Pretty slow deer season here in S.E. Michigan, how was it for you in Michigan?

[sticksnstones]

I must be a bad man; I only want to kill old does, button bucks, and coyotes. I'd love to see MI deer populations increase from where they are today.

I only saw 8 in my 6 days of hunting and didn't get a good shooting situation out of any of them.

We are off to an usually easy winter, hopefully it helps matters for 2012.
Thom

[ripforce56]

I live at the Tip of the Mitt saw a few deer in Ocotber got one shot during gun season with my longbow! The rest of the season never saw a  deer, December was dreadful no snow deer moving at night! I agree we do not have doe permits here where I hunt but with the youth hunts etc there are plenty of deer being killed! Very few mature bucks havested even during gun season!

[onewhohasfun]

I talked to a guy last year from Genesee Co. that said his group usually kills 15 to 20 in the early doe season. Excessive?

[Gator1]

Although I don't hunt in Michigan, I am amazed that with all the deer hunting seasons, and doe tags, the DNR does not require mandatory registration?

In minnesota since I can remember registration was mandatory.  It has gotten easier to go online now however, the importance is of high value.

How do they know for sure what the Deer Harvest is?  With not having mandatory registration, how many deer are being tagged w/o tags?

It seems as though a great state like Michigan, would want to wrap there arms around such a tremendous resource and protect the herd to ensure long term hunting experience, not only from residents but potentially non-residents and the revenue the local economy enjoys from the experience.

I'm not a game manager but without specific harvest data how can you evaluate?????

BAITING: I have experienced this first hand in a state that it is Illegal.  The MNDNR couldn't keep up with the violations this fall, they had numerous violaters that were caught the previous fall.

I hunt a small patch and there is a person with 5 acres along the road, that baits deer with Corn.  It completely throws off any "normal" deer browsing and movement".  Although it is completely illegal, he doesn't hunt during shooting hours or from a stand.  Difficult to get caught. Baiting in an area with agricultural crops etc probably not as effective.

But where I'm hunting and no ag fields for a couple of miles, it is like Happy Hour Feeding.  Really discusting.  :mad:

[bow_man_66]

The season this year for me in mid Michigan was dismal at best. Few sightings and actually never had a deer within bow range this year. Many factors to this and everyone so far have hit most of them. Our DNR have no idea how many deer are harvested yearly and continue to guesstimate the harvest and the population. In the last 35 years I have seen allot of ups and downs and we are definitely going down right now. I can only hope we level off soon. Bringing back the baiting only made it legal again for those that did it anyway.

[Rathbuck]

Season was mixed for me.  We have ground up near Cadillac, and saw a ton of deer up there - shot a doe opening evening, and had a good number of other chances.  Took a second job, and wasn't able to get out much, but took a good (not great) buck in Washtenaw county on the 16th of October, then filled a doe tag with the muzzleloader in Ingham County.

Only got out 7 times this year, saw deer all but once - my best spot was TERRIBLE, however, as the corn was on for the entire season on the neighboring properties.  Once October hit, the bucks disappeared.

[koops4]

My son and I did not see many deer this year either.  We each shot at one deer and both missed.  Other than that we maybe seen 10 deer total between the two of us.  Granted the land we hunt is public land and there seemed to be more hunters hunting this track, but I also did not here of many harvesting anything.

I agree with what others have said about all the "special" seasons.  I think the "youth" season is a joke.  I have heard stories of dads taking their child out and shooting a deer for their kid.  Whether these stories are the exception rather than the norm I can't say.  I would love to go back to the days when the start of the season was Oct. 1 for archery and Nov. 15 for gun period.  

Hopefully things change soon for the better.
Paul

[Warchild]

We are foolishly listening to the DNR and are being led to exterminate the deer population here in Michigan. It is ridiculous to have so many gun seasons beginning so early in the season (September). Bow season is being assulted from the front of the season now just as it has been in the end of the season. These gun seasons are infringing on bowhunters to an extreme level. Until hunters refuse to allow the DNR to dictate how many deer we kill and when, the decline will continue until we are left thinking that a successful season is 2 buck sightings and maybe 4 or 6 Doe sightings for the entire year. It is also ridiculous that we are able to purchase and fill 5 doe tags per day in the 486 "Southern Michigan" zone. Can the herd actually take this pounding? Ask yourself if you think based on your sightings this season, if there are enough deer around to warrant the killing of 5 does per day. As responsible hunters and conservationists, it is our duty to limit ourselves to what we KNOW the deer herd can handle. Personally I never kill any more than 2 deer per farm in southern Michigan and 2 does and a Buck in the U.P. I have a feeling that the DNR does not have the best interests of hunters or the deer herd at heart, I believe after years of strange and backwards policies concerning deer hunting in Michigan, that they are more concerned with the Insurance lobby.

[Vesty]

I keep a journal in which I record sightings, shot possibilities, kills, etc. In 2005 I purchased 30 acres of prime hunting land in Van Buren County. I have not touched this parcel for the most part, so forage and cover remain the same. My journal reveals; 2005. 17 hunts with 120 sightings. 2011. 19 hunts with 55 sightings.Granted some of these sightings are the same deer over the course of the season but none the less they are deer seen. My decline has been gradual yet noticeable over this period.

[Uncle Buck]

Go to the Michigan DNR's website and read " the 4 priorities of the DNR. Its all about revenue enhancement not good wildlife biology.

[DennyK]

Mine was bad enough to motivate me to find 2 or 3 new places to hunt for 2012. My old haunts are just getting too populated. Very disappointing season. Deer sightings way down.

[C. Halstead]

Can we start some kind of petition to change some thing?

[xtrema312]

Insurance lobby and farmers run the show I think sometimes.

Last I heard the DNR does deer counts based on walking and taking a look around, processer info, and checking for deer on vehicles by doing highway counts at overpasses.  I don’t know if this is still done, but what else do they have to go on other than a wild guess?  Each year I have to do a survey to get my waterfowl license. So just how hard would it be to have a survey on deer kills to get your deer tag?  Not very!!!  There is no excuse for not doing a survey on deer kill and deer numbers.  

I am sure there are areas where there are still large numbers of antlerless deer needing to be controlled, but not as many areas as have unlimited permits. I think many of those are areas where the deer can get into non-hunting areas or non-accessible to hunter areas.