Tex and I put an ambush on a monster Bellevue buck on Sunday and handed out a Dirtnap on video.
Check out the video of us piling up this stud buck at the link below.
Best of luck to all my fellow archery hunters.
Be safe and shoot straight.
Opie
Bagging Big Bucks
Opie with His Opening Day Buck in the Fog
Well we had a tough deer season here in Michigan. Early season had us hopeful that we would really get into the deer but the deer and conditions just wouldn’t cooperate. We were plagued with warm temperatures, huge storms, rain and wind. Add to those factors a bright full moon during peak rut times and you end up with possibly the worst recipe for daytime deer movement.
But despite all these factors we persisted and continued to hunt hard despite the lack of deer sightings from our stands.
Things all changed for me on opening day of Michigan gun season when I had a great encounter with my first shooter buck of the season. It was a warm morning and the fog was so thick I couldn’t see more than 20 yards until an hour after dawn. At 830, staring out into the fog I was startled by the distinct thundering of a 12 gauge coming from the woods were PT was sitting. A few moments later I received an excited text from PT letting me know that he had sent an ounce of hot lead through a shooter buck. He new he had a solid hit on him with good blood but could see that the deer had went over 100 yards and was apprehensive about the shot he had made. I assured him that we would find him and told him I would come get him from his stand at 10 to help track the big boy down.
At 9:30, just as the fog began to lift around my stand i peered out of my blind to see a bruiser of a buck slowly sneak out of the standing corn to my north. I stared at him and slowly reached for my gun wondering just how big he was. A moment later he turned and began slowly walk away from me revealing an impressive rack. I quickly pulled up my 20 gauge and put the iron sights right on him. I let out a loud bleat and he came to a stop broadside at 60 yards. I squeezed the trigger and felt the recoil of the shotgun. The buck jumped, kicked and landed in the grass looking around in bewilderment. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t hit and once again put the sights on him and squeezed off another round. Another jump kick from the buck and he slowly started walking towards the swamp to my south. What the heck I thought, how am I missing him? So I took my time and put it on his front shoulder and slowly squeezed one more time. The shotgun barked and the buck dropped in his tracks. I had my first shooter buck of the season but had surely used up all of my luck for the year.
I couldn’t believe it and neither could PT when I texted him that i had a bruiser buck down on the ground. Within minutes he was walking up to my stand and we were heading over to get our paws on him. After snapping a few pictures to send around to the boys we jumped in the truck and headed out to find PT’s buck. His buck was a little less eager to die than mine and the tracking job was pretty extensive. After trailing his buck over 400 yards we finally spotted him dead in his bed on an oak ridge. The smile on PT’s face as he rushed up to his buck was enough to make the day worthwhile.
PT with his Opening Day 8 Pointer
What a day that was! It really doesn’t get any better than that. Being out with friends and family in the woods, enjoying the tradition of hunting on a beautiful morning and the experiences and memories that are shared along the way. That is definitely one opening day that will stay with me for a long long time.
Opie
It’s a Whitetail Kind of Life
@huntography is Poised and Ready
Well it’s been a long 4 days with Huntography in town filming the FLG crew. We had a small hurricane sitting over Michigan for the first two day that wouldn’t let us get into the woods to film. Rain and 30mph wind aren’t necessarily prime whitetail hunting conditions and definitely not good for the camera gear.
But we’ve been having a blast regardless and have had some up close encounters with some nice deer. As I type this Rudy and I are hidden in a ground blind setup (pictured above) and we are gonna rock a deer.
Prime time is coming up so I gotta get to watching. Be safe out there hunters.
Shoot straigh,
Opie
This is Gonna Be Epic
It’s dreary outside, the leaves are falling and we are about to enter the Whitetail pre-rut here in Michigan. There has been a lull in the action around here lately with the warm weather and full moon keeping the deer moving late in the evenings and heading to their beds as dawn cracks in the morning. But all that is about to change in a big way.
This evening @huntography is bringing the 2011 Whitetail Deer Tour into FLG Hunting camp again. From midnight tonight until the end of shooting light Saturday night we will be in full on assault mode. The bucks are starting to scrape and even chase does occasionally and a nice cold snap is arriving tonight that should get the deer on their feet. For the next 100 hours we are going to hunt our butts off, eat some amazing food, tell some great stories and make some memories that will last a lifetime.
Now, FLG Hunting Camp is ALWAYS a good time whether or not anything gets killed but once every year when Huntography Deer Tour comes into town it creates the perfect storm of hunting camps. This year we wont disappoint and we are sure to come up with some shenanigans that will keep you laughing and fingers crossed some dirt naps for some monster Michigan Whitetail bucks.
If you haven’t already i would highly recommend you head on over to www.huntography.com and show your support by picking up last year’s DVD and don’t forget to follow @huntography @firstlightgear @Jesseshaver @lukekujacznski and @luatto1 on twitter for some hilarious commentary during deer camp.
For all you other hunters out there…Be safe and shoot straight.
Opie
Back to the Grind
The View From My Lone Wolf on Opening Day
Well it’s the second week of Whitetail season here in Michigan and Team FLG has been out in the woods chasing deer quite a bit so I wanted to give everyone an update on our season so far.
Opening morning Tex and I teamed up for a hunt at a new property that we have permission to hunt that looks REAL promising. We saw quite a few deer while perched high in our Lone Wolf stands and I let an arrow fly at a nice mature doe. I hit her perfect front to back but knew immediately that my arrow was high but i was hopeful that 2 hours into the season we had our first deer of the year. After climbing down I recovered the arrow which to my amazement had zero blood on it and was instead covered in fatty residue. After searching for 20 minutes we were able to find the first drop of blood…a single drop. We were able to stay on a hardly existent blood trail for 3 hours and 400 yards before the occasional drops of blood disappeared into an overgrown CRP field. In those 400 yards we had only found a dozen or so drops of blood so i’m hoping that she is still running around. Until that morning i had never shot a deer and not recovered it and i have to say that it’s probably the worst feeling i have ever felt.
An Evening in The Stand at The K Ranch
We hunted a few more times on opening weekend but weren’t presented with any great shot opportunities while in the stand. Four days into the season we were ambushed by a warm front that has been sticking around ever since. Luckily the deer are still moving a little even if the bucks are still tucked away eating and moving after dark. I was in the stand last Sunday evening trying not to sweat too much and attempting to surprise a monster buck but he never showed up. Even the 14 does and 2 smaller bucks i saw all moved really late.
Luckily the weather is supposed to get a little cooler in the coming days and we are gearing up for the pre-rut. We have a bunch of exciting things coming up so stay tuned. On the 19th the 2011 Huntography Deer Tour is rolling into town and will be staying at FLG Deer Camp and hunting and filming with us. It’s gonna be an amazing time and there will be some big deer getting dirt naps for sure.
For me this is absolutely my favorite time of the year. No matter what kind of weather mother nature throws at us or how many or few deer i see from my stand it’s just amazing to be out. The fall colors are so gorgeous and the sounds and signs of fall get my blood flowing. It’s all about the chase and the memories we make along the way and this fall sure is shaping up to be epic.
I’ll be posting live blogs from my stand for the rest of the season so stay tuned and hold on. It’s gonna be a wild ride.
Opie
p.s. To all my fellow hunters; please be safe out there in your treestands.
It’s Almost Time!
Well all of us boys over here at FLG are pretty darn excited about the cooler weather and fall being just around the corner. We’ve been putting in a lot of hard work this summer getting ready for Whitetail season and we couldn’t be more ready for it to be here. Check out the season preview video below and as always. Don’t forget to subscribe to the gear deal alerts. We’ve been sending out some amazing deals on all the gear you need to kill that big buck this fall.
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