Courtesy photoKen Plum shows off the buck that he shot during a recent hunt.

On Nov. 9, I was hunting near the edge of a cornfield and woods that run along the St. Joe River. I had been in my tree stand for about 10 minutes when I saw movement in the brush about 70 yards away. I could not tell how big of a deer it was, so I used my doe bleat call. The buck turned and ran up the edge of the field and stopped about 10 yards away. There was no time to get buck fever — it happened too fast. The shakes started after I got down and saw the buck up close.

Cheyenne Knauff of Leslie poses with her first deer.

There was a time when 14-year-old Cheyenne Knauff would come home and want nothing to do with a dead deer hanging outside.

Now, after a day some might call “beginner’s luck,” the Leslie High School freshman has changed her tune.

On her first Opening Day of the firearm deer season, Cheyenne bagged two deer Tuesday morning while hunting with her father and brother on land east of Lansing.

“She’s a pretty shy girl, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that excited,” said her father, Ty. “It was quite a day for her.”

Cheyenne, her father and brother Cody, 19, set out from their Pleasant Lake home early Tuesday morning to 87 acres between Perry and Williamston. The trio arrived at 6 a.m. and Cheyenne and her father took their spots in a tree stand over an already-picked cornfield.

To prepare his daughter for her first time hunting, Ty purchased an apprentice license and enrolled her in a one-day hunting safety class over the Internet. He also spent several weeks teaching his daughter how to use a shotgun.

Three hours later, after heavy fog lifted, they spotted a deer. Realizing he had the better gun, Ty traded his muzzleloader rifle for the shotgun his daughter had borrowed from her grandfather.

“I thought at the last minute, use my gun … I know how it hits,” he said.

Less than eight hours later, Cheyenne shot and killed this doe.

About 9:15 a.m., Cheyenne, from an estimated 105 yards away, shot a button buck dead in its tracks.

“I was kind of surprised,” Cheyenne said. “I didn’t know if I could get one for sure.”

While most people are content with one deer on Opening Day, she made contact a second time.

About 4 p.m., Ty and his daughter spotted a large doe running in the same area of her original kill. So Cheyenne fired again, striking it in the heart — her second kill in less than eight hours.

“I thought she was going to drop the deer she was so excited,” Ty said. “She did really well. I’m really happy for her.”

Her big day also gave her a leg up at school. During lunch Wednesday, when a janitor came around the cafeteria asking if anybody had scored a kill on Opening Day, Cheyenne proudly exclaimed that she had — twice.

“He was surprised and proud,” Cheyenne said.

And now she’s no longer afraid of coming home to a dead deer hanging in her backyard. In fact, she plans on going out again this year — and maybe even Opening Day next year.

“Yes, it has,” she said when asked if it’s changed her view on deer hunting. “I’m OK with hunting (now), and I love it a lot more than I did.”

Courtesy photoRoyal Tuthill of Stockbridge sits with the 25-pound turkey he shot on May 10 while hunting with his son, Michael.

My son and I drew the third hunt period of the 2009 turkey season, May 4-10. It was a hard time and a joyous time. The first six days were hard. I kept hearing a large tom gobble every day, but he would not come to any calls or decoys. He already had a group of hens with him.

A couple of days, I had a group of large jakes walk by, but let them pass. I wanted the "big boss gobbler" himself. The big tom and his hens would be about 150 yards away and wouldn't come any closer.

The last day of our hunt, I left my hen decoys in the car and all my calls. I decided to take one old jake decoy. We went in under the cover of darkness. I went to my same spot, and my son went 300 yards from my position, where he had seen a couple of turkeys the day before. I put my jake decoy about 25 yards in front of my position. Ten minutes after legal shooting hours, I loaded my Mossberg 500 and got settled in.

A few minutes later, I heard the boss tom gobble. He was to my left, but I couldn't see him. He gobbled again — he was close, about 60 yards. Then a large hen flew down about 40 yards from my decoy. Then the boss gobbler flew down next to the hen.

He was a huge turkey. His head was lit up like a light bulb. Then he turned and saw my jake decoy. He came on a dead run and started to whip the tar out of my decoy. When he had stopped, he stretched his neck to see where his hen was, my Mossberg 500 sounded and he was mine.

I unloaded my gun, punched my license tag and tagged the bird. My son heard me shoot, and came walking up and said, "Good job, Pop!" We went and had him weighed. He was 25 pounds, 10.5-inch beard and long-pointed spurs. I had stuck with it, and it paid off. My son did not get a turkey this year, but what a wonderful time we had in the Michigan outdoors.

Courtesy photo

Austin Eccleton took second place in the annual fishing tournament at Lake of the Pines in Clare County, Michigan. His largemouth bass weighed 4 pounds, 14 ounces. The winning largemouth bass was 4 pounds, 15 ounces. Austin's bass was 21.5 inches long. Austin is 15 years old and a sophomore at Lumen Christi High School.

Courtesy photo

Bud and Lee Stevens of Jackson found a surprise on their front step on the morning of May 29. Here is their story:

This little one was fast asleep until we were taking pictures and talking. It finally got up on wobbly legs and went to deep grass nearby to finish its nap.

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Bob Craft, left, and Don Falk stand next to their successful catch, made on May 19. The two men, both of Jackson, caught these 18-pound salmon while fishing on Lake Michigan near Saugatuck.

Courtesy of Brad Flory

Brad Flory, Citizen Patriot columnist, was hunting for morels behind his house in southern Ingham County on Monday when he startled a turkey hen off this nest of 16 eggs. After they hatch and grow up big and strong, Brad hopes to shoot one with his pump action Benelli 12-gauge shotgun.

Courtesy photoSherman, left, and Kyle Berkeypile with their turkeys.

Sherman and Kyle Berkeypile, of Michigan Center, shot two turkeys on April 30 around 8 a.m. in Wexford County, near Boon, Mich., after four days of hunting. Sherman Berkeypile shot his turkey first, and Kyle Berkeypile followed. Kyle Berkeypile called them with a slate call.

Photo courtesy of Bob PriestBob Priest shows off his impressive catch.

Here is his story.

I decided to try some walleye fishing on the Detroit River last Friday, March 19. I launched at Erie Metro and went up river toward Elizabeth Park.

I saw one other boat catch a walleye after about 2 hours of fishing, but I had not had a hit. It was very cold and the water temperature was 38 degrees. I moved up river further and fished a steel wall in 21 feet of water and caught a 30 1/2, 10 1/2 walleye! She hit a 3/8 fire tiger jig head with a 3-inch Berkley Gulp chartreuse grub with a live minnow.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KRISTEN WILKERSONKristen Wilkerson snapped some photos of two coyotes that approached her dog at home.

Here is her story: We live just west of the Jackson Airport, adjacent to a corn field, but in a small subdivision. On Sunday, Feb. 15, about 8 a.m., I let my dog, Penny, outside for her morning ritual.

She startled and barked at a deer, which subsequently ran off. Penny ran out after it but was surprised to wind up face to face with two coyotes.

When I first saw the creatures I thought they were small wolves and grabbed my camera to document the encounter. The coyotes proceeded to stare at Penny and soon began running toward her.

When they were about 10 feet away from my dog I hollared at the coyotes and they sauntered off. In the five years of living in this house, I had never before seen coyotes until this past weekend.

This male and female pair were beautiful, but as I thought more about the incident I realized how close I came to losing my beloved pet. I hope that others in the Glasgow Road area will watch out for these coyotes and keep their pets safe.

Jack Perry and his son, Boomer, pose with a deer they shot on Thanksgiving weekend.

Here is their story: My husband, Jack, took our son, Boomer, (age 7) out to sit in his deer stand with him for the first time on Thanksgiving weekend.

Jack said that he could hear deer moving around in the brush, but Boomer was having a little trouble sitting still. They were just about to come in for the night when a deer stepped right out in front of their stand.

Both were excited about the nice 7-point. They are already looking forward to next season.

Josh Kelly of Jackson shot this 7-point buck on his first day of hunting this past opening day.

Here is his story: On opening day of deer season, I took my son Josh out hunting for the first time. I got him all set up in our double tree stand.

It was about 7:15 that morning when Josh told me that he saw a deer in the edge of the woods across the field about 300 yards. I said I couldn't see one but he said, "Right there, Dad, in the edge, and it's a buck!"

The deer started running across the field when I saw it so I started making grunting noises to draw it in. It stopped and looked toward us so I kept making the noises.

It started running in our direction so I told Josh to point his gun toward two trees that were in front of us and take the safety off. When the deer got in between the two trees I made the grunting noise again and and it stopped, so Josh shot at it once and it went down.

It was a 7-point buck, and Josh couldn't have been any happier.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JOE CHILDSJoe Childs of Hanover poses with the buck he shot while hunting with his son, Matthew.

Here is his story: On Nov. 15, 2008, my son Matthew and I headed out for his first opening-day deer hunt. Matthew endured a long 12-hour day that was rainy, windy and cold without a complaint.

At 5 p.m., two bucks came in at about 120 yards out but they stayed in some thick foilage and vanished. Fifteen minutes later, this 9-point walked out of the thick at 80 yards broadside.

I told Matthew to get ready and take the shot when he could, but he was unable to find the buck in his scope. I told him that he had to find him in his scope because this was a nice buck, but he was still unable to find him.

By this time I was kneeling with my gun out the blind window and the buck was walking out of range. I told Matthew that he could not shoot then I would take him, and he said, "Take him, Dad."

I dropped him at 105 yards. He scored Green and Gross at 146 and weighed 170 pounds. The next day all our hunting gear was stolen off the hilltop we were hunting on, but that is another story.

I will never forget Matthew's and my first deer hunt together.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MATT SNYDERMatt Snyder, right, poses with the buck he shot Nov. 16 and his grandfather.

Here is his story: I have been hunting for many years. I went out hunting on Nov. 16 to give it another try. I didn't see a single deer on opening day so I was hoping and praying things would be better the next day, and it was.

I hunt on my grandpa's property, which is located in Norvell Township. I was sitting in my tree stand as the sun began to rise. At that point all that I had seen was my breath, but about 7:20 a.m. I saw some movement out in the field in front of me.

I put my scope up to my eye and was shocked to see a buck and a few other deer, but I could not make out what the other deer were. I shot at the buck and he ran about 30 yards and went down. I waited about 20 minutes before going out to investigate.

As I was walking toward the deer, I shot another buck that was standing near him. My first instinct was that I didn't kill him and that he got a burst of energy, but once I got closer I saw the deer I had shot lying on the ground. The other buck had taken off.

I was so excited that I could hardly catch my breath. The buck I shot was a non-typical 10-point that was dressed at 165 pounds. In the picture shown, my grandpa, left, had to work that day so he put me, right, up to the task of hunting the BIG ONE!

RICHARD P. SMITHRichard P. Smith, a noted Michigan outdoor writer, shot this 10-point buck while hunting with friends in Keweenaw County.

Here is his story: I'm a longtime resident of Marquette. I shot the 10-pointer at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 18, on land open to public hunting in Keweenaw County as he was following a doe.

I've been deer hunting for more than 40 years, mostly in Michigan, but I've hunted whitetails all over North America. Hunters who want to learn how I consistently take mature bucks can find out by reading my books listed at www.richardpsmith.com.

Trophies of the week shot by area outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen.