Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Michigan UP vs. Eastern Kentucky for Deer?

If you were going to start a deer hunting camp in one of these, which would you choose and why? Forget travel distance.

I don't know how the UP is for deer. But Eastern KY has rough terrain for hunting.

The UP weather can be a real mess. I am sure much worse than E. Ky.
Also the deer are being systematically killed of in MI with the UP herd
down for a while now.
Just my 2 cents.

Yeah, racks and numbers seem to favor Kentucky. I like hunting cold and snowy areas though. Also, those northern bucks can grow some big bodies too. I also like the idea of the other game species available in the UP like bear and grouse. I guess Kentucky has turkey and boar, though. I hunt Vermont and the NY Adirondacks so rough terrain does not bother me.

Wolves have taken their toll up there. Guys went the whole season without seeing deer this year. Winter can take a bunch out too like in 95-96. Snow can arrive early and you might find 3 feet of the stuff for the opener like happened a few short years ago. Those factors along with competing neighbors bait piles can make it difficult.

However, there is a deer camp culture there. Everyone talks about "going to camp" all year long. Schools are closed for the opener. It's a ritual to visit other camps in the vicinity and share libations. Really old school type deer hunting. If you like big woods with plenty of public land to roam and the possibility of shooting an absolute bruiser, then the UP is for you.

I don't know much about Eastern Kentucky, but my choice would be an easy one.

I live in Michigan's lower peninsula, less than 10 miles from the bridge that separates the lower peninsula from the upper, and while I really enjoy the UP, the deer hunting has taken a giant shhitt in recent years. Too many woofs, from what I hear.

Not sure what the deer hunting in Eastern KY is like, but the UP wouldn't be very high on my list if successful hunting is a priority.

Thanks. The deer numbers can't be worse than Vermont's. I like hunting big woods where I can roam.

EHD hit the eastern KY deer population pretty hard three years ago. Just from talking to relatives along the WV border, it sounds like the population hasn't really recovered, based on what they've seen and are telling me. On top of that, the terrain in the foothills and mountains of eastern KY can be surprisingly difficult, if you aren't familiar with the area. It isn't the Grand Tetons of course, but if you are looking at a camp somewhere near the Daniel Boone National Forest, you may not be aware just how rugged and steep and inaccessible the topography can get in places.

If I were looking at leasing some property in KY, I would take a look at the western part of the state, myself. Maybe some far eastern KY deer hunters can give you a better picture than me though.

Let me clarify, the UP herd is WAAAAAAAAY down for a long time & not going to come back much in the foreseeable future.

Don't know anything about EK, but MI UP is bad.

MM

UP deer herd isn't what it was in the 90's but what is?

I hunt near Escanaba. Saw 11 deer in 2 days. 4 of them bucks, shooting the last one I saw. In the last 10nyears, I've had evening sits of 15 deer with 6 or 7 bucks. It fluxuates.

UP is too vast to really say any one area's experience is like another. 85% of the UP's land mass is covered in timber. I love the UP for more than just deer tho.

Camp culture
Natural beauty (Pictured Rocks is a must)
Variety of fish and game
General sense of libertarianism from most folks.

If it were me, I'd be starting my camp in Zone 1 of KY, not over in the east. In Zone 1 you can shoot as many antlerless deer as you want.

Everyone in Eastern KY is btchn that they're not seeing any deer. Zone 1 is crawling with deer. My camp is on the Pendleton/Bracken line in SW Bracken County. I've got deer coming up and sticking their heads in the bedroom window. We took 7 deer/3 antlered bucks off 200 acres this year. We could have kept going, but the freezers are going to be filled as it is.

Check out my weblog (link in the sig line).

Looks like I need to hunt the UP because in 8 days of hunting, I saw 5 deer. 2 of those days accounted for 4 of those deer sightings, meaning I hunted 5 other days and saw nothing.

Eastern Kentucky is down the list for deer hunting in Kentucky.

https://goneoutdoors.com/deer-public-land-sundance-area-6506923.html

Wisconsin.

Yes, there are some areas that are beautiful. I hunted the area from Mass to Ontonagon to Sliver City, Rockland, & Bruce's Crossing for a good number if years & it has some spectacular areas alright.

MM

I live in WI, hunted the UP my whole life.

In the 90's what I saw in 1 night was the same as 2 seasons combined for pards in N WI.

Less than 100 air miles apart.

This season was about par for recent years' hunting activity.

Don't expect a booner but basket 8 points you put on the wall work.

I live in Mid-Michigan and have hunted the UP many times, more now as a grouse hunter than a deer Hunter. The UP’s has a better than most buck/doe ratio than most places but as others have said the numbers are low. I love deer hunting the UP for the remoteness, miles of two tracks and trout streams galore, a few moose and other cool critters. Public and open to the public paper mill land all over the place, enough that you can stand hunt morning and evening but still have space for a deer drive midday.
Again as others have said there’s some big old bucks in the UP and a decent ratio but low numbers overall and they take longer to grow big racks in the environment up there. There’s a lot better places to kill big bucks but it’s a great place to enjoy traditional deer camps and hunting culture in some of the more remote and isolated country East of the Mississippi.

Remember to look into CWD. It can make things difficult at times.

Thanks guys. I hunted 8 days (3 in the Adirondacks and 5 in Vermont this year). I saw 1 deer while hunting but saw it on 2 days. It was the Vermont buck that I shot after blowing a chance a couple days before. I am hunting areas with some of the lowest deer densities in the country so the supposedly low numbers in MI and KY are still probably much higher than I encounter now. I guess it is all relative. I also hunt Pennsylvania and most years see good numbers of deer. It has been slow so far this year.

I may have the opportunity to get some property and I would like to up my odds a bit and get the experience of another state. The two that I have narrowed it down to are these. Thanks for the info and please, keep it coming.

The deer in the UP migrate based on weather and snow depth also. Google "Shiras -moose deer" The moose is named after the same guy who discovered the deer patterns.