HuntingNet.com Forums - Buck rubs in low deer density areas

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We hunt in mid-Michigan we do not have wolves thank god, but hunting has been bad for the last three years no wolves but same DNR !!!! :mad:

A Yooper friend sent me this. He lives below Marquette when I asked what is the fix.

Stop logging off all the winter yarding areas. Get the wolf population under control. Allow winter feeding. Quit giving out so many doe permits when the population is already down (like they did for several years prior to this one). Cut the buck kill to ONE per year (any size 3" or larger). This last change would do more to increase the size of bucks taken much more than having the choice of two restricted tags/or only one unrestricted tag, and more importantly it would eliminate people from being criminals from accidentally shooting a forkhorn they thought had more points!

If only one buck was allowed per person per year then people would naturally be much more selective about pulling the trigger on the first thing they see. There used to be some really nice bucks taken every year in the U.P. (more than now) back when only one was allowed per year.

I sent inquires to other Yooper friends and camp owners, yet to hear from them.

:D Al

Quote:

Originally Posted by bucklessyooper (Post 4230989)

Where we hunt in Northern Michigan between the severe winters and wolves the deer herd is low.

A popular outdoor magazine claimed 10 deer per square mile,but in my opinion (and many locals) its probably 3-4 deer per square mile.

Now with the background info outta the way here's my question.

With such low deer numbers do the bucks stop rubbing as much and save energy to cover more ground looking for does?

Scouted 8 hrs this fall in mid October in old and new clear cut - hardwood edges and found only 3 rubs. The rubs were at most 1" in diameter.

Nothing compared to the number of rubs I would see 5-10 years ago looking at the same types of areas.

IMO I think the bucks sometimes rub/ scrape more on low numbers years. The reason being that with less does around they advertise more. Last fall we had come out of two really tough winters in northern Canada and there was more rut sign than I can ever remember.

One other factor IMO is weather, this year we didn't get snow in my area until the third week of November, as opposed to getting it in late October like usual. The snow usually sparks a flurry of activity, The rut obviously still happened but the pre-rut was pretty quiet and rut sign was pretty scarce all year. I think without that cold weather getting them horned up and frustrated well ahead of time they just got down to business when it was time. My wife shot a buck at the end of the first week of November that was still running with another buck, highly unusual to say the least!

Quote:

Originally Posted by alleyyooper (Post 4232405)

They did this in Saskatchewan about 6-7 years ago, it used to be a whatever you like tag and a doe tag. Now they just have a whatever you want tag but shortened the season to 12 days instead of 40. They have no population problems up north in the bush but in the southern farmlands they did. Anyways morale of the story is they're not back in the same numbers everywhere but they have definitely bounced back nicely over the general southern populace. It works.