EdB

Here's a pic of our deer camp. There's a bunch of goons.

Deer camp was great for the past week. I just got home tonight after a week of hard hunting and lot's of fun with some awesome friends. The hunting was great, the laughs were hearty, the weather was great most of the time, the food was delicious and the Springbrook Deer Co-Op is showing results. Our property is linked to the 4000+ acres of this co-op in NW Jackson County. Everyone participating is trying to let the small bucks live and grow up some. There are 3 of us staying in camp but we have 1 to 3 other buddies hunt with us through the week. On opening day, we all saw lot's of does and let 5 bucks walk for the 6 guys hunting that day. We only buck hunt during deer camp and harvest does later in the season and in December. We had good action on day 2. Some bigger bucks were spotted but no shooters in range for anyone. On the morning of day 3, by buddy John takes this great 9 point. It is a real nice buck! We have all been seeing some smaller bucks each day and good doe movement. On day 4, I let a small 10 point walk by, he had a little basket rack and was only a 1-1/2 year old. He will be much nicer next year. After he walked by, I see a real nice buck that was a shooter but he stays in some thick stuff and doesn't offer a shot. Deer movement slowed some on Wed, Thurs and Friday morning but we still saw some deer. Someone spots at least one good buck on 6 of the 9 days in camp. Some days multiple shooters were spotted. Those reports back at camp sure kept it exciting. On Friday night, everyone had good deer movement. This buck hops the fence onto our property and heads my way. I let him come into about 50 yards, took the shot and got him. He is decent for a 6 point. Saturday morning deer movement was great and a number of smaller bucks were seen and passed. It looks like quite a few are going to make it to another year. I was a watcher for the rest of the weekend but it was great end to see about 15 does and one 5 pt buck walk by in gun range this morning. It was sad to pack up and come home today. Since the Springbrook Deer Co-Op was started, everyone in the area has been seeing more bigger bucks around. Voluntary deer co-ops between landowners and hunters are a great way to manage your local herd. Good luck everyone still hunting! I'm not done;)

That is a well done mount and a real trophy!

I've dabbled in it but have never put a lot of effort into it or been successful. The yotes around here are increasing their population and I'll probably hunt them harder this winter. Thanks for the links Bill.

Good luck next time on those geese. It was kind of slow for us too. My partner got 2 and I got blanked yesterday. We each got a goose today and he got one duck. We both missed a few shots. At least we had more than a few good laughs in the blind!

A Yeck Wart Frog was an oldie but goodie this season.

Congratulations, even more special taking him with a bow!

I've been hunting hard the last 4 days. Saturday, we took a local conservation legend to the duck blind. Martin is 83 years old and he still hunts a lot. Martin has built 100's, perhaps 1000's of wood duck houses in his lifetime. His design is unusual, he builds them from old water softner tanks. They are all over Jackson county. If you're around this area, you probably have seen a few. He has also banded loads of wood ducks in his lifetime. It was bluebird day and I wasn't expecting much but I was wrong. The duck action was great the first hour and we got 8 ducks for the morning. I bow hunted the evenings and no big deal, does and a couple yearling bucks. Back to the duck blind Sunday, another blue bird day and the ducks acted like it. We only shot 2. We chased pheasants on Monday. It was our worst opener ever and we only flushed one rooster out of range. It's kind of sad to the steady decline of pheasants in our area the last few years. I went to a wood duck marsh the last two evenings by myself. This is a honey hole on state land that doesn't get much pressure. Had some good shooting there and I got 3 wood ducks each night. Looking forward to Saturday AM and hopefully some ducky weather.

Good job guys, way to rack up the bands!

That sure was a great way to beat the August crowds Matt. That was a heck of a nice box too for the time slot you fished.

We had a good opener. My partner and I got 4 geese and 6 ducks. We had our 4 geese by 8:00AM and they keep coming into our spread even after we put the goose calls away. Wish we had a couple more gunners in the blind. Got one nice drake widgeon too, we don't see a lot of them in our neck of the marsh in the central part of the state. We got 4 geese again Sunday but only 2 ducks. A little better shooting would have helped the duck bag that day:rolleyes:

Three bands on the opener-wow! Good shooting! Congratulations!

Those little spinners catch coho's on the south end of the lake in Spring. Orange ones are deadly behind a 2 oz keel weight run off inline boards near the surface. Kings rarely hit them. The kings will hit the 8 inch and 11 inch spinners when the water warms in May off St Joe. There aren't many coho's in Ludington in the spring. They may be worth a try then but I wouldn't load up a spread with them off Ludington that time of year. Overall in the spring, spoons are more effective than spinners, except for coho's, in my opinion.

Mike, Do you winterize it when using heated storage? If not, might want to consider at least draining the block in case we get an ice storm knocking out power in the cold weather months.

The gear is packed, the dekes are stacked and I hope I can get some sleep tonight. Duck season opens tomorrow here and I can't wait! This is the first year in many that I missed the northern openers in our state so the anticipation is burning. Anybody else heading out, let's hear your reports?

My gut is hurting from laughing!

The kid got a doe!!!! I had a blast He was in a ladder stand, I took my light weight spike'n tree stand, locked it in in the dark and sat next to him. I never get excited when a doe comes in but for some reason this morning, my heart was pounding watching it unfold. I spotted her coming in and wispered to Rigel to turn around. He got turned, saw her and got the gun up. She presented a nice broadside at 30 yards, at least from my seat. Rigel said her vitals where behind a tree from his position. I was wispering, shoot, shoot, and she started coming directly at us. She came into 15 yards and you could tell she got a wiff of us or sensed us in the tree and she started to turn around. Rigel shot and dropped her. It was a great morning. I had lot's of fun! We are buck hunting tomorrow!

Anyone going out for the youth hunt this weekend? I'm taking a friends 16 year old, his last year for this hunt. It's rare when I say this but I can't wait for the alarm clock to go off in the morning.

It was a great year with a family milestone. My oldest daughter who is 7 has been on the boat occasionally since she was a baby but usually for short trips in the afternoons. This year she started getting up early with me for the first time for morning trips. She would jump out of bed at 4:15AM and couldn't wait to go. I'd ask her if she wanted to pull lines after the morning flurry and she would want to stay out. Then she couldn't wait to go again the next day. We fished in some big waves and she doesn't get seasick. She could handle the fish ok too. We had some great trips together and she talks about wanting to go all the time now. It melts dads heart. Looks like I might have a new "hardcore" fishing buddy! Also had some primo vacation time with the weather and the fishing all coming together. Tackle losses were way down all year until I lost a probe...ouch. Stuck a hook good one time and had to see the doc. That was a bummer but we made the best of it. First fish of the day and we were a long way out. My buddy called his doc and made a 1:45PM appointment. We cut the hook off, taped it down, I drove the boat and we filled a nice box. I didn't keep count but our overall numbers were probably down a bit but the size was up. No mechanical problems all season! I still have to bring the boat home so probably one more trip before October. I fish hard for 10 months but Oct and Nov are nothing but hunting for me.

Get some good ear plugs and eye protection too. My buddy can't hear as well as I can.

My buddy has a tree service and been doing it for over 25 years. He has used a lot of brands over the years but it's Stihl all the way with him now.

Nice job guys!

To reflect and remember the victim's of 9/11. May they rest in peace, may their families find solace and comfort and may all those responsible receive the justice they deserve.

That's realy cool that you re-lit the fire in you dad Tim! It brings back some memories of fishing with my dad on the pier. My dad lit a fire in me back on the Manistee pier in 1973. We where sure some salmon green horns back then. We had our share of skunks and learned a lot of fishing lessons the hard way. The fire still burns hard. I sure wish he was still here today to go fishing with me but I cherish the memories. Here's wishing you and your dad lot's of new fishing adventures in the coming years!