Opening weekend of my archery season has now passed and it certainly was an eventful couple days. I felt everything from the ultimate thrill of a buck down, to the sickest feeling in my stomach over a bad shot. Overall it was a great weekend, but to be honest I lost a little sleep over it too. I felt today I had to vent a little bit, so bear with me on this somewhat long post, I think there is a lesson for us all to learn….. That being said, the weekend did get off to a great start as my dad and one of my best buddies, Josh, came to join me at my home for deer camp! As most of you know, there are few things as exciting as the crew getting together for a great weekend of hunting, camaraderie and a few cold beers.

First thing Saturday morning we were in the stan and things started slow, as Josh and I saw nothing in our double set up. Josh is a buddy that I have been trying to get into hunting for a long time, finally this year it all came together and we were able to prepare for the 2010 season as a team. I was almost more excited about getting Josh a deer than I was about getting one for myself. So on the first morning, I was really hoping to film him shooting his first deer, but no such luck. Getting back out early, our hopes were high for the afternoon sit, as I was putting Josh into a stand that was seeing consistent action from bucks and we were getting them on camera. Around 1:30 we hiked to the far east end of my property and I immediately pulled my trailcam card. I was pretty excited that it had caught 3 or 4 different bucks frequenting the area. None were huge by any means, but all would be respectable for Josh’s first deer. With a little bit of a hassle, I was able to get the climbing sticks and stand up in the tree and Josh was set to go. I then scooted out and headed down to another property about 40 minutes away where big buck sightings were to be expected.

My evening’s sit got off to a good start with a small buck walking to within ten yards of my stand after only about 30 minutes, but things got even more exciting at about 5:30. Between the wind blowing my stand and my own excitement I nearly fell out of the tree when I read a text from Josh saying that he just shot a 9 point buck! And it was actually a buck that we had got on trailcam the week before! Not a giant by any means, but a great first deer! I immediately called him from my stand, gave him some instructions and then headed for the truck.

I was absolutely thrilled and I was shaking almost as much as when I shot my first deer, but the whole way home I drove through torrential rain and I began to get worried. Unfortunately my worry proved to be warranted. To make a very very long story short, we searched and searched for his buck, but never found it. Due to a consistent downpour and what we believe was a shoulder shot, we found only two specks of blood and no deer. We grid-searched all night Saturday and all morning/afternoon on Sunday but found nothing. Our hope is that he has nothing but a sore shoulder and we’ll be seeing him again soon. This was the first deer that I’ve really been involved with shooting or tracking personally and not been able to find. I’m sure many of you can relate, but I was obviously really busted up about this and I just felt horrible for Josh. This was a serious low.

But after spending many long hours tracking, we decided that we needed to get back in the saddle for Sunday evening. So I headed along the far north fencerow and took a stand over the inside corner of a corn field, hoping to see a nice fat doe cruising through. And just before dark, I saw just that.

Now here is where I hit another low, mixed with a high. But mostly a low. Three doe came cruising out from my left and were working towards the corn. I wanted to be able to see all the deer, to make sure there were no fawns before I shot the front doe. Once I could see them all, I knew the front doe looked like the oldest and I made the call to shoot her just before she got to the corn. This is where I went wrong. Because she was just a step from being in the corn, I got rushed, quickly drew, bleated with my mouth, set the pin and fired. But I didn’t take the neccessary time to calm down, aim small and focus on my form.

My shot was high, I spined her and she went right to the ground. Honestly at this point I panicked, I felt horrible and as quickly as possible I followed up with another arrow to put her down for the count. I know this happens, but it was the first time for me and I just felt awful about it. It was difficult to see that deer flailing around on the ground and it stuck with me last night when I tried to sleep. What sticks with me the most is that right before I put the killing shot in her, she was staring right at me. Although I am a hunter and I kill deer, I 100% respect the life I am taking and always want to do it as humanely and quickly as possible. The whole process probably didn’t last more than a minute or so, but never-the-less I could have done better and I need to do better.

That being said, in the end I have a doe down and fresh venison for the table. It was truly a weekend of highs and lows, filled with a number of good lessons. First being that things almost never go as planned when hunting and you just need to be ready for that. You can practice all year for a circumstance and stil make mistakes. That being said, in my instance, I realize I need to continue to discipline myself to slow down and really really focus before shooting. Same for Josh, he had  an incredible experience and did a lot of things right when his buck came in, but in the end it was a few inches that kept him from harvesting his buck.

Hunting is a game of inches, miniscule margins for error and a little bit of luck. So if you take anything from my weekend’s tale, it’s that the work can never end and the devil is in the details. Work hard to eliminate even the smallest errors in your hunting set-up, preparation or practice and in the end those small improvements can be the difference between an intense high and a sinking low.

Well I pulled off the California miracle. Stuck in Cali for the fall, it looked like I would have only about 4 days to hunt back in MI. With my short season, any buck was in my sights, but my expectations were low. It wasn’t going to be easy to tag a buck with only a few days to hunt and very little time for preparation, I would have to play my cards perfectly and then hope for a lot of luck. Today I’m excited to say that I made it happen, got ‘er done and got venison in the freezer.

On Saturday morning, November 7, I got settled into my blind at about 6 am. I had a good hour before daylight, but the moon lit up the woods pretty well. Within maybe 20 minutes I had a flagging doe move through, followed by another 3 deer. I was  just able to pick out their sillouhettes as they moved by. 30 minutes after the sun rose, I had another two doe come crashing by and I thought for sure there would be a buck on one of their tails, but still no luck.

Finally at about 8 am, four doe moved in from the East. Long story short, the largest of the four doe moved in my direction and I decided that if she offered a good shot, I would take her. As she moved into about 20 yards, I waited for her to step into my shooting lane, but before drawing I turned my head just a touch, to make sure the other three doe weren’t looking at me. This was a huge mistake. That mature doe instantly spotted my slight movement and immediately locked down on me. Foot stomping, head bobbing, she stared me down for five minutes until finally snorting and running  30 yards off. But curiousity got the best of her and for another 15 minutes her and the other doe circled around me trying to pick up my scent or catch me making another move. They failed on both accounts.

Well as I’m frozen with my bow held up and these four doe eying me down, I spot movement from the North. Here comes a buck, headed right towards the doe and I. But of course, things have to be difficult. Seeing these four doe being so uneasy, he takes an interest in what I might be. So now I have four doe and a buck, stomping, staring and trying to wind me. Luckily, I didn’t flinch and I had gone to great lengths to control my scent. After maybe 30 minutes of this, the matriarch doe finally turned to leave and the other three doe followed. Immediately the buck lost interest in me and turned to follow the doe. He stepped into my shooting lane at about 25 yards and my mind turned to mush.

I always seem to stop consciously thinking when shot opportunities occur, my body just moves. My bow was drawn and a slight bleat came from my lips, stopping the buck broadside. My shot connected behind the shoulder, albeit a little high, with a loud thud and the buck took off like a bat out of hell. He busted through the brush along a hillside for about a 100 yards and then crashed like a ton of bricks, just out of eye sight.

I nervously waited half an hour and then crept out of my blind to check the spot of impact. Although I never did find the arrow, what I did come upon was a blood trail straight out of a h0rror movie. The 2 blade Rage lived up to the hype and absolutely blasted through this deer. After waiting another hour, I headed to where I heard him drop and spotted him laying a little over a 100 yards from my blind.

This is no Pope & Young monster deer, he’s a young 6 point buck, but still a trophy in my eyes. My season was short and dependent on a lot of things going right, if I wanted to harvest any deer at all. Although I don’t want to typically take young deer like this, given the circumstances, I was more than happy to fling an arrow through this 6 pointer. I consider myself lucky and blessed to have been able to have the opportunity to take this buck and I can’t wait to eat some back straps!

More to come soon on what I learned from this hunt, how my new gear worked and what the keys to my success were.

18 year old, Wired To Hunt fan Calvin Beeke recently bagged a bomber 10 point buck in Grand Rapids, MI. This is coincidentally my home town as well an area I like to hunt, so I was particularly excited to see this great deer taken in my area. Here’s Calvin’s deer hunting story told in his own words.

It was Oct. 5,  near Grand Rapids, MI. The deer started moving too late and the first deer, a mature doe,
spooked when she came up behind us, as did the second deer we
never saw. I was videoing my dad, who was in the stand below me.
Our goal was to shoot a nice doe on camera. With about 10 minutes
of shooting light left a nice doe walked out at 20 yards. Although I
had a perfect opening my dad had no chance being 6 feet below me.
Another five minutes went by and I hit the grunt tube 3 times, and got
no reaction from the doe out in the field. That is when I heard something
coming through the swamp at a trot. It was the first time I had grabbed
my bow all night. I knew the deer was heading toward the same trail where
my Dad had no shooting lane. I quickly clipped on my release and pulled back
just as the deer came trotting in. With a quick grunt I stopped him instantly.
I touched the trigger resting the 30 yard pin behind his shoulder. He ran less
than 30 yards through the thick swamp. Because of the darkness and only
seeing the deer for a couple seconds, I thought I had just shot a 4 or 6 point.
All I knew is that it had antlers. I was pleasantly surprised to see my first bowkill
that would score over 100″. Here in Michigan it is extremely hard to shoot a
buck of that caliber when your in a very pressured area and bucks are mostly
nocturnal. I guess I got a bit lucky too!

Congrats Calvin on a great buck! Calvin also runs the facebook page Michigan Whitetail Pursuit, check it out!

If you have a great deer hunting story you would like featured on Wired To Hunt, send your story and pictures to wiredtohunt(at)gmail(dot)com.