By: Jim Kushner. I recently had a conversation with a couple of fellow deer hunters. One is fairly new to deer hunting the other is a long time hunter. Both of them hunt exclusively over bait. The conversation turned to the subject of the DNR announcement that all baiting will be banned starting in 2019 to hopefully help in controlling the spread of CWD. There was comment on what this would do to the deer population, one comment was that the deer population would grow out of hand because of the lack of not only … Read More
Entry, Exit Tactics to Defeat Deer Hunting Pressure
Courtesy of John Eberhart & Deer and Deer Hunting Magazine. The best entry and exit routes can get you away from deer hunting pressure, and put you right in the middle of daylight buck activity. Watch as John shows the tactics that he uses to access heavily pressured land and find big bucks. Public & Pressured Land Deer Hunter with John Eberhart Deer & Deer Hunting presents an online hunting show for real-world hunters who chase whitetails on public hunting land and highly pressured private parcels. This series features one of America’s top public-land hunters — … Read More
Dealing With The Whimsies Of Mother Nature
By: Tom Lounsbury. The 2017 firearms deer season was real interesting, not to mention somewhat challenging in regards to weather, at least in my Thumb area. Opening morning although a touch breezy was at least dry, but you could sense wet weather was on the way, which arrived around noon with the increased wind intensity of a typhoon. It didn’t take me long to put boots on the ground, because trying to accurately hit the mark from my weaving ladder-stand, would have been similar to trying to shoot from the back of a galloping horse. … Read More
Anticipation For Hunting Season
By: David Derusha. It is commonly called ‘fall’…but its really ‘hunting season’. The leaves are changing colors, dropping from the trees and forming a blanket to cover the green grass. I live for that moment. I love raking leaves, because I know in the back of my head that it is my favorite time of the year. It is the time I work so hard for year around, the time to go to those tree stands for the first time and hunt that buck you have on trail camera, or shoot that first Ruffed Grouse … Read More
My Buck From Dad’s Blind
By: Brian Smith. These trips are not about getting a deer. It’s about the drive up in the truck; leaving at 4am, having breakfast in a small town diner, hearing stories from Grandpa’s past 70 years of hunting in the UP. It’s about sharing a week with guys closest to you, but also having 12 hours a day by yourself sitting, waiting for something to move. 17 years ago, I made my first trip to the UP with my Dad and Grandpa. We stayed in one of the small cabins at the West Shore Resort … Read More
What’s New Is Old … Again?
…reflecting… In today’s society, instant gratification is virtually nonnegotiable. We want it, and we want it now, whether “it” entails grabbing a burger from McDonald’s or speeding down the highway on your way home from work. Simply put, we don’t like to wait around for stuff anymore. If we don’t have to, we won’t. That attitude has trickled down to nearly every aspect of our lives, including deer hunting. Growing up, the U.P. looked to me like a paradigm of the great outdoors. It was brimming with wildlife, a special, almost mythical quality surrounding all … Read More
Wisconsin Example of How Michigan Bears Could be Better Managed
By: Richard P. Smith. Wisconsin is a perfect example of how Michigan could better manage their bear population. During 2016, Wisconsin issued 11,520 bear licenses to hunters in the state and those hunters registered 4,682 bears, according to a report issued by the Wisconsin DNR. Michigan only had 6,896 bear licenses available in 2016, resulting in 1,636 bruins being registered by hunters. Wisconsin hunters harvested almost three times as many bears as Michigan and almost twice as many hunters (1.7x) had the opportunity to hunt bear in Wisconsin than Michigan even though Michigan has more … Read More
A Superior Experience In Michigan’s U.P.
By: Adrian Zarantonello The Smith family has been traveling to Michigan’s upper peninsula for the whitetail deer gun season for well over six decades. When I married into the family I became part of that tradition…a tradition I embraced and hold near to my heart. This year, 2016, ‘our opening day’ began with the first weekend of the season. Saturday and Sunday were marred by a snowstorm that had 20-30 mph winds and gusts of 45 mph. This storm dropped 2-4″ of snow on the eastern UP as well as drive temperatures down into the … Read More
The Land Of Superior…as its affectionately called.
In today’s society, instant gratification is virtually nonnegotiable. We want it, and we want it now, whether “it” involves grabbing a burger from McDonald’s or speeding down the highway on your way home from work. Simply put, we don’t like to wait around for stuff anymore. If we don’t have to, we won’t. That attitude has trickled down to nearly every aspect of our lives, including deer hunting. Growing up, the U.P. looked to me like a paradigm of the great outdoors. It was brimming with wildlife, a special, almost mythical quality surrounding all it … Read More