DMarley83
DMARLEY83
State lawmakers propose starting deer hunting season early due to SNAP pause
Right now, the regular firearm deer hunting season is scheduled to run from Nov. 15 through the 30th.
www.wilx.com
www.wilx.com
Misleading headline! Should be:
“Is there any possible way to make MI deer hunting worse?” “These legislators actually think they can!!”
MI needs to be given to Canada. Take MN with it too. I’ll even throw in Wisconsin. We get Alberta, BC, Ontario, Saskatchewan & Manitoba. We section off Montreal & leave it with Canada & they can have New Brunswick, Quebec & maybe a few more liberal cities.
MI is such a shame. Such a waste but such a great teaching example for how to ruin a state. It’s like that Mondomi communist loon becoming NY mayor…. Fine….. NY is pretty much ruined as it is. Put the nail in the coffin & the rest of the country can see what insanity is & not want it in their state. Every state can learn from MI - #1 worst managed state in Midwest by a long shot & they keep topping their own stupidity with new level idiocy!!!!
Hey MI bafoons!!!!…. You already had kids out with guns for youth. U have wide open hunting season for over a month with short range guns (crossbows) & archery. You have 50 million more deer seasons & rain tags on people. 4 months every weapon, tons of does in bottom half no one even wants to shoot & no age class. Go legalize picking up road kill without a permit or something silly like that. U guys are the Great Lakes state (& interior lakes) BTW where the whole population could live off the lake system alone. Yet everything is ruined & most the people are far too over weight to hunt or fish & really could use a 30 day diet. Go spend a couple weeks harvesting walnuts, apples, blueberries, etc etc. Little excercise & break from gov handouts is probably good for most the folks there.
“Is there any possible way to make MI deer hunting worse?” “These legislators actually think they can!!”
MI needs to be given to Canada. Take MN with it too. I’ll even throw in Wisconsin. We get Alberta, BC, Ontario, Saskatchewan & Manitoba. We section off Montreal & leave it with Canada & they can have New Brunswick, Quebec & maybe a few more liberal cities.
MI is such a shame. Such a waste but such a great teaching example for how to ruin a state. It’s like that Mondomi communist loon becoming NY mayor…. Fine….. NY is pretty much ruined as it is. Put the nail in the coffin & the rest of the country can see what insanity is & not want it in their state. Every state can learn from MI - #1 worst managed state in Midwest by a long shot & they keep topping their own stupidity with new level idiocy!!!!
Hey MI bafoons!!!!…. You already had kids out with guns for youth. U have wide open hunting season for over a month with short range guns (crossbows) & archery. You have 50 million more deer seasons & rain tags on people. 4 months every weapon, tons of does in bottom half no one even wants to shoot & no age class. Go legalize picking up road kill without a permit or something silly like that. U guys are the Great Lakes state (& interior lakes) BTW where the whole population could live off the lake system alone. Yet everything is ruined & most the people are far too over weight to hunt or fish & really could use a 30 day diet. Go spend a couple weeks harvesting walnuts, apples, blueberries, etc etc. Little excercise & break from gov handouts is probably good for most the folks there.
Snail3496
Well-Known Member
I don't even know what the article is about but will use this change to vent on Michigan:
I went to school there, have some great friends there, and now through business get to meet a lot of landowners there. Predominantly southwest & west central part. I'm convinced it's culturally induced mental illness and lack of ever leaving your hometown bubble.
The younger crowd is breaking the mold slightly for the better and I think things will improve once the 50+ yo guys fizzle out. There are tens of thousands of guys in Michigan with totes and totes of skull capped forkies in the garage, and guess what? They'll shoot another two this fall just to say they killed a buck and because "if I didn't my neighbor would" - it's comical. None of these guys have ever personally witnessed a 4+ year old deer in the wild and THAT is why they don't comprehend what they could have if they just allowed themselves to. Of course laws and regs would help, but there's no fixing it, just simply hard headed-ness.
Most of the Michigan has EXCELLENT habitat and very high deer numbers. Most don't even realize how good it is. There are some managed pockets that put out serious quality every year. They're like little micro examples of what the state could be.
I went to school there, have some great friends there, and now through business get to meet a lot of landowners there. Predominantly southwest & west central part. I'm convinced it's culturally induced mental illness and lack of ever leaving your hometown bubble.
The younger crowd is breaking the mold slightly for the better and I think things will improve once the 50+ yo guys fizzle out. There are tens of thousands of guys in Michigan with totes and totes of skull capped forkies in the garage, and guess what? They'll shoot another two this fall just to say they killed a buck and because "if I didn't my neighbor would" - it's comical. None of these guys have ever personally witnessed a 4+ year old deer in the wild and THAT is why they don't comprehend what they could have if they just allowed themselves to. Of course laws and regs would help, but there's no fixing it, just simply hard headed-ness.
Most of the Michigan has EXCELLENT habitat and very high deer numbers. Most don't even realize how good it is. There are some managed pockets that put out serious quality every year. They're like little micro examples of what the state could be.
Bucksnbears
Well-Known Member
Snail, what you are whitenessing is just cultural differences.
I'd say a HUGE %of Michigan hunters are happy just to shoot a buck.
Most likely ain't gonna change that attitude.
As for "most of Michigan has EXCELLENT habitat"..., no..., no it doesn't.
Forested regions usually offer poor habitat, same here in Mn. Looks good to look at but offers poor habitat.
I'd say a HUGE %of Michigan hunters are happy just to shoot a buck.
Most likely ain't gonna change that attitude.
As for "most of Michigan has EXCELLENT habitat"..., no..., no it doesn't.
Forested regions usually offer poor habitat, same here in Mn. Looks good to look at but offers poor habitat.
The lower half of the lower peninsula is some of the best deer habitat a person could ask for. Its incredible. Waaaaaaayyyy better than Iowa.
Spot on!!
Bottom 6 counties of state alone would have double the premium habitat and deer of all of iowa. Genetics & nutrition are crazy good. I’d say habitat is actually BETTER than southern iowa.
I grew up in Zeeland (Holland be next to it) Michigan. Hunted the very bottom: van buren, allegan, hillsdale, Kalamazoo - all the way to the UP (cedarville) & everything in between. My home town was in Ottawa county- complete Train wreck… like, hunt all season & see 5-7 bucks (all 1.5 year olds). As a kid I’d run into the old guys loading up their piles of 1.5 year olds. They weren’t excited. They just “had to get Their bucks”. Sawed the skull cap off & nailed it on a barn or garage & it rotted. They ruined it, still do and they had zero excitement for doing what they did. “Well if I don’t shoot it, Jim Bob will”. That culture is so messed up.
Good news- I totally agree- young dudes get it. Far better. Dudes finally started passing deer. There’s more 2-3 year olds than ever as dudes pass 1.5’s. & so many hunters quit & land was locked up. When the old timers are gone, there will be a day when MI collapses or a revolution takes place. Until they go to 1 Buck & move gun season out- it’s gonna be a forever disaster. I have a bit of hope that the day will come when change happens. Something will change…, what they are doing now cannot sustain. It will break the whole system. So- good or bad- change is coming to MI.
Snail3496
Well-Known Member
The bottom half of the lower peninsula is very good habitat, especially the bottom 1/3. Of course I’m not referring to the UP.
Bucksnbears
Well-Known Member
Yessir, I realize that. 
paleopoint
New Member
I will demur on some of the more strident criticisms of Michigan's deer management.
Personally, I think their DNR is doing a good job given the conflicting interests of competing constituencies.
Whose voice should prevail over a common resource?
Ag interests who need to make payments on mortgages, loans, and equipment....and put kids through school?
The 'Big Bone' hobbyist who measure their competency by antler scores?
What about insurance interests who know every smacked deer shows up in the expense column?
Or the cooking enthusiast who wants cuts from a young deer......not an animal 2+years old?
And then the folks who like their arbor vitae and hostas to complement their homes?
What about the county that spent $250,000 last year just picking up highway kills?
Look, I get it. This venue is aimed at deer hunters and 'habitatists' who favor deer.
I are one.
But, my keen interest in seeing big bone walking towards me as I sit with my bow and arrows........is just one of many interests who have a rightful voice in influencing how regulators should regulate this common resource of wild deer.
Put yourself in the place of one of those 'regulators'....be it the field conservation officer, the field DNR biologist, or the appointed commissioners on the Natural Resource Commission. Or even your State Rep.
All of those folks with the responsibility of overseeing the long-term viability of a wild deer herd spread across thousands of square miles of very diverse habitats and very diverse human expectations. Do they favor the dedicated cherry farmer who makes his living and his kid's living from those trees in the orchard? Or do they favor the part-time hobbyist who think big antlers make great wall decor?
My point is ------ deer are a shared resource. Shared among many interests. Balancing those interests ain't for sissies.
IMHO
Personally, I think their DNR is doing a good job given the conflicting interests of competing constituencies.
Whose voice should prevail over a common resource?
Ag interests who need to make payments on mortgages, loans, and equipment....and put kids through school?
The 'Big Bone' hobbyist who measure their competency by antler scores?
What about insurance interests who know every smacked deer shows up in the expense column?
Or the cooking enthusiast who wants cuts from a young deer......not an animal 2+years old?
And then the folks who like their arbor vitae and hostas to complement their homes?
What about the county that spent $250,000 last year just picking up highway kills?
Look, I get it. This venue is aimed at deer hunters and 'habitatists' who favor deer.
I are one.
But, my keen interest in seeing big bone walking towards me as I sit with my bow and arrows........is just one of many interests who have a rightful voice in influencing how regulators should regulate this common resource of wild deer.
Put yourself in the place of one of those 'regulators'....be it the field conservation officer, the field DNR biologist, or the appointed commissioners on the Natural Resource Commission. Or even your State Rep.
All of those folks with the responsibility of overseeing the long-term viability of a wild deer herd spread across thousands of square miles of very diverse habitats and very diverse human expectations. Do they favor the dedicated cherry farmer who makes his living and his kid's living from those trees in the orchard? Or do they favor the part-time hobbyist who think big antlers make great wall decor?
My point is ------ deer are a shared resource. Shared among many interests. Balancing those interests ain't for sissies.
IMHO
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The thing is the herd can be managed in a way that there are big deer for the guys that want to hunt big deer, and in that system there’s still young deer for the guys that just want to shoot the first thing that walks by, and the population doesn’t need to be out of control causing property damage and insurance claims.
The only catch is that the buck harvest may need to go to one per person or move the rifle season out of the rut.
The only catch is that the buck harvest may need to go to one per person or move the rifle season out of the rut.