Michigan guys

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oldrank
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Michigan guys

Unread postby oldrank » Thu Mar 14, 2019 9:27 am

What are your guys thoughts on pounded southern Michigan public vs UP private/public.

I posted a few months ago about buying some land up there. I've talked to a few guys at work n some buddies and I seem to get the same general consensus. There are not alot of deer up there.

My thoughts are this. I have hunted public land down here for over 20 years. It isn't all peaches n cream as we all know. Even though surrounding farm land may have good deer numbers the public is generally "shot up".

I am lucky to see one deer a hunt. Sometimes I can go days or weeks seeing nothing.

Do you guys in the same boat feel a decent size piece of private land butting up to national forest would be better ?

Do you think I should look in the NW 12 area instead?

Thx
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Jonny
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Re: Michigan guys

Unread postby Jonny » Thu Mar 14, 2019 12:52 pm

I’m not from Michigan so take this as you want.

Having a place surrounded by public is awesome to hunt. I’m surrounded by 200,000 acres of public with some private tossed in. Hunting isn’t great but man it’s nice to rarely see any hunters without trying to get away from people.

The downside is the drive time. It’s 4 hours one way. So I don’t get anywhere near the time I need up there. So I wouldn’t ever buy land up there because I can’t be up there enough to really enjoy it.

If I’m investing money into property, I need to be able to enjoy it 12 months out of the year, and able to go up for a weekend. Up Friday night, back home Sunday. Good hunting and good fishing.

Having all that public is just making me spoiled. I’d love to be able to be there more often and wouldn’t miss the local pounded public. But I also need to be realistic. I have a place (no land and little public) 2.5 hours from my parents house, and 2 from my apartment. It’s so easy to drive up there for even a day of fishing but that extra hour or hour and a half sucks.

But honestly for hunting, having tons of county/state/national forest to roam is simply a beautiful thing. Question is can you spend enough time there to really enjoy it and put in the work to succeed. Cause we all know it’s just about putting the time in.
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Re: Michigan guys

Unread postby the g1 » Thu Mar 14, 2019 1:05 pm

I would look in the northeast part of the lower. Tons of public land with very little pressure.
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Re: Michigan guys

Unread postby oldrank » Thu Mar 14, 2019 1:11 pm

Jonny wrote:I’m not from Michigan so take this as you want.

Having a place surrounded by public is awesome to hunt. I’m surrounded by 200,000 acres of public with some private tossed in. Hunting isn’t great but man it’s nice to rarely see any hunters without trying to get away from people.

The downside is the drive time. It’s 4 hours one way. So I don’t get anywhere near the time I need up there. So I wouldn’t ever buy land up there because I can’t be up there enough to really enjoy it.

If I’m investing money into property, I need to be able to enjoy it 12 months out of the year, and able to go up for a weekend. Up Friday night, back home Sunday. Good hunting and good fishing.

Having all that public is just making me spoiled. I’d love to be able to be there more often and wouldn’t miss the local pounded public. But I also need to be realistic. I have a place (no land and little public) 2.5 hours from my parents house, and 2 from my apartment. It’s so easy to drive up there for even a day of fishing but that extra hour or hour and a half sucks.

But honestly for hunting, having tons of county/state/national forest to roam is simply a beautiful thing. Question is can you spend enough time there to really enjoy it and put in the work to succeed. Cause we all know it’s just about putting the time in.



Thanks for the reply Jonny. I would be looking at it in a couple ways. A summer get away and mainly a gun hunting camp.

I would love an area closer to home but it just doesn't fit my budget. Land around home is expensive. Public is also relatively small and crowded.

I want to kill big bucks. I am getting old. The pace I have to maintain around home to fill my tags is wearing on me.

I think my skills would be better utilized where I can get away from the crowds. I think even with lower DPSM numbers my hunting would be better.

I can always still hunt around home during the week.
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Re: Michigan guys

Unread postby Hawthorne » Thu Mar 14, 2019 1:31 pm

I’ve never hunted the UP. I’ve cyber scouted a lot of it. I like the looks of Menominee county. Lots of ag with tons public swamps mixed in. I haven’t hunted the northern lower since I was a kid but I’ve heard good things about preque isle county. Again lots of ag with lots of public swamps mixed in. I had a bear guide tell me there are big bucks in the TB zone that people don’t know about. Like mentioned earlier it’s low bow pressure. I’ve been wanting to do a scouting trip up there. I own 23 acres in Hillsdale County and I like it down there. It’s good hunting but very little public land. Recently I’ve been wanting to spend more time in other parts of the state with more public.
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Re: Michigan guys

Unread postby mipubbucks24 » Thu Mar 14, 2019 1:55 pm

I have not hunted public in the UP, but if I was looking for private near public land in Michigan. I would be looking at the North West area of the southern peninsula. There is a huge National Forest over there and they have antler point restrictions in many of those counties. My family used to do a bow season camp hunt every year near the sleeping bear dunes, and all I heard about is how beautiful and awesome it was. My dad missed a buck from a spot he could see Lake Michigan from. I never got to go because I was either in college or had to work during that time, but we are planning a hunt this year. Anyways just my 2 cents. Whatever you do, can’t go wrong with owning some hunting land.
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Re: Michigan guys

Unread postby DEER SLAYER 269 » Thu Mar 14, 2019 2:33 pm

southern mi is way better in my opinion but i also know that lake county has been pretty hot last few years .hope this helps
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Re: Michigan guys

Unread postby DEER SLAYER 269 » Thu Mar 14, 2019 2:36 pm

sorry forgot to say have family in the up and they all come south !
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Re: Michigan guys

Unread postby Ladykiller » Thu Mar 14, 2019 2:47 pm

I lived in Michigan 28 years, Kansas 3 years, Illinois 7 years. Tough to grow big bucks in the UP with harsh winters, predators, and less agriculture. Personally, I'd look into hunting public in OH, KY, IL, WI, or IN. Or at least look into a public area that limits hunting in some form so as to promote big bucks.
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Re: Michigan guys

Unread postby trob_205 » Thu Mar 14, 2019 3:02 pm

Personally I’d have a hard time spending money on UP property. The southern counties can produce and tho I’ve never hunted southern MI public yet. I plan to this year and while scouting it looks promising enough to give it a whirl and give the private I hunt a break until i feel it’s ready. Also with the amount of public land up there I’m not sure you’d need to spend money. But also if I was traveling that far to hunt I’d be going to Southern OH, Illinois, etc.
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Re: Michigan guys

Unread postby oldrank » Thu Mar 14, 2019 3:24 pm

Interesting thoughts guys.

Here are a few reasons I am interested in owning land.

I am 44. I have arthritis in just about every joint of my body... :violin: :violin:

I am getting to the point it is tough to sit in the cold all day. I still have some good years left but someday I will not be able to do it. I am thinking about my hunting future. A nice toasty blind on those bitter cold days keeps me in the game.

On top of that I can't keep hauling deer a mile or 2 out of the woods myself.... I can't have quads on public around here. Foot traffic only.

I can't build blinds on public, I can't plant trees on public, I can't manipulate public land.

Cwd is 2 counties away n creeping in... How good is southern Michigan going to be in 10 years?

I already live in southern Michigan. :lol:

The wife has to factor into this. So I can't just buy anywhere. I need entertainment nearby for her. She could careless about my hunting. She want water nearby, some type of scenery n entertainment for her. As long as the freezer is full she don't care if I kill a big buck or pick up roadkill.......
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Re: Michigan guys

Unread postby oldrank » Thu Mar 14, 2019 3:28 pm

Hawthorne wrote:I’ve never hunted the UP. I’ve cyber scouted a lot of it. I like the looks of Menominee county. Lots of ag with tons public swamps mixed in. I haven’t hunted the northern lower since I was a kid but I’ve heard good things about preque isle county. Again lots of ag with lots of public swamps mixed in. I had a bear guide tell me there are big bucks in the TB zone that people don’t know about. Like mentioned earlier it’s low bow pressure. I’ve been wanting to do a scouting trip up there. I own 23 acres in Hillsdale County and I like it down there. It’s good hunting but very little public land. Recently I’ve been wanting to spend more time in other parts of the state with more public.


Presque Isle area would be perfect. Looks like some decent priced lots too. I was kinda shying away because of the TB thing but am gonna take another look at it as an option.
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Re: Michigan guys

Unread postby Ack » Thu Mar 14, 2019 5:50 pm

Definitely the NW lower......the steelhead fishing is better up there! 8-)

But seriously, it's a great area with tons of public land and other things to do, especially if you aren't super far from TC.

Only downside is you'll have to deal with the hills, which could be a problem if there are health issues. A quad could solve that problem though.

As far as the APR thing, the age class of deer might be better....probably depends on the area. You could end up with a bunch of 12" basket racks if the food isn't great though.
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Re: Michigan guys

Unread postby trob_205 » Thu Mar 14, 2019 9:24 pm

oldrank wrote:Cwd is 2 counties away n creeping in... How good is southern Michigan going to be in 10 years?
.


Only reason it won’t be good is if the DNR keep the mindset that killing all the deer is answer to CWD.
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Re: Michigan guys

Unread postby First Sit » Fri Mar 15, 2019 3:00 am

I live and hunt public in Northern IN and hunt public in a lot of other states. I see a lot more hunters in Indiana and dont think my odds of killing a good buck on public in the Northern half of the state is better. If anything it might be worse. Michigan guys think they have it really bad for some reason out of wis, mi, IL, and IN on public Michigan and Wis are the lowest bowhunter density by a wide margin in my experience. IN has just as long of gun seasons as MI and your closer to higher populations several million people live under 1 hr drive from most of the public in IN and theres not nearly as much public in IN.

You need to hunt in areas that will support animals reaching a few years of age if that's what you want. That comes on many shapes and sizes. That could be an area of high hunting pressure with good buck bedding.

The quality of bucks in general will be better in southern Michigan just due to more mild winters and ag. Plus the genetics seems to be similar to Northern
Indiana.
Last edited by First Sit on Fri Mar 15, 2019 3:06 am, edited 1 time in total.


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