Michigan Archery Whitetail Deer Season Begins Saturday, Are You Ready?

Saturday, October 1, is the beginning of Michigan's whitetail deer archery hunting season. Are you hunters ready?

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Michigan's Archery Opening Day

There is nothing like the view from a treestand on October 1 in Michigan.

The Michigan firearm season gets most of the attention but there are a group of men and women as well as youth hunters that cannot wait until October 1.

Bow or Crossbow

In Michigan, you can hunt during archery season with a bow or crossbow. I prefer a bow and as long as I can pull one back I will keep hunting with one.

Most of my buddies are now using crossbows during the archery season. Crossbows are very accurate and you can shoot deer farther away. I can't tell you how many times I have seen giant bucks that were just out of my comfort zone shooting with a bow but that's archery hunting.

Bow Hunters See More

What I mean by bow hunters see more, is that mid to late October and early November is when most of the rut activity happens. You see the buck rubs, the scrapes, the sparring bucks, the chase phase, and the breeding phase. Now the breeding phase happens mostly during firearm season but the stuff that leads up to it I think is the most fun and exciting.

Sure you can see action during firearm season but there are fewer hunters during bow season so I believe you see a lot more deer activity. Once those guns start going off the deer are just not around during the day like before firearm season starts.

Are You Ready?

Did you put in the time scouting your hunting area? Did you get your stands up? Did you take the time to shoot your bow and make sure everything is dialed in and working? Have you thought about wind directions on entering and exiting your stands?

There is a lot of planning that goes into a great hunting season. I scout all year long and do a lot of homework and hunting to make sure I have tree stands in the right places for all wind directions and times of the season. I also do a lot of shooting with my son to make sure the bow is ready and which arrows fly the best.Carroll/TSM

I put a lot of work into my deer hunting in preparation for archery deer season each year. The work does pay off if you have the right hunting area and put the time in. I have spent the last three seasons working on an area and have passed on shooting a lot of deer most people would have shot. Hopefully, the 2022 season is the beginning of the payoff. I have 7 shooters in my area and now I just need one of them to walk by the stand when I'm sitting in it. Yes, there is still some luck involved.

Good luck with your 2022 archery season.