Opening Day Rifle Season in Michigan + 6 Memorable Whitetail Bucks!

Posted October 29, 2026

by Ed H. Edwards, Lansing SCI member, avid hunter, and fisherman

For every buck tagged, there is a story. Here are a few of mine.

It has been many years since I shot my first whitetail, and Odocoileus Virginianus excites me more and more every year.

No matter where you live, chances are you will not need to travel far to hunt America’s favorite deer on both private and public land. A chance of a big buck increases on well-managed private land, but that is not always the case. Many of the top-scoring bucks are shot on unguided hunts by average sportsmen squeezing in a quick hunt after work or on the weekend.

I think about that every time I hunt whitetails. Regardless of the hunting location, I always have high hopes of a big buck sneaking by within range. However, I’m happy if something appears to fill the freezer, which is reason enough to hunt this magnificent animal.

Michigan 2^nd Day Successes

My Michigan deer hunting mentor had an opening day rule: prepare and pack assuming you will be out the entire day.

This proved to be good advice, and I still hunt the opener flashlight to flashlight. On season openers, I have had success right at the start of legal shooting time, mid-morning, high noon, mid-afternoon, and in the last legal minutes.

Nowadays, after a long sit on November 15^th, I no longer have the endurance to hunt the second day of the season. Even in my younger years, it was a struggle to rise and shine on November 16^th, but if I was not successful on the opener, I always gave it a go. This relentless effort has paid off with three 2^nd day successes.

Opening Day Rifle Season and Day 2 – 1997

The opener was cold, wet, and windy, and deer were not moving over the eleven-plus hours I sat in my ground blind. I saw a couple of does and one buck way out of range. I spent most of the day thinking about a work-related issue. I mulled over ways to correct the problem a customer in Argentina was having. This included the upcoming trip I would be taking soon to assist them.

Day two started with very cold temperatures, and a heavy frost covered the vegetation. My ground brush blind was adjacent to a marsh, and shortly after 7 o’clock, the swish-swish of something walking through the high grass put me on full alert. A seven-point stepped out less than ten yards, and the 12-gauge magnum load of 00 buckshot dropped it in its tracks.

A few days later, I still had the joy a successful hunt can bring to my soul, and the travel to Argentina was tolerable. The first-class upgrades I received didn’t hurt either!

Opening Day Rifle Season & Day 2- 2008

Opening day was a long one spent on a ladder stand with a single doe spotted far away on the neighboring property. My eleven-hour sit resulted in a sore back, and I was thinking about not going out on day two.

My wife suggested I go but for only a few hours, and I was glad I did. About eight o’clock, a bronze flash of antlers was spotted coming through the marsh grass. In seconds, the buck was in range, and it was a big one! Once again, a load of 00 buckshot put it down on the spot.

It was difficult dragging it out of the thick wet grass to dry ground for field dressing. No way was I going to load it into the Saturn VUE by myself. The landowner was not home, but two guys hunting the neighbor’s property were at their truck.

“How you doing?” I asked. “Not so good,” was the reply. They had left the interior light on all morning, and the battery was too weak to start the truck. They had jumper cables and were more than happy to help me load the deer, and I gave them a jump in return.

The eight-point was the 2^nd largest Michigan buck taken by a firearm at the SCI Lansing Chapter 2008 big buck contest!

Opening Day Rifle Season & 2nd Day – 2013

Not to sound like a broken record, but yet another slow opening day with a single doe spotted on the adjacent property. I was not sure I would make it out of the woods that evening; my legs and back were killing me!

The 2^nd day I decided to hunt a maximum of four hours on a different property that would be a much shorter walk to the stand. About 8 o’clock, I heard a buck grunt several times, and before long a big doe limped into sight with a broken lower back leg. The buck kept grunting, and shortly antlers appeared above the weeds, and he followed her into an open area. What should I do? My hunting time was going to be limited, and this would probably be my only chance to take a buck, but it might be best to shoot the doe.

I decided to do the right thing and shot the buck and made sure the doe did not get away!

A great memory of shooting a true double with my unorthodox choice of an over/under shotgun with 00 buckshot in both barrels.

Boom-boom two white bellies up and a lot of work field dressing and dragging the two deer out, but a lot of processed venison was going to be available to enjoy and share!

1991 An Alabama Greenfield Whitetail

The third and last afternoon on stand of this hunt was passing with infinite slowness. The first two days of the three-day company-sponsored hunt had been unseasonably hot for Central Alabama in early December. Sweating in an elevated box blind in a T-shirt was not the kind of deer hunting weather I was used to. However, as a venue for a business meeting it beat any country club or casino by a long shot.

A cold front was starting to move in on the final evening, and my hopes were high that something was going to happen before the hunt was over. Then, suddenly I jumped at least a foot at a shot that was obscenely loud in the quiet glade. The sound of a shot can be an odd noise while in the woods. Depending on wind, terrain, and direction of the muzzle, a far shot can sound very loud and vice versa, making it difficult to pinpoint the distance it was fired from. This shot sounded like it came from just outside my stand, but it was just an acoustical trick. I knew it came from one of my coworkers whose stand was about a half mile from mine.

There is a strange thing about hearing shots while on stand: they often come in flurries. The property owner and I had discussed this very topic the day before. The deer often move in waves when they leave their bedding areas. In other words, when you hear a shot, stay alert and be ready to shoot. As if to emphasize the conversation, another shot echoed in the distance. I concentrated on looking and listening, and within minutes a doe entered the greenfield.

Upon entering, the doe stood and stared over her flank in the direction from which she had so quietly appeared. I hoped a buck would step out next, but past deer behavior experience had me expecting another doe would be next. I thought it was another doe but ended up being a buck with short spikes. Due to a crosswind and stand concealment, the two deer were soon grazing peacefully.

Suddenly, a kerr-splash in the nearby creek startled me. The deer ran a short distance, then resumed feeding. Probably a big gar or carp, I muttered. I had less than ten minutes remaining, and it was starting to get dark. A believer in using every last second of shooting time, I was literally on the edge of my seat. Suddenly he was right there in a narrow opening, then gone with one step before I could shoulder my rifle. Crossing the narrow creek, he had made the splash. Now only a couple of minutes of shooting time remained, and I started to reflect on how a nice buck managed to slip between my fingers.

Then he reappeared! First his antlers, then his head, neck, and chest, and the crosshairs lined up on his chest white spot, and the .270 dropped him as a puppet with its strings cut. As I packed up and climbed down from the stand, the drone of the Jeep coming to pick me up could be heard. The last day of a hunt can be as good as the first, but this one was really close!

2010 Top Hat in Texas

This was bound to be a great hunt just because the hunting area was within my family name, the Edwards Plateau in Edwards County, TX. I jumped on an invitation from business associates to join them on a December whitetail hunt. They had a lease with a controlled harvest by the landowner and Texas Parks and Wildlife. I was super excited to hunt and be allowed to take a cull buck and a doe. The weather in this part of Texas in December is pleasant, with night temperatures falling below freezing and sunny days heating up to a pleasant maximum of 65.

A good companion is key to an enjoyable trip, and my associate and good friend, Tom Quake, made this experience exceptional in all respects. The lease was a free-range, well-managed piece of property with abundant deer. We had deer in sight nearly all day long and witnessed several buck fights. One was so intense that both deer disappeared in the dust they kicked up while sparring!

Seeing deer and seeing a shooter were very different. Tom was after a 4 ½ year old buck with eight or more points. My cull would also need to be an older deer as well, and I had no expectations concerning the antlers. Tom shared trail camera pictures of a buck that had shown up on camera for the past three years and was known as Top Hat due to his very narrow and tall rack that would be a perfect cull buck for me. The only problem was, all of the pictures were after dark, and no one had ever laid eyes on him while hunting or scouting. I figured the chances of seeing him on the four-day hunt were slim to none, and slim was out of town.

On the afternoon of day two, we were in an elevated box blind, and many deer were moving. The chances of Tom seeing something that would interest him were looking good. A good mindset while hunting whitetails is to expect the unexpected. Thirty minutes before we would call it a day, Top Hat came prancing in and stopped within thirty yards of the blind. I grabbed my rifle, took aim, and pulled the trigger on an empty chamber! Top Hat spooked and ran a few steps, stopped, and stared in our direction. I cycled the bolt and double-lunged him with a .270 Federal 130-grain Sierra Game King as if my life depended upon it.

What a cool little buck with eleven measurable points that scored 92 6/8 and was aged at 6 ½ years old. The rack is a gray tint in color and a favorite hunting memento.

2015 A Prime Kansas Whitetail

Stand hunting whitetail can be one of the most mentally demanding activities a person can put themselves through. Proper clothing and nutrition will take care of you physically, but mental alertness for hours on end is up to the hunter. In the old days, hunters often packed a book; nowadays it is common to fiddle with a phone while on stand, but for me, it is time for deep thoughts.

Thoughts that often run through my mind include:

God
Family & Friends
Work (before retirement)
Past & Future adventures

Sometimes the thoughts are not so common, as happened while on stand during a hunt in Kansas. We received permission to hunt a property that had the only heavy cover within several square miles of flat land consisting of pasture, milo, and spring wheat just starting to sprout up.

Walking along the cottonwood-lined dry creek looking for a spot to set up, I noticed considerable buck sign with numerous rubs, and the stench of fresh scrapes hung in the cold winter air. The higher of the creek banks was on the downwind side, and I set up my chair next to a tree I could lean into with my left shoulder. I stuck my shooting stick into the soft soil and felt confident with the setup. The relentless Kansas wind was directly in my face, so anything coming down the creek bed or in the picked milo on the other side would not have a clue I was in their sanctuary. Clear shooting lanes were noted, and the only concern was if a shot was to be taken out in the milo, it would be a thread-the-needle opportunity.

It was about two o’clock when I settled in and was soon deep into uncommon thoughts; how uncommon? I started to think about prime numbers! If you never knew or have forgotten, a prime number is a whole number that can only be divided evenly by 1 and itself. Facts that are interesting (or not) include:

2 is the only even prime number
No prime number greater than 5 ends in a five
0 and 1 are not considered prime numbers

I was mentally clicking off prime numbers: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, and immediately changed my thoughts to the whitetail running across the milo field. A quick scan indicated the first two were does, the third a small buck, and the fourth was a big one! I placed my .270 on the shooting stick and hoped he would stop in one of the two clear spots.

They all skirted the first opening and all, but the big boy blew through the second. He hesitated broadside, the crosshairs settled behind his shoulder, and I swear my trigger finger had a 140-grain Federal Bear Claw in motion before my brain told it to do so.

The deep whack of the bullet echoed back, and the buck fell forward and did not move! There was no ground shrinkage on this big eight-point, and my good friend and partner on this trip, Tom, was able to drive his truck up to a reasonable dragging distance.

It was by far the largest whitetail I have ever taken, and Tom estimated it weighed at least 250 pounds or more on the hoof. Getting a weight was not possible, but I suspect 251, 257, or 263, which are all prime numbers!