RE: Great Wisconsin Deer Habitat!!!
Brian,
We got back early Sunday AM-1:30 or so.
I already have the arial photo from Terraserver saved on my favorites, and the topo map. We have 16-20 treestands already picked out, and I have 10 treestands set-aside for my share, and my partner is providing the other. We are going again the 1st week in march to scout for a day, and mark trees with ribbon for future sites-might even hang 2 or 3 if given time. All of our stands will be in before July, with 2-3 stands sites per point/draw for different winds, and quite a few scattered along benches near the tops of the ridges that border the farm field. Because of the lay of the land, and access routes, about half the stands will be evening only, with about 8-10 available for morning stands. We even have a place picked out for our little camper, right near the road, so we spook game as little as possible.
As far as the cagy deer go, I grew up hunting in farmland, where very few grow to be 2.5 years old-talk about pressure! With the older age indicated by the numerous large rubs-bigger than your leg, this area must be hunted a little less than where we come from. The farmer's son-in-law also showed us 6 racks from the last 4 years that score between 120 and 140, and he didn't seem like he even hunted much. They were all typical 10's, with some stickers here and there.
We are diffenately looking forward to the hunting and will probably put in the neighborhood of about 20 full days of hunting into the property, not to mention the numerous scouting/tree stand trips.
The farmer also mentioned the turkeys are a nuisance, and he hoped we would shoot some. Maybe if we have time.
Jeff...U.P. of Michigan.