Early Season Success

Kyle Swart

Date: September 15, 2011

           Finally it was here. What I and every other hunter in Michigan had been waiting 9 months for...deer season. It couldn't have come any sooner this year. I was eager to get out and not only get a deer on the ground, but it had been almost a year since I had been in a treestand.
           The early season is probably one of my favorite times of the year to hunt. The deer are still somewhat predictable and are still in their summer feeding patterns. From what I have learned through experience, deer seem to move more during daylight hours in the early season than they do in any other season, which makes it a good time to get out and hunt before they are pressured and turn seemingly nocturnal.
           It was the 16th of September. The second day of the early firearm doe season here in Michigan. I was bowhunting as usual (yes it is legal to use a bow during a firearm season in MI). I finally had a day off of work so I decided to hit the woods.
         I would be hunting over one of our new food plots, planted with rape and purple top turnips. We had lots of trailcam pictures of deer using this food plot in daylight, so I figured it would be a good stand to sit in.
         I got in the stand at about 5:30 pm. This gave me 2-3 hours to sit. Within 5 minutes I was surrounded by squirrels, and I had to try really hard to keep myself from sticking arrows in a few of them.
         It was about 6 o'clock when I had the first whitetail action. A doe fawn came through the woods and stood under my stand for about 5 to 10 minutes. (see picture below)

Doe fawn under my stand

   
  She eventually wandered back off into the woods and soon after she was gone, a spike horn came to within 20 yards of my stand and stood there for a while browsing on green leaves and other summer growth.  I watched him for a few minutes until I heard leaves crunching off to my right side. I looked over there and here came a 5 point. It was a nice young buck.
        The 5 point and spike united and browsed on leaves together. While  I was watching them, I failed to notice that a nice doe had entered the food plot.
        I took a quick glance to the plot and there she stood. Not 25 yards from me, about to leave the food plot into the brush. I quickly but quietly grabbed my bow and came to full draw on her. She caught some movement from my stand as I pulled the bow back, and she was focused on me.
       It was now or never, I settled my 20 yard pin just behind her shoulder and released to arrow. It was textbook perfect shot placement. The arrow passed through and I could see it stuck in the dirt. She ran off the plot, and with every step, and large spray of blood was released from both sides of her.
       She stumbled and fell before reaching the woods, but somehow gained footing again and made it another 10 yards before she expired. In total, she made it 30 yards from where she stood when I shot to where she lay.
        It was a very easy tracking job. As soon as I stepped off of the food plot on the blood trail, I could see her white belly. I called my dad and told him the news and he came out to the lease with a couple of friends to help get her all cleaned up and in the back of the truck.

Mature doe I was very glad to get a shot at

   
        I couldn't have asked for a better start to the season.
       

Big Buck Down

Kyle Swart

Date: November 13, 2010

         
           I got in the stand about 3 hours before dark. It started out just like every other evening hunt. Just a few does and fawns here and there throughout the first couple hours. I had a good feeling about that night. I wasn't sure why, but I just had a feeling that something might happen.
          About 45 minutes before dark the action started to pick up. I had a lone doe walk past my stand, I stood up extremely slowly and had my bow in hand expecting a buck to be following not too far behind her. The rut had really picked up by this time of the year so there was a good chance that I would see a buck with the doe. After she passed by with no buck on her trail, I put my bow back on the hanger and sat back down in my stand.
         It wasn't 20 minutes later and I heard some leaves crunching in the woods in front of me. Here came another doe, straight toward me. This time it was different. The doe seemed out of breath. She was panting. I knew this could mean one of two things, either she was being chased by some type of predator, or there was a buck chasing her.
         Once again, I stood up, bow in hand, and got ready in case a buck was following. She came all the way to my stand at a fast pace, and passed right by me. My attention was now focused on the area where she had just come from. Nothing happened. 5 minutes passed, and still nothing happened.
         Then, all of a sudden, I heard a single leaf crunch from the same direction she had come from. My heart immediately started racing. I then saw a deer's legs moving through the brush, coming straight towards me. I couldn't see how big the deer was yet, but "buck fever" was already starting to take over my body. Just then, he stepped out of the brush. What I saw on his head gave me a miniature heart attack. I started shaking really bad. I had never seen so much antler on a deer in my life.
         Once I had established that it was definitely a shooter, I concentrated on remaining motionless. I took my eyes off of the horns. If I focused on them, I would screw something up for sure. 50 yards... 40 yards... 30 yards... he just kept coming. It was textbook perfect. I drew my bow back, the buck was now at 25 yards. He was walking at a fast pace though. I wanted him to stop walking before I would risk a shot. The nervousness and "buck fever" had completely taken over my body at that time, and I couldn't even get a grunt sound to come out of my mouth. I had no voice. Nothing.
          I had to let my bow down without releasing an arrow. By the time I could gather my senses, the buck of my dreams had just walked right passed me. I screwed up, or so I thought.
          Right at that moment I remembered one thing I had that could help me piece this hunt back together...my grunt call. I quickly grabbed for it. Blew it a couple times, then waited. The buck was still in my sight, and I blew the call one more time. This one got his attention.
             He made a U-turn and started coming in my direction. To this day, I don't know why he would leave his doe to investigate the grunt, but boy am I glad he did. The giant made a half circle around me about 50-60 yards out. He then turned and walked straight to me again. When he got to about 30 yards, I came to full draw for the 2nd time. Once he got to about 20, I hit him with a mouth grunt and he stopped dead in his tracks. Quartering towards me. I knew I could make that shot. I had practiced it all summer. I put my pin on the base of his neck and released the arrow. It was a perfect hit. My G5 Tekan broadhead entered at the neck and went through to the heart and lungs area. I watched him run away, blood spraying out of the hole in his neck.
             I immediately hung my bow up and sat down. I was shaking uncontrollably. I tried to call my dad who was in another stand on the property, but my hands were shaking too violently and I couldn't type the right number into my phone. If it weren't for my Hunter Safety System vest, I would have fallen out of the tree at that point.
             I was finally able to use my phone so I called my dad, and said, "Dad, I think I just shot the biggest deer I have ever seen in my life!". His reply was, "Sit tight and stay in the stand, I'm getting down right now and will be there in a few minutes". With that I ended the call and tried to control my excitement. When my dad got to my tree, I climbed down and we waited about 25 minutes to start tracking.
            The blood trail was massive. Every tree that he ran past was covered in blood. After about 30 yards of following the blood, I saw antlers sticking up off the ground. I jumped up and my dad shoved me with excitement, nearly knocking me over, and I ran the remaining few yards to my buck.
             He was bigger than I thought. 11 points, one huge kicker on the right side G2. I could barely fit my hands around the bases of the antlers... they were massive. (when we had him scored, the bases measured in at over 6 inches around). The mass carried all the way down the main beams.
            We then drug him back to the truck, which was not an easy feat. We loaded him up in the back and headed for home. We were greeted by lots of friends and family who had already heard the good news. It turned out to be a pretty good night for me.
            The buck scored about 160" gross and net scored 151 3/8" NT. He ended up being the #1 youth archery non-typical whitetail taken in the state that year. We also had him aged at a forensics lab, and I was shocked when the results came back. Turns out he was 6.5 years old!

Check back for more hunts. I have a LOT more stories to tell. I should have more up by the end of the week.