Northern Michigan Public Land
 

I'm going to school this year at Ferris State in Big Rapids and was wondering if anyone knew of some decent public land around that area for bowhunting. I know that the Manistee National Forest and Pere Marquete State Forest are up there. If anyone is familiar with the area or can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it. Not looking to steal anyone's spot, just wondering what the area has to offer.

i've hunted a lot of northern MI public land and all I have to say is good luck on finding a good spot. If you hunt during rifle season it will be a pumpkin patch of hunters on every square inch of land. During bow you will have a little more privacy. But if you want to find descent bucks on public you have to hunt the really thick and nasty stuff. Look at some topo maps and aerial photos for large swamps and hunt those. The only people I know that are successful harvesting large bucks on northern public land are those that hunt the swamps. the deer are very pressured and very smart but with a little research you should be fine.

Thanks for the help Rob! I understand what your saying about the large amounts of hunters on public land. We have it the same way here around Mid-Michigan. My hunting will be strictly bow so hopefully, like you said, there will be a little more privacy. Sounds like I'm going to have to hoof it through the rough stuff if I wanna get a nice one! I've been looking at the plat maps for the counties that I'm considering lately. I'll have to zero in on the swamps I guess. Thanks again for the help!