ROA Editor
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| A small doe followed the forkhorn Nov. 16. |
The Michigan regular firearms season for white-tailed deer ended Saturday, Nov. 30, with me in the rack and not in the stand, which shouldn't surprise anyone since I noted this would likely happen in a previous post.
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| Sitting along a funnel Nov. 27. |
It was one of the four times out of 12 total I was out in October and November since the season started that I didn't see deer.
That was OK though because I got off my duff and tried the somewhat nearby Monroe County public land and gathered plenty of intel for future hunts.
So, for the most part, I was satisfied with what I saw despite seeing mostly smallish deer, button bucks in particular. However this could mean good things for the Sanilac County camp I hunt on for the upcoming years. As long as they make it through the late antlerless firearms, which runs from Dec. 23 to Jan. 1, 2014.
As far as mature bucks go, I did not see any, so obviously there weren't any opportunities for shots. The best opportunity came in the late afternoon of Nov. 16 when I grunted in a forkhorn. That was fun. I saw him through the brush from the fixed blind where I was stationed for that hunt. He was about 25 yards to the right, and he backed away to circle closer downwind. When he appeared he was noon high in a wide-open clearing for what would have been a slam-dunk.
But at the camp, there is a three-point-to-a-side restriction, and additionally, I didn't want to incur landowner King George's wrath or even settle for something that small so early into the season.
Get deeper say into December somewhere else during muzzleloader or late archery, and I would have to think about it. Especially if it was a manly hunt with blowing snow or other similar weather conditions.
Reflecting now I'm happy with the take so far. The fat doe in the freezer I shot Nov. 18 will provide many tasty venison meals.
Once again, the freezer-packer (Mossberg 695 rifled slug gun) and I were able to get the job done with a split-second crossing shot while on watch in another fixed blind to the west part of the camp. She and two of her pals were moving pretty good, probably because of the winds -- some gusting to 35 mph that evening. I was able to "nehhhhh" her to enough of a stop and put a Hornady SST slug in the boiler room. She went 40 yards or less.
Really, this time of year, the "smart" strategy would have been to wait and see if a buck was what was chasing them but the window for legal shooting light was rapidly slipping away. By the time the love-struck brute -- if there was one -- came in it likely would have been too late.
In the end, I'm happy with the call.
***
Moving along to a possibly controversial commentary, I would like to say a little bit about the rise in our ranks of women hunters.
In a Nov. 25 column by our outdoor columnist at The Blade, Matt Markey, he cited the number of females taking to the woods and fields for wild game increased 25 percent from 2005 to 2011.
That's a pretty significant jump.
I welcome their entry into this great and time-honored tradition.
However, here is where I stray. I'm so sick of how defensive and petty the ladies get -- in particular on Facebook -- over their contrived perceptions that a guy is talking down to them by offering a suggestion, or how they constantly have to lift their statures by "showing us men up."
The only ones making it a females vs. males' thing are the ladies.
At 30 in 1993, I started rather late into hunting by most estimations. I never had a older mentor of any sort to guide me on the finer points of chasing white-tails or turkeys in the great outdoors as a youngster.
How I learned was by humbling myself and asking lots of questions from fellow colleagues and by reading whatever I could on the subjects. And there were a lot of trials and errors for sure.
Had I scoffed at the suggestions or tips offered up over the years, I'm positive I would be worse off.
Now, I'm hardly suggesting I'm a Jim Shockey or an Eddie Salter, but I do OK, and I am proud of my accomplishments. Nor am I jealous of kills by women, for I laud any trophy animal taken legally by a man, a woman or a youth; or a well-experienced hunter, a physically challenged person, a lucky doofus or a novice, because I know the effort that goes into being successful.
And I will be sure to say, "Well done," to the female hunters who can be appreciative and grateful without displaying a chip on their shoulder.
But for you ladies who want to keep behaving snotty, I hope the next buck you shoot at jumps your string and comes under my stand, I won't miss.
However, here is where I stray. I'm so sick of how defensive and petty the ladies get -- in particular on Facebook -- over their contrived perceptions that a guy is talking down to them by offering a suggestion, or how they constantly have to lift their statures by "showing us men up."
The only ones making it a females vs. males' thing are the ladies.
At 30 in 1993, I started rather late into hunting by most estimations. I never had a older mentor of any sort to guide me on the finer points of chasing white-tails or turkeys in the great outdoors as a youngster.
How I learned was by humbling myself and asking lots of questions from fellow colleagues and by reading whatever I could on the subjects. And there were a lot of trials and errors for sure.
Had I scoffed at the suggestions or tips offered up over the years, I'm positive I would be worse off.
Now, I'm hardly suggesting I'm a Jim Shockey or an Eddie Salter, but I do OK, and I am proud of my accomplishments. Nor am I jealous of kills by women, for I laud any trophy animal taken legally by a man, a woman or a youth; or a well-experienced hunter, a physically challenged person, a lucky doofus or a novice, because I know the effort that goes into being successful.
And I will be sure to say, "Well done," to the female hunters who can be appreciative and grateful without displaying a chip on their shoulder.
But for you ladies who want to keep behaving snotty, I hope the next buck you shoot at jumps your string and comes under my stand, I won't miss.
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