November 15 is of course, opening day of firearm season here in Michigan, is not just a day to hunt...but is even more than that...a family tradition for all of us to hunt together at my father-in-law's 50 acres. And the night before is a traditional get-together of craziness and fun where we all get in the deer hunting mood by watching "Escanaba in da Moonlight" together...and being just downright crazy. It is not just fun...it is tradition! We all spend the night and then get up early on opening day to my mother-in-law even making us breakfast...which I am so thankful for...because she has to get up around 3:30 or 4:00 or so to do this. (Mom, you are amazing...and we are blessed!) Anyway, the buck pole had some "ven" hanging in it this day, thanks to my brother-in-law, Matt, who kept life interesting by making family history and getting 2 bucks in the same opening day. (see pics below). It was great! The rest of us produced no deer...but were able to still have fun vicariously with Matt's success. (wow...bet you didn't know I knew that word...did ya?)
Caleb, Emily, Zack and I all got up on Saturday morning, Nov. 19 to hunt the first Saturday of the firearm season together. After a quiet first hour or so on the stand, I got a text from Caleb asking for help in tracking a buck he had shot. I had heard some shooting in the area, but none sounded close enough to be Caleb. Nevertheless, I got down from my stand...since I had spooked most all the deer in the area getting into my stand about an hour earlier anyway, and headed Caleb's direction to help with the tracking (by the way, Caleb is color blind and cannot see a blood trail...which is extremely sad for an avid hunter like himself...but it keeps him needing me...which makes me feel good and lets me in on the fun too). Anyway, on my way over to where Caleb was hunting, I kicked up a pretty good size buck and saw him running in the direction of where Zack and Emily were sitting. Keep that in mind...because I will come back to this big buck in a little while...since I needed to get over and help Caleb track the buck he had shot.
I came back by the house on my way to Caleb's stand, and Emily had already come in from hunting...and she said she was going with me to help track the buck Caleb had shot. So Em and I headed that way. When we got there, Caleb showed us where the buck was when he took the shot and which way he had run...and there was no sign of blood in any of those areas...even after 15 to 20 minutes of looking. Caleb was sure he hit it, but thought he saw signs of his shot hitting further back on the deer towards the hind quarter...and he saw the deer limping as it ran away. As most of you reading this will know...this is not a good sign. If you don't have a blood trail and the deer is only wounded, and not in the vitals...well, you don't have much of a chance of finding your deer..unless, you get real lucky and stumble upon it after it has had time to lay down and possibly lose enough blood to die...or you come up with a plan. I actually believe it was a God-sent plan...because I didn't really even think about it...it just kinda came out of my mouth as an instant plan...so I can't really take the credit. Anyway, after finding zero blood and looking around the area... which I just happen to know quite well, after 22 years of hunting these woods...I told Caleb he needed to make a very wide circle around these woods to a certain point on a trail on the far side of the woods where he could see up one trail and down another and possibly get a shot at his wounded deer we would try to drive to him as Emily and I slowly made our way towards where Caleb was going to be.
Emily and I continued to look for any signs of blood we may have missed while we gave Caleb enough time to get around to the far side of the woods I had told him about. When he got there and neither Emily or I had found any signs of blood or even signs of the deer stumbling through the woods...we began our drive in the direction the deer had gone and also the direction of where we believed he would lay down next if he were wounded. This was a spot I had found deer bedded often and a couple of times in similar situations to this one where I was following a blood trail to some thicker cover where the deer had stopped. About the same time Emily and I got to this thicker area of the woods I looked down the hill and saw Caleb sprinting down the trail I had sent him to. He was running full bore on up ahead in the direction we were heading and supposed the deer to be heading. I turned to Em and said, "I'll bet Caleb is chasing that deer we probably just kicked up." About the same time I said it, we heard a single shotgun blast. A few seconds later, we heard Caleb yelling for us. It worked. Caleb had seen the buck about the same time he had seen us, out ahead of us a little bit, running through woods. When we had seen Caleb sprinting up the trail he was trying to get out ahead of the deer so he could take a shot as it came running by him. As luck would have it...the buck ran within 20 yards of him and even stopped. When it stopped though, it stopped with a tree between them. Caleb even took a step to one side so he could get a shot off and the buck did not run. Caleb made a good shot...and then yelled for Emily and I and the celebration began. A couple pictures taken with Caleb and the deer and then Emily and Caleb and the deer and then dragging the deer back onto our property (since it had run off of camp property and onto the adjoining golf course property)...and all that was left was the gutting...but that would have to wait.
Sorry, I am not done yet...remember, there is still another nice buck in the woods and headed towards Zack, who is still on his stand.
Just as soon as Caleb and I drug his deer back into the woods of our property, Emily and I high-tailed it back towards the part of the property where I had seen this nice buck disappear into the woods. We had Caleb take a different route through the woods just in case the buck had veered off the course towards Zack, and then Caleb might be able to drive him back Zack's way. Emily and I split up once we arrived to the point I had last seen the buck head into the woods, and I was reminded of his size when I saw his hoof print in the open dirt of the road where he had crossed. He was indeed a nice size buck and was worth a little effort on our part to see if we could get him to head towards Zack. I headed straight into the thick cover of the woods where he had run and I sent Em on around to the opposite side where there was a trail part of the way and then some open woods she could walk through towards where we would eventually meet up close to Zack's stand. There were deer in this part of the woods alright, and Emily let me know that 4 doe had run between her and I...but no buck. There was still hope. I kept pushing into the thicker cover...until my phone vibrated. Caleb had received a call from Zack telling him that a beautiful...or rather "majestic" 10-point had just run past his stand at warp speed...with a doe out in front of him. Zack said there was no way he could have got a shot off...and in hind sight we are all glad he did not even attempt to shoot a big mature buck on the run anyway, with the chance of a wounding shot being so great. Zack told us which way he had run and we made an attempt to try and drive him back, but I am thinking he probably didn't stop running til he hit the corn fields that were just beyond our swamp. We all met up at Zack's stand and heard how awesome this buck had been and how close he had come and how fast he was running. We all had some mixed feelings. The drive itself had been fun. It had brought some excitement our way, even if it was mixed with some regret of not being able to bag this big buck. Another "big one that got away" story to tell.
I told Zack later in the day that I have several similar images etched in my memory of the same type of bucks that I have encountered over the years...that were also big ones I had a close encounter with that got away, and I let him know that he will be replaying that scene in his memory for quite a few years to come.
All in all, it was a great day...one I will remember for a long time...and always be thankful for being able to enjoy with my kids.
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