just before dark. As I was finishing up, a different small 8pt walked in on me. I looked up and we had a short stare down before I bared my teeth and growled at him. I loaded the meat on my pack and saw Jason's headlamp coming through the woods as he worked towards our meetup point. I whistled at him and he stopped and I hiked down the hill and recapped my hunt.

He beamed about how awesome the spot I sent him was. He said he shot a 2.5 year old 8 just before dark and wasnt sure about the shot placement. It sounded to me like he made a good shot but we decided to play it safe and come back to track the next morning. The way he described the shot and deer behavior after, I was confident we would find a dead deer in the morning. I was also kind of happy I wouldnt have to hike back in after packing my deer out.

DS19 Part 36: Rain Day

2019-11-07T08:10:00.000-08:00

Stayed up late last night visiting with my mom and did dishes with her. Didnt get to bed till 1130pm, so with that and a full day of rain forecast for today, I decided to skip this morning, sleep in and get caught up on some laundry. Gonna head out after lunch, rest that spot for today and try again tomorrow morning. Not sure yet where I will hunt tonight, maybe do an observation sit with the bow a 1/4 mile north and see what I see or just go somewhere completely new. That's 21 sits on the season. 10 or 12 more before I have to go back to MI. I love hunting here, I love the hills, the briars, the crp, the balanced buck to doe ratio, the age classes you see and the warmer November weather.

Not a fan of the ticks though

I dont mind hunting in a light rain, but it was just heavy enough that I didnt want to risk losing a blood trail. Watched the radar all day and had an opening in the clouds around 3pm. Got to the spot I was going to hunt and sat in my car till the rain slowed and hiked in. It stopped raining just after I was set up. Didnt see anything and climbed down at dark.

DS19 Part 35: Biscuits, Gravy and Blood Trails

2019-11-06T08:05:00.000-08:00

Took the morning hunt off to have breakfast with family. Jason sent me a message around 8am.

Him- I think I shot a doe. She looked wobbly then a buck pushed her off
Me- What do you mean you think you shot a doe?
Him- Should I get down and check my arrow?
Me- Yeah, let me know what it looks like.
Him- clean arrow
Me- ughh, you shoot under or over her?
Him- Missed by ten yards. Sucks because I had two more in my shooting lanes for ten minutes after. Arrow is clean, no blood.
Me- any fat grease on the shaft?
Him- no, she was uphill of log, I found it under. Back up in my tree now. There's deer coming
Me- sends him a pic of homemade biscuits and gravy

Best biscuits and gravy ever

Him- you suck.
Him- I just missed another one
Me- sorry man, sends pic of half eaten biscuits and gravy.
Him- God I suck. Just blew a chip shot. Pushed my hand forward instead of releasing
Me- you have any arrows left?
Him- just shot a doe
Me- yeah!?
Him- dragging a leg, moving uphill. I'm out of arrows

I finished breakfast and headed out to where he was hunting. It's a steep ridge near a funnel across the top. I had noticed good deer movement on that ridge during a leeward wind last year. It was leeward that morning and deer were pouring through. I throw some flagging tape and a bottle of power aid in my fanny pack and hike up the hill. He is running me through what happened and I see a deer slinking through the brush towards us. Deer, buck! Dont move!" I whisper. It's a solid 8 and we get about 3 minutes of video of him at about 30yds before he finally realizes what we are and heads back over the ridge.

The stuff that happens when you don't have a bow in your hand

We look at his arrow and first blood. Its pink with a few air bubbles in it. He got a pass through but its only bleeding on one side. White hairs with light tan hairs. There is hair in the blood spots for 10yds or so. I suspect single lung. Its only been about 40min since he shot her, so I suggest we wait 20 minutes before picking up the trail. We hike back to the car and grab the sled, knives, etc and hike back up. He leads the trail and I hang back. It's not much of a trail, more like blood pouring out. I am confident the deer is dead but about 100yds later I'm surprised its not and am thinking single lung for sure. I am staying back about 30yds behind him, when he stops. He nocks an arrow and starts stalking up the hill. He draws, shoots. I hear a thwack and see a deer jump up with an arrow sticking out of its hind quarter. I run up to him, she is down again just 20yds up the hill and expires shortly after.

There was a melancholy moment after she died where the two of us stood over her in the morning sun just a few feet apart and paid our respects, appreciating the seriousness of what took place. I wasn't even the one who made the kill, and it was a very emotional moment. I didn't cry, but I came close. It isn't like on TV when these clowns hoot and hollar and straddle the dead deer and put all of their focus on the horns and their egos. Real hunters have too much respect for these animals to be so irreverent.

Deer are amazing animals and its remarkable to see how strong they are even when mortally wounded. Even when you make a great shot, you can lose deer, so I think there was also a little bit of relief on both our parts that we found her at the end of the blood trail. As I write two months after the fact, its been fun to watch Jason's social media posts full of venison meals. Yeah, it sucks to see an animal you love and respect so much die, but the food part of hunting is why we're willing to make that sacrifice.

He guts her and we sled her down the hill.

He didnt hit any lungs or the heart. She spun as he shot and turned a broadside shot into a quartering to shot, maybe even straight on. The arrow went in in front of the right shoulder and came out behind it kind of in the armpit. It wasn't the single lung I was thinking, it was a no lung. He got lucky and hit an artery which explained all of the bubbles and the bright pink blood and the hair coming out for so long on the trail.

I headed out to hunt and he went back to camp to start processing.

I decided to hit the spot I missed the big 10pt. Only I moved my stand location about 75yds north along the ridge onto a different spur. I was set up by 2pm or so and didnt see anything until about 5pm. A solid 8pt buck is working his way up out of the bottom up my spur. I stood and watched him browse on acorns through my rangefinder until he got to 43yds and stopped. He looked up my way, didnt like something and slowly browsed backwards retracing his footsteps up the hill. I threw a couple hail mary grunts out but he paid no attention. I snort wheezed and he stopped for a minute or so and continued browsing. 10 minutes later I see a head with horns pop up over the next spur north. It's a buck and at first I mistook it for the 8pt circling back around. But no, it was the 10pt I missed. He came to about 80yds and worked his way back down into the bottom where the 8 came from and disappeared. I grunted but he didnt act like he heard it.

I climbed down and hiked the mile and a half out. Got back to camp and made venison stroganoff with back strap from Jason's doe and homemade pasta.

DS19 Part 34: Buck Fever

2019-11-05T08:04:00.000-08:00

I love the 5th of November. Killed a lot of deer on this date. I've done enough observing and scouting to this point in the trip, its time to hunt!

Woke up at 4am and hiked a mile and a half back into a east facing ridge where a funnel intersects it. A west wind was forecast with light rain all morning. Scouted the area a couple days before and it looked fishy. Found a tree and was set up by first light. At 730am a small buck chased a doe by me. At 745 it started raining. A light rain, but steady. At 9 I added a layer. It was cold November rain, and the guns and Rose's song played in my head on repeat. I ate a couple pop tarts and a fruit roll up at 930. I was sitting in my stand kind of hunched over to keep my face out of the wind. Every 30 seconds or so I'd survey the area around me. Which wasnt often enough.

At 1030 I scanned to the right and at the end of my scan, a deer was in the corner of my eye. I turned my head farther to see what it was and saw horns, big horns. I reached for my bow, clipped my release in and looked the other way thinking the deer was walking behind me. It wasnt there. I looked back to where I originally saw it. It wasnt there. I looked further away and he had ran backwards, now standing at 30yds. He must have saw me move when I looked at him or to grab my bow. I drew, told myself to go through my shot sequence, put my 20yd pin on his vitals and shot. As the arrow flew my heart sank. I didnt use the right pin and immediately knew it. The arrow stuck in the ground underneath him and he bolted.

I didnt feel the adrenaline until I was about to get down from my stand to inspect the arrow. I calmed myself down and placed off where he was when I originally saw him...9 yards. 9 freaking yards! He was an amazing deer, big tall pearl white tines. Lots of mass. I saw one split brow. Probably the biggest deer I've laid eyes on from a treestand. It stopped raining 5 minutes later.

I packed up. My head wasnt right and I had to put that behind me. Still 7 more days to hunt down here. Made some coffee at the car, ate some peanut butter and jelly and a cup of pudding.

Drove to another spot for the evening sit. There was a truck from west Virginia there with three guys walking into the woods. They stopped and I asked them where they were headed. Two were going the way I wanted to, but not nearly as far back. I asked if they minded if I walked past them on the way to where I wanted to go, and they were cool with it.

Saw a really big bodied buck at this spot observing a couple evenings prior. It's in a bottom where three ravines dump into a crp field. There is a creek running out of one. There are scrapes everywhere. As I got to the top if it and looked down I heard a deer running. Then I hear a grunt. There is a big chocolate racked buck pushing a doe out of the ravine the creek comes out of. There are three ways they could go, they skipped the first, now there is a 50/50 chance they could head my way. I drop my pack, grab my release out and put it on, nock and arrow and jump off to the side of the trail. I wait 5min, nothing. I throw my pack on and start walking down the hill, 50yds later the buck blows at me and storms off. He must have lost the doe and was coming back at me.

I get to where I want to be and hang my stand. It was a beautiful place to watch the woods. 10 minutes after I was set up, another buck is pushing a doe behind me but never in range. I heard him grunt a few times but never got a good look at him. I hate hunting bottoms, never see anything in range it feels like, but man, how do you ignore them? Definitely my guilty pleasure.

That was it for the night. Had pork loin, redskin potatoes and corn for dinner.

DS19 Part 33: Finding the Zone

2019-11-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

Decided there was one more spot I wanted to do an observation sit on. Long ridge that juts out into a point/peninsula on a lake. At the top of the ridge was a secluded crp field. There was a dead end road at the base so I parked there and started work my way to the end of the point and then was going to walk up the hill and sit on the crp. As soon as I got to the tip of the point, I hear a deer jump up near the top. I look up and throw my binos on it and it's a really nice buck in the 120 to 140 range. He goes about 30yds and looks back at me. I pretended like I wasnt paying attention to him and walked back to my car and drove away. I think that deer was bedded, which was weird because of the time of day and time of year, but even weirder for the wind direction. The wind was going up the point. But, he could see where I parked from his bed, so I think he was access watching. I drove to the next nearest access and scouted the rest of the ridge hoping to make a game plan for that evening.

Had lunch around noon and went in from behind him, hoping he didnt leave after I left. It was probably a mile or so from the next nearest access. I got to the crp, flicked the ticks off, and Bush whacked through it. The plan was to get just off wind from where I thought he would come off the point and shoot him before he got to the crp. When I got through the crp, I didnt see a tree I liked that wouldnt skylight me. There was a stiff breeze with sporadic gusts, so I decided to stalk the bed and shoot him in it hoping he was facing downhill. It probably took an hour to get within sight of it. When the breeze would settle, I'd stop, when it would blow I'd move. It was a great stalk that I was very proud of, only my target wasnt there when I got to him.

Tick Country

I dropped down the hill and walked a mile and a half to plan b for the evening sit. A ridge top funnel. I was only about 6' up in a macgyver saddle I use sometimes which is basically a muddy ambush harness. Works great but pinches the hips a little. I just used the top if my beast sticks as a platform. That worked great, too.

20min before last light I got a wild hair and got down and spot and stalked my way through the funnel. The funnel was thick briars surrounded by grass/clover fields. I saw a rabbit at 40yds and drew on it, as I was settling in to pull the trigger, a deer walked out in my sight window 10yds behind it. I froze, the deer looked up at me and did the head bob thing. I let down and it bolted out of sight around a corner to the left. I quickly snuck up to the corner and it was still there with another doe at 43yds. I had a shot and am comfortable shooting that range but wanted to get closer. Blew it and they ran.