well just got back from my week of hunting in harrison michigan and i can't be more disappointed!!!! From the 5th until this morning i spent most of my time in my tree blind to experience my first hunt during this so called rut and seen a total of two deer. None of which were a buck. This was very surprising to me because all through sept, and the first few weeks of oct. i got tons of pics on my camera more does and bucks at my feeder and on my small food plot than in any other year. so i figured this would be the year. well something happened because i had no activity at all during this week not even at night, no deer, it was like they disappeared??????I have no clue what caused this. any body else in michiganhaving the same problem?????

Sounds like you where in the woods when the bucks where in the lockdown time of the rut . They will lockdown with just one doe for 2 to 3 days , so they are not running around in the woods .
Chaz3815

I feel your pain. Join the club brotha. Deer season in michigan has been terrible. If you hunt north of Clare good luck. In bow i saw quite a few deer, but since november I have not seen a darn thing. I believe I only saw 10-12 deer all of november in roscommon co. Good luck with the rest of your season. Hope things turn around.[:@]

I seen alotof deer. Do you mean since the 5th of November or December? If you ask me, the Michigan rut is done, and post rut is one the downslide. If you are hunting in this snow, your game plan needs to change some.

The Rut in Michigan can be tough.

I hear ya man. I hunted out of Gladwin for the rut and all I saw were 3 doe in less than 3 minutes and that was it for my 4 day hunting trip. Although my buddy and the other side of the woods saw a 4 pt and a 3 pt, he ended up bagging the 3 pt, but other than that he didnt see a thing either. Plus most people I have talked to havent had much luck.

This year has been tough. I hunted Nov. 15-19 split between Oceana and Barry counties. We hunted morning, noon and evening. My buddysaw 2 does at a distance over that entire 5 days and I saw nothing. I hunted last weekend and took a doe in Barry county, but it was 1 of only6 deer we saw all day, 3 of which were far out of range. My buddy who is harder core than me hasn't taken anything yet.

I too am A frustrated Michigan hunter. I have not hunted up north in the past few years but it sounds like the deer are gone. The problem is the habitat has changed. Deer prefer cover to woods. I hunt southern michigan. I have several places to hunt along I-94 in what I call the big buck corridor. I am a knowlegable hunter. I hunted several days this season and saw many 1 and a half year old bucks and does. I hunted 6 days in a row during the 2nd week of November. I only saw 2 mature bucks, neither came in to bow range. That is 35 days in the woods out of the first 45, rotating stands as much as 40 miles apart and only seeing 2 bucks older than 1.5 years. [:@]As soon as the gun season starts hunting is over. There are too many hunters in Michigan. Countless times I see the little bucks I let go during bow season on someones opening day buck pole. If we want hunting to come back in Michigan we need to take care of the habitat problem in the north and limit the doe kill. Go to a one buck per hunter limit and teach the hunters to let the deer grow. I am going to start hunting out of state. Anyone know a good outfitter in kansas, iowa, Illinois?

teamwalshhunting ,
I agree with most of what you said,except the doe count is way to high in Southern Michigan. We need to get indusrial on them flat heads. Places I hunt I think the ratio is 20:1 and up.

As for out of state ,I am a member of Southern Illinois Hunt Club. It was my first year as a member . I took a 182" six year old buck with my muzzle loader. We are looking to additional members to the club. It is alot cheaper than A guided hunt and you attain all hunting rights.It is $1500 for a years membership. The properties consists of mostly timbered bottom lands surrounded by crop fields. Check us out at sihuntclub.com Going out of state was the best thing I did for my hunting season.

I hunt all private land in Michigan now. Seems that the bucks move to unhunted lands and are becoming more nocturnal earlier. In Shiawassee Co. I seen a few good bucks and many small ones. All 200 yards away at the edge of the swamp, right at dark. I would agree that the ratio is 20-1 maybe 30-1. I took my 3 year old out shining in October and we seen over 30 does in the one soy field and one buck on the tree line.