Atlas Twp.-On the morning of Nov. 12, Mike King, 39, was enjoying a cup of coffee on the deck of his township home when he noticed several deer in the field behind his home..
‘I could see one of the deer was a buck,? said King, a deer hunter for the past 27 years. ‘I watched it mate with a doe and decided I’d try to stalk the deer.?
So, King donned his camouflage and Browning 68-pound draw compound bow and crawled on his belly about 200 yards across the open field toward the animals.
‘I was able to crawl to within about 20 yards of the buck. I stood up slowly, while drawing my bow back. He just stood there with shocked look on his face just before I shot..?
King’s arrow hit the buck through the lungs–the deer ran about 100 yards before falling..
The monster eight point buck has a spread of 20 inches, a 10 inch tine and six inches around the base of the rack. It also scored 153 points with the Pope & Young Club. The official repository for records on bow-harvested North American big game, Pope & Young Club together with the Boone & Crockett Club, maintains the universally accepted scoring system and sets the standards for measuring and scoring big game. A minium of 125 points is required for typical white-tailed deer.
King was one of more than 300,000 who participated in the white-tail deer archery season which opened on the Oct. 1. statewide. And like many hunters found success in the southern sections of the state–a factor not surprising say state wildlife officials.
‘Southern Michigan represents about 50 percent of the states? deer heard,? said Rod Clute, big game specialist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. That leaves the northern lower and upper peninsula for the rest of the million plus deer heard.?
The smaller deer herd is part of the plan established by the DNR back in the late 1980s and 90s says Clute.
‘The deer heard was way too big with not sufficient habitat to support the larger herds. So with more antlerless permits its been thinned.?
The DNR has extanded antlerless deer hunting on private land in several southern Michigan counties including Oakland from Dec. 19, 2005 – Jan. 1, 2006. Barry, Branch, Calhoun, Hillsdale, Ionia, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Kent, Lapeer, Lenawee, Ottawa, St. Joseph, Sanilac, Tuscola, and Washtenaw counties are also included.

Mike King, with his eight-point buck he shot in the Atlas Township area using Read Head 250 arrows with Thunderhead 100 grain broad heads. Photo provided.