Deer Camp

[EdB]

Anybody headed off to deer camp this season? I'm packed and off tonight. I have a long drive, about 45 miles to the other end of the county. Not many deer camps in southern MI but ours has been going on for about 10 years. It's in right in the middle and part of the Spring Brook Deer Co-Op. There is a nice crop of nice bucks this year. A big steak and baked potatoe dinner tonight will kick it off. It sure is nice to sleep a bit longer and just walk out the door and head to our stands. I'm not coming home until Nov 25. This is going to be the longest day at work all year.

Good luck everyone!

[Treblemaker]

Good luck Ed and have a great trip!

[tltorrice]

Ed, I am up in Welston with some friends from Chelsea. We have been coming up here for about 3 years now. Good Luck.

TT

[GLF]

I do not go off to deer camp. I am fortunate to be able to hunt 70 acres, 10 minutes from my house in S.W. Michigan. We have 6.5 acres, and my neighbor has 20 that I can hunt.

This morning I am going to slip out back to see what I can see.

Good luck to all.

[Treblemaker]

I've got you beat Ed. Today will be the longest day ever for me.

[Priority1]

GL to all the Deer Hunters. I got away from deer hunting 9 years ago, when I sold my place in St. Charles. When I walked out the basement door I was hunting. I do miss it but it would be tough for me to hunt any other way.

[EdB]

It was a great deer camp this year. Everybody could have tagged a buck opening day but none were shooters for the adults and all walked. We planned to pass on all 1-1/2 year old deer and did. I saw over 50 deer on opening day and 4 bucks. Some may have been the same deer at different times. The two kids in camp that never killed a deer had the green light from us to shoot any buck. My 13 yr old nephew got a 9 point on opening day and that led to a great celebration! I had bucks in the crosshairs under 50 yards on Thur, Fri, Sat, Mon, Wed, Fri and Sat night. Most were small but on Monday I had a real big buck in the crosshairs but he was about 100 yards out and moving through brush. He stopped a few times but never in an opening. There was no good shot and I didn't pull the trigger. I saw another nice shooter on Wed well out of range. I took a 2-1/2 year old 7 point Sat night. He was a year away from being awesome and next year I'm going try to restrain myself on deer that age. I saw about 20 deer, mostly does on this past weekend. On Sunday, I let one of the kids hunt my stand. He went in a 10:00AM and nice shooter walked right by tracking 2 does about 10:20. I wish he could have been there for a shot. My buddy watched them from another stand. We had good deer movement the whole time. No doe punching for us in regular gun season and the neighbors don't either so they don't get spooked too bad in our neck of the woods. We'll fill some doe tags in December to thin them out some. Thank God for the piece of land I get to hunt and the neighbors who cooperate. Here's a pic:

[Toxic]

Man you guys are lucky to have such nice areas to hunt at. I hunt a 200 acre farm in West Virginia. The deer are real thick there as well. And there isn't a lot of pressure on the deer. I shot two does, my buddy and his 10yr old shot a doe a piece and their cousin shot a nice 8pt in two days of hunting. The landowner encourages doe harvesting and who am I to say no to meat in the freezer.

Us Ohioans are so lucky on deer this year. We had such bad weather for the first day. It rained so hard I saw Noah's Ark floating down the river. The rest of the week was windy with 20-30+mph winds. The numbers are down as much as 50% from last years opener. A lot of guys that I've talked to are just not seeing the deer this year. Southern Ohio had a bad case of EHD and it killed a lot of deer. We still have a 2 day second phase deer season 15/16 Dec. and muzzleloader. Good luck to all.