How Is Mi. Wildlife Really Doing ?

[swampbuck62]

I moved from MI. in 1979. It seems alot of things have changed. The smelt don't run up the rivers and streams the way they used to. I have heard the the salmon and steelhead run's are way down. And that there really arent as many deer as we think there are in a lot of area's. I grew up in the Traverse City area I remember when the Boardman river would be black with salmon in some sections. We used to go out at night and shine deer and see over a 100 in just a few hours. My older brother who still lives in TC told me they went out shinning a while ago and only saw a few deer. And what about rabbits and other small game.I used to love hunting snowshoe hares. And pats and woodcock? The U.P is dying businesses are closing up. The only thing that keeps alot of them going is hunting season.

So whats the scoop? Is the sportsmans paridise I remember slowly dying?

Just call me Mr.sunshine.

[john warren]

depends on who you talk to and where they hunt. and how honest their memory really is.
on any given evening i can take you out and show you a hundred deer.
squirrel are so thick its been pretty easy to limit on them goose are such a nuicence they have an early shoot to try to thin them out.
smelt are down in the rivers, but plentiful in the deep water.
the theory is smelt spawning in rivers were over harvested. the smelt that spawned and stayed in the lakes have done fine. i know several comercial fishermen and they tell me at time smelt are nearly a pain for them when trying to net other specie.
areas that have been traditional deer hunting areas are indeed showing lower numbers. but everyone and their brother hunt there so you would expect that to be the case.
areas that haven't been traditionaly big destinations for hunters continue to produce just as they always have.
the big thing to watch for in my mind is our memories of glory days. often they are much more glorious in our minds then they really were.

now thats not to say there aren't problems in many areas.
i blame ourselves for most of that. how many hunters have you heard tell about taking deer after deer in the "old " days. and now rarely seeing deer in the same area? with baiting and scent covers and all the new tech hunting gear. i don't feel surprised that over harvesting has occured and has effected our herds.
and remember the history of deer. how many were there when we came to this country? how many are here now? i think you might be surprised by the numbers. i seem to remember a study that said we have more deer in michigan now then we did then. i don;t recall the numbers but do remember being very surprised.
anyway, michigan continues to be a outdoorsmans paradise.
its mostly the outdoorsmen that have changed.
and as always,,,,only my view of things.

[skipper34]

The smelt runs are down because there are too many predatory fish taking advantage of this type of forage. Take Lake Huron for example. Before the salmon intro the smelt runs were amazing along the Lk. Huron shore. Then they planted walleye in Saginaw Bay and since then there are no more smelt runs. Too many large fish that eat 24-7. In fact the alewife is way down in Huron for the same reason.
As for the deer herd, it is simple. Too mature forests and very little habitat. The TC area is a good example. When you were seeing all of those deer back when, the habitat was good. Now that the forests have matured, there is little or no browse left for the deer, thus the deer have not thrived in those areas. Usually when there is a lack of deer it means there is a lack of suitable habitat. The DNR have not done any habitat improvement for a number of years. Usually it is up to the timber companies to improve the habitat. Depending on the area of the state, either there is or there isn't.

[swampbuck62]

Kinda what I thought. I grew up hunting the areas around TC. Lake Ann. Kalkaska and leelanan County. I don't imagine developement has been too kind to thoses areas either. I also heard they don't let the salmon run up the boardman anymore. Is this true? We used to catch a bunch of them right were kids creek came into it.

[hoytshooter4]

There is a key game species that has not been mentioned in this post yet that is a success story....the wild turkey. Three years ago if you saw a turkey in western Michigan it was something to get excited about because they were rare in these parts.

Now I have 3 hens with over a dozen poults visiting the area around my treestand almost every time I go out. The guys who hunt the same area I do stick around to hunt turkey instead of heading North and harvested a nice gobler this year.

[English]

Turkey's may be down where you're at but they sure aren't down in my area. It seems that every year there are more and more of them. Personally I think they could thin them down a bit around here. I'm not saying slaughter them or anything like that but there are more than need to be here that's for sure. It is kind of cool to watch a flock walk through your yard like I can do at least once a week right now.

Mike

[Thunderhead]

The wildlife and hunting up here are doing just fine.