brad_vanderband1

I've pretty much been having the same results. I havent seen hardly any day time movement. All done between 10pm and 4 am. Dont know if i would blame it entirely on the ban, may just be a weird year?!?!?

buckhunter14

Scooterdo75, I have also seen a lot of young bucks (figures ).

Anyway, I thought the same as you hoping that they would make it through because they won't go to bait piles right away and get shot. But I am beginning to have a different outlook on things.

I am thinking this year will be the worst year for people shooting smaller bucks. If people that are used to baiting are forced to stop and have no other choice but to watch a field or runway, they probably are not going to see the deer on a pattern like they used to, thus dicouraging them. When they see that spiker going by at 40 yards, I don't think they will even think twice now.

Just another thought.

scooterdo75

Good point. I suppose only time will tell.

nappy13

DAGGETT MICHGAN HUNTERS

WE HAVE PRIVATE LAND AND ONLY SHOT SIX AND BIGGER. HUNTING IS GOOD WITH PATIENCE. IN WISCONSIN IF IT IS BROWN IT IS DOWN. CORN FED DEER. AMAZING. STILL FAVOR MICHIGAN

DA MAVEN

joebow

i have hunted up north for 36 years, i see the same amount of deer when i go out as ever. there are plenty of them around. the guys who depend on bait piles will have to be more patient, you wont get the 5:30 rush to the bait. changing how you hunt will payoff. and you will find you dont need bait.and may enjoy it. no i dont work for the dnr. i work hard to find the best spot on public land.

Pat Curtis

From an outsider's point of view, I have aquestion:


During this time of the year when thebucks are locked on to does, do they even worry about bait piles? Now that most of the fields are gone, and bucks chasing does, one would think you could see as many deer now as you did with bait.

fastetti

Man, now you guys got me all worried!! Im heading to Deer camp bright and early tomorrow morning and now I'm thinking there won't be any deer around! I was hearing this summer they spotted a few nice bucks in what was bean fields near my blind, but now the beans are all cut, Im hoping they haven't disced (sp?) them yet. Man, Im hoping the deer are moving by me. Im curious to see if they'll still beseliing as much bait as they did last year by me.

Personally, I don't like the ban at all. When your hunting small woodlots like the area I hunt, bait seems the only way to get them towards your stand when they have five ag fields on each side of the woodlot I am hunting. I guess this year I am going to need a little more luck than years past and Ive needed a lot in the past!!

buckhunter14

Pat Curtis: I do not believe that bucks, mature bucks anyhow, pay any attention to bait piles. I bait(ed) for one reason ---> DOES. Does come to the bait piles, days before does start their cycle, bucks will be yards behind every step they make. Does feed regularly, and come into the bait pile. 90% of the time, mr. big is close on her heels.


Fastetti: I would like to shoot a big boy as much as you, but remember why we are hunting. I make the mistake all the time, but that sunrise, the snow falling, the crisp air, DEER CAMP... that is why we hunt. Harvesting a deer just makes it better.



GOOD LUCK TO ALL... Saturday is the big day. Identify your target before you click off the saftey!

IFD31

Congrats to all of you who have had luck. I see most of the post are from downstate and I siympathize with your fears over the new rules. As far as the true Northern MI, the UP, it seems the weird year is spread here to, at least in the mid Northern UP where I am,veryfew deer seen, not many does and very scattered results. Mostly smaller bucks seen if anything.Sounds like the DNR will report record or normal results again this year but based on everyone I have spoken to and the reports I have heard ithas been the worse year in a long time by far. Not really sure of the cause but it has been many days in the stand with no deer to see for most. The baiting ban you guys are dealing with inlower MIis headed this way in time whatever reason they use and it will be very interesting to see how it goes. As hard as it is for all the fellow hunters in the lower, from the hunting I have donedownstate, it will be a far more difficult policyto deal with here. Whenever I have hunted downstate there have always been farm fields, food plots, or smaller patches or strips of land tohelp pattern deer without using baits. Not a lot of areaslike that to be found here. Good luck to all and happy hunting. Remember as stated in earlier posts it is not necessarily the kill or even seeing lots of deer that keeps us all in the woods.

spaniel

I have been away from hunting southern Michigan for a couple years, But I hunted there over 15 years and never put out bait. I was typically relegated to the land nobody else wanted but even without bait I usually filled every tag I could legally buy (up to 6-7 deer in a year before they limited antlerless permits to 3 each). I did know where some other peoples' bait piles were, I saw few deer over them and they didn't shoot as many deer as me. Knowing the deer (and having a ML that shoots 200+ yds accurately to take them in open fields) works better than bait for me.

I didn't have a huge issue with the bait ban, we can't bait them here in Indiana and I'm still successful. The STUPID thing about it was screwing everyone who participates in that segment of the ag industry by announcing it so late when the economy was already so bad. C'mon, any idiot who goes out and looks at a bean or alfalfa field can see the deer are so thick in the south that bait as a force to get them close together is insignificant, my Dad could count 50+ deer in 5 acres of beans this summer. If they wanted to do it, it should have been next year so people had time to adjust their plantings.