Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting UP Michigan, well north of Flint anyway

fwiw,

A look-see at the stats of bucks taken in the last 10-15 years are pretty appalling for the UP. We have hunted it, the western side, yearly for better than 35 years and the change in quality is undeniable. We are not the only long-term camp to take note. The impact of wolves killing worn-out mature active breeding bucks is borne out by the statistics. Of course, there are always outliers. The winters were always an issue--but add wolves to the equation in the more remote areas and recovery for a population of mature bucks becomes a huge problem. There was never a surplus in the first place and the equation has changed.

In contrast, the Lower has been turning out numbers of excellent bucks.

Saginaw or Gratiot counties, particularly on private ground--sounds like a very generous invite.

As baiting has thankfully been outlawed, actual hunting skills will be in vogue. Personally, if room to roam is limited, I'd be looking for a squeeze to sit and then try not to sit in the middle of it...:) At that time of year, bucks are keeping pretty tight tabs on doe groups and if you are seeing good doe activity, (preferably more than one group of girls) sooner or later a dude will be by. The older animals, imho, are capable of patterning you long before you "pattern" them regardless of attempts to cover scent, so during odd hours a guy can score a good one. Right or wrong, once we are set-up, we don't go into the area we am watching. Older bucks tend to use the herd's eyes as scouts--whether they intend to or not, I do not know. But if an older doe blows your cover in her territory, she may make it a point to make your existence known to the world in the days to come. Females sure can be vindictive...
fwiw, ymmv, bwthfdik