Cheryl Westbrook from Manitou Beach has taken six bucks with record-book proportions. Photo courtesy of Cheryl Westbrook.

Cheryl Westbrook from Manitou Beach is one of Michigan’s most successful woman bowhunters when it comes to bagging bucks that qualify for state records maintained by Commemorative Bucks of Michigan (CBM).

She has taken six bucks of record-book proportions, with her biggest being a 14-pointer grossing 153 inches and netting 148. However, that buck was the only one she bagged with a firearm. After running out of time during bow season, Westbrook killed that whitetail after firearms season opened, but more on that buck later.

Although five out of Westbrook’s biggest bow-bagged bucks qualify for state records, don’t look for her name in any record book. She loves to hunt mature bucks for the challenge involved and the personal satisfaction derived from success. Having her name in the records multiple times isn’t important to her.

After being involved in a serious automobile accident 10 years ago, Westbrook is just happy she was able to continue bowhunting. The pickup truck she was driving was rear-ended by a semi-truck. As a result of injuries she suffered in the accident, her doctor recommended she discontinue shooting a bow and arrows. She didn’t want to give up bowhunting, so she obtained a permit that allows her to hunt with a crossbow.

Westbrook is grateful that our state allows hunters with handicaps to hunt with a crossbow during archery deer season. She hunts with a 150-pound-pull Horton Crossbow mounted with a Red Dot sight. A mechanical cocking device enables Westbrook to cock the bow by herself.

Even though Westbrook has not entered any of the bucks she has killed with her crossbow in state records, CBM does accept crossbow entries. Like bucks bagged with vertical bows, those with typical antlers only have to score 100 inches to qualify. Archery kills with non-typical racks have to measure at least 125 inches to make it into state records.

Starting this year, bucks bagged with crossbows that qualify for CBM records will be listed under that category. In the past, they were lumped together with other archery kills. All whitetails taken with crossbows that are currently in state records will be listed in the new category along with new entries.

Another little-known fact is that in addition to provisions for handicapped hunters to use crossbows during bow season, anyone can hunt deer with a crossbow during Michigan’s firearms season.

If Westbrook did enter her deer in CBM records, her highest-scoring bow buck -- a 130-class 13-pointer -- would probably rank close to the top of the list in the new category. She has killed at least two others that would measure around 125 inches. She arrowed the 13-pointer on Oct. 30, 2005, and a grunt call played a key role in her success on that whitetail.

“I drove over the grunt tube I used to use with my truck, so I went out and bought a new one,” Westbrook said. “They didn’t have any grunt calls like the one I had. I bought one called the Pacifier that fits in your mouth.

“That call was in my pocket the day I got the 13-pointer,” she continued. “The first buck I saw from my tree stand that day was a yearling 6-point. He came out in the open and then went back in the cover he came from. A while later, I saw a doe in the same area where the 6-point had been. She walked out in the open followed by the 6-point. Moments later, I heard a big buck grunt. I could tell it was a mature buck because he had a deeper voice.”