Originally Posted by SKane
Alright guys, I gotta ask - how has much of the U.P. fallen so far in terms of animals and animal quality? (not so much the farm country but the big woods)

Growing up, my dad and I would travel to the U.P. in a couple of different spots but our group shot some decent bucks in the Bates and Amasa areas. That seemed to peeter out over the years too. And the last place we hunted further east had the biggest oak ridge I've ever encountered (mini mountain with acorns everywhere) and it was devoid of deer the last time we hunted there.

Winters? Lack of logging? The need to kill everything with 3" on top?

From my experience, (much like it is in northern WI) if you took away the 4-wheelers and baiting, a good many would quit hunting.

What say you?



Well Skane, I hate to say it but you are right about baiting and AV's. My area had so much baiting I could see corn kernals all the way down the logging road. Even if there was no snow I could have litterally tracked the kernals to the guys stand. To make matters worse, it is a walking trail and two signs say no motor vehicles allowed. They drive right by the signs. If it wasn't for baiting I am sure I would have heard half the shots I heard this weekend ( 15) as far as the ear could hear, even counted the ones so far away they were just " pooffs" instead of cracks. I wish more than anything they would outlaw baiting so the deer would move on their own. My only strategy is circling where I know there is bait, find tracks coming to and from the corn. I sit upwind of tracks I think will head back to the bait. Very few big bucks will come to bait in daytime so I try to head them off. I have spots to do this but no luck yet. Ban bait and ban all atv's on public land and I think we would have half of Price co. to ourselves.
There was a time the hunting was OK . Since then wolves, bear, doe tags increased and then the perfect storm, a severe winter up there. To encourage my son, I told him this should be the bottom of the bottom for deer hunting. He saw one doe Sunday evening , I saw nothing and we considered one deer sighting a success. Oh well.

Last edited by ihookem; 11/24/14.
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