Was gonna go but decided against it due to the deer #s on the island.

 

The numbers havnt been very high in years,usually around 250 animals total

 

I believe the Park Service's goal is to eradicate deer from the island since they're not native to it. But I guess as numbers get lower it's harder to get hunters to take the chance.

I'd love to go sometime, though. I loved backpacking N. Manitou, and hunting there is a bucket list item for me.

 

For several years I would go visit my grandparents for a week or so during the summer time and I have gone back there backpacking with my family and visit where the cottage was and enjoyed the sun and the water and took day trip walking around the island

 

That's their goal exactly, and they tell you that flat out when you show up to get on the ferry,either way you look at it, it is a pretty inexpensive week off of work hunting.

 

Not worth my time there in my opinion. Few deer and high hunting pressure equals a poor quality hunt. I won't go back.

 

Personally, the odds don't particularly matter to me. I want to do it because it'd be a fun week of fall backpacking, that happens to incorporate an opportunity to hunt in a unique place. But whether I see deer, let alone get one, would be fairly irrelevant. The hiking and camping and hunting would be worth it for their own sake, at least for me.

 

I know a handful of guys going. Wish I was joining in but wasn’t able to swing it this year. Its a really unique experience. Last year the weather wasnt ideal for hunting, and severely impacted the numbers. Ill bet this year is going to be a great hunt.

 

I went this year, there is a 50$ application fee for the hunt and if you take the ferry it’s a 150$ round trip. The hunt last for a week and I believe there was 226 Total hunter this year, and a total of 126 deer taken off the island. My camp got 6 deer but I went with people who have hunted the island since the 80’s and experience and being in shape definitely matter, many camps came home happy and many went home with empty coolers the main thing is having a good time with friends or family. You’re only allowed a 2 wheel cart during that week. Definitely a lot of fun but hiked over 4 miles a day through hills and thick brush and seen a lot of hunters the deer are definitely pressured that week.

 

Didn't they offer a bow only season on the island?

 

Hopper, wasn’t there a park ranger there by that name back in the 80s and 90s. Was that you?
I remember seeing the last resident of the island several times. She (Rita) lived about 1/2 mile south of the ranger station. Can’t think of her name.
I bought a map off her one year and had it hanging in my office at work for 20 years till we had a fire.
Many great years fishing and camping there

ow that I think about it, the park ranger was Hooper, not Hopper