8 years no deer

[Adam10mm]

I haven't been able to kill a deer since I moved to MI in 2005. I'm so sick of this ****. Doesn't help my state won't issue doe permits for my county. All I see are does. I don't have a problem killing a doe, I hunt for meat not antlers, it's just that I can't legally kill one. If I don't get a deer this season, I'm giving up hunting. This is BS.

[Blammer]

that stinks, wish I had a suggestion.

[CastingFool]

I know how frustrating that can be. I am fortunate that I live in a county that does issue doe permits. That's one of the reasons I like living in southwest lower Michigan. Wish I could help you out. Hate to see anyone giving up deer hunting.

[w5pv]

Get you temporary permit from a state that allows the killing of does,but don;t give up.When the dry spell turns you will have a good time.

[firefly1957]

Good luck i know were you are coming from and to make it even harder in some counties you now required to get a buck with at least three points on one side i am with you if they pass that here i will not buy a license. I do have doe permits here and got one Saturday.

[Love Life]

Maybe it's time to get a piece of **** car and hit the back roads....

Hitting a deer just sucks.

[NSB]

I know this is a gun forum but have you ever thought of bow hunting? For several years I traveled from New York to Michigan and bow hunted in the Huron National Forest and I got a deer every year I hunted there. Does are allowed with the bow although I did kill a couple of bucks with the bow also. Lots of deer there and I always had a great time. Four of us went and we all killed deer every time.

[Rick Hodges]

May I suggest trying a neighboring county, or picking up a bow or crossbow? Does are legal with archery gear. Who knows, once you start taking the steps to start hunting "close" you might even see a few good bucks. Good luck...there is excellent deer hunting in Michigan....not always easy....but the deer are there.

[DougGuy]

Do you think it might help to post a thread on this forum asking to hunt with another forum member in a different county that lets you take does and go hunt there?

[boltons75]

Dec. 6 till the end of the month we can muzzle load for 2 weeks, last week is our late doe season, in mid Michigan. Take a drive down here and try some state land hunting.

[starmac]

If there is does there , there is also bucks, at least that is how it usually works. Something about your method is not right for bucks, timing or location of stands or something.

Are you not even seeing immature bucks?

[texassako]

I am starting to understand how you feel. The county I hunt in only has a 4 day antlerless season this year. Of course, the only deer I have seen so far are antlerless. Even the bucks have restrictions on antler size. The deer herd must have been hit hard by the last couple of years of drought.

[00buck]

That is why its called "hunting" and not "getting"

If youre seeing does... there has to be bucks. Have you tried calling them? Grunt calls or rattling? Use any doe in estrus scents?

Think outside of the box.. try something different

[Jailer]

We are lucky here to have over the counter doe tags for private land. If I had more land I'd offer you a spot but my 1.8 acres is pretty crowded with me on it.

[smoked turkey]

I have been where you are and have the "tee" shirt as they say. I can say that things will change for you if you will hang in there a little longer. I have talked to others about this situation and seems lots of us have gone through it. Once you break through you will start having some success at bagging your deer. I think the suggestion to branch out to another county would be a good thing to do. That will help shore up your confidence and teach you a lot about hunting the whitetail. They call it hunting and not shooting for a good reason. Those buggers live on high alert 24/7. They usually don't make too many mistakes. I can say it this way for me this week- If it were the other way around and the deer have the rifle, I would have been dead meat two times. Seems they have been seeing me first lately. Hang in there and don't give up.

[Suo Gan]

Deer are where you find them. I used to go into the woods and I was on a mission. It panned out many times, but quite often I was discouraged, and after all it was hard work, expensive, etc. etc.

I think that if I would have kept that attitude I would have given up hunting. For some reason I changed. Don't really know why either. I go now for the sights, smells, experiences of doing something I don't normally do.

Some folks have deer right in their backyard, and they hunt them right off the porch. Well...to me if that fits someones idea of hunting that is fine, this is an individual sport after all. For me, it is about being at one with nature. I don't mean like a hippie. I mean like an injun, or like one of my ancestors in Europe did when they lived in caves a few hundred years ago. Almost primal. I become a predator. I am after blood. And though I hate to see an animal die, I love to see the animal die. Along the way though, I have learned to appreciate a nice sunset. I have learned to appreciate the hush that falls over the woods when snow falls. I can think back now many decades and I don't recall years, but events. Like the time I shot a bear and when I was butchering it about five miles from the nearest road, it started to snow real hard. I packed out the hide and went back for the meat. It was late that night when I ate supper and went to bed in a pop up camper. Then it started to blow. It went from 20 degrees to 80 degrees. It was a mono wind, and I could hear trees falling in the forest. I thought about getting out of dodge, but I just stayed there and rode it out. Because of the heat the hide on that bear skin slipped. And I vowed that this was the last bear I would shoot.

Anyway, this is hunting. Hunting is NOT what you see on TV. I am not looking down my nose at those men. I just do it different. I don't expect a good deer. But I do expect to be greeted with a unique experience EVERY time I am outdoors.

That is hunting. You can't get that watching football. At least I can't.

There is a website where you can shoot a buck using your PC. They have the trigger controlled, the camera. And you aim and fire. Then I guess you would get your deer. They send your venison packaged to your address.

Do you see the difference? I sure as heck do.

Take care.

[300savage]

oh heck wipe the snot off your lip and stop whining.

[square butte]

When I first read the tittle of your thread I thought maybe you were from Vermont. Deer huntin has been tough in this state for a number of years.

[jonp]

How is that QDM working for you in MI? :roll:
You can shoot deer in Vermont almost every year. My friend does it and gets a couple each year. He does work hard to do it and hunts every season (bow, rifle, muzzleloader etc). I shot one every few years but was not that hardcore at it. Is southern Vermont different from Northern Vermont in the deer herd size?

[square butte]

Deer density is very low in Windham county - as are doe permits. Sometimes I go over to Wells. Lots of doe over there - But mostly see only spikes. We saw a unicorn spike this year. One small 8 point taken in the area we hunt in. I have always had a problem with the late muzzle loader season and doe permits here in VT. Shooting a doe that's already been bread is taking two deer out of the pool for next year. Something just doesn't seem right about that to me. I do not like the way fish and wildlife manages things in this state. Now you got me started. I apologize. Too many good years of hunting in Montana spoiled me.

[wallenba]

Never hunted deer. But I know the frustration. I could not get a turkey inside gun range for the last 4 seasons I hunted (shotgun/bow only in Mi.). Sitting in my blind though, plenty of deer would walk by close enough to spit on.

[Adam10mm]

Good luck i know were you are coming from and to make it even harder in some counties you now required to get a buck with at least three points on one side i am with you if they pass that here i will not buy a license. I do have doe permits here and got one Saturday.
I got a combo license. I'm in the UP so I can only kill a buck with 3pts on one side or more.

I know this is a gun forum but have you ever thought of bow hunting?
Yeah, I got a bow earlier this year. It's the backup plan. I hate archery. It's not fun and I feel goofy flinging sticks at an animal. I'm a gun guy through and through. I didn't get a chance to make it out for early bow season, so late season after gun season is my only chance. Knowing my luck, I'll probably be eating tag stew again. I bought a combo license so the backup plan was to kill two does in archery season. Bow is a Samick Sage 40lb recurve. I shoot barebow (no sights) as I used to compete in archery as a teenager.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/freakshow10mm/58243_644705785559320_636897277_n_zps97b061a1.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/freakshow10mm/media/58243_644705785559320_636897277_n_zps97b061a1.jpg. html)


If there is does there , there is also bucks, at least that is how it usually works. Something about your method is not right for bucks, timing or location of stands or something.

Are you not even seeing immature bucks?
That's what I don't get. There has to be bucks around but I'm not seeing any. Five years ago I saw a 6pt that was out of range. Last year I put a stalk on a spike buck but it spooked when I dropped my glove when I setup for the shot. So I've seen 2 bucks in my 8 years hunting/living up here. Last year alone I saw probably 30 does.

So far I've only seen deer 2 days and I've been out 6 days so far. Last Sunday I had a doe walk past me at 15y. Yesterday afternoon, I jumped a doe off a bait pile on the way in and a half hour before dusk I had a doe grazing 50y away from me. If I could kill does, that 15y doe and that 50y doe would have been killed.

I like tracking/stalking. I find fresh tracks and follow them until they end up with me seeing a deer. So far it's only been does. No bucks. I have a bait pile in the big hayfield where deer activity is usually high. I don't like to hunt over bait, but that's usually to draw them into a point and I hunt the trails to the bait. I hunt the morning from sunup to around 10am, then come home to warm up and head back out around 2pm and stay until sundown. I wear the minimum orange required, just an orange hat on top of my camo beanie. With cold weather like this, snowing and highs in the teens, I wear an orange hoodie under my jacket with the hood up serves as my hat. Outer layer is a black/gray plaid jacket and pants. Basically I look just like tree bark with an orange hat on.


How many days can you hunt and is there a lot of hunting pressure from others?
It's a 16 day season running from Nov 15-30th. I save vacation time and take off the short week we have during Thanksgiving week (I'm on vacation right now) so I have the weekend before T-giving to the weekend after T-giving to hunt, plus whatever other weekend I can depending on how the calendar runs that year. It's always the 15-30th. I'm on a 2 week vacation now. I don't go back to work until Friday Dec 6th. This Friday afternoon we're heading down to Green Bay to visit my family and coming back up Saturday (end of gun season). I'll have Sunday through Thursday to bowhunt, then the weekends through the end of December.

I hunt on my inlaws' farm. It's 140 acres of hayfields, woods, cedar swamp located in Keweenaw County. It's maybe 1,500 yards from Lake Superior. I've pretty much got the whole place to myself. My FIL doesn't hunt anymore, my one BIL doesn't get out much, and the BIL that lives on the farm hunts maybe a couple days per season. This year I don't think he's hunting. Not a lot of pressure around me.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/freakshow10mm/75621cb5-fc70-4ea5-9ff2-6f4a58a079ab_zps7511cecc.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/freakshow10mm/media/75621cb5-fc70-4ea5-9ff2-6f4a58a079ab_zps7511cecc.jpg.html)


How is that QDM working for you in MI? :roll:

QDM rules in the UP are stupid. Plus with no deer registration in MI the DNR has no freaking clue what the harvest numbers are. Part of the problem is the DNR doesn't understand that a doe harvest is part of the QDM management plan.

[montana_charlie]

I like tracking/stalking. I find fresh tracks and follow them until they end up with me seeing a deer.

Last Sunday I had a doe walk past me at 15y. Yesterday afternoon, I jumped a doe off a bait pile on the way in and a half hour before dusk I had a doe grazing 50y away from me. If I could kill does, that 15y doe and that 50y doe would have been killed.
Sounds like you are a better tracker than I.

But, the does you see might be holding too much your attention.
If you are looking at a grazing doe, or one visiting a bait location, don't spend time watching them.
If there is a buck around, he is in the edge of the trees watching whatever happens with her. He won't come out till he's satisfied that she is safe.

So, you should be looking downwind of the doe, and really studying the brush with your glasses.

I have (honestly) looked right at a buck off and on for thirty minutes before realizing he was there.

CM

[MBTcustom]

There are some really nice places for sale here in the south. Just sayin.

[Adam10mm]

Sounds like you are a better tracker than I.

But, the does you see might be holding too much your attention.
If you are looking at a grazing doe, or one visiting a bait location, don't spend time watching them.
If there is a buck around, he is in the edge of the trees watching whatever happens with her. He won't come out till he's satisfied that she is safe.

So, you should be looking downwind of the doe, and really studying the brush with your glasses.

I have (honestly) looked right at a buck off and on for thirty minutes before realizing he was there.

CM
I scan the area when does are present, but pay attention to them for their body language. Head down, ears back, tail wagging low means they are relaxed and not on alert. Buck sees that they will enter the area. If the doe is twitching, snorting, stomping the ground, the buck will not enter and won't wait for the tail to go up. He's too skittish and will leave. I'll scan the trees but keep my eye on the doe, what she's doing, how she's standing, and where she is looking. The


There are some really nice places for sale here in the south. Just sayin.
Trust me, I'd love to move south. Partly my wife doesn't want to leave her parents here and we are too poor to move. I'm 32yo but already keeping an eye on my retirement area. I absolutely hate winter.



Last year hemmoragic disease (blue tongue) took its toll on the deer population in Va as well as MANY places across the US. NOT shooting the does gives the population a chance to rebound.
I agree. Here we aren't experiencing a population decline like that and the doe to buck ratio is like 1:8 to 1:14 in some areas up here. That is crazy and the does need to be thinned out. Most hunters are killing only bucks and the does are overpopulating the herds.

[jonp]

Deer density is very low in Windham county - as are doe permits. Sometimes I go over to Wells. Lots of doe over there - But mostly see only spikes. We saw a unicorn spike this year. One small 8 point taken in the area we hunt in. I have always had a problem with the late muzzle loader season and doe permits here in VT. Shooting a doe that's already been bread is taking two deer out of the pool for next year. Something just doesn't seem right about that to me. I do not like the way fish and wildlife manages things in this state. Now you got me started. I apologize. Too many good years of hunting in Montana spoiled me.

I agree with you on the deer management in Vermont being..um..lackadaisical to say the least. It's hard to get a good handle on the herd size if you never attempt a survey and I've spoken with a few Biologists in the north that have never done one. As a Wildlife Biologist myself I find this astounding. It is not hard but they just don't seem to do it for some reason.
I think the reason that the late muzzleloader season is ignored for the most part is that up to recently I never met more than a handful of people that took it up so the deer kill was not much and the impact on the herd size was negligible. I did it a few years but up north the deer are pretty much yarded up by that time and it is not much of a sport to waltz into a yard and shoot a deer. If I really needed the meat then I would but since I don't then I still hunted it but held out for a really nice buck.

[blackthorn]

As I read this I am watching a little spike buck and two does wandering around on my back lawn! I might be tempted to irritate the wife and go pot him but I already got mine when i was hunting with my oldest boy in Quesnel BC in October.

[richhodg66]

There have been years when things don't go so well for me too. Admittedly, eight years is a long time, but that dry spell will break.

I'm fortunate to live in good deer country with fairly generous hunting limits. Over the 16-17 years I've deer hunted here, Kansas has gotten quite a bit less restrictive on things but two major points they have not wavered on is that you can only kill one antlered buck per year, regardless of method (firearm, muzzle loader or archery) and that they will not make any kind of firearm season during the rut (muzzle loader is last half of September, firearms starts the Wednesday after Thanksgiving, December 4th this year). As a result, we have pretty good bucks here.

There wasn't a huntable population of deer here not long ago. The first deer season here was in 1965 or so and they really were tight on tags and hunting methods until the past few years.

[jonp]

Oh. Dont get too down on not getting a deer in 8 yrs. My grandfather hunted every year when he got back fr ww2 and never shot one.

[4719dave]

Hell im org from ny Rochester .... pretty soon those #$@%&&& in power wont let you use a gun soon .Get out and put your man pants on my friend .lol ... In past years ive gotten skunked too. Day in the woods beats a day at work every time good luck ..

[00buck]

I was thinking about what you said about hunting until 10am and going back out at 2pm.

Most of the bucks Ive gotten were between 10 and 2. try sleeping in one morning and go out at that time. Maybe the other hunters leaving for lunch pushed them to me.. I dont know. Give it a try

I cant remember who said it, but.. If you keep doing what you did.. you keep getting what you got.

[buckwheatpaul]

In Texas it was like that for years....about 10 or so years ago they instituted a doe season beginning on Thanksgiving day and goes through the following Sunday....in addition they instituted a spike and 13" rule....in essence we can harvest two spikes and two does or one spike and one good buck (horns go out beyond the ears - hence the 13" rule) and two does. The Tx. Parks and Wildlife finally realized that there were a lot of does going unserviced....since they instituted those change in the rules....the quality and quantity of bucks have dramatically increased as has the number of does increased .... it is a win-win situation....might talk with you Wildlife Division and ask them to consider looking into the way we do it.....it is at least a place to start with a constructive suggestion...in the mean time consider going hunting in another state....I hunted in Colorado for 20 years prior to our deer herd getting better.....dont give up....have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a merry Christmas!

[Adam10mm]

140 acres near the lake and all to your self sounds pretty good. I don't know the lay of the land there. I would look for a ways to see it from higher up with binoculars. Make a stand/platform on a barn roof, make tree stands, anything to be getting closer to a birds-eye view.
I don't do heights, so that limits my perspective. It's mostly hardwoods with big hayfields. In the woods, we're talking bow range at best. If I could muster a 20y shot in the woods it's a long shot. Action is up close and personal no matter what weapon I use. Woods are thick with very little clearings. These are just what I have hosted online from a couple years ago. Gives you an idea of what I'm working with as far as lay of the land.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd290/Tubby_45/DSCN2379.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/Tubby_45/media/DSCN2379.jpg.html)

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd290/Tubby_45/DSCN2374.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/Tubby_45/media/DSCN2374.jpg.html)

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd290/Tubby_45/DSCN2354.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/Tubby_45/media/DSCN2354.jpg.html)

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd290/Tubby_45/DSCN2352.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/Tubby_45/media/DSCN2352.jpg.html)

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd290/Tubby_45/DSCN2308.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/Tubby_45/media/DSCN2308.jpg.html)

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd290/Tubby_45/DSCN2287.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/Tubby_45/media/DSCN2287.jpg.html)

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd290/Tubby_45/DSCN2280.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/Tubby_45/media/DSCN2280.jpg.html)

[2wheelDuke]

I'd have thought you were talking about hunting in Florida. Florida is a terrible place for deer hunting, there's not alot of viable land, so populations are low, and pressure is high.

I only started to hunt 3 years ago, but I haven't got a deer yet. I didn't see a deer at all in 2 out of 3 archery hunts. In one of those, my buddy/hunting mentor got a 6 point, but I'm not counting one that I saw after he got it when I helped him drag it out. The other year I saw an amazing 8 point, but I ranged him at 330 yards, and he was on the wrong side of a deep canal so I couldn't even try to stalk up.

I saw some does during muzzle loader season this year, but I needed at least spike antlers to take a deer then. I wish I could've shot the one big bodied doe that I watched for a while. The other does were so small I'd have felt bad shooting them. But I'd never got to see deer up close and personal like that before. I watched several does for a good while. I was also scanning to see if a buck was following them. One got so close that I could've probably jumped from the stand and landed on her. I saw another one while I was walking, and got within maybe 7 yards of her, then had a staring contest for a while and even got some phone pictures before she'd had enough and scampered off.

It was a great experience, but didn't bring any meat home. Maybe next year I'll get a deer.

[shaper]

Deer are where you find them. I used to go into the woods and I was on a mission. It panned out many times, but quite often I was discouraged, and after all it was hard work, expensive, etc. etc.

I think that if I would have kept that attitude I would have given up hunting. For some reason I changed. Don't really know why either. I go now for the sights, smells, experiences of doing something I don't normally do.

Some folks have deer right in their backyard, and they hunt them right off the porch. Well...to me if that fits someones idea of hunting that is fine, this is an individual sport after all. For me, it is about being at one with nature. I don't mean like a hippie. I mean like an injun, or like one of my ancestors in Europe did when they lived in caves a few hundred years ago. Almost primal. I become a predator. I am after blood. And though I hate to see an animal die, I love to see the animal die. Along the way though, I have learned to appreciate a nice sunset. I have learned to appreciate the hush that falls over the woods when snow falls. I can think back now many decades and I don't recall years, but events. Like the time I shot a bear and when I was butchering it about five miles from the nearest road, it started to snow real hard. I packed out the hide and went back for the meat. It was late that night when I ate supper and went to bed in a pop up camper. Then it started to blow. It went from 20 degrees to 80 degrees. It was a mono wind, and I could hear trees falling in the forest. I thought about getting out of dodge, but I just stayed there and rode it out. Because of the heat the hide on that bear skin slipped. And I vowed that this was the last bear I would shoot.

Anyway, this is hunting. Hunting is NOT what you see on TV. I am not looking down my nose at those men. I just do it different. I don't expect a good deer. But I do expect to be greeted with a unique experience EVERY time I am outdoors.

That is hunting. You can't get that watching football. At least I can't.

There is a website where you can shoot a buck using your PC. They have the trigger controlled, the camera. And you aim and fire. Then I guess you would get your deer. They send your venison packaged to your address.

Do you see the difference? I sure as heck do.

Take care.

What Suo Gan said.
But, just in case,,,,,,,, Dibs on your rifle.

[Adam10mm]

I get what he is saying, but I don't hunt for the experience, I hunt to kill and have meat to eat. Nothing else matters. I'm not there for memories, I'm there to kill.

Sorry about the rifle, I'm too poor to buy one. I just hunt with my carry 1911 in 10mm.

My gun season is over with. Went out today and didn't see a single deer at all. I'm leaving in the morning to head down to Green Bay to visit my family, even though I'd like to cancel on them to go hunting. My inlaws were thinking of helping me out this weekend and doing a deer drive, but I won't be here. Bow season is my only shot. If that fails I need to hunt my butt off for rabbits, squirrels, and grouse. Working second shift means I could hunt during the day but my daughter is too young to take with, so I've got to make the best of the weekends.

[shaper]

I hope you are taking the "Dibs" thing as a joke. My hat is off to you for hunting with a hand gun. If it were up to me to make a kill I would starve to death before dropping anything with a hand gun. Don't ever stop doing what you like to do especially when it puts food on the table. I have never been a trophy hunter, all of my hunting it to fill the freezer.
We all have times where we didn't come through and it's human nature to feel bad about it. But , one thing for sure, you will not put any food on the table if you stay in the house and watch TV.

[Adam10mm]

We got rid of cable TV this summer. Best move I ever made. Couldn't afford it and never really watched it. We dropped cable and landline phone, kept the Internet, and we just got a StraightTalk phone through Walmart for $15/mo unlimited talk (no text or data, just a bare phone).

My daughter is 2.5yo and with the methods I use to hunt there's no way she'd keep warm when it's 10 degrees out like it is now. It's not for my lack of motivation, it's for her well being.

My handgun is the only thing I have to hunt with. It also serves as my carry gun so I'm not going to get rid of it. Shoot it enough too. 180gr cast TC at 1200fps and anything inside 50y is dead on its feet when the hammer drops. I kill a lot of squirrels and rabbits with it, and a few grouse. I took my supervisor out in the woods earlier this year and showed him how I track and stalk grouse, then shoot them on the ground with my pistol. I can usually get close enough for a shot with my handgun before they even know I'm there and can flush. Usual shot is around 10-15y. He was shocked. I told him "Brian, I've got no dog and just a handgun. How else am I going to hunt them?" Grouse with a 1911. Who'd a thunk it?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/freakshow10mm/DSCN0813.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/freakshow10mm/media/DSCN0813.jpg.html)

[Lloyd Smale]

your in some rugged country around hougton. Probably hard hunting where the big bucks roam. Some of the biggest bucks in the UP come from right near you every year. Its just more work then alot of people have time for to pursue them. I shoot lots of does before season so i dont worry about the meat part but to be honest lately Its been about one in four years that i score on a buck. It does make it tough for a meat hunter though in an area like yours with no doe permits and bucks that must be 6 point or bigger. I at least popped a doe with my 696 last week just out of boredom as i havent seen a single buck not even a spike all year. Seems nice bucks as usual were shot all around me. I guess you have to consider it a sport not going out and getting the family meat. I loved snowmobile racing and in the 20 or so years i did it I was good but not great. I maybe one a dozen races in that time. If i would have quit because i didnt win i wouldnt have made it past the first month. to me deer season is more then just putting meat in the freezer. Its spending time with dad and the rest of the family and its time that i can spend peacefuly in the woods with nobody pestering me or pissing me off. Its time to reflect on the year and what was good and what was bad. Its the excitement of taking out a new gun or caressing and old favorite thats downed many deer. There just so much more to it for me then putting meat in the freezer and to be honest by the time i buy everything for camp and deer hunting it would be cheaper for me to buy a 1/2 a beef!!!

[Adam10mm]

I'm a lone hunter in the woods so there isn't anyone to enjoy the experience with. If I had a group that I hunted with, it would be different maybe.

I don't particularly enjoy deer hunting. I don't like the cold weather and hate being cold; part of why I live to move around when I hunt- keeps me warm. Only reason I do it is because of the return on investment for the tag fee. $15 for that much meat is a great deal. I can't find meat that cheap in the grocery store and all their meat is just factory farm garbage that barely passes for human consumption use. That's the only reason I do it anymore. $15 for my small game license means I have to kill a ton of game to equal the meat quantity of even one deer's yield. 150lb dressed deer yields maybe half that on average, using livestock formula. 70-75lbs of meat for $15? I'd be crazy not to take that deal up.

[firefly1957]

I had spent some time in the Keweenaw in the 70's and early 80's and i saw more bear than deer it was rough traveling most of the time we spent up at Shlatters Lake but did hunt closer to Houghton also.

[schutzen]

In that your father-in-law owns the land, see if he would object to you planting a few food plots. I have always done well with Flat Dutch White Clover near ponds. Over-seed a half acre on the sheltered side of the pond and find a good place for a blind. I know you said you do not like heights, but height is you friend as a deer hunter. Deer are very alert to their surroundings up to 10 feet or so above the ground. From ten feet up you are much less likely to spook the deer. An added plus to height is your scent is carried further away from you before it drifts back to earth. We have done well with blinds built at the 15 foot level. I like to enclose mine and add just a small amount of heat (too many broken bones and too much arthritis). If you slant your roof and vent it, use a 10 foot vent stack. It raises your scent to 25 feet above the ground and seems to dissipate it far enough from the blind to not spook the deer. You also want your blind in place well before deer season. Mine is a permanent blind. Some will say a permanent blind will eventually be avoided by the deer. I will let you know if that happens to me, but don't wait up for a reply. I taught my sons deer hunting out of the same blind they are now teaching my grandchildren out of. Be patient and add a little spring/summer pre-planning to your hunting. Success will come.

[Thumbcocker]

In my experience when hunting becomes a chore instead of a good day outside with the possibility of getting a critter, it is easy to get burned out. I spent from 6:30 to 10:30 today up a tree with temps from 20 to 29 degrees. Did not see a deer but saw turkeys, wrens, woodpeckers, squirrels, a coon, and coyote. It was a great day in the woods.

I hate heights but there is a reason so many hunters east of the Mississippi use tree stands. They work. I use a portable climbing stand and it makes me feel more secure than clamp on stands and I can change locations. I bow hunted 7 years before I got a deer with a bow. If hunting ever ceases to be an enjoyable experience I will cease doing it. It took me several years to get as high in a tree as I sit now and I am by no means all that high at this point. In thick brush even 8 feet up will open up lots of shooting lanes and let you see more critters.

When I hunt I just adopt the mindset that there will be some discomfort involved. good clothing and gear can help but it will not be like being in the house.
the simple fact is that the hunter must be in the critters living room when the critter is there to succeed. Sometimes I wish it was sunny and 72 when I was hunting but that just isn't how it works. It is easier to stay still if you try to become part of the environment and appreciate the plants, trees, non game critters and being out in God's creation.

You are obviously a good marksman and that shows that you have mental discipline that is an important part of being a hunter. In a nut shell I would say try to get off the ground even a little ways, try to be cognizant of all the life and beauty in the woods and enjoy the time you spend there, and appreciate the outside time. I find that I see more deer when my mental state is calm and appreciative than when I treat hunting like a chore.

Some advice from a fair to mediocre hunter, hope it helps,

[kenyerian]

Used to go to the UP every fall to hunt snowshoe hare but I've stayed home the last two years because of the Wolves. They love to harrass and kill Beagles. used to stay at the Fox River Motel In Seny . The last two times we were there we didn't see hardly any deer tracks and only one deer while we were hunting. Did run a lot of hare and jump a lot of Grouse. I don't think that the deer herd will recover with that many wolves.

[Lloyd Smale]

Adam ive seen very few people make out deer hunting. Even when we do crop damage shooting we have to kill 1 deer just to pay for gas and to make out for the two of us we need to take 3 and that happens maybe once a week. Ive never walked away from deer season with more meat then i could have gotten by going to the store and spending the money i put into hunting into beef and that doesnt even include all ive got into guns to do it. You be better off if you want to just feed your family to do what you talked about. Stay home and process someone elses deer and take the money and buy beef.

[cbrick]

Bill, I clicked on the link you provided and my security software went nuts. Big window popped up saying "Dangerous Page - Close this window immediately". Dunno what's up, just saying.

Rick

[firefly1957]

cbrick i opened the page from Bill fine but it has many advertisements so some security software may rebel.

[Adam10mm]

You be better off if you want to just feed your family to do what you talked about. Stay home and process someone elses deer and take the money and buy beef.
I've been thinking about that a lot more this year. Perhaps I could hunt small game in the early season and spend October and November processing deer for people. I'd make money, which I need to get out of this debt I created, plus I could turn some money into raising some beef cattle on the farm. I'd be more apt to take a recreational approach to deer hunting. Maybe just buy a gun license and keep an eye out in the field at the farm. If a buck comes out, stalk close and kill it with a rifle. That's IF I can talk my BIL into letting me put up a small butcher shack on his farm to process deer in. If I have to rent a building in town for a couple months, it will be a different plan.

[Denver]

What do you see as far as buck sign in the areas you hunt? Every area I hunt there is abundant sign. Rubs on brush and trees as well as ground scrapes and well traveled trails. In one of your photos there is a long open area with what appears to be more open woods on the side. Along that fringe there should be rubs or scrapes somewhere. You're definitely limiting you ability to see deer hunting at ground level only. Part of the problem could be not enough other hunters to keep the deer moving around.

No, I did not score this year either.

[jonp]

We got rid of cable TV this summer. Best move I ever made. Couldn't afford it and never really watched it. We dropped cable and landline phone, kept the Internet, and we just got a StraightTalk phone through Walmart for $15/mo unlimited talk (no text or data, just a bare phone).

My daughter is 2.5yo and with the methods I use to hunt there's no way she'd keep warm when it's 10 degrees out like it is now. It's not for my lack of motivation, it's for her well being.

My handgun is the only thing I have to hunt with. It also serves as my carry gun so I'm not going to get rid of it. Shoot it enough too. 180gr cast TC at 1200fps and anything inside 50y is dead on its feet when the hammer drops. I kill a lot of squirrels and rabbits with it, and a few grouse. I took my supervisor out in the woods earlier this year and showed him how I track and stalk grouse, then shoot them on the ground with my pistol. I can usually get close enough for a shot with my handgun before they even know I'm there and can flush. Usual shot is around 10-15y. He was shocked. I told him "Brian, I've got no dog and just a handgun. How else am I going to hunt them?" Grouse with a 1911. Who'd a thunk it?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/freakshow10mm/DSCN0813.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/freakshow10mm/media/DSCN0813.jpg.html)
I used to hunt partridge with my 22 handgun all the time. Flush them, watch which direction they went and stalk them. Lots of fun and great practice for deer