In the last blog I talked about the process of turning your passion into your vocation.  In keeping with that spirit, I am giving Michigan bowhunter Alex Gyllstrom an opportunity to see his work in print.  It is his dream to be a writer.  I will help him with a few more ideas to post here over time, as well.   The following was written by Alex:

WHERE DID THE DEER GO?

I was talking with one of my good buddies about a month into Michigan’s bow season.  He told me that when opening day rolled around he set up on a well used trail going to a soybean field where he watched heavy deer activity for the month leading up to the season. After sitting the stand for a few nights, he had only seen a spike and two button bucks.  Two weeks prior he could count an average of 15 different deer, at least two of which were mature bucks, passing that tree. He hunted that stand for the first two weeks of the season with no luck.

That’s when I asked him if there were any oak trees in the area. He told me that about 100 yards away there was a healthy stand of white oak trees. I told him to go in the very next day and hang a stand where two trails intersect in the oak grove and hunt it that same evening.

The next night I received a phone call from my buddy saying that he had seen eight does and three different bucks just out of bow range, one of which was a mature buck he had scouted that summer.

 Even though my friend didn’t harvest a deer that night he did learn a valuable lesson that will make him successful in years to come. He learned that acorns are a hotspot during early and mid season when many hunters are targeting large crop food sources.

Acorns are arguably a deer’s favorite food. Finding a little secluded oak grove is like finding a pot of gold. Once deer season begins and the deer start feeling the pressure, the oak trees not only provide essential food, but they also serve as cover that  wide open food sources can't offer.

Now I am not saying that you should totally give up on other food sources once the second week of the season comes. But if you have experienced a similar situation as my buddy, and if you can find one of these early season deer heavens, and you can slip into a stand undetected; I can all but guarantee you will see at least some of the deer that mysteriously disappeared from the summer food sources you scouted in the previous months.