CORRECTION: A wrong version of this story was published last week.
They say life comes in threes.
Halley McDonald proved an exception during deer season when life came in twos for him and his family.
McDonald, a winner in the Leelanau County Big Buck Night competition, usually hunts by himself but was joined by his son on opening day of the firearms season. That made two hunters, sort of. His son had married in the summer, and she thought she might enjoy hunting with her new husband. So the two of them sat in McDonald’s favorite blind.
McDonald settled for his second favorite blind on a lucky day for twos.
“I caught a glimpse of this buck that was going through the brush. And suddenly he was on (a doe), and by on her, I mean on her,” McDonald said.
His shot was true. Then on his way back to the barn to get his tractor, another shot rang across the McDonald property in Leelanau Township.
Two bucks, two shots. The McDonald clan decided to celebrate at a pub in Traverse City where they watched the tail end of the Michigan-Iowa game, which was won by the Wolverines on a game-ending field goal with two seconds left. The final score was 14-12.
McDonald in telling his story to a packed audience at Dick’s Pour House in Lake Leelanau, put his special day and hunting in perspective.
“It’s not about harvesting a deer. Family and friends come first. That’s what makes this so special,” he said while hosting up his trophy antlers.
It’s become quite a tradition for hunters to gather at Dick’s on the Sunday after New Year’s weekend to see how their neighbors fared during deer season, share pizza and perhaps a beer, and hear hunting stories from Leelanau County before they fade with time.
Marsha Vingsness of Lake Leelanau retired before deer season, giving her extra time in the woods She responded by harvesting the biggest buck entered in the bow category of the Dick’s-sponsored contest as well as the second-place firearms buck.
“I saw a lot of horns. I had the advantage to hunt every day,” she explained. She arrowed an 11-point on Nov. 13 for the bow season title.
The contest is run by Dick’s owner Ron Plamondon. The cost is $20 to enter the bow or gun seasons with all money divided among the top three deer entered in each category. Most hunters interested in the contest sign up for both.
But Big Buck Night is for everyone with spouses, kids and hunters who didn’t enter the contest but shot a nice buck in the county invited. It was held Jan. 11.
Carson Scott, who captured the youth division, got straight to the point when asked to tell his story.
“I shot this guy a minute before shooting light ended. He was chasing a little buck, and it was on Nov. 23 of this year,” he said.
The biggest racks from Leelanau County measured at the event were brought by Graham Crick and Tom Johnson. Crick wasn’t pursuing a trophy during bow season — but he wasn’t going to turn one down, either.
“I hunt for meat,. So when something steps out like this,” he said after being handed the microphone by Plamondon and holding the main beam of his rack, “I’m amazed.”
It was a long evening for Leland Township taxidermist Mark Steimel and Commemorative Bucks of Michigan official measurer Travis Nelson. They arrived as the doors to Dick’s opened about 5 p.m. and were nearly the last persons to leave, measuring scores of antlers. Rather than use the Boone and Crockett system, which consumes more time, the racks were scored using a simplified formula taking in factors such as number of points and inside width.
“We had about the same number of entrants but the racks are bigger,” Steimel said. “It’s because of APR, anterior point restrictions. And there are more bucks in the county as people pass up smaller bucks even though they’re legal. I think people are looking for older deer, so they are looking at age more than points.”
Dick’s is usually closed on Sundays, but Plamondon opened up to host the 18th annual Big Buck Night.
Following are the top bucks measured, by category.
• Bow Season: Marsha Vingsness, 49 2/8; Daryl Couturier, 47 1/8; Cody Campbell, 46 5/8.
• Gun Season: Halley McDonald, 47 3/8; Vingsness, 46 7/8; Dan Cermak, 46 1/8.
• Youth: Carson Scott, 52 1/8.
• Non-contest bucks: Graham Crick, 56 4/8; Tom Johnson, 55 4/8.
