Post by cambygsp on Sept 19, 2005 5:53:27 GMT -5
www.michiganoutdoornews.com/articles/2005/09/15//news/news2.txt
Wednesday, September 14, 2005 10:49 AM EDT
Best opportunities will be in southern Michigan
By Bill Parker Editor
Lake Orion, Mich. -- Archers once again can expect good deer hunting when the bow and arrow season opens Oct. 1.
Deer densities in Michigan have changed during the past 10 years, and biologists now estimate that half of the state's whitetail population resides in southern Lower Michigan. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that the best bowhunting likely will occur in the southern third of the state.
According to DNR estimates, bowhunters across the state combined to kill 125,377 deer last year, including 67,719 bucks and 57,658 antlerless deer. Nearly two-thirds of those deer - 80,356 - were killed in the southern third of the state where hunters took 46,477 bucks and 33,879 antlerless deer.
Food is usually not an issue for deer in southern Michigan, as a majority of the open land is private, agricultural land. Winter weather, which can severely impact the deer population in the northern Lower and Upper Peninsula, also does not have much effect on southern Michigan whitetails. The key to successful hunting in southern Michigan is having access to private land to hunt.
If it's a trophy buck you're after, look no further than southern Michigan. According to the 6th edition of Commemorative Bucks of Michigan's Big Game Record Book, 45 of the top 47 and 92 of the top 100 typical bucks killed by bowhunters came from southern Michigan. For non-typical antlers, the top five, and 89 of the top 100, were killed in southern Michigan. Six of the top 10, including the No. 1 bow-killed non-typical of all time, Bruce Heslet's 23-pointer, which scored 219 and was arrowed in Cass County in 2000, were killed in the past 10 years.
Southern Michigan counties with the highest deer densities are Jackson, Ionia, Shiawassee, Lapeer, and Barry
Deer numbers have declined in the northern Lower Peninsula during the past five years as wildlife biologists have pledged to reduce deer numbers there by hitting the antlerless deer pretty hard. Because of that effort, hunters have seen a marked decline in harvest.
DNR estimates indicate that last year bowhunters killed 34,526 whitetails in the northern Lower Peninsula, including 17,268 bucks and 17,258 antlerless deer.
"Hunters can expect a population of deer similar to last year," said DNR wildlife biologist Richard Earle, of Traverse City. "Generally, we're at or below our population goal for each of our counties.
"The winter of 2004-2005 didn't turn out to be very severe so we had limited winter die-off. We had a fairly decent fawn crop, and the number of yearling bucks and does should be pretty good."
Earle said natural food sources in the area are plentiful in some areas and spotty in others.
"Hard mast is good in limited locations," he said. "You might find a stand of oaks with good acorns, and then go down the road and not find many. That can be to the hunter's advantage because it tends to concentrate the deer."
Earle said there are a lot of abandoned apple orchards in the northwest Lower and that some of them are producing good numbers of apples.
Bowhunting also should be decent in the U.P. where hunters combined to kill 10,494 deer last fall. Of that number, 3,974 were bucks and 6,520 were antlerless deer.
"The season looks favorable for bowhunters," said biologist Monica Joseph from the DNR's Newberry field office. "Deer numbers look real similar to last year. The fawning season looked good and we didn't have a bad winter, so the deer should be healthy."
Joseph said mast crops around Newberry look pretty good.
"The soft mast like apples, cherries, raspberries, and blueberries look good," she said. "Last year we had a bumper crop of soft mast. This year is very good, but not quite as good as last year."
Any hunter who kills a deer in Alcona, Alpena, Antrim, Arenac, Bay, Benzie, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Clare, Crawford, Emmet, Gladwin, Grand Traverse, Iosco, Isabella, Kalkaska, Lake, Leelanau, Manistee, Mason, Mecosta, Midland, Missaukee, Montmorency, Newaygo, Oceana, Ogemaw, Osceola, Oscoda, Otsego, Presque Isle, Roscommon, or Wexford counties is asked to turn in the head of the deer for tuberculosis testing.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005 10:49 AM EDT
Best opportunities will be in southern Michigan
By Bill Parker Editor
Lake Orion, Mich. -- Archers once again can expect good deer hunting when the bow and arrow season opens Oct. 1.
Deer densities in Michigan have changed during the past 10 years, and biologists now estimate that half of the state's whitetail population resides in southern Lower Michigan. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that the best bowhunting likely will occur in the southern third of the state.
According to DNR estimates, bowhunters across the state combined to kill 125,377 deer last year, including 67,719 bucks and 57,658 antlerless deer. Nearly two-thirds of those deer - 80,356 - were killed in the southern third of the state where hunters took 46,477 bucks and 33,879 antlerless deer.
Food is usually not an issue for deer in southern Michigan, as a majority of the open land is private, agricultural land. Winter weather, which can severely impact the deer population in the northern Lower and Upper Peninsula, also does not have much effect on southern Michigan whitetails. The key to successful hunting in southern Michigan is having access to private land to hunt.
If it's a trophy buck you're after, look no further than southern Michigan. According to the 6th edition of Commemorative Bucks of Michigan's Big Game Record Book, 45 of the top 47 and 92 of the top 100 typical bucks killed by bowhunters came from southern Michigan. For non-typical antlers, the top five, and 89 of the top 100, were killed in southern Michigan. Six of the top 10, including the No. 1 bow-killed non-typical of all time, Bruce Heslet's 23-pointer, which scored 219 and was arrowed in Cass County in 2000, were killed in the past 10 years.
Southern Michigan counties with the highest deer densities are Jackson, Ionia, Shiawassee, Lapeer, and Barry
Deer numbers have declined in the northern Lower Peninsula during the past five years as wildlife biologists have pledged to reduce deer numbers there by hitting the antlerless deer pretty hard. Because of that effort, hunters have seen a marked decline in harvest.
DNR estimates indicate that last year bowhunters killed 34,526 whitetails in the northern Lower Peninsula, including 17,268 bucks and 17,258 antlerless deer.
"Hunters can expect a population of deer similar to last year," said DNR wildlife biologist Richard Earle, of Traverse City. "Generally, we're at or below our population goal for each of our counties.
"The winter of 2004-2005 didn't turn out to be very severe so we had limited winter die-off. We had a fairly decent fawn crop, and the number of yearling bucks and does should be pretty good."
Earle said natural food sources in the area are plentiful in some areas and spotty in others.
"Hard mast is good in limited locations," he said. "You might find a stand of oaks with good acorns, and then go down the road and not find many. That can be to the hunter's advantage because it tends to concentrate the deer."
Earle said there are a lot of abandoned apple orchards in the northwest Lower and that some of them are producing good numbers of apples.
Bowhunting also should be decent in the U.P. where hunters combined to kill 10,494 deer last fall. Of that number, 3,974 were bucks and 6,520 were antlerless deer.
"The season looks favorable for bowhunters," said biologist Monica Joseph from the DNR's Newberry field office. "Deer numbers look real similar to last year. The fawning season looked good and we didn't have a bad winter, so the deer should be healthy."
Joseph said mast crops around Newberry look pretty good.
"The soft mast like apples, cherries, raspberries, and blueberries look good," she said. "Last year we had a bumper crop of soft mast. This year is very good, but not quite as good as last year."
Any hunter who kills a deer in Alcona, Alpena, Antrim, Arenac, Bay, Benzie, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Clare, Crawford, Emmet, Gladwin, Grand Traverse, Iosco, Isabella, Kalkaska, Lake, Leelanau, Manistee, Mason, Mecosta, Midland, Missaukee, Montmorency, Newaygo, Oceana, Ogemaw, Osceola, Oscoda, Otsego, Presque Isle, Roscommon, or Wexford counties is asked to turn in the head of the deer for tuberculosis testing.
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