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Here’s my perspective Shaman and I apologize if it’s been repeated.
You’re right in some of your observations. Hunting is definitely changing and the younger generation doesn’t put out as many hunters as it once did. Hunting is a family tradition passed down and let’s face it, families are more broken and smaller than ever so it’s catching up to the tradition of hunting. Political views towards hunting is less popular and that has its effect as well. As for Michigan it has its own unique issues. The once great hunting ground in the UP has suffered some extraordinarily mis management. The wolves were brought in around 1995 and just as they took a foot hold we had three back to back killer winters losing an estimated 75% of the herd. It never recovered to those previous numbers. Those numbers weren’t healthy either and they actually destroyed much of the cedar that they depended on for winter forage in the deer yards So, with all of that ,many of your deer hunters from the lower peninsula either quit hunting totally or stay below the bridge. The UP is a unique animal in many ways. There isn’t a lot of work so many of the people,myself included, leave for work. I still go back for deer season but live near Grand Rapids. So you end up with a dying population. It’s been that way since the copper boom ended. Given all that it’s not surprising that deer hunting has gone down hill. You have a mismanaged deer herd where a large chunk of public land is located, a change in family tradition and a change in the perception of deer hunting itself then have the disease outbreak where a majority of hunters are now located and a generous topping of predators that aren’t controlled.
First off, thanks for the detailed answer.
Let me just give you an opinion from a guy who is currently living through a serious deer boom here in Northern KY. I grew up dreaming of going to MI, and always thought the guys who hunted up there were specially blessed. Of course, that was in the 60's. Times change.
What I can say from my experience hunting Ohio, IN, KY, and 1 season in MI is this: It can and probably will come back around.
1) Habitat changes. Our surge here in the Trans-Bluegrass is mostly due to an ideal circumstance of farms being left to go fallow after the big Tobacco Buyout. Habitat is very transient. MI's big boom was from the timber industry cutting down stuff and letting the light in. Where there is Edge habitat, there will always be deer. Where possible habitat management can pay off tremendously
2) Having the old farts leave is not such a bad thing. Yeah, the culture of deer camp changes, but nothing stays forever. We've got the same thing down here. All the old farts are dying off. In the end, that can mean more deer, or more precisely, a faster bounce back to what it was.
3) I've got very mixed feelings about bait piles. I've got a few people that bait around me. One fellow poured $800 annually into his corn feeder, but he was the first to admit he mostly fed my deer and had little return on his investment. When he stopped last year, we suddenly started seeing 30-some deer out in our fields in the evening where before we'd seen only 1 or 2. Outlawing bait will change things, but I'm not sure it's for the worst.
4) Whatever is happening, it is all transient. We had neighbors poaching for about 3 years and wiped out the local herd. It took 3 years to recover. However, after that, it was better than it had ever been. My point is that at a low point like this, it's hard to think of what's ahead.
