By Pat Kleppert

Now that bow season is here, reports of success have been spotty.

With the onset of EHD in Michiana, sightings are down in many areas but a few people have had success. According to Mark Freshour at Wallhangers Trophy Taxidermy in Constantine Mich. some of his customers had success in bow season's first week along with the youth seasons in Michiana. He has had a few bucks brought into his shop and that includes a couple of extremely nice bucks.

I have been out a few times and so far haven't seen a deer while on stand. I don't have to see deer to have a successful hunt, but I'm somewhat concerned about not even seeing a deer. The early season can be a little tough but with the onset of cool weather, I expected to see at least a few does and yearlings. As I've said before, I'm taking a wait and see approach regarding doe harvest and I have trail cameras out to see if any of the better bucks are still alive.

For now, I'm going to keep hunting the fringe areas of my spots and keep checking trail cameras for decent bucks. All it takes is one good one to make a season so I don't expect to change my hunting strategy but I'm definitely expecting to see fewer deer while on stand. Once the rut kicks in, I do expect that bucks will have to search harder for does and should be on their feet a bit more…let’s hope so!