So how did your hunt go?
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we were scheduled to leave Thursday morning at 9am. weather delays pushed us all the way back to a 5:15pm arrival on the island. we were soaking wet from the trip over in 5’+ waves. ended up spending the first night in the village so we could dry out by a fire.
friday, we hiked in to stormer camp where we planned on setting up. it looked like a nice clearing on the sat maps, but that wasn’t the case. Waist high grass and rolling rutted ground. nothing flat for the tent. It was also very close to a high traffic trail. We ended up hiking in to our plan B location another mile or two away and spent the evening scouting.
Saturday morning (opener) was nice. I think I counted 30 or so shots fired by lunch. my buddy ended up shooting a nice 9 point, I took a smaller 8.
Sunday and Monday the wind was blowing 40-50 miles per hour. maybe some gusts above that. Trees falling all over the woods, blow down on all the trails. our camp neighbors ended up taking two nice bucks during all of that. We didn’t hunt much.
the forecast was calling for 60°+ weather Tuesday-Friday. we called the boat captain to see if we could move our Saturday departure up to Thursday and he said no. Either Tuesday morning or Saturday. The “just call me when you’re ready to leave” agreement fell apart quickly when he dropped 100+ guys on the island. We ended up on the Tuesday morning boat out.
some take aways for next year:
NPS said they booked 156 if I remember correctly. I think captain Jimmy took 111. several others were ferried over on some 16-18 foot walleye boats on Saturday when the lake laid down. everyone had weather delays. Some a few hours, some days. Be flexible.
the woods are thick. The island has been taken over by small (beechnut?) trees. Trunks are about the size of a broom handle and the leaves are right at eye level. they are everywhere. A lot of the woods I hunted had maybe 15-20 yards of visibility.
most of the guys I talked to were also first timers. everyone did their scouting via Google maps/ onX, so naturally people were drawn to the same features. swamps, clearings, and orchards seemed to draw the crowds.
In my experience the deer were not terribly weary of people. I stepped out of my tent one morning and had a 10 point standing 60 yards away. I talked to multiple people who shot deer that walked out into the trails right in front of them. Lots of rubs, lots of scrapes.
even though we left Tuesday, most everyone we talked to had already shot deer. some does, some spikes, and the biggest buck I have ever seen in my life. I think this will be a record year for attendance and deer taken.
Apparently the hunt was spread out over multiple weeks in previous years. I wouldn’t be surprised if they brought that back next year.
