So since I had a bit of a following...I figured you guys might appreciate some pics and a summary of sorts...
In recap I arrived in the northwestern side of the lower peninsula on Friday Nov 11th.
I hit the woods Saturday morning and started scouting.
My buddy had a spot he wanted me to look at in the lowlands near Lake Michigan. We looked at that and the land was very interesting to me and I was seeing deer sign.
From there I wanted to look at the swamps. I figured the swamps are least hunted and probably hold the oldest bucks around. I found the swamps very difficult...lots of water that probably can't be crossed with chest waders. I found some high fingers and of course they all showed deer sign but nothing to get super excited over..I really think the swamps are TOO wet to hold much...though once it freezes it's a wintering ground for deer.
(hard to tell but that is a Bald Eagle)
im certain there are bucks dying of old age in those swamps...but getting in there and hunting them...ha! itd take more than a quick scouting trip...weird swamp...no hard transitions...a creek but so much wet ground it was just a mess and overwhelming...give me a spring to scout it and i might be alright...
(continued)
Mauser's Michigan Adventure (pics and summary)
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Re: Mauser's Michigan Adventure (pics and summary)
I moved back and focused on the lowland. Again, largely a wintering ground, it does hold resident deer.
The lowlands is crazy terrain to me...a few "high ridges" but a ton of small ridges and knobs and knolls around low wet areas..I call them pot holes..some call them kettles...some were smaller..some were bigger. A few were big and cattails...I did find buck beds on the edges of them.
I finally settled on a spot..I had one of the small ridges with oaks and 3 of the few scrapes I found were on the ridges I was covering.
I hunted there the opener. Ended the day seeing 10 doe which I'm told is not a bad day.
here are my opening day views...
(my trusted Remington 7600 in 35 Whelen...decided the ground was the way to go...a stand would put my above the pines and limit what i could see..)
all the deer came up and onto that ridge and fed right towards me around the pot holes..there is a scrape 30yds away under one of the small pines
one of the pot holes
and another
(flagging was mine to mark my spot)
that was half my access route before cutting inland...
(continued)
The lowlands is crazy terrain to me...a few "high ridges" but a ton of small ridges and knobs and knolls around low wet areas..I call them pot holes..some call them kettles...some were smaller..some were bigger. A few were big and cattails...I did find buck beds on the edges of them.
I finally settled on a spot..I had one of the small ridges with oaks and 3 of the few scrapes I found were on the ridges I was covering.
I hunted there the opener. Ended the day seeing 10 doe which I'm told is not a bad day.
here are my opening day views...
(my trusted Remington 7600 in 35 Whelen...decided the ground was the way to go...a stand would put my above the pines and limit what i could see..)
all the deer came up and onto that ridge and fed right towards me around the pot holes..there is a scrape 30yds away under one of the small pines
one of the pot holes
and another
(flagging was mine to mark my spot)
that was half my access route before cutting inland...
(continued)
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Re: Mauser's Michigan Adventure (pics and summary)
Morning 2 I sat the same area but different ridge and saw 2 doe. Still hunted around and found more VERY good looking ground. No more deer and got kinda lost in what shows as a creek on my maps was actually a GIANT beaver swamp. Of course all the edge of that showed deer sign..
All the while I see deer sign but it was never what I'm used to. You could see the trails worn deep into the sandy soil but rubs weren't abundant...scrapes weren't abundant...droppings weren't abundant. You can tell deer use the land but it wasn't sign like I'm used to..
Learning new land was eye opening. I passed up some probably great spots to look for better..but I didn't have the knowledge of the deer and deer herd. The deer density isn't what I'm used to and is much lower. The buck population is getting better and older but it's not like what I have in PA where the buck to doe ratio is better...the deer have tons of land but not a lot of great food so they are somewhat nomadic by nature...
day 3 and 4 I mostly still hunted the highland ridges. I learned that without cold/snow the deer are likely still up there...its mostly hardwoods/meadow grass lands/pines
i looked at one block scouting the weekend prior and it wasnt very exciting. some sign but nothing great. lots of stands and blind...i figured it would be a pumpkin patch on the opener...but i was wrong...pressure was minimal and seems most guys dont go real far and most wont climb UP.
i sat on a knob watching a saddle and a couple draws and was seeing rubs all around as daylight broke and passed 1 large well and freshly worked scrape not far from my knob...
i started still hunting the top 1/3rd elevation and literally followed the elevation following a rub line and walked from buck bed to buck bed.
one point i REALLY liked because with a gun you can cover some serious territory because a few points and ditches all come together....i looked around and found this..
of course that stand is gunna be called the Eagle's Nest and i very well may be there next year if the wind is right.
hard to get a sense to the terrain but the leeward side of the ridge had a series of points on it..like 8 or so large ones and a number of small ones...
gives you a sort of sense of how high the high grounds are...
(continued)
All the while I see deer sign but it was never what I'm used to. You could see the trails worn deep into the sandy soil but rubs weren't abundant...scrapes weren't abundant...droppings weren't abundant. You can tell deer use the land but it wasn't sign like I'm used to..
Learning new land was eye opening. I passed up some probably great spots to look for better..but I didn't have the knowledge of the deer and deer herd. The deer density isn't what I'm used to and is much lower. The buck population is getting better and older but it's not like what I have in PA where the buck to doe ratio is better...the deer have tons of land but not a lot of great food so they are somewhat nomadic by nature...
day 3 and 4 I mostly still hunted the highland ridges. I learned that without cold/snow the deer are likely still up there...its mostly hardwoods/meadow grass lands/pines
i looked at one block scouting the weekend prior and it wasnt very exciting. some sign but nothing great. lots of stands and blind...i figured it would be a pumpkin patch on the opener...but i was wrong...pressure was minimal and seems most guys dont go real far and most wont climb UP.
i sat on a knob watching a saddle and a couple draws and was seeing rubs all around as daylight broke and passed 1 large well and freshly worked scrape not far from my knob...
i started still hunting the top 1/3rd elevation and literally followed the elevation following a rub line and walked from buck bed to buck bed.
one point i REALLY liked because with a gun you can cover some serious territory because a few points and ditches all come together....i looked around and found this..
of course that stand is gunna be called the Eagle's Nest and i very well may be there next year if the wind is right.
hard to get a sense to the terrain but the leeward side of the ridge had a series of points on it..like 8 or so large ones and a number of small ones...
gives you a sort of sense of how high the high grounds are...
(continued)
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Re: Mauser's Michigan Adventure (pics and summary)
day 2 i think it was i swung by a spot G3s pointed me to (Thanx Tim! if you didnt get my PM let me know...i will resend it...)
G3s said he knew of a few good bucks and a one in particular was a beast for the area...
i snuck through and as i was coming through a pine stand a lone deer blew out...i still dont know if it caught my wind or what..it was just over the knoll of the hill and it took out for unknown reasons..i am betting it was a buck. i snuck out and left..
day 3 i went back...same conditions...snuck up...noone home so i peeked around...
i was shocked at what i found...
thats pretty hard packed sandy soil...walking tracks...i dont know if ive ever came across buck tracks that big.
i followed a faint trail and it was heading right for my truck lol...pretty sure i know where that beast beds and forwarded the intel to G3s...i wasnt comfortable going in there with a gun...
the end of day 4 i left the highlands and wanted to go poke around the lowlands one last time...i knew itd be cooler and shaded down there...and i had a couple buck beds marked in the GPS...
i took a different access to work the wind right..
i hoped on a deer trail that was running towards the first bed i wanted to sneak into...
i kept smelling BUCK...
i kept working along and came across a scrape...FRESHLY worked...still wet...i kept following the trail and came across a number of rubs...4 or 5 freshly worked scrapes...GOOD buck tracks pointing the direction i was heading...oh....and a small rub...
i kept sneaking along...wind in my face blowing pretty hard..
i checked the GPS and the trail was pointing right to the bed i found and i was 500 some feet away...i had 1 small ridge between me and the pothole it was bedding in...
i was planning my route...planning in my head how to literally crawl up onto the knoll of the ridge and execute the shot..
out of nowhere i hear crashing on the ridge to my left...oh boy!!! here he comes!!
i threw the Whelen up on a tree and got ready...sure sounded like a buck chasing a doe...
silence...
then crashing started again...
here they come!
im ready to roll...i just need a visual...
finally i catch movement...
of course....a hunter!!
i about cry...
the only hunter ive seen in 4 days and several miles...
he crashes down the ridge and around the other...
right at that time the front started to blow in and the wind went from dead south to dead north...blowing my stink right at the buck bed.
i figured between the hunter and the wind shift i was done....
i enjoyed the heck out of my Michigan adventure. Weather was less than ideal...most days were 70-72 degrees and windy...of course Saturday i left and it was 30 and snowing.............
i learned a LOT about the deer up there...
i learned a lot about myself as a hunter...
i was unsuccessful in filling my buck tag. heck, i never saw a deer with antlers on its head. some would never bother going back to a place like that. low deer density, rough rugged big woods...i saw around 20 deer in 4 days counting ones i couldnt ID.
i look at it differently. I was presented with a vast landscape with varying terrain and habitats ive never looked at in sense of deer hunting. even the highland ridges...yes hill country...but still not PA hill country.
i was able to locate deer and buck beds in all the habitat. swamps, the lowland, the hill country, the grassland meadows.
i feel that in itself was a success. i feel like i did pretty well considering i didnt have much time to scout...weather didnt help AT ALL...
i loved it. I honestly cant wait to go back. While i was hunting on day 1 or 2 my supervisor actually texted me asking if i had a vacation choice for next year...i replied "yep...the week of Nov15th and we will fine tune it when it gets closer..."
im addicted to big woods hunting. I LOVE tracking and still hunting but PA i dont get to do it much...and its tough to do running into hunters, bumping the deer to other hunters, land not so "endless"
i LOVE Pennsylvania and its hunting....but theres not much real BIG WOODS settings here...even the big woods gets pounded and at the end of the day our big woods arent huge..theres a road somewhere...
a few guys were curious about my thoughts on the PA gun openers vs what I experienced in Michigan
i will use 2015 on PA public land since its fresh in my mind lol...
MI 2016 public land...i didnt hear a shot until 8 or 9am. I literally checked the DNR website to make sure i wasnt mistaken on the start date. counting the shots a million miles away i heard less than 10 shots. i didnt see another hunter (i sat all day dark to dark)
PA 2015 public land big woods... i was farther and over rougher ground to access my chosen spot in hill country. as it started to get close to light i was literally surrounded by guys.
i hiked another...3/4 of a mile or so to the leeward side of the NEXT ridge. I realized there was absolutely NO getting away from hunters and climbed a tree...i heard more than 10 shots before i felt it was safe enough to actually shoot. I actually passed legal bucks while it was dark and other guys were already shooting..i couldnt tell you how many shots i heard but it was significant. I could literally see a few hunters from my stand. I had hunters walking by consistently.
the BIGGEST difference....in PA you hear a fair bit of the same shooter shooting multiple times...and other times you can hear the shooting moving a certain direction as the gunfire moves down the ridge...Michigan, although i didnt hear much shooting, i only heard ONE shooter shoot more than 1 time. i found that VERY interesting considering semis arent legal in PA....
other differences....a camouflage orange hat is all that is required in MI . PA we need a hat and vest. can hunt on Sundays in Michigan...semis are allowed...
they say the shooting and pressure was light compared to normal...but they said you still dont see punkin patches like you do in PA...
I think the Tuesday opener didnt help things...and Saturday was 30 degrees, snowing and EXTREMELY windy..60+mph gusts...so, i am suspecting 2017 might be great in Michigan as long as the winter kill isnt horrible...the poor rifle season aughta save plenty of deer...
G3s said he knew of a few good bucks and a one in particular was a beast for the area...
i snuck through and as i was coming through a pine stand a lone deer blew out...i still dont know if it caught my wind or what..it was just over the knoll of the hill and it took out for unknown reasons..i am betting it was a buck. i snuck out and left..
day 3 i went back...same conditions...snuck up...noone home so i peeked around...
i was shocked at what i found...
thats pretty hard packed sandy soil...walking tracks...i dont know if ive ever came across buck tracks that big.
i followed a faint trail and it was heading right for my truck lol...pretty sure i know where that beast beds and forwarded the intel to G3s...i wasnt comfortable going in there with a gun...
the end of day 4 i left the highlands and wanted to go poke around the lowlands one last time...i knew itd be cooler and shaded down there...and i had a couple buck beds marked in the GPS...
i took a different access to work the wind right..
i hoped on a deer trail that was running towards the first bed i wanted to sneak into...
i kept smelling BUCK...
i kept working along and came across a scrape...FRESHLY worked...still wet...i kept following the trail and came across a number of rubs...4 or 5 freshly worked scrapes...GOOD buck tracks pointing the direction i was heading...oh....and a small rub...
i kept sneaking along...wind in my face blowing pretty hard..
i checked the GPS and the trail was pointing right to the bed i found and i was 500 some feet away...i had 1 small ridge between me and the pothole it was bedding in...
i was planning my route...planning in my head how to literally crawl up onto the knoll of the ridge and execute the shot..
out of nowhere i hear crashing on the ridge to my left...oh boy!!! here he comes!!
i threw the Whelen up on a tree and got ready...sure sounded like a buck chasing a doe...
silence...
then crashing started again...
here they come!
im ready to roll...i just need a visual...
finally i catch movement...
of course....a hunter!!
i about cry...
the only hunter ive seen in 4 days and several miles...
he crashes down the ridge and around the other...
right at that time the front started to blow in and the wind went from dead south to dead north...blowing my stink right at the buck bed.
i figured between the hunter and the wind shift i was done....
i enjoyed the heck out of my Michigan adventure. Weather was less than ideal...most days were 70-72 degrees and windy...of course Saturday i left and it was 30 and snowing.............
i learned a LOT about the deer up there...
i learned a lot about myself as a hunter...
i was unsuccessful in filling my buck tag. heck, i never saw a deer with antlers on its head. some would never bother going back to a place like that. low deer density, rough rugged big woods...i saw around 20 deer in 4 days counting ones i couldnt ID.
i look at it differently. I was presented with a vast landscape with varying terrain and habitats ive never looked at in sense of deer hunting. even the highland ridges...yes hill country...but still not PA hill country.
i was able to locate deer and buck beds in all the habitat. swamps, the lowland, the hill country, the grassland meadows.
i feel that in itself was a success. i feel like i did pretty well considering i didnt have much time to scout...weather didnt help AT ALL...
i loved it. I honestly cant wait to go back. While i was hunting on day 1 or 2 my supervisor actually texted me asking if i had a vacation choice for next year...i replied "yep...the week of Nov15th and we will fine tune it when it gets closer..."
im addicted to big woods hunting. I LOVE tracking and still hunting but PA i dont get to do it much...and its tough to do running into hunters, bumping the deer to other hunters, land not so "endless"
i LOVE Pennsylvania and its hunting....but theres not much real BIG WOODS settings here...even the big woods gets pounded and at the end of the day our big woods arent huge..theres a road somewhere...
a few guys were curious about my thoughts on the PA gun openers vs what I experienced in Michigan
i will use 2015 on PA public land since its fresh in my mind lol...
MI 2016 public land...i didnt hear a shot until 8 or 9am. I literally checked the DNR website to make sure i wasnt mistaken on the start date. counting the shots a million miles away i heard less than 10 shots. i didnt see another hunter (i sat all day dark to dark)
PA 2015 public land big woods... i was farther and over rougher ground to access my chosen spot in hill country. as it started to get close to light i was literally surrounded by guys.
i hiked another...3/4 of a mile or so to the leeward side of the NEXT ridge. I realized there was absolutely NO getting away from hunters and climbed a tree...i heard more than 10 shots before i felt it was safe enough to actually shoot. I actually passed legal bucks while it was dark and other guys were already shooting..i couldnt tell you how many shots i heard but it was significant. I could literally see a few hunters from my stand. I had hunters walking by consistently.
the BIGGEST difference....in PA you hear a fair bit of the same shooter shooting multiple times...and other times you can hear the shooting moving a certain direction as the gunfire moves down the ridge...Michigan, although i didnt hear much shooting, i only heard ONE shooter shoot more than 1 time. i found that VERY interesting considering semis arent legal in PA....
other differences....a camouflage orange hat is all that is required in MI . PA we need a hat and vest. can hunt on Sundays in Michigan...semis are allowed...
they say the shooting and pressure was light compared to normal...but they said you still dont see punkin patches like you do in PA...
I think the Tuesday opener didnt help things...and Saturday was 30 degrees, snowing and EXTREMELY windy..60+mph gusts...so, i am suspecting 2017 might be great in Michigan as long as the winter kill isnt horrible...the poor rifle season aughta save plenty of deer...
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Re: Mauser's Michigan Adventure (pics and summary)
Thanks, I enjoyed following along.
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Re: Mauser's Michigan Adventure (pics and summary)
Nice write up!
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Re: Mauser's Michigan Adventure (pics and summary)
Nice write up I enjoyed reading it
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Re: Mauser's Michigan Adventure (pics and summary)
Thanks for taking the time to put this together. I really enjoyed reading. Sounds like a great adventure.
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Re: Mauser's Michigan Adventure (pics and summary)
Great write up. Hopefully next year you can capitalize on your findings.
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Re: Mauser's Michigan Adventure (pics and summary)
Thought you guys would enjoy it...
It was a great trip...tag punched or not. I learned a lot...built some confidence in what I "should" know. It's a good feeling looking across a vast landscape and pointing to a spot and saying "buck bed" and walking right to a buck bed.
I need to work on execution of the hunt and making my knowledge count...
Can't pick your weather on a hunting vacation. It was literally warmer while I was there than many days in the summer.
One thing about up there especially in the highland ridges I noticed there isn't water anywhere. I think finding a water hole would been great. I really don't know where they get water. That's one difference about PA and there...PA there's seeps and wet weather ditches and small spring creeks etc nearly everywhere. I tried finding water and never did.
I have good deer sign logged in all the different habitats up there...i have a grasp on where the deer are and how they use the land. I feel like my next Michigan Adventure will probably go better!
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It was a great trip...tag punched or not. I learned a lot...built some confidence in what I "should" know. It's a good feeling looking across a vast landscape and pointing to a spot and saying "buck bed" and walking right to a buck bed.
I need to work on execution of the hunt and making my knowledge count...
Can't pick your weather on a hunting vacation. It was literally warmer while I was there than many days in the summer.
One thing about up there especially in the highland ridges I noticed there isn't water anywhere. I think finding a water hole would been great. I really don't know where they get water. That's one difference about PA and there...PA there's seeps and wet weather ditches and small spring creeks etc nearly everywhere. I tried finding water and never did.
I have good deer sign logged in all the different habitats up there...i have a grasp on where the deer are and how they use the land. I feel like my next Michigan Adventure will probably go better!
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