Who’s hunting?
What deer seasons do you or your family hunt?
How many deer do you usually harvest?
Do you eat the meat or donate it?
What hunting methods do you practice?
What’s your favorite part about hunting?
Do you hunt in QDM area or have your own area/camp antler restrictions?
*Share some photos of from your trailcams or harvests.
I hunted from 14-18 years old(4-13 just watching dad)… Then with the MIL/College/moving around I went 10 years without hunting. My last 2 years in TN a friend of a friend got me back into it. Since moved back to MI and have been hunting here for now 5 years.
I hunt bow, rifle and muzzleloader… Depending on what might be on camera or if we need the meat. Because of the quality of meat I’m willing to spend more$/lb than any other meat! The kids hunt with me but must watch until they can do it on their own. Absolutely NO youth hunting for them.
Usually harvest 0-2 a year for me personally.
We eat venison, give some to immediate family and if we stocked up then we’ll only keep hunting if we’ve got a big one around and donate all the meat to the local food pantry or church.
We’ve done all kinds of hunting over the years. Sitting near a heavy runway on a stump, bow stand or brush blind; sitting in a blind, pop-up, bow stand or brush blind over bait; or doing and end of season deer drive. Now, with the increase in CWD and band on baits in our area we put in some food plots and planted apple and oak trees-which will take a while to produce.
My favorite part about hunting is getting away from everyday life for a few hours at a time and sitting in peace with nature. Seeing how beautiful it really is! Studying all animals and their behaviors towards their own species or others. And seeing how they act during different times, moon phases, prerut, rut, temperatures, weather etc… Also, seeing how deer grow from year to year with a big help from trailcams which make it easy to compare bucks and some does with unique markings.
We have our own antler restriction: 4 or more on one side and 3.5 years unless it’s a big 2.5 and difficult to tell… Any doe that’s been dry for 2 years… If we get nothing in October/November then we can take a doe from one of the more densely populated deer areas we hunt.
Have to have it checked for cwd, bovine tuberculosis, just too much anymore.
Yea, that’s the shitty part. If it looks like TB I’ll bring it in… CWD I won’t worry about until over 1% of those tested are positive or it appears sick.
In Marquette county a guy had one that local DNR biologist say had some type of tapeworm which didn’t look far off from some TB images I’ve seen but it was sent to msu for further testing.
Does and fawns touch noses and lick faces all the time, even if they’re not related. Bucks touch noses a lot even before they spar/fight… They all share a licking branch on a scrape! They eat by one another’s piss and shit every day in fields and food plots. And still, even though in the core cwd area less than 1% are infected.
Honestly, a bait ban can back fire IMO. Used to be several hundred bait piles and a few feed areas for winter months. Deer didn’t have to go far to eat. Now with bait bans, local farms are seeing a major increase in deer populations on their properties/leased properties. Deer are moving to that easier abundance of food which can have the opposite impact of what they think…
However, it should help with seeing some older bucks for a change… So many up here live by the brown it’s down method and settle for 30-60 lbs less meat than those more patient by shooting 1/2-1.5 year old deer.
Soon farmers will be able to charge big bucks to bag a big buck on their farm because some of the woods deer migrated to the farms. Our neighbor at camp that has a big anual alfalfa field and said he’s seeing twice as many deer as years prior this time of year.
Got to wonder if some have immunity to cwd since the rate of infected deer in most of the core areas is less than 1%.
I’m confident winter’s help eliminate most sick deer and the wolves, birds of prey, coyotes and other scavengers clean up the mess.
Some feed deer in winter but that does not mean the week survive unless people intentionally feed the week. I fed for a winter and had a weak late fawn and wounded 6 point buck not make it through. The healthier deer wouldn’t let them eat. And it took its toll.
Sat on US23 just north of Cheboygan for a week on surveillance w another guy 7 yes ago last week. Bout 3am, out of the fog a young buck come hauling ass down the centerline of the highway southbound towards town, and maybe 4 heartbeats later, two wolves burst through the fog in hot pursuit. Trippiest thing I had seen in a long time. Got on the radio to my backup car and asked if he had seen it or if I had dreamt the whole thing. Said he was gonna ask me the same…
No chance these were coyotes…my brother had a giant Alaskan Malamute and these two were a little bigger than his dog, so about 140ish I would guess.
That’s awesome. I love wolves but would like for them to be managed. The counties with rough winters take bigger hits to the deer heard more since wolves we’re reintroduced to the area.
I was on a game ranch near Big rapids a couple years ago, late August when the fawns were healthy. A fawn sprinted across the field and not far behind it was a coyote. The fawn easily out ran it and the coyote stopped in the middle of the field. I gut shot it at 140 yards with a 300WM. At least a foot of it’s intestines flew out of the exit hole after it did a back flip!
I’ve only seen 3 wolves, one was when my dad and I were looking for some hunting land to purchase. We were driving on an 80 acres parcel for sale, took an old logging road and a deer sprinted out in front of us, seconds later a wolf sprinted after it… We agreed to look further south for property!
Seen wolves around. Always a pleasure. Seen one about 15 feet in front of my car. Hitting the road in back of the Seney wildlife preserve. It padded out in front of the car, turned, looked right at us and turned around and ghosted back into Seney.
For me, the worst thing is the mountain lions. Everytime I see the spoor I leave. It’s too hard to have to look up in the trees behind you in front of you. There are more than you think up here. Haven’t seen one yet, but I have seen the prints. Lynxes are cool, too. Keep the snowshoe hares busy.
The cost of licenses is ridiculous! It’s a rich mans sport.
Not much moving here in the western UP, major abundance of apples/acorns this season has the deer sitting and staying.
Had my camera out for a week and all I got was a bunch of Turkey’s so far.
Flakes flying up here today…37 degrees.
There have been a bunch of sightings here in the western UP.
Here’s one of a few 2.5 year olds… Had several opportunities but he’s a bit small yet. He’s the smaller buck in the previous pic I posted.
I haven’t seen any chasing, just a few scraping on the mock on occasion.
I did get a 9 point during the Independence hunt weekend. Only 3.5 so not as big as other 9s taken from previous years by neighboring properties. the is my biggest deer not on a ranch. Live weight was 208. Had him on camera just 3 times since June.
Doesn’t mean there aren’t two hundred, either!
Saw A 12 pointer this morning. Well I got to ten and I couldn’t count all the inside tines, counts as a twelve. Saw a ten pointer Saturday in a different spot.
I just wanted to point out the irony of this statement coming from someone that is hunting Deer.
I’m super supportive of hunting and guns, don’t really do it myself, but it seems that someone worrying about being potentially hunted, while on the hunt, is pretty ironic.
If a Deer could talk…
For me, the worst thing is the humans. Every time I see the spoor I leave. It’s too hard to have to look up in the trees behind you, in front of you. There are more than you think up here. Haven’t seen one yet, but I have seen the prints.
You mean if a deer could reason like a human?
Ummm…yes.
