Each day I wake up I feel like the luckiest man alive and each year I get to spend another deer camp with my dad is just a whole conglomerate of blessings. This year would be another year to add to my streak of Mid-November days spent in MI hunting with the “Chuck Wagon” as my friends had named him during my youthful days. We spend deer camp in a cottage rental on a lake near my property so when we pulled up it was very familiar. Backing my trailer down the oddly shaped driveway proved to be the usual challenge except even more difficult due to the snow covering what little differentiation there was between the yard and drive. Of course, once the trailer was parked there is zero room to maneuver my truck in and out but we are thrilled each year to be there. We’ve had snow before but this time the precipitation would continue for the entire 3 days we would spend hunting. I love hunting in the snow. But, it added more of a challenge to the situation rather than optimism this year.

*Even with the deep snow deer were moving during the opening days of the gun season. I had my sights set on a buck at this point in the season so several does got a pass.*

My dad and I left after I got off work so we didn’t get in early enough to get a blind set up prior to the morning of our first sit. We’d have to wing it and throw up the little dog house blind and hope we wouldn’t spook everything out of the county. As we drove along the edge of the property there were clearly deer in the area as their tracks littered the road. I can’t confirm whether or not we emptied the county of deer but he didn’t see any that morning. My morning efforts well to the North turned up a fleeting glance of a doe passing down my shooting lane. I would be excited about what the afternoon would bring.

The wind was whipping during this hunt and would often pickup and blow snow from the branches in the woods. It created a mystic scenes that conjured up images of dark magical forests from the imagination.

I’ll cut right to the chase on the afternoon hunt, I watched a lone doe browse around on the fringe of the tree line across from me. That’s it. The next morning the heavy snow had collapsed the doghouse blind my dad intended to sit in. He was never able to successfully erect it but I didn’t find out till we headed in for the morning. He explained he had to use the gun barrel to hold the roof up. In order to see anything he had to pick the gun up, in turn raising the entire blind, bringing the window up to his sightline so he could look out. Needless to say, neither of us saw anything.

The afternoon gave me an opportunity at a small buck but I had already set my sights on something a little bigger. Day 2 would close with smiles but no deer in the back of the truck. The doghouse blind was junk and already loaded for the ride home. The snow had deepened after the 3 rd straight day of coming down so my dad couldn’t make it out to tower blind he had hunted the two nights before. It was cold so sitting in the elements the morning of day 3 wasn’t an option. I had brought a backup blind that was a little bigger and definitely sturdier. With few other options we elected to pop up the blind near the gate facing a swamp hopeful something would pass by. I continued East to my blind and settled in. Dad text me shortly thereafter that his propane heater would not start. After a short sit he headed to the truck. I stayed out but had just as much luck as if I would have just sat in the truck with him.

*The swamp was a contrast of whites and darks after the snowfall. Hopeful deer would head for the impenetrable security it offered, I waited anxiously...*

Determined we got a nap in and struck out for the final sit of the trip. Dad had got the propane heater fired up in the cottage and we decided that something had froze in the morning preventing gas flow. He would sit in the blind we had set up that morning and I would sit in a tower blind on the opposite side of the property. We had been viewing deer crossing each evening on the South end of the property (from tracks and seeing them in the headlights on the way out) so we wanted to make sure we had our bases covered if they showed up again. Wouldn’t you know it, three does showed up right between us.

They had come from the woods we expected them too but dad never saw them and I would have been shooting directly towards his location. They got a pass as I watched them bound through the deep snow across the field. Having all but checked out for the evening I rotated to the right and saw two deer trotting from a neighboring property right towards me. It didn’t take long for my heart rate to rise when I saw one of them carrying a rack I’d love to have on my wall. They continued towards me and crossed the creek onto my property. Once the hit the trail all they had to do was turn right and I would have him dead to rights. If they went left, they would disappear behind a wall of cattails and into the woodlot never to be seen again. As you guessed, they turned left. Game over. Dad and I treated ourselves to a nice meal at a local restaurant and reveled in our efforts even though they hadn’t yielded any meat. We smiled, laughed, and enjoyed our evening as a father and son should after spending 3 long days chasing whitetails.

*Snow fell heavy on this hunt. Hoping that the deer would be moving and feeding I sat at the field edge in the evenings expecting them to show at any minute.*

*Hiking in and out wasn't easy. Fortunately, I had prepared physically for such conditions and dressed in layers to ward off excess moisture during peak efforts trudging through the deep snow.*

Normally the story would end here but not this time. A few weeks passed and I stopped by the store to pick up some groceries. I saw some beef snack sticks and went to throw them into the cart until I saw the price. I almost fell over and quickly put them back down. I am surprised they were in the open for anyone to grab and not under a special lock and key for only pre-approved customers to view. This sent me into defcon 3. I had to get back into the woods, I couldn’t dare make it through the winter with no sausage in my freezer to sustain life. Due to my heightened alertness and persuasive abilities, I convinced my wife we couldn’t afford beef anymore and that our kids lives depended on me going deer hunting. In actuality, I’m not sure how I pulled it off but I found myself once again heading North in the snow, only solo this time.

The Culmination

Gear Notes

Time Seems to Fly By