Swanny Scores On A Great Michigan Buck… In A Very Unexpected Way!

Andy's 2011 Michigan Muzzleloader Buck

On November 18th, Prostaffer Andy Swan rushed out to his stand with only an hour and a half of daylight left to hunt. Getting out of work later than expected, Swanny knew his chances of scoring on a good buck were minimal, but also knowing his chances of scoring was zero by not heading out, he decided to creep to his stand as quietly as possible.

As Andy and Justin were tip-toeing to their set for the night Andy caught a glimpse of a bedded buck a mere 80 yards from the two. Immediately Andy and Justin dropped to the ground. As Justin scrambled to get the camera ready, Swanny kept a close eye on the buck.

Soon after getting a better look at the buck through the scope of his TC Encore, Andy knew it was a shooter. The two planned to stay put and wait for the buck to stand. After an hour or so of waiting, light started to fade. Not knowing if the buck was wounded or just exhausted, Andy positioned himself to take the shot at the bedded buck if necessary. The decision turned out to be a good one because with only minutes of quality camera light left, Andy settled the crosshairs behind the shoulder and squeezed the trigger.

As the smoke cleared, the buck was nowhere to be seen, but after a closer look the buck lay dead in his bed! Swanny never made it to his stand but killed his best Michigan buck to date! What an incredible hunt!

Justin Arrows “Mr. Clean” in Illinois

This year is one that Justin Olk of DreamPoint Outdoors will never forget, and it’s not because of the animals he has harvested. 2011 has been extremely difficult for Justin and the entire DreamPoint crew. It seems like bad luck has followed him everywhere. Between crazy weather, crazy circumstances and crazy landowners, nothing has gone right for Justin this year, until November 16th.

With only two days before Illinois firearm opener Justin and cameraman Mitch Rood loaded the truck and headed south to Justin’s farm in Schuyler County.

After seeing only one doe during the first morning’s sit, Justin feared the bad luck had followed him again along the 300 mile drive to the farm.

That afternoon Justin climbed into a new set he and fellow Prostaffer Andy Swan had set a few weeks prior. The stand overlooked and oat and rye food plot that was planted this fall along the edge of the creek. Minutes after settling in, a few does worked their way in for a bite to eat.

While the two were enjoying the deer activity in the food plot, the familiar sound of crunching leaves caught their attention. As a large doe came crashing into the plot it was apparent that she was being chased by a buck. In a flash the buck showed himself and pushed the doe back into the 6′ tall CRP. All of the deer that were in the plot had now vanished and Justin was again chalking the situation up to bad luck. Ironically, the giant buck had made his way to the CRP within 10 yards of Justin’s other stand on the South side of the plot!

With no deer in sight Justin ripped off a few very loud aggressive grunts and within seconds the buck corralled his doe and pushed her into the plot. After the two deer caught their breath they slowly began to feed in Justin’s direction.

After what seemed like forever, the buck Justin knew as “Mr. Clean” had enough, picked up his head and trotted towards the timber. With no time to range the buck, and with only a small 2′-3′ window in which to stop the deer, Justin readied himself. At 38 yards the buck stepped into the window Justin had expected and within a fraction of a second an arrow had found its mark.

Painted Red!

As the sun set behind the tall Oak ridges, Justin inspected is arrow. With the Tracer nock still blinking, the arrow was dripping with blood as Justin pulled it from the soft soil of the food plot. Without question the hit was fatal but not wanting to take any chances, Justin decided to return in the morning to retrieve the buck.

Nothing better than tracking a Monster Buck!

After a short blood trail that led to the river, Justin looked up to view the bank on the other side. There lay “Mr. Clean”, only 100 yards from the stand.

Success!!

Justin searching the bank of the river

Mitch Rood films his first kill with DreamPoint Outdoors

A hunting season can change in the blink of an eye and with tags in 3 other states yet to be filled, Justin and Mitch have new hope that although it’s late in the season it may be just getting started.

Ty Scores in Eastern Michigan!

Ty with his 2011 Michigan archery buck.

On the morning of November 6th, anticipations were high as Ty climbed into one of his favorite sets. On a farm his family has called “Patenaws” was renamed in recent years to “Buck Factory” because of the number of bucks seen from time to time in one sitting. Before November 6th 2011 the record stood at 13 different bucks. On this day, Ty was able to count 15!

Sitting 28 feet high over a ditch loaded with apple trees, 30 yards of CRP lining each side and located right in the middle of 4 standing corn fields, Ty liked his chances.

At first light a few small buck were seen pushing does in the distance. Not long after, Ty whispered to his cameraman Kevin Ouvry that he heard some rustling in the nearby corn. Within a matter of minutes it sounded like an all out war as one doe ran for safety being followed by 8 different bucks! Within seconds the doe had brought the bucks into the CRP below the hunters. After careful consideration, Ty confirmed none of the bucks were over 2 1/2 years old but knew the commotion may spark the interest of more deer in the area. Sure enough, 3 more bucks came from behind and Ty heard Kevin whisper “shooter”. As the buck approached from behind Ty readied for the shot. As the buck passed by, Ty found a small opening through the brush and branches and released is arrow. Ty watched the Tracer nock on his Easton ST Axis tipped with a Reign broadhead disappear through the deers chest. The two were able to watch as the buck ran only 90 yards and expired.

Recovery is always a family affair for Ty and the rest of the day was spent celebrating and being thankful for a successful start to the season!

QDM in October

Justin with his early season Michigan doe.

As October has come to an end and the Whitetail rut is just beginning across the Midwest, the DreamPoint crew has wrapped up most of our doe harvests for the year. Through QDM on our farms we try to take our does early, before any breeding occurs. It’s our belief that killing a doe after the rut may result in also killing a future wall hanger buck down the road. Some farms require multiple doe kills and some farms don’t require any at all. Of course this changes from year to year depending on multiple factors. Here are a few pics and some short stories about some of the does we’ve taken this year.

Justin Olk was able to get the Whitetail season off to a quick start arrowing this mature doe during Michigan’s early Antlerless season in September. During this season anyone with a valid permit is allowed to harvest a doe with a firearm, however Justin decided to grab the bow, throw on some blaze orange and get it done the hard way! A perfectly placed 35 yard shot left only a short 60 yard blood trail.

JD's Illinois Doe

After taking inventory of the deer herd on their new farm in Illinois, Justin and JD decided a few does needed to be removed. On their first trip hunting the farm this year, JD was able to place his arrow exactly where he wanted it on this doe that had come in to investigate a Buck Fever Synthetics mock scrape just 12 yards away. The big mature doe didn’t make it 30 yards before expiring.

Swanny's Michigan Doe

Back home in Michigan Andy was able to pull the trigger on this big doe on the same farm that Justin killed is early season doe on. Right at dusk, with only minutes of camera light available, this doe walked 12 yards in front of the stand. Another perfectly placed Easton tipped with the devastating Reign Broadhead kept this doe from even making it out of the small 1 acre food plot.

Nate's Michigan Doe

As Nate Pike climbed into the stand on October 29th he had yet to see a shooter buck from the stand. With a different game plan in mind for this hunt, Nate prepared himself to take the first mature doe that walked within range.

Not long after being in the stand this doe walked by at 22 yards. After a perfect shot, Nate watched the doe fall and expire in the adjacent wheat field.

The screen shots from below were taken from the video of Brian and Brent Weber’s early season success. On Michigan’s archery opener Brent was able to harvest his first doe of the year. A few days later Brian was able to double. After killing the first doe with his whisper quiet Strother SX-1, the remaining does didn’t move a muscle, so Brian racked another arrow and scored on another.

Now it’s time to get on the big boys… stay tuned!!

Kelly’s 2nd Buck Ever is Caught on Film!

Kelly's 2nd Buck

Kelly Rand shot her 2nd buck ever on October 19th in Western Wisconsin!

Shortly before the archery opener, Kelly found out that she and her husband Jim would be expecting another child. Obviously as the season progressed, and Kelly became further along with her pregnancy, the game plan for the couple from hunting treestands to hunting ground blinds. With warmer weather approaching, the two set up a ground blind near a man-made waterhole they had constructed a few years ago.

On the evening of October 18th Kelly and Jim were able to film two bucks spar at the waterhole, but as camera light faded, Kelly decided to hold off until they could get the kill on film. That day proved to be the very next evening when the same 9 point stopped at the waterhole again, this time well before dusk.

Kelly took her first opportunity when the buck presented a 20 yard broadside shot and made it count. After a short blood trail a few hours later, the two were able to celebrate holding Kelly’s 2nd buck ever. To top off an amazing 24 hours, the couple was able to hear their unborn child’s heartbeat for the very first time the next morning. Congrats to Jim and Kelly for a job well done. We have a feeling you’ll be seeing a lot more from these two in the future!

Seconds before Kelly released her arrow!

Mental Toughness

Justin Olk in the New Mexico Mountains

After a 4 year drought in drawing a quality Elk tag, Justin Olk headed west to hunt the world-famous Gila National Forest in New Mexico’s Rocky Mountains.

The mountains can make for tough hunting but this trip became stressful before even arriving in New Mexico. While driving across Northern Texas, at around 1am, Justin and cameraman JD Fox lost the lights on the truck. Being in the middle of nowhere, about 90 miles from the nearest town, the boys evaluated the problem. It was apparent that the alternator on the truck had went out, meaning the truck would only function as long as there was juice in the battery. With the alternator not charging the battery, Justin and JD feared they might not make it to the next town. With the lights not working, Justin did his best to use the only other vehicle they had seen for hours to light the way in front of him. Thankfully they were headed west as well.

The next morning, after a few phone calls, a lot of begging, and a few prayers, a new alternator was located and installed. Keeping their fingers crossed the two continued westward.

Crossing the New Mexico state line, the temperature on the mirror read 111 degrees. Not ideal temps to chase elk in the mountains to say the least, the guys crossed their fingers and wished for cooler temps at higher elevations.

Arriving in camp a 1/2 day late we met our guides, the other hunters in camp and a 91 degree temperature. Everyone was concerned about the temps, it had kept the bulls quiet for the last few days and the rut seemed to be non-existent.  The strategy was to spot and stalk in the morning and then sit over water in the evenings.

Mountain sunrise

After about 4 hours of sleep everyone was eating breakfast with anticipation of the days ahead.

After hiking a short distance with the moonlight to guide us, the sun rose from behind the mountain peak to the East. Almost immediately elk began to appear. It was a large herd of cows and young bulls but it was a welcomed sight and the thoughts that had everyone concerned about the heat may not be as much of a factor as once feared.

As the sun rose, so did the temps, up to 93 degrees at 7800 ft elevation. It seemed every sign of life disappeared except for the sounds of rattlesnakes and the buzz of insects. Another elk was not seen the rest of the day.

The next few days were spent hiking mountain tops in search for elk and glassing ridges for signs of rutting activity. For the next few days everyone in camp battled dehydration, rattlesnakes, fire ants, and bears all the while struggling to find quality bulls. The hunt quickly became more of a mental challenge than physical. By mid-week Justin was also battling sun poisoning on his arms which made things just a little more miserable.

By the end of the hunt Justin and JD had only heard a total of 4 bugles. They had spotted one world-class 5×5 but as the bull followed his cows across the fence and on to a private ranch Justin and JD could only watch as he disappeared over the ridge. Not wanting to kill a lesser bull just to fill his tag, Justin let 5-6 smaller 5×5 and 4×4 bulls walk without even attempting a stalk.

The mountains will break a man down and build him up at the same time. Hunting in the Rockies chasing elk with a bow is the purest form of hunting a man can attempt. There is nothing more beautiful than a mountain sunrise, nothing more enchanting than hearing a bugle in the canyon below, and nothing more gratifying than resting your head on a pillow after completing a 15 mile hike.

Although this trip ended with a tag not being filled, it was the memories of the hunt, the feeling of accomplishment for not letting adverse weather conditions win, and most of all, the new friends that were made that made this hunt successful. When a hunter can enjoy the hunt and not just the kill, he can find success in every hunt… not just the ones that put trophies on the wall.

Bearded Lady

Swanny’s Bearded Hen

On the final day of Michigan’s last Turkey season, DreamPoint Prostaffer Andy Swan was able to harvest a rare bearded hen after watching her for the last few weeks of the season.

After sitting out one of the worst, most powerful thunderstorms to hit West Michigan in quite some time, Swanny and his cameraman Andrew started to see birds appear everywhere. As the two settled into the ground blind a group of three hens worked their way toward them. After a closer look, Swanny realized one of the three was his bearded hen! At 35 yards she separated from the other two and after a well placed shot it was all over. A rare trophy indeed, 7″ bearded hen!

Late Spring In Alberta Makes For Tough Hunting

Last week Justin, Swanny, Brian and Brent flew North to Alberta to hunt giant black bears again with Burnt Lake Outfitters. Prior to even landing in Edmonton, the crew could see ice-covered lakes and patches of snow from the air. Immediately our concern was whether or not the late spring had kept the bears in their dens later than usual.

After the 4 hour drive from the Edmonton Airport to base camp, the crew arrived to see familiar faces. Our outfitter Brian, and his three guides, Luke, Rode and Ryan were just leaving to bait a few new sites. They confirmed that the unusually cold weather were slowing things down, but with a promising forecast for the week, we were optimistic things would pick up.

That night the group enjoyed a warm fire and got to know the other hunters in camp. As new friendships were made, Brian and his staff put together a plan of attack for the following afternoon.

The next morning arrived with below freezing temps but hopes were high.

Justin and Brian were both up first and ended their evening’s hunt passing on bears of average size. With things warming up throughout the week they knew bigger bears would be hitting the baits soon.

On day two Swanny passed on a bear that was very close to a shooter. Having hunted Alberta before, Swanny knew that the bear of a lifetime could appear on any given bait, at any given moment.

On day three, Justin found the bear he was looking for. This bear had a huge head and plenty of body fat even after his 6 month hibernation. As usual, the bear didn’t cooperate right away but after he ate his fill and started to walk away, Justin was able to sneak an arrow into his vitals. After a short track of only 75 yards Justin put his hands on his largest Black Bear harvested.

Day 4 was a little slower but Swanny had high hopes for day 5. With a few fading seconds of daylight the evening prior, Justin and Swanny spotted a beautiful blonde colored bruin approaching the bait. The two were able to get some incredible footage of this rare bear over the next few days however he never committed to the bait, and unfortunately Swanny went home without filling his tag.

Day 5 turned out to be a day Brian would never forget on the other hand. When his bear approached the bait there was no doubt that he was a shooter. It didn’t take long for this massive bear to give Brian a broadside shot, and when he did, Brian placed his arrow perfectly. The bear ran 50 yards and expired. After another short track job, Brian was able to recover a true Alberta trophy Black Bear.

The bear activity for the next few days slowed down but everyone in camp still enjoyed everything Alberta had to offer. Hunting is so much more than filling all of your tags, and this hunt was no exception. Even though Mother Nature made the hunting a little tough everyone agreed the hunt was a success. New friends, old friends and the great outdoors – what more could you ask for?

DreamPoint’s Newest Prostaffer Scores!

One of DreamPoint’s newest Prostaffers, Nate Pike, had an up and down Turkey season in Michigan’s thumb area. The beginning of the season started out right as Nate had a giant tom that he had been watching all spring just 30 yards from his blind. When his arrow narrowly missed the bird he was devastated. Knowing that there were plenty of other good birds on the farm Nate put the miss behind him and looked forward to another day.

The bad luck seemed to continue over the next few weeks as Nate couldn’t quite close the deal. Finally on May 12 his luck changed.

Nate decided to set up over a clover food plot where he had seen a  good tom the night before. When the bird gobbled on the roost he knew he was in the right spot. Nate began a series of clucks, yelps and purrs and immediately the tom answered back. A few minutes later the tom saw the hen decoys and came in strutting all the way! At thirty yards Nate squeezed the trigger on his Mossberg to harvest his first DreamPoint trophy!

The bird weighed 21 lbs, had a 9 1/2″ beard and 1″ spurs. It was a great start to Nate’s 2011 hunting season!

Last Day Gobbler

Joe’s last day bird

On the last day of Joe’s Michigan Turkey season it all came together. After days of close calls, Joe was finally able to pull the trigger on this beautiful Michigan Tom.

Setting up in a new area of the farm for Joe’s last day was a gamble that paid off. At first light the roosted gobblers started to sound of confirming that they were set up in the right spot. A while later, after a few soft yelps, two hens started to work their way across the beanfield. Seconds later, three toms sounded off not 70 yards behind Joe! Eventually the birds appeared in full strut heading to the middle of the field in an attempt to impress the two hens. As they walked away, cameraman Andy Swan grabbed his Bully’s Hookbuster II and softly purred to the toms. Without hesitation all three toms turned, spotted their decoys, and came running! After Joe let the birds put on a show for the camera, he squeezed the trigger and at thirteen yards buried his bird! Congrats to Joe for getting it done on the last morning of his 2011 Turkey season. The bird weighed 22 1/2 lbs, 7/8″ spurs and sported a thick 9 1/4″ rope.