New guy

[matt0550]

Hi everyone, a new guy here - I'm from Michigan which means I dont know what mature deer look like, but I hope to learn one day. I've been hunting for 22 years, mostly here in the dead spike horn capital of the world, but I have also hunted in Colorado, North/South Dakotas and Canada. No surprise here, ALL of my out of state hunts have been stellar in comparison to hunting in Michigan (and I hunt both upper and lower peninsulas). I am trying to draw a Colorado pronghorn tag and a Montana deer tag this year and God willing one of them will come through.

I truly appreciate all of the good information located here and I understand how hard-earned most of this information is. Thank you all for the connection you create for all of the hunters who come here to converse and share.

 

[Estimator86]

Welcome! Good luck on the Montana tag!

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Welcome aboard from Idaho.

 

[matt0550]

Thank you much Sirs!

 

[Addicting]

Welcome, where in MI are you from?

I wouldn’t dog Michigan so bad, there are a lot of bruisers killed hear each year. Commemorative bucks of MI has a few pages added each year.

 

[pabearhunter]

Welcome aboard. If you have hunted Michigan for 22 years and have not killed a nice buck something is WRONG.

 

[Rzrbck918]

Welcome to HT!

 

[JohnCushman]

Welcome!

 

[fishing4sanity]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[matt0550]

Welcome, where in MI are you from?

I wouldn’t dog Michigan so bad, there are a lot of bruisers killed hear each year. Commemorative bucks of MI has a few pages added each year.

I'm from the thumb. And your right I shouldn't dog Michigan so badly.

The truth is there are more than a handful of nice sized Bucks taken every year in this state. The vast overwhelming majority of those wall hangers are taken in large tracts of private land and in situations where neighbors practice true QDM. But to be brutally honest the majority of the deer that hang on buck poles from coast to coast from top to bottom in this state are 2.5 years and younger - that is truly a crime. Another thing to examine when we look at Michigan is the fact that this state boasts the most lopsided buck to doe ratio in the nation for whitetail deer.

Michigan needs to look hard at a mandatory antler point restriction and escalated doe cull if we want to become competitive with other states. Earn a buck works, and so do point restrictions. Obviously there are regions of the state where a fill on moratorium on hunting deer needs to take place as well.

 

[Addicting]

I would caution you that generalization of an entire state based off from your local experience is probably not your best course of actions right out of the gate. I know of several very large deer taken on public here in SW MI.

With the private part, I also saw a 196” deer taken two years ago on a very small parcel. We have harvested more mature bucks than immature on a 40 acre farm.

MI is a opportunity state, and a trophy is in the eye of the beholder. There is not to many states with the amount of deer we have. A Res and NR can go to Walmart but a license and be hunting in a couple hours with a reasonable expectation of taking some meat home.

This is a welcome forum and I will keep it at that. I hope you gain some insight on here and have a good western experience in the future.

 

[matt0550]

Welcome aboard. If you have hunted Michigan for 22 years and have not killed a nice buck something is WRONG.

Thank you for the welcome, and yes, perhaps I have overstated my case on my home state - I have taken a few nice bucks here, i'm just a tad discouraged at what i see across the state. This is my impression only, i was not trying to project it on to others as though it were scientific fact. Maybe the better way to describe MY experience is that I have enjoyed the spot/stalk western style of hunting immensely in comparison to how much of deer hunting is done at home and my success has been two fold so far hunting western states or up north in comparison.

 

[matt0550]

I would caution you that generalization of an entire state based off from your local experience is probably not your best course of actions right out of the gate. I know of several very large deer taken on public here in SW MI.

With the private part, I also saw a 196” deer taken two years ago on a very small parcel. We have harvested more mature bucks than immature on a 40 acre farm.

MI is a opportunity state, and a trophy is in the eye of the beholder. There is not to many states with the amount of deer we have. A Res and NR can go to Walmart but a license and be hunting in a couple hours with a reasonable expectation of taking some meat home.

This is a welcome forum and I will keep it at that. I hope you gain some insight on here and have a good western experience in the future.

Well, you certainly make a strong case at least for your area and i'm happy to hear that you have the success that you do. Obviously people there are doing the right things and that is indeed a good sign - and it shows your stewardship for the land. The experience I draw on isn't just localized though, I hunt in the thumb (unfortunately surrounded by a bunch of "if its brown its down" guys), the Houghton lake area and in the central UP. I have never once hunted S/W unless you consider the northern Grand Rapids area and Rogue river areas to be S/W - in which case you could say I have, and I liked it there. One of my best bucks came from the Rogue river state game area during archery season - its a pretty area and I feel blessed that I was able to connect with that buck as i had trail cam pics of him in 3 locations and photographed him from my stand the week before it finally happened.

I think that most of our state lacks the togetherness to really practice QDM is what I was driving at with my generalization - and I truly didn't mean to ruffle any feathers, I apologize to you sir. I speak with guys from all over the state every chance I get and I cant help but notice a recurring theme "me and the farm next to me and the guy that owns the 80 behind us are all letting them walk, but we drive by so-and-so's place and see all those same young spindly bucks hanging from their pole". I've always held the opinion that no matter what the neighbors are doing, if YOU want to encounter mature bucks, YOU must let them walk- which is what I have done for many years even when it was hard to say no. I couldn't agree with you more that a trophy is in the eye of the beholder - for me a trophy is a mature animal that was allowed to tend does and procreate several generations of new bucks to come regardless of his headgear - I'd literally take a big old rag horned 2x3 with a swayed back and torn up ears over a young bright, nearly orange basket 8pt but I know well that this is only my own desire and cannot be pushed on to others. And I wholly agree with you on the availability of deer for filling ones freezer in this state (minus most of the UP currently). There is absolute truth that A guy can have a reasonable expectation of taking a deer even on public land in this state if he puts a little work and a couple of days in to making it happen. Personally I'd still like to see our herd better managed, and I'd like our great grandchildren to have a better opportunity than is currently present in alot of the state. So my strong words if anything are a sign of my frustration with those who continue to waste the opportunity our state has - and should be capitalizing on. And no, I don't believe that QDM should apply to the youngsters first buck or my 86 year old grandfathers tag either -I DO totally understand that there is a time and a place.

Thanks for the welcome, and yes, I definitely intend to have a great western hunt no matter where I end up.

 

[Walkathon]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Elkhunter24]

welcome to HT!

 

[ignorethefringes]

Welcome from Florida. Here we have all sorts of antler point restrictions but still very limited doe take lol.

 

[oleefish2]

welcome

 

[mnhoundman]

Welcome from Minnesota, good luck in the draw!

 

[WyoDoug]

Good luck. If you draw Colorado antelope for Washington or Lincoln County, I hunted that area since I was 16. I can give you some good places to start with where you can get permissions in addition to CRP and BLM land. I had at one time for permissions to hunt more than 200 square miles of land. Took years to build that up.

 

[matt0550]

Good luck. If you draw Colorado antelope for Washington or Lincoln County, I hunted that area since I was 16. I can give you some good places to start with where you can get permissions in addition to CRP and BLM land. I had at one time for permissions to hunt more than 200 square miles of land. Took years to build that up.

Wow! I appreciate that like you dont know! I am trying to draw for Las Animas - know a rancher there and they appear to have a pretty stable herd of speeders that way. Probably not record book territory, but I took a 15.5 inch buck there already and I know I've seen bigger than him.