Three of Michigan’s four crossbow records were toppled during the 2016 season.
The new No. 1 Perfect is Trent Smith’s Allegan County 10-pointer. Steven Campbell’s 16-pointer is king of the hill among Semi-irregulars. And an 18-pointer taken by Butch Kulikowski is the state’s new Irregular record.
Both Campbell’s and Kulikowski’s bucks were felled in Livingston County.
Smith’s well chosen treestand afforded him a 30-yard shot when his 5 1/2-year-old buck exited a nearby swamp on private land.
Campbell shot his on public ground. After collecting trail camera photographs of the enormous whitetail, he set up two stands over corn. The free buffet was just the ticket when the weather turned cold.
When a snowstorm hit the area on Dec. 11, there was already a foot of white stuff on the ground. The first buck Campbell saw was a 10-pointer. The big one appeared less than 10 minutes later, and it had a hole in its side when it left.
The largest of the new state records now hangs on Butch Kulikowski’s wall in Brighton, Michigan.
The man had never hunted with a crossbow before 2016.
The key to his success was a food block of corn, molasses and other ingredients, which he placed about 50 yards from his ground blind. He added a second blind even closer after deciding a 50-yard shot might be beyond his comfort zone.
He could’ve simply moved his original blind, but he thought the deer had become accustomed it, and he didn’t want to upset them.
Opportunity knocked about 5:00 on a cold and snowy Dec. 20.
“All of a sudden, there it was. Just like a ghost,” he told Richard Smith, who’s writing the story for Rack magazine. “It had its front leg back, blocking a clear shot to its vitals, so I waited for it to take a step forward with that leg.
“Instead of going forward, however, the buck started backing up. I thought it might have smelled me. When it moved that front leg, I took my shot,” he said.
The buck ran 75 yards after the crossbow bolt pierced it.
Kulikowski’s buck has a BTR composite score of 222 5/8 inches. Smith’s deer tallies 177 7/8. And the Campbell whitetail registers 197 6/8, spread included.
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