Forest food, Stand location
Contributors to this thread:Michigan
From: intelinvestor
21-Sep-16
So I am very new to bowhunting, new here as well. I hunt the Upper Peninsula of michigan, so tons and tons of thick forest. Which sometimes makes it hard to find out where the deer are feeding. Attached are a couple photos of my hunting location (topo, and areial map). The red circles are bedding areas and the green dots are where I'm thinking of setting up stands. Exactly 3 miles north of this location are a couple large corn fields. Do you guys think the deer may bed down in this creek then walk 3 miles for food? I'm really struggling in finding out where these deer are exiting and entering these bed sites so I'm not positive on good stand locations. Any insite into optimal stand locations here at this property would be awesome! There are not alot of visible trails through this ridge country, nor are there any rub lines on the ridges. Ridges are filled with oaks. FYI...I don't think I have ever found a rub/scrape in the UP. I have only seen 1 buck in the past couple of years up here as well. Thanks for all the help guys!
From: kstout
21-Sep-16
I've hunted similar terrain in the UP. There were a lot of small drainages flowing into a large river. We always looked for beaver dams, or narrows where the deer crossed the water ways. During the rut we usually could find bucks crossing back and forth, in search of does. Also hunted the oak ridges when there were acorns for the deer to feed on. I think the deer probably do spend time at the corn fields, although doubt they are travelling 3 miles from feed to bed every day. Although 3 miles would not be unheard of for a buck to travel in 1 night insearch of does. We also looked for logging, where there were new shoots growing for the deer to browse on, especially when the weather was cold. The last several years the deer population has been down. Back in the 80's and early 90's, it was normal to hunt for a couple weeks and see a dozen or more different bucks. That is no longer the normal!
From: happygolucky
21-Sep-16
Are those water sources I am seeing on the map? Those would be good spots to checkout.
BTW, bucks do rub in the UP.