This has been a really crazy winter with extreme amounts of snowfall, making it challenging for predator calling and limiting the movement of predators. We got a typical Michigan thaw last week to firm up the snow and allow the predators to move about much easier. I have been starting to see more sign in the last couple days and I had to take advantage of this beautiful evening. I decided to take my 17HMR out today since I was targeting a fox and I didn’t want to destroy a pelt with the 22-250 if I could avoid it.

I walked out to the back of my property to overlook the hardwoods and swamp down to the lake. I set my Fox Pro CS24 out under a bush in front of me about 20 yards. There was a neighbor out shredding it up on a snowmobile so I just sat still for about 15 minutes until he was finished and the woods had calmed down. I was in no rush and planned to sit until dark. I fired up the Fox Pro at the 20 minute mark, playing some Rodent Squeaks at various volumes for 15 minutes on and off. I then got on my Red F for a couple sequences with some short pauses in between for about 5 minutes. Still not seeing any movement around me so I played a couple short red fox distress sounds. I then switched back to rodent distress, periodically playing a few short bursts of fox in distress. Out of the corner of my eye at 2 o’clock I catch movement and its a fox trotting in at 40 yards and closing. I have my rifle on my sticks pointed at 11 o’clock and they are buried in snow so I just froze as it moved in. My only hope at this point is that the fox moves in between me and the caller and I can get a shot off without having to move my gun. The fox trotted right in to about 15 feet, still focused on the caller with no clue I was there until it turned with a flash and looked right at me. She spun around and I pulled my gun off my sticks as she retreated. I lip squeaked one time, she stopped and turned back for another look at about 25 yards. I got on my rifle offhand as the fox stood facing straight at me and let the 17 HMR rip with one shot to the chest/lower neck area. The fox went down in a pile and never flinched a muscle. It all happened in about 30 seconds and I was left sitting there amazed at what had just taken place! Sometimes it sure does pay off to be patient, let a set speak to you and give it the appropriate time needed.

I am a blessed man to be able to enjoy the outdoors and participate in such a fun and rewarding sport. I would really like to thank all the guys in my life that have taught me the true art of predator calling in its purest form! Thanks to Yotehead Ed, Opie and Bob Patrick at Rare Earth Predator Calls.

Shoot Straight!

Tex

We didn’t have any takers on our first set and it wasn’t long before we located another calling location several hundred yards away. Opie and I settled into our calling sequence, taking turns playing our Rare Earth Red-F (Bird Distress) calls. Opie hopped on his HSB at about the 8 minute mark playing some light cottontail distress and that’s when I noticed a coyote working towards us at about 100 yards. I got on my rifle just in time to see the coyote stop to take another look in our direction. I passed on the first shot opportunity as I wanted to see him work in closer to our location. There was a slight hill in front of us and when the coyote closed inside of 60 yards we were not able to see him until he crested the hill at 30 feet. My heart was beating like crazy when I lost sight of him and I still wasn’t sure if Opie had seen him closing in on us. I quickly got back on my rifle and waited in the location I thought he might show in. The coyote stopped at the top of the rise and gave a look right at Opie, allowing me to make my final adjustments and let the 22-250 bark.

This is a beautiful large male coyote with scads of battle wounds and a busted up face from fighting. One of my largest coyotes to date and one heck of a trophy from the north woods. We still have a couple days of hunting left, tons of predator sign and we are going to get back after em!

Tex

Beautiful mature pine stand just loaded up with deer! The upper peninsula of Michigan never gets old and I sure do enjoy all that it has to offer.

Overlooking the Sturgeon River and old damn site. The rut looks to in full swing up here and all the guys at camp are excited about there stand locations this season!

Tex

Tex

I love waking up on a beautiful late October morning to head out into the woods with my best friend and hunting buddy behind the camera. Opie and I had a feeling that today was the day and we knew that something was going to die. We grabbed our lone wolf tree stands and headed out into the dark woods in search of a trophy buck or a mature doe if the opportunity presented itself.

The woods were pretty quiet other than several squirrels racing around underneath of us until we noticed a 8 point buck working his way in our direction on the same path we had used. He walked right in and underneath of our stands with not a care in the world and didn’t even seem to notice we were there. Opie was on him with the camera and I started to draw the Mathews back for a shot when he spooked and bounded off about 30 yards. He stopped and looked back in our direction not really sure what he heard but didn’t seem to care much. I got my bow pulled back, waited for my opportunity and put a really good shot on him with a T3. He ran off about 100 yards after the shot and stopped out of sight and we never heard another sound from him.

We continued to sit quietly as we were just absolutely covered up with deer the rest of the morning. I took the opportunity later in the morning to harvest a nice mature doe on video at about 15 yards after she presented me with several nice shots. I sent a T3 right through her pump station with the Mathews Z7 and she didn’t make it far, piling into a bunch of brush. We climbed down, packed up our stands and begin tracking both deer. Finding the doe was no problem at all as she only went about 80 yards with a giant red blood trail. We located the arrow from the buck second and noticed that it hadn’t passed completely through the deer based on the blood left on the shaft. The blood trail was pretty easy to follow for about 100 yards but that’s when it changed drastically to an occasional drip or larger spots in the areas he had stopped. I didn’t want to track any farther until we gave him more time based on what we were seeing as I wanted him to lay down and not get back up. We decided to get the doe gutted out and head into town for some breakfast while we allowed him more time to lie there and die, hopefully without pushing him back up onto his feet.

After about 4 hours and reviewing the shot on the camera several times, we headed back out and got on the blood trail once again to hopefully find this buck dead not far from where we had left off. That wasn’t the case as we spent the next 2 hours tracking him about 100 yards due to the lack of blood on the ground. We eventually ended up jumping him out of a corn field that he had circled around into, we were able to get a good look at him standing broadside at about 100 yards. He stood there and looked at us for a minute and then bounded across a field and into the woods on the other side of the road. We tracked him another 200 yards on the other side of the field before realizing that it wasn’t a fatal shot and this deer is obviously going to live to fight another day. After reviewing the shot over and over again on the computer, we think I may have hit him a little bit forward for the slightly quartering away angle he was standing at.

I am certainly bummed that we were not able to get our hands on that buck but I am also glad we confirmed it wasn’t a fatal shot and he will live. I am a blessed man to be able to enjoy this sport and spend a gorgeous day in the woods with my best hunting bud, chasing whitetails and making memories. Things are really starting to heat up and the rut will be in full swing here in Michigan very soon!

Shoot Straight,

Tex

Shoot straight!

Tex

A large group of turkeys feeding in the food plot during the morning hours.

Nice little buck looking on as a mature doe and two young fawns with spots eat a little breakfast.

Beautiful looking Red Fox.

Tex

Tex

I like to mow my clover plots about 4-5 times a season to reduce weed competition and grass encroachment. We have found that deer prefer the tender young shoots that the clover plants produce after a low mowing of about 4-8″, basically cut on a hay schedule here in Michigan.

Whitetail season is right around the corner so get out and make sure your plots are happy!

Shoot Straight!

Tex

This target is the GlenDel 5X Buck ($149). The GlenDel Buck has a body size of a 200lb. live weight deer and offers 5 times the insert-shooting surface of comparable 3-D deer targets. I have shot about 25 arrows into this target so far and it’s performed absolutely perfectly up to this point!

Rinehart Woodland Buck ($149). Ultra durable and rugged FX foam with Rinehart signature self healing foam insert. This target is proof that good things come in small packages! I have been very pleased with the performance of this target so far, and I can see why Rinehart makes one of the best.

I hope to add a couple more bucks here yet this summer and continue my quest on finding the best 3D archery target and completing my course here at the cabin! Stay turned for a more in depth formal review on each target as the year progresses and the targets age.

Happy shooting

Tex