My son Heath had been bow hunting this spot since 1 October, he had seen a couple of “120-130″ class bucks while bow hunting but they did not allow him a close enough shot. Heath never saw this buck. My son Heath hunted this tree stand called “LOST ARROW STAND” opening day 15 November only to see a couple of does and a coyote. Heath had to go back to work 16 November so he left the stand for me since I was off the week of 15 November. I had other areas I wanted to hunt and did not hunt this spot until 17 November morning. I got to Heath’s tree stand just before day light and stayed until noon and did not see a thing. It was the evening of 18 November when I return but decided to hunt a ground blind 80 yards from my son’s tree stand.
I arrive at the ground blind about 2:00 PM 18 November and it had been trying to snow all day. The light snow/rain only stuck on the logs and me (the cold things). My Uncle Richard ( know as Smiley) had built this ground blind under a big white pine about 10 years ago out of natural logs and brush. The name for the stand came from my Uncle Richard; several years ago he had harvested a doe from this stand with his bow and watched the doe run 40 -50 yards and fall, all in a semi open area. The arrow was never found, thus “LOST ARROW STAND got its name.
Nobody had sat in the ground blind all year so I had to “clean” it up by cleaning the floor of all of the logs and pine needles, I am sure I made a lot of noise. I took a chair to sit on and placed my back pack next to the chair. Since it was snowing/raining I placed my rifle on top of my back pack and place a spare glove over the scope to keep it clean and from the falling rain/snow. I sat there all mid afternoon and did not see a thing. Just as the sun started to set and there was that magical moment that many hunters knows, when the sun is setting and the anticipation of deer movement is expected. It was about 4:30 PM when I noticed movement in front of me about 120 yards. I saw deer legs and reached for my gun shaking off the glove around the scope. I brought the gun up and looked and saw through the scope there was a “rack” I than concentrated on the shot and squeezed the trigger. The buck went down right where it stood. I knew I just shot a nice deer but did not know how nice. Before I could even collect my thoughts it got up and ran back in the direction it came from. I racked in another shell but it was gone. I took my time and reloaded and grabbed my back pack and walked to the spot it had been. I could see where he had fallen and looked in the direction he ran and did not see blood nor the deer. My heart sank knowing I had just hit a nice deer but it was gone, a “hunters nightmare”. I slowly started to follow its tracks in the leaves, ferns and thick forest as best as I could but lost it a few feet from the last spot I saw him. All I could do was walk very slowly in the direction it went hoping to find him. I walked about 50 yards and did not see any sign, when I looked to my right slightly behind me and there he was. All I could say was “OH MY GOD……… OH MY GOD………….” He only went about 30 yards from where it had fallen the first time.
My incentive to hunt this spot was the report from my son spotting two nice bucks during bow season a couple of weeks before gun season started and knowing there was an old ground blind my Uncle Richard had built a few years earlier. Thus I owe my success partially to Heath and Uncle Richard. Hunting is a family event and everyone helps one-another, team work.
The “Lemaster Cabin” has been established since 1958 and many deer have been brought back to our buck pole. I have been deer hunting since I was 14 years old and this is my best buck yet. What makes this special is I got it after my son left this spot for the season and more important it was on state land in Antrim County, Northern Michigan. This buck has 14 hunters points ( one point is 3/4 and a second is 1/2 inches long) however it is a true scoring 12 point, field dress ~150 lbs. The horns are very symmetrical, except the two little points.
I stopped at a DNR office on the way home to have it aged and they stated it was 3.5 years old. When I returned home 22 November my son Heath used the formula of Commemorative Bucks of Michigan to score it and the green score he calculated was 140 2/8. Obviously this is an un-official since this is based on their formula and taken by my son Heath.
But based on this score this is the best buck taken from our camp yet.