Weidman sophomore, sorority member hunts on the weekend

At 5 feet, 5 inches and 110 pounds, Weidman sophomore Sam Olson would never be pictured with a bow and arrow.

“I get a lot of surprised looks,” Olson said. “I’ve had people tell me ‘no’ before and they just argue with me about how I’m not a bow hunter.”

Olson, a member of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, is involved in the archery club at Central Michigan University and is a member of Delta Phi Epsilon sorority.

Since January, Olson has been perfecting the art of bow hunting with the help of her boyfriend, Matt Vader, 20, also from Weidman.

Vader and Olson go to Jake’s Outdoors, 35 W. Remus Road, to practice shooting targets.

“When I first went to shoot, (Vader) explained the basics, but only the person shooting the bow can determine where it’s going to go,” Olson said. “It depends on their style.”

Olson was surprised about how quickly she caught on to shooting the bow. The first time she shot a bow, she got pretty close to the target, she said.

When preparing to shoot, Olson relaxes her whole upper body to insure stability.

It was fun to teach someone else that did not know anything about it, Vader said.

Vader comes from a family of hunters and has been hunting for six years. He began archery four years ago.

On the hunt

Olson’s bow, which weighs about 30 pounds, cost her about $500.

“Mine is specifically made for little kids because it’s so small,” she said. “It is not about being a beginner. It’s about how much you can pull back.”

An average day of hunting for Olson begins before the sun rises.

Olson’s first time hunting this year was on Sept. 18 for the early doe season.

“I was really excited and nervous,” Olson said. “I had a lot of different feelings.”

Olson admitted she sometimes falls asleep while sitting on her bench in a 15-foot high tree in Mecosta, where Vader’s family owns property. When Olson hunts in the evening, she takes homework with her while she waits for deer to come in sight.

Since the archery season began Oct. 1, she has yet to kill a deer. Olson said she would be really excited if she did.

“I’d probably want to jump up and down, but I wouldn’t be able to because I’ll be up in a tree,” she said.

On Nov. 4, Vader killed a deer weighing about 170 pounds, making it his biggest hunt so far.

2009 season

John Niewoonder, a big game specialist from the Department of Natural Resources, said they expect this season to be closely similar to the past few years.

In 2008, there were about 694,000 deer hunters and, of those, 286,508 were archery hunters, he said.

There was a decrease in archery hunters from 2007 to 2008. In 2007, there were 300,254 archery hunters.

“The main reason for the decline in archery hunters was the fact that there was a ban on feeding and baiting the deer in the Lower Peninsula,” Niewoonder said.