Maple City resident Ronald Harig shot a once-in-a-lifetime buck Saturday, Oct. 24, in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore while bow hunting.
An 8-point, 250-pound monster buck appeared around 7:40 a.m.
“I’ve been deer hunting my whole life, and that's what you hunt for: mature bucks. It isn't always about the horns. I look for those big bellies and sway backs. I thought it would probably never happen in my lifetime … Just a beautiful deer and majestic is the best way to describe it,” Harig said.
Harig has been hunting the area for roughly seven years and recalls seeing this same buck for a moment three weeks ago along a scrape line.
In the early morning light, Harig, 65, using a crossbow, spotted the beautiful buck around 7:40 a.m.
He looked up from 35-40 yards away and had a double-take.
“When you're hunting in the early light, everything turns into a buck out in the field, and then you put a scope on it. It's just a bush,” he said. “I thought it was my imagination. So I looked at it through the scope, and right away I could see this big body deer with a big rack … I dropped my scope, then aimed and pulled the trigger,”
Harig thought he totally missed because two days earlier he missed a shot at another, smaller, 8-point buck.
"There was a lot of blood on the arrow but no blood trail. Not much of one, at least. I backed out for an hour and came back, tracked it into the woods and it still wasn't there,” he said.
Harig had to phone a couple of friends because he'd need help if he found it. They all agreed he should wait until after the Michigan game against Indiana.
“So I went home, watched the Michigan game, which was hard to do. Not because they lost; I was more concerned about this buck,” he said. “The buck actually made a loss a lot more tolerable.”
Eventually the final buzzer sounded, and Harig put his U.S. Army Infantry (Lieutenant) tracking skills to the test.
“I went out there, and I kept tracking and just kept going and got in this field; I saw there were two places that it laid down. After that, the blood trail was really minimal … He went into pines and tracked it about 50 yards away. I looked up and I could see him … This was a special deer. It was huge. Its body. Its horns are just super thick,” Harig said. “Luckily, I had a two-wheel cart I brought. It was almost impossible to get it on there. I trucked it out and got to my neighbors … I wanted to get it in because it's so warm, so I brought it to Deering's right in Traverse City.”
The deer traveled a few hundred yards after a double-lung shot. He has a picture with his wife, Stacey Harig, where the bucks looks twice as big as her.
Harig is a kindergarten teacher at Pathfinder School in Greilickville and has prided himself on outdoor education for over 37 years.
“It's really hard to keep going to work because I'm giving up hunting and fishing time. I teach something called forest school. I started it in the United States nine years ago and brought it up here to Pathfinder four years ago. My kids are outside all day as a kindergarten teacher, and we're inside only till 9.30 in the morning. That’s my passion, the outdoors, for nature,” Harig said. “It’s about your connection with nature; it's so healing, the peace sitting out there and no electronics and just listening and watching nature.”
Harig also participates in youth hunts. His favorite part of the harvested deer is the tenderloins and backstraps, while Stacey loves a good burger.
“That's what you're chasing after, and you dream about getting. I never thought I would see it at my age,” he said. “This is what keeps me young.”
Read more about area bow season reports and preparation for firearm hunting season in next week’s newspaper!
