2019 Michigan Public Beast Member Challenge !!

[stash59]

Well next time I see a bunch of twisty looking man tracks. I'm gonna dig in deeper and figure out what they're hiding!!!

[Wetfoot]

Had a rock solid set up on Thursday evening trying for the buck that got by me on Tuesday. Thought for sure the heavy rain had covered my presence but apparently, they knew I'd been thee. No sightings. Last night, I made some assumptions on the scouting I did on Wednesday and setup on the west side of a ridge dropping into bedding. Jumped 3 doe on my way in and busted a deer right off the leeward edge. Wasn't able to see whether it was a buck or not. But made sure to set up about half way between suspected bedding and some heavy cover the bumped deer might use to check on what scared it off. That deer ended up being an old nanny that came in thru the cover and stood there for over an hour looking for the intruder. 2 spikes came out of the bedding on the south side of the ridge at last light and sparred right in front of me. Ended up seeing 2 more doe and a fawn too.

[Singing Bridge]

Had a rock solid set up on Thursday evening trying for the buck that got by me on Tuesday. Thought for sure the heavy rain had covered my presence but apparently, they knew I'd been thee. No sightings. Last night, I made some assumptions on the scouting I did on Wednesday and setup on the west side of a ridge dropping into bedding. Jumped 3 doe on my way in and busted a deer right off the leeward edge. Wasn't able to see whether it was a buck or not. But made sure to set up about half way between suspected bedding and some heavy cover the bumped deer might use to check on what scared it off. That deer ended up being an old nanny that came in thru the cover and stood there for over an hour looking for the intruder. 2 spikes came out of the bedding on the south side of the ridge at last light and sparred right in front of me. Ended up seeing 2 more doe and a fawn too.

Sounds like some productive hunting !

[Singing Bridge]

Came across hot sign and couldn’t pass it up... fresh buck tracks pointing to swamp bedding. Shadowed his route and found a buck bed scrape... the first scrape a buck gets to when he leaves bedding. The scrape is on the swamp edge and I can see several large, lone trees about 50-70 yards inside the swamp. These trees are big, and likely have dry ground under them. White, red and scrub oaks all around me. Every time the wind blows it rains corn. Let’s see what happens... I did not want to push past this hot sign.

[oldrank]

Came across hot sign and couldn’t pass it up... fresh buck tracks pointing to swamp bedding. Shadowed his route and found a buck bed scrape... the first scrape a buck gets to when he leaves bedding. The scrape is on the swamp edge and I can see several large, lone trees about 50-70 yards inside the swamp. These trees are big, and likely have dry ground under them. White, red and scrub oaks all around me. Every time the wind blows it rains corn. Let’s see what happens... I did not want to push past this hot sign.

Looks good Bridge. Dinner with the wife tonight so I'm out of the game again. I'll hunt tomorrow morning again. Won't be able to hunt tomorrow night either. Family obligations. It was an interesting first week. I'm ready to get on my prescouted stuff. Glad to have knocked the dust off.

[oldrank]

Ok, I lied. Got home with an hour of daylight left. Sitting behind the house. Half tempted to shoot one of these apple fed juicy does if the decide to pop in tonight.

[Jackson Marsh]

Great post OR!

Good luck Michigan beasts!

[Trout]

Made a big loop south of where I planned to hunt and circled in off wind of where I suspected deer might be bedding. Came across a pop up blind with 10' shooting lanes cut 50yds in every direction along the way. Thought it was a rifle blind but would be proven wrong later in the hunt when a group of guys came in during PRIME time to bait it.

But let's focus on the positive.

20191005_204840.jpg

Wind was light to gusty out of the SE with occasional switches out of the NW. I came across a fresh rub 50yds south of where I hung my stand. Only went up about 8 to 10 feet into some good cover between two bug pine boughs. The tree was way bigger than I usually go up but it was in the right spot. If it were 1/2 an inch bigger the straps on my sticks wouldnt have made it around.

20191005_161648.jpg

The view to my left

20191005_170823.jpg

View to my right

20191005_170831.jpg

Had a red squirrel keep me company most of the night. Saw no deer. About 7pm I think I hear voices. Then its obvious people were talking south of me. Then it was like I could hear their conversation. They were talking so loud it was like they were afraid of bears or something. They were walking towards the pop up blind. I decided to stick it out, maybe they would push something my way. 20 minutes later I can hear them coming back. It clicked that they were baiting their blind. Not sure why they would choose prime time on a saturday night to do it, but whatever. I was frustrated and started packing up.

Oh yeah, I forgot, the positive...

I learned a lot about the wind in this spot. Probably went through two full pods of milkweed. It would blow NW from my spot at the opposite point, then about halfway, it would turn 90 degrees to the right. What was happening was the wind was hitting that other point and shifting around it like water hitting a boulder in the river. It was really cool to watch and is something I can use to my advantage at other spots in the future, cause it's highly unlikely I ever go back to this one.

Still on the fence about reporting them to the DNR for the shooting lanes and baiting.

[oldrank]

Made a big loop south of where I planned to hunt and circled in off wind of where I suspected deer might be bedding. Came across a pop up blind with 10' shooting lanes cut 50yds in every direction along the way. Thought it was a rifle blind but would be proven wrong later in the hunt when a group of guys came in during PRIME time to bait it.

But let's focus on the positive.

20191005_204840.jpg

Wind was light to gusty out of the SE with occasional switches out of the NW. I came across a fresh rub 50yds south of where I hung my stand. Only went up about 8 to 10 feet into some good cover between two bug pine boughs. The tree was way bigger than I usually go up but it was in the right spot. If it were 1/2 an inch bigger the straps on my sticks wouldnt have made it around.

20191005_161648.jpg

The view to my left

20191005_170823.jpg

View to my right
20191005_170831.jpg

Had a red squirrel keep me company most of the night. Saw no deer. About 7pm I think I hear voices. Then its obvious people were talking south of me. Then it was like I could hear their conversation. They were talking so loud it was like they were afraid of bears or something. They were walking towards the pop up blind. I decided to stick it out, maybe they would push something my way. 20 minutes later I can hear them coming back. It clicked that they were baiting their blind. Not sure why they would choose prime time on a saturday night to do it, but whatever. I was frustrated and started packing up.

Oh yeah, I forgot, the positive...

I learned a lot about the wind in this spot. Probably went through two full pods of milkweed. It would blow NW from my spot at the opposite point, then about halfway, it would turn 90 degrees to the right. What was happening was the wind was hitting that other point and shifting around it like water hitting a boulder in the river. It was really cool to watch and is something I can use to my advantage at other spots in the future, cause it's highly unlikely I ever go back to this one.

Still on the fence about reporting them to the DNR for the shooting lanes and baiting.

I haven't ran into any bait yet. I'm sure I will sooner or later. That spot looks solid.

[oldrank]

https://youtu.be/vt8bSn-cyYI

Deer #2 busted me this morning. You can hear it blowing like crazy in the background.

[Singing Bridge]

Strikeout on my hunt- great to be out there. Gonna rain again.

[tkohuntsMI]

So public land in my area has been a bust so far. I have hunted 3 properties and scouted 7 I have yet to find a scrape or rub. Haven’t even found a buck track. I saw a bunch of does running around on private land. Though they spent 2 hours running around in broad daylight they didn’t dare step foot on private.... so far it’s not looking good

[oldrank]

Strikeout on my hunt- great to be out there. Gonna rain again.

The best thing about this challenge is we don't have to go home to another state... And we got 3 months to get er done. Haha.

[Singing Bridge]

Strikeout on my hunt- great to be out there. Gonna rain again.

The best thing about this challenge is we don't have to go home to another state... And we got 3 months to get er done. Haha.

Great point! I was hoping to get out more this first week but am very glad the season has a long ways to go.

[tkohuntsMI]

Me too! It’s looking like I might need the entire 3 months
I’m in Ottawa county if anyone wants to give me some tips I’m all ears!