Last year my friend Mike invited me to stay at his cabin for deer hunting in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Mike has had some success up there. He said, “If you want to go I have an area I think we should scout out “.
After a full day of scouting we found some places that looked okay but I just didn’t get that ‘yes this is the perfect place’ feeling that is important to keep you in your stand all day. In fact one of the hardest things about deer hunting is fighting off the feeling that you should be hunting someplace else.

We were tired and would get wet feet but there was a thick brushy area across the beaver pond from us that just seemed to call me over there. The trek across the creek turned out to be worth it because we located deer sign, which is what every deer hunter loves to discover. Rubs or scrapes are good deer signs but it was almost as exhilarating for us to discover what we found. There were deer droppings all over the place. Dark brown nuggets worth almost as much to me as the chocolate chips in grandma’s cookies. Now I had what I was really looking for. It was a ‘good feeling’ about an area for a deer stand.

Finally after numerous calls and e-mails to Mike for prehunt planning, the opener, the 15th of November arrived. I used my GPS to maneuver back through 3.4 miles of darkness to my tree. This tree would allow me a better vantage point of this good feeling spot. There was a few inches of crunchy snow on the ground. Before the sun lifted all the darkness, I could hear something walking towards me. I could not believe what I saw. I have been hunting in the Northwood’s for over 43 years and have never witnessed one of these before. A full grown wild American bobcat walked to within 7 yards of my tree. This elusive creature reacted the way predators often do. When it got to the path I had walked in on, it fled from that path after one whiff of my scent.

 This was my first year of retirement and I might also be changing my path. My new course led me to believe that ‘on this day’ I was more a part of the Northwoods than just being in the Northwoods. As those holistic thoughts lingered, believe it or not, a mature bald eagle landed in a tree about twenty yards from me. I have no Native American blood in my veins, but I have read that many Native Americans believe there are signs in natural happenings. Seeing a bobcat and an eagle must have been a good medicine sign.
A short time later the largest buck I have ever taken walked into view.