YoungJP

I am starting a search for ground to purchase in the UP for a future hunting camp, but I'm not sure what area tobegin my search in. What counties in the UP are known for good deer hunting? We may also do some bear hunting also.

Thanks for the help!

RDHunter

I take it your talking about Michigan's U.P. , if thats the case then you'll want to look in the west side near the Wisconsin border.
Gogebic , Ontonagon and Iron counties will offer the best whitetail and bear hunting and fromwhat I heard , theres alot of state land for sale in those counties.

YooperKenny

In general the southern UP (Lake Michigan watershed), especially Menominee County, has more deer but most of the land is private and there are more hunters.There's someagriculturethat supports the higher deer numbers. Doe permits are usually available in these areas. Sometimes there's no snow on the ground November 15.

The northern UP (Lake Superior watershed) has fewer deer but tons of public land. There are big bucks but you have to hunt hard for them. This is where we bought land and established our camp. I hunt for days without seeing any other hunters, and we've taken some respectable deer. There are usually no doe permits issued here.We usually have snowin November, but sometimes it's not until around Thanksgiving.

To me the experience of solitude in da Big Woods and hunting deer in fresh snowfall easily justify the extra effort we make to take game. You just have to decide what's important to you. I'd suggest finding a realtor and checking out listings of vacant recreational property. Also spend some time in the different areas to get a feel for them. My brother and I put in a lot of miles checking our different properties until we stumbled upon our camp area. Good Luck!

YooperMike

Our camp is in Iron county, near Amasa, and we do have pretty good deer hunting and tons of bears. GEtting a permit is not real easy, but there are a ton of bears. Lots of public in northern Iron, plus you are close to Gogebic, Ontonagon, and Marquette county, which also have lots of public ground. I would suggest trying to find a piece of ground to buy, but with a large piece of public connected to it, just to give you more options for spots, unless you can afford a large tract of private. Good luck in your search.