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Michigan Baiting

Old 09-05-2008, 01:21 PM
  #11  
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Default RE: Michigan Baiting

ORIGINAL: MichiganArcher

I am in Flushing, MI and down here in mid to southern MI we really don't need bait to harvest deer however up north just south of the bridge you'd be hard pressed to harvest one without the use of bait. There are just too many game trails and miles upon miles of woods to "hunt" them. If you can get on a farm up there you're golden but in the timber the odds are against you. I am personally just planning on hunting down here this year. I have permission on two farms and working on my third. I understand what the DNR's concept is but the deer was in Kent County and is an imported animal which makes no sense to me. They are going to damage the already failing economy more than anything. Farmers, bait markets, gas stations and the such may as well close up shop.
I agree with you on some points, I will disagree on hunting the big woods of NLP and UP without bait. I have been successful without it.

The plan was put together 6 years ago, it's extreme for very good reason. It's a 6 month plan(ban on baiting), at end of the 6 months the NRC will vote to keep it or reinstate baiting.

The real scary thing is out of the 40 deer at the farm, she was the only one that had CWD. All other deer tested negative, so where did she get it?[&:]
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Old 09-05-2008, 01:58 PM
  #12  
 
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Default RE: Michigan Baiting

ORIGINAL: Germ

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I am in Flushing, MI and down here in mid to southern MI we really don't need bait to harvest deer however up north just south of the bridge you'd be hard pressed to harvest one without the use of bait. There are just too many game trails and miles upon miles of woods to "hunt" them. If you can get on a farm up there you're golden but in the timber the odds are against you. I am personally just planning on hunting down here this year. I have permission on two farms and working on my third. I understand what the DNR's concept is but the deer was in Kent County and is an imported animal which makes no sense to me. They are going to damage the already failing economy more than anything. Farmers, bait markets, gas stations and the such may as well close up shop.
I agree with you on some points, I will disagree on hunting the big woods of NLP and UP without bait. I have been successful without it.

The plan was put together 6 years ago, it's extreme for very good reason. It's a 6 month plan(ban on baiting), at end of the 6 months the NRC will vote to keep it or reinstate baiting.

The real scary thing is out of the 40 deer at the farm, she was the only one that had CWD. All other deer tested negative, so where did she get it?[&:]
You may have had success but all in all the odds are against you in comparison to down here. Last year in Shiawassee (however it's spelled) I let 17 deer walk through my kill zone before stroking the release (not a trace of bait). I've hunted 20 years in the northern lower and never came close to the same experience. It can be done but not with regularity. IMO less baiting means less dead deer which means potentially greater numbers of infected deer. with CWD or TB. Though I don't bait at all here in my area I can see where it helps keep the numbers in check. One full season of no baiting has the power to dramatically increase car/deer accidents also. All things need to be considered, not just the "hypothetical" spread of CWD.
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Old 09-05-2008, 02:11 PM
  #13  
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Well being we cannot afford gas anymore the deer are safe[&:] I guess we should look behind 2008, a herd with CWD in the wild does no one any good.

I have more faith in hunters of NLP, I bet some find as I have it's easier. You are correct in SLP we have more deer, and differnet terrain which makes it different.

I think we are going to fine, I look forward to hunting NLP this year
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Old 09-05-2008, 02:22 PM
  #14  
 
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ORIGINAL: Germ

Well being we cannot afford gas anymore the deer are safe[&:] I guess we should look behind 2008, a herd with CWD in the wild does no one any good.

I have more faith in hunters of NLP, I bet some find as I have it's easier. You are correct in SLP we have more deer, and differnet terrain which makes it different.

I think we are going to fine, I look forward to hunting NLP this year
Amen on gas. It's sad when $3.65 is a deal. You have me intrigued when you say it's easier. When you're hunting the timber in northern MI with no bait what are your tactics? I may give it a try after all based on what you're saying. I agree CWD needs to go but 1 deer in a confined area and no others are infected. Something stinks in suburbia .
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Old 09-05-2008, 02:34 PM
  #15  
 
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• Will things like salt blocks, mineral licks and attractants like C'Mere Deer be legal?

No. Anything that's designed to draw a deer to eat or lick it is banned. Attractant scents like doe urine and doe-in-estrus are legal.
What I question is this rule. Illegal to use attractants to lick. Ok to use attractants as urine and estrus. Did manufacturers cross a fine line when they started making food attractants and the game commissions just haven't outlawed them yet? Sure you're 20' high in a stand and the deer aren't gathering up to eat. But an apple scent is an apple scent. The deer still think they're coming for food. Any idea why that's notconsidered baiting? Or is this only in PA andyou guys up there incrazy Michigan don't have these food scents?
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Old 09-05-2008, 02:36 PM
  #16  
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ORIGINAL: DowningAir

Scott:

I've noticed that too. I was curious as to if they would do that or not. I walked into Wal Mart early this week to find that the shelves of attractants had been replaced. The same time last week there was a whole section full. Better safe then sorry I guess.
The strange thing, I went to Dunham's and they had all their attractants/etc still on the shelf. All the scent attractants and what not are still in Meijer, as well as other places.
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Old 09-05-2008, 02:52 PM
  #17  
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Well being we cannot afford gas anymore the deer are safe[&:] I guess we should look behind 2008, a herd with CWD in the wild does no one any good.

I have more faith in hunters of NLP, I bet some find as I have it's easier. You are correct in SLP we have more deer, and differnet terrain which makes it different.

I think we are going to fine, I look forward to hunting NLP this year
Amen on gas. It's sad when $3.65 is a deal. You have me intrigued when you say it's easier. When you're hunting the timber in northern MI with no bait what are your tactics? I may give it a try after all based on what you're saying. I agree CWD needs to go but 1 deer in a confined area and no others are infected. Something stinks in suburbia .

Here's what I do

I find beechnut or acorns that are dropping. I hunt a trail near there, as the deer move to the next area where mast crops are droping I move with them.
I also look for places with water and the access is hidden.

When I talk "easier" I am talking about shooting of the deer. I can remember my first deer tha came into my setup when I was 12. She looked at me entire time in the tree. Eat an apple, look in the tree, eat apple look in the tree. I ask my Dad and gramps, what is up with that? I never used it again in NLP.

I think a better way to state it, and I think you will agree.

With Bait easier to "find deer" harder to shoot
Without bait harder to find deer, easier to shoot because they are not on alert.

Here is the buck I will be hunting in NLP this fall. I walked a lot to find it This is a NLP buck


Now if my dipper as I call them are still there[&:] I have setup what some call scent traps/scrape traps. I have mock scrape/old scrapes I think he uses and have been keeping them fresh with sent since May. Will see if it works
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Old 09-05-2008, 03:07 PM
  #18  
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Default RE: Michigan Baiting

ORIGINAL: MichiganArcher

I've hunted 20 years in the northern lower and never came close to the same experience. It can be done but not with regularity.
Really? Even before TB? I grew up hunting Alcona County and I had many days of seeing 40+ deer in a single sit. Especially in December and without bait. I know things are different now but it was WAY overpopulated within the last 20 years. Even very marginal habitat was holding plenty of deer.
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Old 09-05-2008, 03:45 PM
  #19  
 
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Default RE: Michigan Baiting

Germ, I agree 100%. It's much easier to shoot a deer that is unsuspecting and every deer up there that comes into bait acts as though they're entering the firing squad. Keep me posted on the dipper, I'm interested. I tried a couple up there last year and had them ripped down by a big nasty bruin. He didn't like me.

Vito, I've seen lots of deer up there also, I'm talking within bow range. Up there I've sat for days and not had one pass within my 30 yard range and down here I don't sit a night without at least a doe if not a spike or small buck walking within range. Down here I hunt farm land fence rows and ditch banks where my cameras show me they are moving.
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Old 09-05-2008, 04:33 PM
  #20  
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Default RE: Michigan Baiting

ORIGINAL: MichiganArcher

Germ, I agree 100%. It's much easier to shoot a deer that is unsuspecting and every deer up there that comes into bait acts as though they're entering the firing squad. Keep me posted on the dipper, I'm interested. I tried a couple up there last year and had them ripped down by a big nasty bruin. He didn't like me.

Vito, I've seen lots of deer up there also, I'm talking within bow range. Up there I've sat for days and not had one pass within my 30 yard range and down here I don't sit a night without at least a doe if not a spike or small buck walking within range. Down here I hunt farm land fence rows and ditch banks where my cameras show me they are moving.
I hunt a farm along the Flint River near Montrose, and most of the deer I see travel along the river to the soybean or corn fields, then back to their beds deep in the timber. I also hunt in big woods in the TB Zone which is no baiting, and I actually see more deer up there. I think the ban on baiting causes them to move more during the daytime. They have to graze to find food instead of gorging themselves on a bait pile at night and bedding down all day.

I also think hunting pressure has alot to do with it. Down here, I hunt a farm that gets hunted by at least 7 other guys, which sucks. Up north in the no bait zone, there aren't many bow hunters.
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