Here are a few of my successes:
This is a nice 11-point buck that I'm
getting mounted. I shot him this year- the fall of 2001 with my bow.
The shot was about 6 yards from the ground and I spined him. The coolest
part was that he was with a buck that was even bigger, but that buck spotted
me while he was about 20 yards away, so I couldn't take the shot on him.
He's kind of bloody in this pic- I had to finish him off after the spine
shot. The picture is taken in the woods.
This is a small buck I shot "accidentally" in
Battle Creek. It came out from some brush through some tall canary grass-
I got a good look at about 100 yards, but due to the canary grass I didn't
see the rack. Thinking it was a doe, when he went into some brush about 70 yards away, I finally
had a clear shot of his chest. I shot, he dropped, then I found out it
was a three point. I took this November 16, 2001. The picture
is taken at my parent's house.
This is a big 9 point my dad (Howard) shot on the last day of muzzle loader season in 1999. I pushed
through the same piece in which I shot the three-point above, and this bruiser
came sneaking out. Dad took him with a shot through the upper neck,
and dropped him on the spot. Needless to say, he's hanging on the wall.
It was a great year for him. Until the previous couple of years dad
was always walking through the pieces, hoping to help his sons get a shot
at a deer. For the couple of years previous I had been reversing the
role- always hoping and praying for dad to get a shot at a nice buck.
He has worked so hard for us to get deer, but he never wanted to sit himself.
He's a great guy. Well, also, earlier during this year we pushed a
piece of public land in Allegan, and he shot a nice 10 point, then on the
last day of muzzle loader he took this monster. It's great to see what
goes around comes around.
Here's a doe I shot at the cabin with my new bow- a Hoyt. So far it shoots great. This was the first deer harvested at the cabin, which is up near Bitely.
Here's a six point and an unusually colored coyote I shot at the cabin on opening day 2001. A small buck, but the coyote was awesome- I'm getting him mounted. Very unusual color and big (as you'll see in the next pic).
You can't read the tape very well, but this yodel dog is 4 feet from nose to tail. He's a big one with an unusual color.
This is the smallest deer I have ever taken. It came out with two big does, and it was so small I had to take it. I love the good eaters! Turns out it was stunted- it had a broken leg that was healing, so obviously it didn't get enough nourishment this fall.
Here's the way I carried this little fella out- it only weighed about 30 lbs. Quite humorous. I very much doubt it would have made it through the winter. A deer this small obviously wouldn't take much stress...
Here are some geese from a late season hunt. We wound up with 17. It was a great day!
Here are my bucks from the 2003 season. I shot them within about 20 minutes of each other on opening day evening.
Here's another photo of them.