Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Michigan Hunters

My father and I used to hunt the Bates/Amasa area. We shot some decent deer back in the day and much of our hunting centered around 2-3 man pushes of swamps that we knew had bait piles in the general vicinities. And we sure created some hurt feelers from the plywood and pile-o-rutabaga crowd. A couple of bad winters and an increase in folks guarding their bait piles to shoot anything with 3" of bone did a number on the buck population.

Sadly, the "U.P. Way" began to creep into northern WI some 15-20 years ago and has pretty much done the same thing for the deer population there albeit not quite to the extent. And the lack of logging sure hasn't helped either.

I continue to hunt in northern MN - no baiting and it's possible to not only see deer, but mature deer. Interestingly enough, MN boasts a greater wolf population than MI and WI yet the hunting is better (only one man's opine) so I can't buy the wolf rationale.

Today, sadly, I see camaraderie being the ONLY reason to justify hunting in Michigan's U.P.

Michigan is in a tough spot. With the declining number of hunters pretty much across the board, total elimination of baiting (U.P.) will be death to license sales and a real hit to the places selling bait.
Outside of a disease disaster, I doubt any politician is going to agree to it and the cycle will continue.