[John Hine]

I would love to be at Hoppies and seeing Jane!

She still owes me a hat!!

 

[old graybeard]

She still owes me a hat!!

She makes the best Bloody Mary's and I need one.

 

[jacksonmideerhunter]

Hoppys has new owners now, and so does The sporting goods shop.
As far as hunting goes, big change for the worse from last season for sure. 2 does, 1 fawn, and 1 4 point seen for the season so far. In the same spots that it wasn’t uncommon to see 4-6 deer per hunt last season. Cameras aren’t showing a whole lot more that’s that either. Best buck I’ve been able to find this season, and I’ve covered many square miles scouting and trying to find good spots.

 

[fish RN]

Yep new owners at hoppy’s and sporting goods store(JD’s)now. Husband and wife and another guy that are all nice people.

buck leading at hoppy’s was shot by a kid and was 210# 9 point on opening day.

big change in numbers for our group compared to last year. Seen 52 deer last year on opening day between 3 guys. This year it was 8 or 9 deer seen between 6 guys. Cousins seen a spike and 3 point and one other larger buck. I shot a 8 point right after he finished breeding a doe on opening night. Had 4 different bucks on cameras in 1 week. Mostly all nocturnal movement. Acorns everywhere by us and loads of them just sitting on the forest floor. Plenty of food for the deer just not enough of them to eat all the acorns.
I have a western UP doe permit and did not fill it.

 

[MrFysch]

We tagged our second buck yesterday. I have seen 5 deer total since Wednesday and shot #5 on Thursday an 8 pt brother also shot an 8.

 

[MrFysch]

Also going thru our cameras that have been out since may, we have hardly no fawns on camera. Don't expect a rebound in numbers anytime soon.

 

[onebad800]

Just returned from so. Marquette cty, 5 guys 2 bucks killed (8,7pt) only 3 bucks seen total and 1 yearling only couple doe on cam (4) and couple fawns very poor. Hardly any shots the first 4 days pretty crazy and seemed like good amount of hunters in our area. Few wolves seen opening morning by 1 hunter. Did have 13 different bucks on all the cams nothing over 3.5 basket 8pt . Heading back for thanksgiving will only be 2 hunters my sons so will see colder weather may help

 

[Cork Dust]

Nest week;s show will cover C. Falls and west as Brian and Kristin rotate around.

 

[NormD]

Only saw these fella's at night public and private land in Dickinson Co. Doe's during the daytime.

 

[Cork Dust]

Only saw these fella's at night public and private land in Dickinson Co. Doe's during the daytime.
View attachment 932271 View attachment 932272 View attachment 932273

Deer are wearing their full winter coats giubg into the warm spell that coincided with the start of gun season. Not much fun to walk around in 48-59F temperatures during the day. Ralph area? I never saw a buck in daylight either until the weather cooled on Friday, then I saw two. It still took me until Sunday to kill the buck I first saw walk across a two-track following a train of three baldies at around 150 yards while I was walking back to the canoe. I was taking advantage of the bare ground to do it quietly instead of crunching throught the dry leaves. Four sets of eyes and ears quickly made me when i tried to follow them into the wind and get a shot at the buck. I did see his antlers twice along with the top ten inches or so of his head and neck, but not enough to be confident I could hit hime well.

 

[Wild Thing]

We are 0 for 3 at my camp so far this year. One of our buds just had shoulder surgery and can't shoot and my son is in the military and his unit is on standby status and no leaves can be granted.

I did pass up a few 2 year old 8's (2 - last week of archery and 1 firearms) but 3+ year olds are very few and far between. Deer sightings are down for sure.

Here is a report from one of my buddies who has a camp up north of us in northern Dickinson...

Pic of a pic so not very good but it is a trail cam photo of 6 wolves on one of their bear baits last month...

Here is the report he texted me Sunday night...

"We just broke camp for the week and came home. Worst season we've ever had. 5 hunters in 5 blinds (5 days) and only 3 deer seen total!!"

 

[stickbow shooter]

We are 0 for 3 at my camp so far this year. One of our buds just had shoulder surgery and can't shoot and my son is in the military and his unit is on standby status and no leaves can be granted.

I did pass up a few 2 year old 8's (2 - last week of archery and 1 firearms) but 3+ year olds are very few and far between. Deer sightings are down for sure.

Here is a report from one of my buddies who has a camp up north of us in northern Dickinson...

Pic of a pic so not very good but it is a trail cam photo of 6 wolves on one of their bear baits last month...
View attachment 932307

Here is the report he texted me Sunday night...

"We just broke camp for the week and came home. Worst season we've ever had. 5 hunters in 5 blinds (5 days) and only 3 deer seen total!!"

Sounds like majority of what others have said in the UP. Dam shame what use to be a deer hunters utopia has turned into.

 

[Wild Thing]

Forgot to mention - another buddy of ours whose camp is just across the line into Menominee County also went 0 for 5. They saw far fewer deer than we did and 2 or 3 of them saw a wolf. Don't know if it was the same wolf or different ones but by the 3rd day one of them had seen more wolves than deer - 1 wolf and 0 deer. He finally saw a lone doe on Day 4.

 

[jacksonmideerhunter]

Well that solidifies it, it really is bad, when Wildthing reports it being so even at his place…
Another skunk for me this morning, and last night as well, by the way.

 

[NormD]

Just my .02 - As long as I'm healthy, I'll continue to make the 6+ hour drive north in the fall/winter to hunt deer in the west UP. Harvesting a deer comes second to what that trip does to my soul and well-being.

Cost for me:

1. 1000 miles round trip on truck
2. $100'ish in gas
3. $190 in tags (non-resident)
4. $150 for camp needs
5. $50 misc stuff

But I can honestly say it's well worth it!

Ok now fire away fellas! 😁

 

[augustus0603]

I didn't see a deer at our camp in Missaukee County this year. Didn't care one bit. The experience to me is priceless!

 

[up520]

Well I'm storing tag soup again in the freezer.
I hunted 15-20 and little brother hunter 17-20 at our camp north of Ontonagon and 2 miles east of Superior.
0 deer seen
0 blue jays
3 grouse
2 squirrels ( giving us the stink eye)
2 shots heard the whole time (

The highways were littered with deer in WI but we didn't see anything either in the woods or on the roads driving (living or dead) Had to be the slowest and worst year since 2008

BUT I've already planed for 2024 because of all the alone time with my own thoughts; I have solved the problems of the world.

Still love the UP and hope your seasons are more fruitful

Stay safe and harness up

 

[mattawanhunter]

The camp where I hunted for years in Northeast Dickinson County only a couple of small bucks were sighted! Of the 4 camps in the area no one took a deer! There was a wolf into the deer bait by camp the night, before the opener!

He has trail cam pictures of a moose, a bear, a wolf and very few deer this year!

My other buddy went to North Central Iron County and out of the two camps up there everyone saw a deer, My buddy thinks he saw the same one. Doe come back to the bait all three days he hunted! Two of the other guys saw and passed on 2 small bucks! None of them saw very many deer let alone shot one!

The continuing theme he mentioned was no one is seeing any fawns!

I'm waiting for reports from my neighbors in Central Dickinson County. When I hear from them I will report!

So far a big fat Zero for the guys I know!

 

[Night Moves]

The sad thing is that even if we do get an easy winter, with few fawns and yearling deer alive now, next tear will be worse than his year regardless. It has gotten so bad that It will take two easy winters just to see a slight improvement.

 

[Cork Dust]

The sad thing is that even if we do get an easy winter, with few fawns and yearling deer alive now, next tear will be worse than his year regardless. It has gotten so bad that It will take two easy winters just to see a slight improvement.

I am a little less pessimistic.

Stora Enso's decision on where to site their new paperboard production machine (Escanaba mill or Wisconsin Rapids mill- is imminent. If the site chosen is Escanaba, a friend who is a supervisor there has said they will begin stockpiling logs in their yard at an increased volume and rate well prior the actual start of produciton-more cutting both in area of acreage and volume. The Sagola facility should be up and running this year as well, no longer producing OSB but still using logs. An El Nino winter is forecast for the upper Great Lakes this year- warmer and drier. Add-in all the deer not shot due to lack of daylight movement and we will likely see some older bucks next season with better racks since they came out of a mild winter; does will drop more twins and triplets that will actually survive due to adequate birth weights with less susceptibility to coyote predation in the critical first six weeks of life window; lower wolf predation on adults weakened by a hard winter as well all contribute to a better future.

IF the deer population reaches the magic base numbers that begin to alter their rate of population growth from linear to near eponential the rate of espansion of the herd begins to really accelerate per unit time. Fawn survival rates need to be above fifty percent, to the unlikely value of 90 percent, to begin to expand the adult population age cohorts through time. The more prey you pump out into the population, facultative predators' kill rates do increase, but are not at an equivalent rate, translating to higher deer suvival, particularly in Region 1 where far too many buck in the 1.5 age class run off 15-20lbs of body wieght prior going into winter. Yes, their basal metabolic rates decline to winter ebb, but the number of calories they need daily for both maintenance and muskuloskeletal growth is higher than that of a mature adult deer. This is a very bad recipe for the future; why Ozoga argued for management that focused on QDM's core principal, prior QDM's 'creation'...

Spring trapping of coyote prior the March 1 closure, done in volume would go a long way to benefit deer, particularly around managed property locations (read that to mean food plots) since coyote travel the tractor lanes to hunt the high stem count edges of these where fawns are located. HUNTING coyote over a staked bait, particularly at night with buckshot, is a very effective way to kill them when they are most active during the mating season, with the highest negative impact on their production rate. A friend down by TC lives on a lake where one of his neighbors slides a road killed deer out onto the ice pack and anchors it in place by running a couple of legs down auger holes to freeze them in place. He has a nice cozy blind site to sit and wait for them to show against that white backdrop.