Deer Herd down!

[MI Friend]

I own 120 acres in northern, MI. I watch deer all year long, know them by name! While I accepted the no bait rule and put in food plots I now have concern about the lack of healthy deer going into winter without baiting. We hunted every day and saw numerous does at our plots but no fawns. Never seen anything like it. In the past the herd had tons and tons of food to get them in shape for a bad winter, not now. Just sharing thoughts and wonder if the DNR will factor this onto the "bad winter" reason for few deer. PS- I do not like the "bigger is better bait pile". Best to all!

What are your thoughts?

[perchking]

There is no question the heard is down in Michigan and I attribute this to the last 2 winters and the wolves. As for baiting, it is legal in the UP but if it is done legally I hardly think the 2 gallons per hunter adds enough food to the heard to have them make it through a though winter. Where I hunt ALL of our deer migrate north to get away from the snow and if you feed them late into the season, I personally think it does more harm than good because it keeps them from moving north with the rest of the heard. This is only my personal opinion but to me it makes sense.

[MI Friend]

PerchKing-Thanks for your reply, I got thinking noone would share their thoughts. Need to get this board going. Around here we have lots of Coyotes but I never find kill sites. I beleive they do kill a bunch of fawns in the spring, first 2 weeks after birth. Time will tell if the no bait thing is right for this climate. Do you live in the Up? Others please let us know what you think? We now have about 15 inches of snow on the level and muzzleloader starts Friday. Best to all!!

MI Friend

[MI Friend]

Perchking- Me bad! I did not see that from your profile you do live in the UP.

Mi Friend

[perchking]

MI Friend,

Yes I live in Gogebic County (Western UP) and our heard really took a beating in the last 2 years. I know of a few camps that hunted 4-6 guys out of it and over 2 weeks only saw a handful of does. I know it is easy to just blame the DNR, but I think they are at fault also in this debacle. I think we both agree we feel fortunate to be able to harvest 2 bucks/year. But I honelsy think that is the main problem. I also think in certain areas espically in the UP, there shoud be an earn a buck tag requirment also. Not this year but in past years, I could sit and see 20+ does in a day and not a horn. I think our ratio is way out of whack. I guess that is what you get when the only census of the deer kill in the UP is to count the carcassas that cross over the bridge.

pk

[Nate McVey]

I was talking with a buddy about this same topic last night......

I too lived and still hunt in the western U.P. and this was the worst year I can remember for myself and most of the guys I know. I would have to put most of the blame on wolves and less on the snow and cold. I remember much snowier and colder time periods than the last 2 years and the only thing that has changed is the wolf.

I'm with Greg when he says the LEGAL baiter isn't going to make a huge difference in helping deer make it through the winter. The deer we hunt also head north towards the lake to yard-up and I agree that keeping them from doing that could be detrimental.

Always a fun topic to bring up and discuss after a tough season......

[yooperhawg]

I too live in the same nieghborhood as PerchKing, the deer count is really down from past years. There are pockets of good populations of deer, mainly does, which are probably forced into pockets because of predators, mainly wolves and a rapidly growing population of coyotes. The buck to doe ratio is completely out of wack. Many factors: DNR #1,Growing population of Wolves, Hunters shooting anything with 3 inch or more growing out of a bucks head, not registering deer, harvesting deer without a liscense or over the allowed limit. People in the Western U.P. need to get on the same page. If the DNR is not going to change then we need to. Over the past 40 plus years, listening to the Deer Hunters roundup, how many oodles of spikes have been shot?! In order to have a trophy pop. we need to let small bucks pass for a couple of years. We also need to push for harvesting the ridiculous amount of does present here. The bottom line... Make the DNR do what we want, start getting people out on the streets getting more people involved, making the people we elect into office make the DNR pay more attention to our area, educate the residents the proper way to raise a trophy population of deer. We have the means we need everyone to practice the way.

[Nate McVey]

All good points yooperhawg. It's funny you mention the deer hunters round up. My dad and I stopped at a friends camp and it was on the radio. They mentioned 6 deer I think! That is by far the lowest number I have ever heard.

Welcome to FM too, glad to have you here!

[yooperhawg]

Thanks for the reply. I mention the Deer Hunters Roundup because unfortunately it is one of the only means available to keep track of deer harvested in our area of the U.P. Every year a person listens to it, the deer harvest is smaller and smaller. Either the deer population is getting smaller or people are getting more secretive. May be both but I opt for the first guess. By the way, I spent almost every day in the deer blind, that use to have a good population of deer visit and I have seen more and bigger bucks/does by my house which is rather close to town.

[perchking]

I agree, in Ironwood as you know there are a ton of nice bucks running through the caves. What brings them there is the question, I think both pressure from wolves and recreational feeding are the culprits.

[yooperhawg]

No doubt! They are safe and free to do whatever in the caves area.(My backyard). They get fed, have a safe haven, a complete life of luxury without wolves or too many coyotes to chase them. Just vehicles to dodge!