buckhunter14

The location of our cabin is in Michgan's beautiful Upper Peninsula. The bucks were chasing all week, but no mature bucks for me. A lot of spikes and six points, but I am happy I can pass them up. We have a lot of deer, just lack of mature bucks this year. We had many success', while harvesting deer and just being in the woods. Here are some pictures. Enjoy friends. On a side note, a hunter in our group witnessed our first ever "drop-tine", but buck fever gets everyone.

Dads 8 point.


Uncles 8 point.


Cousins 8 point.


4 point.


DOES!


Crisp Morning.


Nice Doe.


Spike Chasing.

Drew307

Those are some nice young bucks, butwhen you said no mature bucks this year.One look at those pictures and I can predict that next year you won't have any mature bucks either. Those deer are 1.5-2.5 years old and need a couple more years to grow to their potential. The rack size statistically explodes from the 1.5 -3.5 age bracket.Let em go, let em grow. My dad used to hunt the U.P. before the big die off of 96' and 97'. He would come home with his two bucks every year with a couple makingit into Boone and Crockett. If we ever want to see it get like that again in the U.P. the DNR is going to have to put point restrictions so the young deer can grow. Check out QDM of michigan,one of the best organizations to join for deer management. I love to harvest deer, but I love to hunt mature bucks even more. Alot of guys still refuse to shoot does and will shoot the smaller bucks. When you go to their house you see a wall in the garage or barn with tons of little racks and i think 1 or 2 more years and someof these bucks could be huge, what a waste!

buckhunter14

I agree.. Even a few of the bucks we shoot could grow another year, but they would never live. We need permanent antler restrictions in MI, specially the UP because it has the ability to grow spectacular deer. How do you feel about one buck permit in MI?

Drew307

Buckhunter14,

I 100% support a1 buck limit in Michigan. In some parts of the U.P. I would recommend a closed season for two yearsto try and let the buckto doe ratio reach a better balance. The MI DNR is the most f***ed up government agency we have. If we could follow WI, or OH management philosophy we would be better off. When you mention that the deer would never live another year, you have to change that mentality! About 15 years ago I started hunting in Washtenaw and Jackson counties in lower michigan. These counties are in the top five counties for pope and young whitetails entered throughout the state. When I started hunting these parcels, I couldn't beleive the size of the bucks I would see. I was sixteen and held out for a true trophy. At the age of nineteen and many does later I harvested my first buck, a 4.5 old 10 point that scored 153". I was hooked, all I thought about was hunting mature bucks! Back then the land owner where I huntedwould shoot any buck he saw and tell me if I don't shoot it the neighbor will. Well that's the most common misconception hunter's argue. I went to each landowner around the farms I hunted and talked with them about deer management. Their reply, we thought if we didn't shoot the smaller bucks you would. After a few conversations and literature from QDM Iconviced the land owners that we needto implement a management system. I showed them a little fork horn rack and a nice 8 point rack, and asked them which one would you want to shoot, and all of them said the big rack. It was very difficult at first for a teenager to advise old timers on deer management, they thought I waswet behind the ears but they were intrigued that someone so young showed so much initiative tomake a change.With all the landownerswe had about 700 acres of land where all 1.5 old bucks were protected and you couldn't shoot a buck with less than 8 points and a 16" spread. Also, everyone had to harvest at leastone doe throughout the season. Well, let me tell you those first two years were hard for alot, but that third year 5 bucks were harvested that scored over 125". The landowners couldn't beleive the results of only a couple years. By letting the smaller bucks grow theywere in fact creating a bigger pool of mature bucks to harvest. The meat hunters had no problem shooting does and the trophy hunters are seeing alot more bucks. QDM isn't just trophy management, its overall herd management. As of last year in the last 9 years I harvested 6 bucks that all scored over 125", thats a 67% success rate. Not too bad! QDM works best when everyone around you follows some regulations!

buckhunter14

That would be great, and I think it could work for most. We would havea lot ofland, but some of the property owners are sticklers. Quiet cranky actually. I had a doe that I shot with my bow run onto their land. We explained the situation and thenasked for permission to find the doe. He said no, and nature would take its course on it. I sat in the same stand that evening, as the other owner came walking down his property line only to find the blood trail, follow it, find my doe, clean it, bring the 4-wheller out, and haul it back to his barn. My father was livid, but there wasn't much we could do about it. I don't know how much longer we will be hunting the land, but there is nothing better than hunting mature bucks.

stikbow26

Michigan doesn't need antler restrictions we hunters to change. We need to need baiting period that right there would allow a ton of 1 1/2 year old bucks to make it another year and then Mi. would have to changeour hunting tradtions and end the two week buck killing during the rut withguns. IfMi. would go to 3 or 4 3daygun seasons and make gun hunting with nothing but shotguns you actully see out of state hunters coming back to Mi. beacuse of the size bucks we could grow.Hunters have to |QDM them selfs not have it forced on them. I pretty much just hunt Illinois because Mi.is so screwed up.. Walt

buckhunter14

Michigan is screwed up, but what would all shotgun hunting do. Shotguns wound more deer than any gun. I hunt in shotgun zone and opening morning only heard one single shot. Every other shot was atleast 2 to 7 shots. That is crazy!

Drew307

Buckhunter14,

If you shoot a deer next time, call the local Conservation officer or county sheriff. Once you shoot an animal it is your ethical responsibility to make every effort to find it. If it goes over a property line, you have a legal right to that deer as long as you are chaperoned by a government official ie, CO, Deputy.It is illegal to tag a big game animal thatyou didn't shoot, unless its hit by a vehicle, then you need a special permit from the sheriff.

Stikbow26,

How much crack did you smoke before you wrote your reply! I can barely interpret what you wrote. As for baiting, how many bucks do you honestly see at a bait pile during the rut? Me, hunting up north the only thing that comes into a bait pile during the gun season are fawns and does. Occasionally a buck will come in and scent check a doe, butrarely. Anybody serious about hunting mature whitetails knows that you can't harvest mature bucks over a bait pile except after 12:00 a.m. with a flashlight.(just joking) As for the 3 day hunting seasons 70% of all bucks are harvested on opening day! 3 days or two weeks doesn't really seem to make a big difference. As for the shotgun only, I agree with buckhunter14. I have seen moredeer injured and lost using shotguns than with rifles. Shotgunswith rifled barrels are capable of shooting out to 200 yards, but most hunters don't take the time to shoot their weapon and experiment with different loads to find the best ammo for their gun. I'd say only about 10% of shotgunners arereally capable ofconsistently shooting deer out to 200 yards. The other 90% spray and pray. BOOM,boom,BOOM,boom,BOOM and then youhear them swearing. Withriflesmost peoplecan be taught in 5 mins to shoot consistently out to 200 yards. Rifles especially the lighter calibers can have less recoil and flatter trajectories than shotgun slugs, making it easier for most people to shoot with surgical precision. The reason you don't see alot of out of state hunters is their isn't enough state land in the big buck producing counties.The mostbuck entries come fromthe southern and central part of the state where majority of the land is private and inaccessible.Upper michigan and the U.P. hashundreds of thousands of acres available for anyone to hunt, but their areso few quality bucks around that nobody bothers. The reason you hunt illinois walt, is because of their years of QDM, your reaping the fruits of their labor. I have buddies that go down to illinois and pass up 130"-140" class bucksto hopefully shoota booner. Granted they have large tracts of manageble land,excellent soil for growing protein rich crops and the genetics, but so does lower michigan. The difference, people in illinois know that in order togrow big bucks you have to pass up the smaller ones!I agree that QDM should not be forced on anybody but after seeing the positive results, you would have to be mentally retarded to not agree with it!

Jackson Bowner

Ha ha. Very eloquently stated Drew!!!!!!! Couldn't have found a better way to say it if I pondered it for days. And I fully agree withmany of your points and comments!

buckhunter14

Drew307,
I am assuming your name is Drew, as well as mine. You are very powerful in your points and I agree with them. I respect what your doing and hope someday soon we can turn it around. I know we aren't going to do it with the Gov'ts help.

Stikbow,
I don't know what your talking about. I do agree with MI being screwed up though.