Hunting with Tradition: Deer Season in Bruce County with the Amish

Even though I did not hunt deer, I managed our property to hold them here through managing our property. This included the planting of over 6,000 trees, mostly cedar, spruce, and pine. I have always had trail cameras and used them to monitor the deer and other wildlife.

After retiring here in 2012, I joined the group for the 2013 rifle deer hunt. By this time, the group consisted of a mix of 8 or 9 Amish hunters and 4 non-Amish. They used a drive shed on the farm east of us to store gear, eat, and to hang the deer.

A typical day would see us hunting from stands for the first couple of hours, and then we would drive the bush to push the deer to the blockers. We would communicate using 2-way radios. Yes, including all of the Amish hunters.

The group had permission to hunt over 600 acres of adjoining property that was a mix of hardwood forest, cedar swamps, and cultivated land.

My first morning, I was sitting on my property overlooking a hillside. The farm to the east was owned by an Amish businessman, and he and his father hunted there. After legal shooting time, the deer started to move. Two deer were shot on the farm east of me, but I didn’t see any. After an hour, I drove over and helped drag the deer to the drive shed. Soon other hunters arrived in a couple of pickups, the Amish hunters getting rides. There was a deer in the box of each truck. The drive shed did have electricity and water, as there was a house on the property rented out to a family.

I watched as the group unloaded the deer, skinned, hung them, and washed them with water. After coffee and snacks, which included homemade donuts and other pastries, we headed to the farm north of mine. I was one of the drivers and walked through the woods, pushing the deer to the blockers on the edge of the fields. We slowly walked in a line, calling out to scare the deer out of the woods to the blockers. We were lucky and had 4 deer come out to the blockers. They managed to shoot 2 of them, a doe and a 4-point buck. I watched as one of the hunters field-dressed his deer. Unfortunately, he cut too deep and cut the intestines. I made a note to not make this mistake.

I helped drag the one deer 200 yards through the woods to one of the pickups. We loaded the pushers into the truck while the other truck picked up the blockers and the other deer.

We processed the deer and had a bit of early lunch while the elder hunters decided where we would hunt next. This discussion lasted a while, going over different locations.

The decision was made to hunt a 40-acre woodlot. I was one of the blockers and was told to walk back to a cultivated field and set up 80 yards from the woodlot. I walked into the field and loaded my .270. That’s when I realized I only had 6 cartridges. When I tried to use my radio, it was not working. As luck would have it, as I walked back to my position, I scared up 8 deer from a swale.

They headed right into the woodlot, and I couldn’t give anyone a heads up. I got in position and waited. In a few minutes, I saw a doe walk out of the cedars 140 yards from me. She was facing me and stayed in that position for 5 minutes. I decided to take a shot and missed! The doe hadn’t moved, so I took my time with the second shot, and she dropped! I had shot my first deer! The doe started bleating, so I went to her and cut her throat. Since I was not in a good position to block, I pulled the big doe about 60 yards out into the field. I resumed my watch, but no deer came my way. I did hear shots from the other hunters, and they did shoot a buck and a doe.

I started to field dress my deer, and by the time the guys came out of the woods, I had cut the hide from the chest to the crotch of the deer. After the guys congratulated me on shooting my first deer, they jumped in to help me finish field-dressing the deer. Then we dragged it 300 yards through the field to the road.

Over the next 3 days, we were able to shoot enough deer to fill 11 tags. I didn’t shoot another deer, but I did shoot at several deer as they were running when I was blocking.

On Friday, the whole group got together to butcher the deer. Their drive shed was set up with an electric grinder and saw. Two of the more experienced guys cut up the meat into sections, and the rest of us removed the smaller amounts of meat from the bones. This was used for ground venison. By noon, we had all of the deer butchered, and the meat was divided equally among the hunters. Some of the meat was set aside for the owners of the land we hunted. We would each get a couple of roasts, ground venison, and a portion of the backstraps. Then we all had a barbecue of venison burgers and a beer or two. Yes, the Amish did as well. Quite often their family members would be there for the barbecue.

Since this first year, I have hunted every season. I tend to start my day hunt from the edge of a field at the farm beside me for the first couple of hours. Hunting by myself, I have managed to shoot 4 deer over the last 5 years. I join the rest of the group for the rest of the day.

They keep a record of who was hunting and who shot deer. I’m pretty happy to say that I have shot 9 deer in the last 11 years. I did skip hunting with the group for the first year of COVID.

A few things that you might find interesting about the Amish guys I hunt with: While the Amish don’t like to have photos taken, most of the young guys have cell phones and will take photos with deer.

On their farm, the Amish have a special small building, like a phone booth, where they keep the phone. If you want to talk to them, you call and later they check their phones for messages and call you back. They all travel by horse and buggy and do not have electricity in their homes. They do have electricity in their barns if they have dairy cattle. This is due to being required to have milk coolers.

Most of our group work at an Amish-owned company that manufactures metal siding and roofing. They also own farms.

Over the last 11 years, the individuals have changed as more younger guys join the group, older members have passed away, and some have moved. Now I am one of the more experienced hunters and can be counted on to block and shoot deer that are pushed out of the woodlots. Our group is now about ¼ non-Amish. The tradition continues!