It is that time of year again. As local hunters start to buy their tags, and start to go on their scouting trips, many know that opening day for gun deer season is right around the corner. The week that all outdoorsmen mark on their calendars is the 3rd week in November, starting from November 22 to November 30th.

This is the weekend that every avid outdoorsman looks forward to. It is such a big deal in some states that they declare opening day as a holiday, which happens in Michigan. Local hunter, Jim DePrey compared opening day for hunters to everyone else’s Super Bowl. That’s quite the statement.

Gun deer hunting seems to be the preferred choice when hunting. During the 2013 season, hunters using a gun racked up a total of 255,003 deer. While the hunters who preferred to use bow have racked up a total 87,628 deer. That means for every deer tagged by a hunter using a bow, almost 3 deer are tagged by hunters who use guns.

So why is there such a drastic change in the numberamount of deer being tagged with a gun compared to deer tagged with a bow? The answer may not be a simple as you may think.

To someone who is not familiar with the tricks of the trade of deer hunting, a plain logical answer to the drastic change in deer tagged is that ‘guns make things easier for the hunter.’ This is true, but there is more to it than that.

Avid NDA senior  and avid hunter Jack Petermann said,  “Well when I am using a gun when I hunt, it gives me an edge. I can take shots that I would not be able to take if I were using my bow. What people do not know, sometimes the rut will run off into the opening weekend, that is great when you are hunting with a gun.”

Usually the rut will happen near the last week of bow season, but sometimes hunters are lucky and it will run off into their gun season. The rut is the time period when deer mate. A lot of the bucks will get out and try to find a doe that they can mate with. “When the deer are in rut, they do not care about anything else, which makes things easier for me” Petermann said. “It makes things easier for everyone.”

Senior Vince Butterfield said what he looks forward to every year when opening season comes around. “It is the best. Every year I go to deer camp with my dad and brother and uncle. We have a great time; tha’ts what I look forward to.”

Some people look forward to being alone in the woods. For others it is being with their family or friends at deer camp. But one thing is for sure, when that 3rd weekend comes around in November, you can bet that all the hunters will be sitting happily in their woods trying to hopefully get the big one.