DS19 Part 30: My City Was Gone

Halloween. Where did October go? My season isnt going as planned. Things were going right until I had to go to Mexico for a week and then it's been slow going. But tomorrow is November and we all get a clean slate.

I was born in Ohio and lived there till we moved to northern Michigan when I was 14. I hated Michigan at first, but then I went back to Ohio and it wasnt as great as I remembered it. I learned to hate the buckeye state. Flat, boring, bad drivers, crime and drugs everywhere. My parents moved back when I was in my mid 20's for work, I stayed in MI, took a job in the adirondacks for 5 years, then came back to northern MI. This is home.

Tomorrow I go back, again, for my second hunting trip there as an adult.  I'm leaving after work, should land super late at night, then I'm gonna get up early and check the trail cams I set in July. Then I'm gonna speed scout 3 or 4 properties, and if time permits, do an observation sit in the evening.  Jason is driving up from Georgia to meet me and should land in the late afternoon.  Then I'm cooking chicken enchiladas for dinner and hunting dusk to dawn through the 11th, then I'm gonna go visit my dad for a couple days until I have to come back to work on the 14th. 

Got that pretenders song stuck in my head, its gonna be the anthem tomorrow, at least until I get to where I'm going, and then it'll be bluegrass and banjos.

DS19 Part 29: PRC Archery Deer Camp

Weekend deer camp was awesome. Saw some deer out of range, some elk, a bald eagle and a bunch of small game. Ate like kings and really enjoyed the time in camp.  I'm looking ahead to next week's trip to Ohio deer camp.

cast iron chilli

Making deer camp great again

Low 20's at night, but no worries

Home sweet home

DS19 Part 28: Crazy Quiet

Hit some hill country tonight. We had a light west wind forecast so I guesstimated that there may be a buck bedded on the east side of this hill, and that deer would be traveling that east side to take advantage of rising thermals and the leeward wind direction.

The original plan was to keep circling and come up the north side to about the upper third elevation but it was just too dang quiet. I decided to just get just out of sight from where I thought the deer might be bedded, just downhill from a little bench that pops out. I also had to wait until the sun dropped and the leeward side was shaded, hoping to make my way up on a falling thermal. It all went great, really, though it took forever to keep the deer from hearing me. Even moving along at a snails pace, the crackling leaves under my feet sounded like I was crumpling up a bag of chips.

Squirrels were out in force. The ground in this area is covered in acorns and they fell throughout the hunt. I am benched till next weekend, then its archery deer camp with a bunch of buddies. Then the following weekend I head to OH for 13 days. Probably going to adopt a brown it's down attitude next weekend.

DS19 Part 27: The Marsh

I scouted a spot this spring that looked pretty promising. Finally got the right wind for it today and scouted my way in. This spot is the southern edge of a large stand of hardwood hills where they transition into pines, then into a tag alder marsh, a creek, then pines and aspen. Stiff south breeze gave me good sound cover going in. Stayed about 40yds off the transition line and was looking for either heavily used trails or fresh buck sign coming out of the bedding.

Love this time of year 

Came across a nice rub and a small, fresh scrape without a licking branch over it. Didnt feel right so I kept moving. Got on a better runway and almost stepped on a monster clump of buck poop on a lightly used runway coming out of the tags. I slowed down and 40yds east of it was a heavier used runway coming out. The best tree I could find was centered in between them, but with all the pine branches everywhere, my best option was to only be about 6' up. I hung my stand and was settled in by 4pm. Sat till 5pm and just wasnt feeling like I made the right call so I jumped down, packed up and followed the runways into the tags. I felt like I was close to bedding but not close enough. I also felt like I needed to bump a deer to confirm I was in the ballpark. Next thing you know other heavier runs converged, and converged, and converged and just before the creek it was basically a very well worn run skirting the edge of a bog the deer didnt want to walk through.

About 40yds before the creek I j-hooked off the runway and set up so I could shoot anything coming by before it got my ground scent. To do that, I had to walk across the super spongy, wet bog the deer were skirting around, and I found out why they were avoiding it.  I had to do the sideways step thing to catch grass under my feet to keep me from sinking. There was about three to five inches of standing water where I needed to set up to use the creek as a shooting lane so I laid my stand under my pack and used my pack to sit on. Worked pretty good, though my feet were in about an inch of water. Was expecting them to start sleeping in water but the goretex liner kept my feet dry.

The stand kept my pack mostly out of the water and the lumbar pad on my pack made for a nice seat cushion.

Heard deer moving just out of sight upwind but never saw them. Also pretty sure I heard a buck grunt about 50yds west of me. But that was it. It was dark around 7 and I hiked out. Really enjoyed this hunt

My view of the creek crossing

DS19 Part 26: Finding the Zone

Got back from Mexico yesterday and am trying to get back in the hunting zone, you know, that place you get once you've been out in the woods almost every day and you start to go all spirit of the wild, and shit.  You stop feeling like you're some hobbyist and start feeling like an actual predator.  You're one with the deer's universe.

The same phenomena exists in trout fishing.  I remember Josh writing about it, and if I remember right, he said that he starts to feel it after a few weeks of every day fishing.  I remember reading it, thinking I knew what he was talking about.  I fished a lot, three or four days a week at a minimum.  But then I started guiding and even though I didn't have daily bookings I felt like I needed to be on the water every day so in case someone booked a trip, I would know what was going on and put them on fish.  And then I experienced what he was talking about.

"Get ready, there is a nice fish rising off the right bank 30yds downstream."  I told my client while maneuvering my drift boat for the anchor drop.  It was 11:30pm and pitch black and even in the abyss of a starless northern Michigan night, I could see him look back at me like I was smoking crack.

"I don't see or hear anything," he whispered

"GLOOP!"  one large and one small white air bubble bobbed to the surface where the fish just sucked a bug beneath the surface.

"Oh!"  he whispered excitedly.  I could feel the boat rock slightly as he shifted his feet in preparation for the cast.

It was a good fish, a leopard-spotted brown probably 21 or 22-inches long, the first of three fish over 20-inches in the boat that night.

I didn't have night vision or super hearing, but I knew where every fish in that river was- and several other rivers, and when it was on, or it wasn't, or one of those weird nights that starts out on fire but quickly sizzles out, or the opposite where it starts out super slow then builds into a feeding frenzy, I could feel what kind of night we were going to be into before we finished the casting lesson if it was a guided trip or before the first beer was drank on solo or friend trips.

Knowing where the fish are is a nice trick to have up your sleeve, but it didn't guarantee fish in the net.   I would often joke that I was a guide, not a god- a line I stole from a bumper sticker I'd seen out in NY- and it was true.   You can't make them eat.  You can teach anyone to cast, but some people aren't meant to fish.  And you can't control what other anglers are going to do around you.

There was one particular night where that last point really came to fruition unlike any other.  Hex season was a few days in and there were two really nice browns that none of my clients were able to hook.  These two fish came up every night on the same seam, 25yds apart.  My friend John had not been having a slow trout season to that point and I knew he could hook one of those fish, and if we played out cards right, I could hook the other.  We rowed past all sorts of good water and I put the boat to rest right where it needed to be for the bottom fish.

We sat back, smoked cigarettes, and waited for it to get dark.  After the sun set, the bottom fish started to rise.  As John was working the fish, the upstream fish started to rise, also.  Everything was going according to plan, except that bottom fish wasn't cooperating.  After four or five drifts, it went down and we decided to reposition the boat so that John could try for the top fish who was still rising.

We spotted another boat coming downstream at us.  We were pretty close to the end of the float and John remarked it was a little early to see someone being done for the night.  Maybe they weren't chasing the hex hatch, I wondered.  As the boat got closer, I recognized it was another area guide.

He was a friend, but our friendship was on the rocks.  He used to be John's friend, too, but had stolen a fly pattern that John created and submitted it to a catalog and renamed it after himself, so John had stopped talking to him.  I was kind of ready to do the same after he had recently submitted a photo I had taken to a local magazine and claimed it as his own a week or two before.  A month before that, I had a client that wanted to book a four-person double boat trip through me, which I was going to have this other guide help out with.  The client had two of his group back out, and the trip fell through, but the client told me that after, this other guide reached out to him to do just a single boat trip.  Strike two.   Despite all that, I wasn't ready to cut him out of my life.

He had a sport in the bow and when he reached us, I politely said hi and asked if he was rowing out for the night.  He was, a few sentences of small talk later he was downstream of us and rowing away as John and I quickly snickered back and forth when it became obvious that he didn't know the hex hatch had started yet.  And just when he was almost around the next bend, that bottom fish rose.  The other guide dug in hard on the oars.  John looked back at me, and I looked back at him.  The look on our faces was the same, and one that said, "I can't fucking believe what I'm seeing."

This guy rowed back upstream and dropped anchor, maybe 20yds downstream of us, and was now set up on the bottom fish.  It was completely silent on the river, but the tension was deafening.  Strike three.

The other boat rowing upstream had put the top fish down, and the bottom fish hadn't come back up yet from that initial rise. I didn't say a word to John, then lifted my anchor for a few seconds, putting my boat right next to the other.

"Is that a client in the boat?"  I asked.  I was sure it was, but wanted to make sure.  He said it was, which meant I wasn't going to cuss.  Looking back, I have no idea why I was still being so nice.

Because he had a client, I was trying not to cuss.

"Dude, what you just did was a major party foul.  You don't low hole someone like that.  You didn't even know those fish were here, you were done for the night and the fishing is just getting started, do you even know what the hell you're doing?" 

Not cussing was making it really hard for me to communicate, so I just stopped talking.  I made a short motion towards my anchor rope to leave but remembered I really had to piss.  I aggressively climbed up over the rear casting brace on my drift boat, rocking the boat hard and sending a wave into the other boat.  My stearn was a few feet upstream of his stearn, and I stood there for a second before leaning my knees against the gunnel for balance, facing the other boat's direction.  I whipped it out, and pissed the loudest, most bubbly, satisfying piss of my life directly upstream of his boat.

Not a word was spoken by anyone while all this was happening.  I rocked the boat hard again as I came back to the rower's seat, lifted the anchor rope, and away John and I went.  John asked him how much time he spent developing that fly as we drifted away.  Looking back on the whole thing, it felt like something out of Stephen King's, Stand By Me.

Looks like we have a westerly wind this week, that works out well for a few of my spots.  Time to get back in the zone.

DS19 Part 25: Ghillie Suiting It

Hit an old apple orchard tonight in the ghillie suit.  Spot and stalk is probably one of my favorite ways to hunt deer.  I picked up a ghillie suit from allpredatorcalls.com and hope it will really help my ground hunting game.

I saw a couple does close to last light.  Not a lot of apples left.  I did find some other sign that looks worth hunting, but it will have to wait as I have to leave for another work trip this week, this time I'll be in Mexico.   Looking forward to some good food, but already can't wait to get back.

DS19 Part 24: Master Baiters

Made a big loop south of where I planned to hunt and circled in off wind of where I suspected deer might be bedding. Watched a group of ORV's drive by and could hear them motoring around for the first hour or two of the evening.  Sure would be nice if the DNR would enforce the area for ORV use which isn't allowed.

Came across a pop up blind with 10' shooting lanes cut 50yds in every direction from it like wheel spokes along the way. Thought it was a rifle blind but would be proven wrong later in the hunt when a group of guys came in during PRIME time to bait it. Guessing its set up for crossbow hunting. But let's focus on the positive.

Wind was light to gusty out of the SE with occasional switches out of the NW. I came across a fresh rub 50yds south of where I hung my stand. Only went up about 8 to 10 feet into some good cover between two bug pine boughs. The tree was way bigger than I usually go up but it was in the right spot. If it were 1/2 an inch bigger the straps on my sticks wouldnt have made it around.

The view to my left

View to my right

Had a red squirrel keep me company most of the night. Saw no deer.

About 7pm I think I hear voices. Then its obvious people were talking south of me. Then it was like I could hear their conversation. They were talking so loud it was like they were afraid of bears or something. They were walking towards the pop up blind. I decided to stick it out, maybe they would push something my way. 20 minutes later I can hear them coming back. It clicked that they were baiting their blind. Not sure why they would choose prime time on a saturday night to do it, but whatever. I was frustrated and started packing up.

Oh yeah, I forgot, the positive... I learned a lot about the wind in this spot. Probably went through two full pods of milkweed. It would blow NW from my spot at the opposite point, then about halfway, it would turn 90 degrees to the right. What was happening was the wind was hitting that other point and shifting around it like water hitting a boulder in the river. It was really cool to watch and is something I can use to my advantage at other spots in the future, cause it's highly unlikely I ever go back to this one.

Still on the fence about reporting them to the DNR for the shooting lanes and baiting.  But honestly, I'm tired of being told to report wrongdoing whenever I see it.  How about the DNR puts some more conservation officers in the woods so they aren't spread so thin and people don't have to report stuff?

DS19 Part 23: Apples

Awesome hunt this morning! Used onx to get about where I thought I needed to be in the dark at a spot I had only scouted online. Curled up on the ground in my ghillie suit by a small patch of aspen trees. Grey light comes and apple trees start to materialize in front of me, to the sides, and behind me.  Felt like I hit the lottery!

Didnt see any bucks but I had a group of four doe's come through at about 25yds around 830. Walking out I passed even more apple trees, must have been an old orchard or something that is now mostly overgrown on the edge of a cedar swamp. No buck sign or large tracks but I left a trail camera behind to see who else lives there. Just got home, eating lunch, gonna watch the beginning of the Michigan game and head back out for the evening hunt.

DS19 Part 22: Soccer Mom Wheels

Still waiting for my new driveshaft to arrive but got a loaner vehicle from the best mother-in-law ever to get me by till I fix my car. Gonna be rocking a mini van...

Pulled a deer tick out of my hip tonight. Normally dont have to worry about ticks past september around here, that'll teach me not to check. This week has been one bummer after another. Hopefully it didnt give me anything cause I gotta go to mexico for work next week and I dont wanna come down with something in a third world country.

 Gonna take the ghillie suit and hunt on the ground in the morning. Excited to see what this spot looks like in person. Still not sure what I want to do for tomorrow evening's sit.

DS19 Part 21: Broken Driveshaft

Couldnt hunt tonight, my car is out of commission. Never heard a vehicle make sounds like this, sounds like something is gonna come through the floor. Driveshaft went, cancelled my time off tomorrow and friday, trying to figure out how to fix the car and hunt on saturday.

DS19 Part 20: Opening Day

Day one, not sure where to begin. I guess let me start with me spending 30 minutes looking for my keys this morning, and finding them in the middle of the living room floor after walking past them 18 times. Got to work late, left at noon and headed for the thermal hub spot.

It's about an hour and fifteen minutes away. I had high hopes, rocked a motley crue CD all the way there. Get about two miles away from where I need to park and the road is impassable. ORV's had it destroyed.  Plan B. I drove in reverse about half a mile till I found a spot I could turn around. Drove to the west side of the section and walked in the long way. Saw a bald eagle flying around, that was cool. Get to about 100yds from the spot that looked good on the map and there is a doe standing there looking at me.

She is just right of center I need her to leave but I dont want her to run in the direction she came from so I walk towards her, but kind of at an angle towards where I dont want her to go. It works. She blows and takes off. I go into scouting mode. There were acorns dropping, so many in places it was like walking on marbles. There are also beechnuts galore near the beach trees. I am on the top of a hub and am tempted to stay there but know if I'm going to see the bucks I got earlier in the year on trail camera during daylight, that I need to get close to their bedroom.

Wind is supposed to be out of the NW switching to the north later in the evening. It's supposed to be raining with possible thunderstorms. Instead, its overcast and the wind is all over the place, and very light. Milkweed falls to the ground and then swirls around like its lost. I'm in trouble. But I see a super subtle runway about 1/5 of the way down and it leads me to a fresh rub going from food to bedding. Then another, then another, then another.

I am still not sure exactly where bedding is but I guesstimate I am about 100yds away. It takes me nearly an hour to cover the next 50yds and I decided it was time to find a tree. The family of raccoons I kept getting on camera walks by without seeing me. I hang my sticks, climb up and hang my stand, go to put my tree strap around the tree and my bad day throws another haymaker at me. Left the tree strap in the car when I switched my gear from my backpack to fanny pack so I could keep things simple. Shot showing where I was pointing at where the bedding area is roughly 50yds away

The wind is shifting even more than it has been at this point so I decide to salvage the rest of the evening and spend it scouting. I found some nice sign, including sign that the beds I found in August are still being used.

There was a little bit of hair in each,  upon closer examination, a few looked like wind based night beds to me. That was about it, I'm pooped, gonna sleep like a baby tonight. Watching the weather for tomorrow, nice cold front and an ENE wind. I think that is about perfect for the amoeba marsh so I'm heading for the swamp!