High and lows of public land

[Z7WIBoy]

Went scouting and to pick my tree in an awesome spot. Highs:
Spot I scouted first today was awesome found major trails and a couple of beds. The deer are really in this area during the acorn season. Picked a tree and can't wait till season. Even found a dead deer - head was missing but still an exciting find



Lows:
Went back home and grabbed my 5 yr old to pick a tree at a spot i found that was going to be awesome. He was so pumped to be scouting and hanging with dad. When we got there the gate was cut down which surprised me and then I saw the track of heavy machinery. We walked the swamp line had to put him on my shoulders after he took a face plant in the swamp. As I was walking to the bed I saw what made my heart sink - our DNR wiped out the woods next to the swamp:


I was so bummed and my son asked why they would do this and I had no answer to give him. We did look to the north to find another option for a tree but my gut tells me this spot is shot.
Well I guess the good out of this is that dad and son got to spend some time together with me showing him deer sign and finding a dead fox:


I guess I need to put more rubber to the road and keep finding spots

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[Dewey]

Sucks when that happens. I lost many good hunting areas over the years due to clear cutting especially up north. All you can do is move on and keep looking for more spots. Good luck.

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[blackwolf]

Lost more than a couple honeyholes up north due to logging. Really sucks sometimes but logging is good.

[Singing Bridge]

My largest heartbreak on public land was a spot I found where several short ridges intersected in a remote area of public land in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The first year I found it I located the largest scrape I have ever found to this day... it completely surrounded a tree and was torn up by bucks beyond belief. Parts of the scrape were over ten feet wide. Rublines from mature bucks with some extra large rubs approached the spot. The first year I shot a buck there the first day I hunted and grazed another. With a lot more scouting in the second spring I couldn't wait to hunt it the following fall... only to arrive to find essentailly bare ground, clearcut for over a mile. It may be productive again now - as that was many years ago, but I have never been back to that area.

[dan]

I was scouting a swamp yesterday and noticed the WDNR had all of the cedar trees cut down. It was not logging cause most of the trees were small and they were very spread out within a large dogwood area they had to access with ATV's to cut them down... I don't understand that at all...

[Dewey]

I was scouting a swamp yesterday and noticed the WDNR had all of the cedar trees cut down. It was not logging cause most of the trees were small and they were very spread out within a large dogwood area they had to access with ATV's to cut them down... I don't understand that at all...

They are doing the same around here too. I went shining last night and a large area of state land has narrow strips of trees cut down and one hillside of probably 100 acres is completely bare.

I remember reading awhile back they are clearing brush and trees near marsh grasses to eliminate hiding predators that prey on ground nesting birds. Lack of good trees in marshes is already an issue and they are just making things harder for hunters.

We never had beaver around here before and now I am starting to wonder if the DNR didn't plant them in some of the marshes to take trees down and alter the marsh habitat.

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[Singing Bridge]

I was scouting a swamp yesterday and noticed the WDNR had all of the cedar trees cut down. It was not logging cause most of the trees were small and they were very spread out within a large dogwood area they had to access with ATV's to cut them down... I don't understand that at all...

Cutting cedar tree's, IMO, should be a prosecutable crime. It probably wasn't a big stand of cedars you mentioned, but it takes over 100 years to regenerate a cedar stand... and that includes protecting them from being browsed by deer and other animals. In Michigan's Upper Peninsula it is a real crime when mature cedars are cut down from huge stands, as they provide thermal protection and food for deer. Regenerating the cedars fails because the deer / rabbits / etc. kill the young tree's while eating them. The only way to protect them is to fence each one- good luck with that. The only truly successful regeneration occurs in the Lake Superior snowbelt, where early and deep snowfalls protect the young trees from being browsed by dumping snow on them... essentially covering them up.

[Bigdaddy-yoyo]

I have seen this in Central and southern wi public. Seems like a waste of a great tree. Mind boggling why the Dnr would do it to just Cedars.