LivoniaDan
10-30-2007, 10:34 AM
From the Jackson Patriot
http://www.mlive.com/news/citpat/index.ssf?/base/news-23/1193407626120320.xml&coll=3
http://www.thedetroitreport.com/ for picture
Hunter bags big buck sporting 24 points
Friday, October 26, 2007By Steven Hepker
shepker@citpat.com -- 768-4923
Chris James arrowed a large deer with a massive tangle of antlers Wednesday night, then tried to sleep when he took a break from tracking it at 1 a.m.
``I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about the buck and when I did sleep I was dreaming about him,'' James said.
He gladly traded sleep for the apparent largest buck killed in Jackson County this year.
The buck sports 24 points -- three times the average number of tines on mature bucks. Whether it sets a record depends on an official scoring.
``Every time you go hunting, you dream about seeing a buck this big,'' James said, showing the buck to friends in his Horton neighborhood.
He and a friend, Doug Linseay, recovered the buck in the swamps of Summit Township at midday Thursday. They dragged it to a stream and hauled it a half-mile by canoe.
Wednesday afternoon, James had climbed a tamarack tree and was balancing on two limbs. About a half-hour before sundown he saw the buck chasing does. He used a grunt call to attract the deer, a common tactic in rut, or breeding season.
``He stopped at 30 yards, but I didn't want to shoot through the brush. He came within 20 yards, then turned and walked right at me until he got his rack stuck in a bush,'' he said. ``He ripped the branches up with his antlers.''
James had one chance. About 6:30 p.m. he drew his Martin compound bow, aimed between his boots toward the deer on the ground below, and flung an arrow that entered the buck too far back for a fast kill. The deer ran away.
James spent many nervous hours thinking he might have lost the buck of a lifetime. Following a blood trail with a flashlight, he tracked the buck down just after midnight. But he spooked the deer, and it ran off again. He went home and tried to sleep, knowing he would have to come back after sunrise.
James, 44, who has hunted since he was a boy, has bagged some big bucks, including a 10-point last year. He is not, however, a trophy hunter.
James is somewhat of a throwback. He carries an old bow and a separate quiver in one hand, his camouflage clothes are well worn, and he perches on tree limbs, rather than in commercial ladder stands or tree stands.
A tree-cutting friend gave him spikes that he straps to his boots for climbing.
``I never liked looking like everyone else,'' he said. ``You don't have to have all that fancy stuff to hunt. I like to move around from tree to tree, rather than sit in a tree stand, because deer can pattern hunters just like we pattern them.''
http://www.mlive.com/news/citpat/index.ssf?/base/news-23/1193407626120320.xml&coll=3
http://www.thedetroitreport.com/ for picture
Hunter bags big buck sporting 24 points
Friday, October 26, 2007By Steven Hepker
shepker@citpat.com -- 768-4923
Chris James arrowed a large deer with a massive tangle of antlers Wednesday night, then tried to sleep when he took a break from tracking it at 1 a.m.
``I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about the buck and when I did sleep I was dreaming about him,'' James said.
He gladly traded sleep for the apparent largest buck killed in Jackson County this year.
The buck sports 24 points -- three times the average number of tines on mature bucks. Whether it sets a record depends on an official scoring.
``Every time you go hunting, you dream about seeing a buck this big,'' James said, showing the buck to friends in his Horton neighborhood.
He and a friend, Doug Linseay, recovered the buck in the swamps of Summit Township at midday Thursday. They dragged it to a stream and hauled it a half-mile by canoe.
Wednesday afternoon, James had climbed a tamarack tree and was balancing on two limbs. About a half-hour before sundown he saw the buck chasing does. He used a grunt call to attract the deer, a common tactic in rut, or breeding season.
``He stopped at 30 yards, but I didn't want to shoot through the brush. He came within 20 yards, then turned and walked right at me until he got his rack stuck in a bush,'' he said. ``He ripped the branches up with his antlers.''
James had one chance. About 6:30 p.m. he drew his Martin compound bow, aimed between his boots toward the deer on the ground below, and flung an arrow that entered the buck too far back for a fast kill. The deer ran away.
James spent many nervous hours thinking he might have lost the buck of a lifetime. Following a blood trail with a flashlight, he tracked the buck down just after midnight. But he spooked the deer, and it ran off again. He went home and tried to sleep, knowing he would have to come back after sunrise.
James, 44, who has hunted since he was a boy, has bagged some big bucks, including a 10-point last year. He is not, however, a trophy hunter.
James is somewhat of a throwback. He carries an old bow and a separate quiver in one hand, his camouflage clothes are well worn, and he perches on tree limbs, rather than in commercial ladder stands or tree stands.
A tree-cutting friend gave him spikes that he straps to his boots for climbing.
``I never liked looking like everyone else,'' he said. ``You don't have to have all that fancy stuff to hunt. I like to move around from tree to tree, rather than sit in a tree stand, because deer can pattern hunters just like we pattern them.''