A gift that keeps on giving

Eric Kerby of Traverse City poses and drags out a nice firearm buck.

Deer hunting has always had its roots steeped deeply in family tradition, and it’s one of the biggest reasons why Roger Kerby of Honor, and his brother Paul Kerby of Mancelona, are two of the state’s best deer hunters. But they take their deer hunting more seriously than most.

Roger’s son Eric Kerby of Traverse City  is in his 20s, and is becoming a chip off the old block when it comes to hunting whitetails. He’s picking up some of the tricks from his father and uncle, and during the firearm season this year, he saw more bucks than most hunters saw does.

“I used to think that some of Dad’s deer success was a matter of luck,” Eric said. “After hunting with him and Uncle Paul for a few years, I’ve come to realize that both of them make their own luck. They just work harder at hunting than most hunters do, and the hard work pays off.”

They are not lucky. Their know-how and skill help them make their own luck.

Roger got a 10-pointer, Paul got an 8-pointer, Eric got a 7-pointer and Nancy, Roger’s wife, got a nice 7-pointer this year while hunting Benzie County. If you’ve not been paying attention lately to deer trends, Benzie County has beautiful scenery but it doesn’t hold many deer.

Eric credits his father with teaching him some of deer hunting’s finer points. They often sit for two or three hours in the morning and evening in areas they feel should be hotspots, but inbetween those two time periods, they take turns pushing deer to each other. They don’t just hunt early and late; they are out hunting every day after work and all day on weekends.

They hunt all day when not working.

“A hunter can spend a lot of time doing little mini-drives for each other,” Eric said. “We don’t move deer on every drive, and may only move a handful of animals in one day but one of those few deer may be a buck. We know where and how deer usually travel, and not every drive pays off. In fact, many drives fail for one reason or another but some do produce results.

“My father used to guide deer hunters years ago, and he has an uncanny sense of knowing where -- and why -- deer follow a certain pattern of movement when our group starts working through a piece of cover. He knows where bucks will go, and usually will have someone sitting motionless and quiet at that spot, waiting patiently for the buck to arrive.”

In fact, it was on one of these mini-deer drives when Eric was on the receiving end of his father and Uncle Paul’s deer-driving skills. They slowly pushed the cover while Eric sat still, and the buck busted out of dense cover and was quickly lost as it ran into a thicket. The deer knew both men were on his tail, and the buck had to make the next move soon.

Eric seemed to sense the buck slowly moving his way.

“I kept watch, and the buck remained hidden for a couple of minutes,” he said.  “Suddenly, the deer left the heavy cover and started down a little funnel that led to more cover. I had plenty of time to raise my rifle, but this was a time Dad had talked about many times in the past: pick an open hole in the heavy cover, and when the buck moves into it, aim well and shoot.”

The bullet knocked the buck flat, and it never moved. Eric has shot other bucks on these hunts in the past, but each time it happens, he knows there is no luck involved. And now, Roger and Paul know that Eric has been paying attention and is learning as he hunts. And learning on the job gives a person an in-depth education that can never be gained by hunting only one or two days a season. What his father knows has come from nearly four decades of deer hunting.

And now Roger is passing his knowledge down to his son. It’s a precious gift that keeps on giving, and Eric is planning on passing his skills on to his upcoming first-born child.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors