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Knimrod
11-14-2005, 12:17 AM
Deer hunt all about tradition

Couple avoid blinds, stands to get their buck
By SHERI MCWHIRTER
Traverse City Record-Eagle staff writer
November 13, 2005

BRUTUS - Doug and Judy Mummert live for hunting.

Deer camp is a tradition for them this time of year, though they also spend much of the year raising and training dogs to hunt coyotes, raccoons, bobcats and bears.

More photographs are taken than rifle shots, and they say they kill only what can be eaten.

"I think both Judy and I hunt because of the adrenaline flow you get at a certain point in the hunt," Doug Mummert said.

The retired husband-wife hunting team returns each year to a 120-acre tract in Emmet County, where their family has owned property for generations. They walk the land and check for tracks and other deer sign in the days before the firearm season begins.

Firearms season opens Tuesday and ends Nov. 30.

"We've got a big orchard there. We don't bait, but the deer come into the orchard," Doug Mummert said. "I can't imagine shooting a deer with its head in a bucket for three or four years in a row and having any personal satisfaction."

The Mummerts use what they call traditional hunting methods to stalk prey. They never use tree stands or ground blinds to hide from deer. The trick for them is to wait between deer feeding and bedding areas.

"Every time you hear the leaves rustle, you turn and hope it's a deer, but usually it's a couple of black squirrels playing," Judy Mummert said.

But when a deer comes along, the chase is on.

Doug Mummert said he'll spend all day tracking a deer, up to four or five miles through fields, thicket and woods.

"When I was a young guy, the definition of hunting was to harass or pursue until you make a capture or kill. That's the definition I live by," Doug Mummert said.

An estimated 450,000 deer will be killed during the combined bow and firearms seasons, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Officials said the deer herd in the northern Lower Peninsula was intentionally reduced with a high number of permits issued in previous years. The number of buck kills this season are expected to be similar to last year, but doe kills will be down.

"The buck-to-doe ratio is much better," said Duane Snook, manager of Alphorn Sport Shop in downtown Gaylord. "Hunters like to see deer, but drivers don't like to hit them and farmers don't like them eating their crops."

Snook said fewer deer in the woods increases the challenge for hunters.

The DNR estimates about 750,000 people will buy permits in Michigan this season, such as Kevin Sweetman of Gaylord. He was with his two sons on Thursday, shopping at Snook's store for a new rifle and ammunition.

Dan Sweetman, 15, said this is his first season with a rifle, although he's already hunted with a bow this year.

"I'm looking forward to getting a deer and eating it," Dan Sweetman said. "I'm just hoping to see something."

Kevin Sweetman said he enjoys hunting with his sons, then razzes his 17-year-old son, Tom, who won't be in the woods Tuesday morning.

"It's better than Christmas. It's the best holiday of the year," Kevin Sweetman said.

Link to story (http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/nov/13hunt.htm)