This year has been extremely tough for me to get out for the “Late” season. With the everyday run around and extra chaos from the holidays, I have only found myself in the woods a few times. Since the rut is over (did it EVER happen), the deer are going into the winter conservation mode. I will have a chance tomorrow to get out, hopefully I will be able to let the air out of one.
If I do… I will be donating the meat to a needy family. If you already have venison in the freezer, you might want to do the same.
Hello to all,
I am new here. I would appreciate any help to get to the right places on any forums. I live in Leelanau County and have the priviledge of QDM…let me tell you..it works!!! We all know that Michigan’s deer hunting has been in trouble for years. I have been to many DNR meetings and it seems like the hunters are talking to the wind. Next year Michigan will be getting a new governor. I am looking for input to get a large enough organization of people to have our new governor make the 9 commissioner positions on the DNR an elected position instead of 9 bureaucrats that are being controlled by lobbyists from the insurance companies instead of listening to what Michigan sportsmen want. The only way we will get anywhere is if they realize we are after their job. Please give me as much input as you possibly can (either here or email me doodoctor@hotmail.com ).
Please feel free to comment (anonymously) here, or login into the forums and post your thoughts.
Michigan is the heaviest hunted state in the country, but due to lack of buck restrictions Michigan has one the lowest trophy buck harvest rates. I have talked to a lot of people that are trying to do some local QDM, by passing on the year and a half old bucks to see if they will make it another year. If the state were to impose a 4 point or better on one side, that would force us to take deer that are at least 2 and a half years old. A friend told me to shoot a doe before you whack a little guy.
Click on the poll below to let me know how you feel…
Too much pressure causes everyone to wear down! At work; if there is too much pressure you are going to wear down. At home or wherever. The same is true for deer in the woods. I think the parcel I have been hunting has seen its fair share of pressure. I have hit it hard and all of the neighboring farmers are starting to set up their gun blinds for the impending firearm opener on the 15th.
I am going to chill out and stay home for a few days and hopefully get one more hunt in before the boom-sticks go BANG!
Tonight I was able to rattle in a couple of bucks, they were both little six pointers. The one was on the heels of a yearling doe, and the other walked in right when I whacked a mature doe.
The bucks were grunting like crazy tonight, unfortunately the only shooter didn’t have headgear!
It looks like the rut is a little slow getting going. Everyone that I have talked with is saying the same thing. A few signs ,but no RUT-MADNESS yet.
I was out almost everyday since last friday and saw a handful of does and yearling bucks, but no RUT activity. It was pretty warm most of the week, and I noticed the mercury dropping while I was on stand tonight. Hopefully next week will be better.
This story is for everyone that thinks it won’t happen to them as I once thought. 5 weeks ago my boys and I were very excited for the upcoming Deer Season. For my youngest it was his first year he would be old enough to hunt.
We had set some stands for the upcoming youth hunt and were out the weekend before for the early doe season on private land. We had hunted the morning and while in my stand I observed many deer moving from what turned out to be a bedding area through some grassy area over to a hay field.
I decided to move my stand closer to the hay field so after the morning hunt I got down and me and my boys went over to an area I thought would be good to move my stand. We found a tree and I told my boys to stay put while I went and got my stand down from my current tree. My oldest boy asked if I wanted him to come along for help. I told him no I would be right back which I should have been. I should have had him come. He might have been able to help prevent what was about to happen.
I got back to my tree and all I had to do was climb up real quick, undo the stand, throw it down and take down the strap on steps as I came down. This is something I have done hundreds of times. I climbed up to the stand without my Linesman Belt(Key Point) and while standing on the step below my stand I could not reach the buckle to undo the stand so I stepped up one step higher but on a branch this time (BIG MISTAKE!)
I figured I would only be on it for a second to get the buckle undone. I could not undo the buckle with one hand so I reached around with my right arm that I was holding onto the tree with when you guessed it the branch broke! I tried to grab anything or hug the tree going down to slow my fall but as I got to the ground there were roots at the base of the tree that were sticking up out of the ground. My toes on my right foot hit the top of the root and my heel kept going to the ground forcing my toes straight up to my shin. If it sound painful let me tell you it was! I knew right away I was in big trouble. I yelled to the boys who came right over. I had them call 911 and get me to the hospital.
What I did was crush my Talus bone and dislocate my ankle. I had to have emergency surgery to repair the damage. The doctor said he could not believe how bad it was broken. My prognosis is not great either. If the bone heals I will probably walk with a limp and possible later in life need fusion surgery because of the arthritis and pain. If the bone doesn’t heal I will need fusion surgery right away. Time will tell.
I currently have three rods sticking out of my foot and have 4 other screws holding the bones together. I can’t work, drive or put any weight on it for 90 days and am in a lot of pain all because I was too lazy to put a Linesman Belt on!
Hunters please don’t let happen to you this fall in the woods what happen to me. PLEASE make sure your strapped to that tree going up or down with a Linesman Belt or a Fall Guy. It may seem like a inconvenience but it’s not worth what happen to me and I’m lucky. It could have been a lot worse. The statistics say the normal injury from a fall the height I fell is Death or Paralization. Attached are a few pictures of what’s left of my right Ankle. I’ll recover for the most part but many don’t. Be smart out there this hunting season!
Thanks for letting me share this story. If it helps just one person it’s worth it to me.
What do you do about trespassers? It’s October 24th; the temperature has dropped; you sneak into your tree stand an hour and a half before first light; you think that this could be the morning you start to see some activity…
…all of the sudden you hear a twig snap and you look in the direction of the noise to see a trespasser with a tree climber about 50 yards from you.
What do you do? … a friend of mine had this happen to him last week on property that he is paying to hunt on. So essentially he is the renter and had someone come into his house and help themselves to the food in his fridge. How could someone do this? My friend waited until this idiot was half way up the tree and snuck up on him to ask him what the hell he was doing! The guy almost shits himself and starts to lie about not knowing he was on private property.
The short story is that nobody was hurt. Make sure that you always take a cell phone into the field with you, and if you are disturbed by a trespasser, call the local authorities or the DNR if necessary. First ask the trespasser if they know that they are on private property and ask them to leave. If the armed invader doesn’t want to leave, you should walk out of site place your call and wait for the authorities to get there.
Don’t take the law into your own hands – it’s not worth it
I have seen several young buck moving through the mid-day time period looking for does. I know that in another week the rut should be into full swing. Halloween is a good way to remember the Michigan rut. That is when the days start getting shorter and the estrous does become active.
Well, it’s legal to shoot a deer with a cross-bow in Michigan now. When I first heard this, I was really pissed! I thought for sure that I would see all sorts of extra (wanna be) bow hunters in the woods. Quite frankly, I haven’t seen one cross bow hunter this year – Maybe I am just lucky. I hope that the cross-bow doesn’t have a big impact to our already over-hunted deer season. The only people Iknow that said they want to buy a crossbow, are already bow hunters, so they won’t increase the number of bow hunter. I’m sure that there are a lot of yahoos that think they can go get a crossbow and be a bow-hunter. They will soon realize that the effective range of the cross bow isn’t much more than that of a regular bow. A cross bow hunter is still going to have to understand all of the challenges of regular bowhunting.
I read up on the Michigan DNR site to see what the rules say…
Crossbows
Crossbows are legal to use:
- during any season in which a firearm may be used, for both big
and small game statewide.
- by anyone 50 years of age or older during the Oct. 1-Nov. 14
bow hunting deer season statewide.
- by any hunter age 12 and older during the bow hunting season
in Zone 3.
Hunters must be at least 12 years of age to use a crossbow.
Youth, 10 and 11, may not use a crossbow. Crossbows used for
hunting are restricted to a velocity of no more than 350 feet per
second.
A free crossbow stamp, available from all license agents or
online at www.michigan.gov/dnr, is required in addition to a
valid hunting license for those using a crossbow to hunt.
Crossbow hunters are required to wear hunter orange while
hunting deer during the early antlerless, youth firearm, and the
November firearm deer seasons.
So if you’re 50 years old or hunting in Zone 3 (south of the shotgun only line), you can use a cross bow.
I have started a forum thread to discuss cross bows and what you think about the new rules. Please register and post to the forum – I want to know if you have seen any “new” bowhunters that are yielding crossbows or if you have decided to start shooting a crossbow.
What do you do about trespassers? It’s October 24th; the temperature has dropped; you sneak into your tree stand an hour and a half before first light; you think that this could be the morning you start to see some activity…
