ACP230
Member
Michigan's bow and arrow deer season started Oct. 1.
Oct. 2 my younger son and I were out on a friend's land.
We had a good time, but the trip reminded me of one my great uncle used to tell me about.
George was one of the early bow hunters, starting as soon as Michigan had a season. Back then, he told me, archers put their names and addresses on arrows. (The sport was under a microscope for a while after it was started here.)
He hunted about 20 miles from his house in town near the lake where he had a summer cottage. One day he stalked up through the woods above his camp with the bow. No deer appeared, but he saw coveys of grouse and some rabbits. After a few hours he went back, had lunch, and traded the bow for his 12 gauge.
That afternoon all he saw was deer. No small game at all.
We saw (in order of appearance) an eagle which flew over the van as we drove to the woods. A bunch of red squirrels, a large gray squirrel, an easy shotgun shot, a grouse which stood on the trail looking like a stick until I got to about 40 yards, another grey squirrel, and a grouse that flushed from the hill to our right and flew down into the swamp.
My son thought he heard a deer snort once but we never saw it. The squirrels and the grouse were also legal game, but we never really had a shot at any of them.
I'm wondering if we went back with shotguns if we'd see nothing but deer.
Oct. 2 my younger son and I were out on a friend's land.
We had a good time, but the trip reminded me of one my great uncle used to tell me about.
George was one of the early bow hunters, starting as soon as Michigan had a season. Back then, he told me, archers put their names and addresses on arrows. (The sport was under a microscope for a while after it was started here.)
He hunted about 20 miles from his house in town near the lake where he had a summer cottage. One day he stalked up through the woods above his camp with the bow. No deer appeared, but he saw coveys of grouse and some rabbits. After a few hours he went back, had lunch, and traded the bow for his 12 gauge.
That afternoon all he saw was deer. No small game at all.
We saw (in order of appearance) an eagle which flew over the van as we drove to the woods. A bunch of red squirrels, a large gray squirrel, an easy shotgun shot, a grouse which stood on the trail looking like a stick until I got to about 40 yards, another grey squirrel, and a grouse that flushed from the hill to our right and flew down into the swamp.
My son thought he heard a deer snort once but we never saw it. The squirrels and the grouse were also legal game, but we never really had a shot at any of them.
I'm wondering if we went back with shotguns if we'd see nothing but deer.