Disappointed Mi deer hunter

[Target rush]

I have hunted my entire life for Mi deer , also Minnesota. I have harvested some very nice Mi deer over the years which includes the number 9 buck in the county I live. But the devastating logging in the north east by the DNR and five dollar doe permits has destroyed the deer herd for years to come. For political reasons I will never spend a dime in Minnesota again. I'm looking at Iowa hunting for myself , son and grandson. I know there is a lot of opportunities to hunt on public access lands. But could use help in deciding which area to apply for. Thank you for your consideration on this upcoming hunting.

 

[tgus59]

Isn't the idea with the increased doe harvest to limit the spread of CWD?

I know Iowa is trying to increase the harvest of doe's for that same reason, no one wants to become the next Wisconsin, and both MN and IA share a border with WI.

 

[rootacres]

I have hunted in MI my entire life and it has been extremely frustrating at times. I too have mixed in hunting out of state for whitetail among other critters. I live in IL but my family owns property in SW MI. If you are entertaining hunting whitetail out of state I would take a serious look at IA. My dad and I just completed a trip out there. Something I didn't see you mention, I wanted to make sure you know it exists, is the preference point system in IA. I had 3 years worth of preference points and drew and archery tag on my 4th year, my dad drew on his 5th year. Archery tags are hard to come by over there. In the mean time you could look at Kansas. Those are among the best whitetail states. IL isn't a bad state but all the publicity has led to everybody and their brother to open up an outfitting business. Not to say there aren't good ones but proceed with caution. Swain Farms runs a pretty good operation and their FB page looks like they had a pretty good year. My dad went there twice. The weather was horrendous for both trips (highs in the 80s nearly every day for two hunts). The best weather day they had my grandpa arrowed a 165".

 

[Steve O]

Isn't the idea with the increased doe harvest to limit the spread of CWD?

I know Iowa is trying to increase the harvest of doe's for that same reason, no one wants to become the next Wisconsin, and both MN and IA share a border with WI.

20 years ago the Michigan DNR came up with TB as an excuse to destroy our deer herd. They followed this up with CWD way ahead of the curve...funny how that happens as the auto insurance companies and farm bureau were threatening to sue the state for damage done by the deer. I rarely deer hunt in Michigan any more, it is devastated.

 

[MISurveyor]

Many in MI have the "if it's brown it's down" mentality. That along with the DNR herd slaughter have ruined the hunting on the majority of the land in the northern lower peninsula. Next year I'll be looking out of state for whitetail even with 35 acres of my own to hunt here.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[SirChooCH]

I think the MiDNR might finally be listening to the angry hunters as the post hunt sruvey I got asked about changing to a 1 buck only tag. It also asked about getting rid of the single buck tag purchase and only have a combo which would be 1 buck tag and 1 doe tag. And then they also asked about APRs statewide....Hopefully quality will change in years to come if they enact it.

 

[Miboy86]

I'd be fine with either only being a one buck state or state wide aprs for both buck tags. But on the same side I'm not a fan of limiting us 2 only 2 deer.

 

[nhol100]

I grew up in Michigan and yes the deer hunting can be tough especially when looking for quality deer. I spent many seasons when I was younger hunting "up north" and never saw a deer. I now live in Iowa and it is on another level. SE Iowa is probably the most popular but you really cant go wrong anywhere. But there is the issue of having to wait 4-5 years and that could always go up. I have also lived in KS, MO, and OK. Between those you can hunt every year and I have seen absolute giants on public land in every state. No matter which one of those four states you decide on I almost guarantee you will see more deer and much better deer. Good Luck!

 

[Matt mi]

I like the 2 buck tags and all the doe tags cause I like to eat venison! Wouldn't like a one buck tag I guess depends where you hunt in the state or how you hunt it. Everyone wants to shoot a trophy buck but the real trophy is in the pan not on the wall

 

[SirChooCH]

I like the 2 buck tags and all the doe tags cause I like to eat venison! Wouldn't like a one buck tag I guess depends where you hunt in the state or how you hunt it. Everyone wants to shoot a trophy buck but the real trophy is in the pan not on the wall

That is why I am against the APRs, shoot what you want for the freezer. I do like the 1 buck tag paired with multiple doe tags so you can still fill the freezer and you could still shoot whatever size buck you are happy with. But I personally think the ratio is way off in MI so we need to whack the does back and let a few bucks go if they want people to keep hunting here instead of fleeing for nearby states.

 

[Miboy86]

My dmu makes public land doe permits readily available, lotta deer to justify it along with a lotta pressure especially this year so it's a lotta tags sold. Average guy out there fills one maybe 2 tags the whole season cause the deer get pressured early. I usually fill both buck tags and at least 2 doe permits a season. This year I filled 4 doe tags and one buck tag out there but I hunted hard and used every style to hunt. My 6th deer came from private. The bucks I shoot are nothing special I take more pride in being able to fill a tag on heavily pressured land than anything but if the state went to 1 buck or aprs for both buck tags I'd be fine with it, might even turn somewhat into a rack hunter lol

 

[Steve O]

Anywhere there is public land in Michigan, the deer hunting is destroyed. The only marginal deer hunting in MI occurs where there are large blocks of private land where the owners can control the harvest more so than our shell of a DNR. I’ve hunted every Midwest state and they ALL have MUCH better deer hunting than Michigan.

 

[WCB]

APR kind of goes against CWD thinking...look at SE Minnesota, Had APRs now with CWD it is a free for all. Of course that area was already on a steep downward spiral with publicity and guys shooting every 130 " buck they saw.

If I was a guy that wanted to hunt deer in general Iowa is not where I would look. Iowa is a once every 2 or 3 years gun hunt or 3-5 year bow hunt for the most part. It is not an opportunity state. MO, WI, MN are probably some of your best opportunity states.