I suppose I am a little envious of some of you members . I live in Michigan and don't have the hunting opportunity's that I have seen on here . We have Whitetail deer and small game . Some Bears north , but you have to play the draw . Elk in the Northern Lower Peninsula with a drawing ; ( and it is easier win the Lotto . )
We have some Feral Pigs but not many and try to find them on public land .
I would love to harvest some River Cane and make my own arrows but we don't have that either . Would buy some but that just wouldn't be the same .
I do enjoy the pics that get posted and the story's . I also enjoy the friendly people on this site , that gives me some hope in humanity .
Thanks Trad Gang ! :wavey:
Is there others that have this same feeling of missing out on great local hunting opportunity's ?
You have some fine turkey hunting as well. You can make the most of your hunts by challenging yourself by hunting on the ground instead of the treestand.
In WA we have deer, elk, turkey, bear, cougar, and turkey over the counter but your chances of eating tag soup are much greater than whitetail hunting in MI where my father averages 6-9 deer a season and a turkey.
I do hunt from the ground , I would love to get Bear , Elk and Pigs . I have to spend lots of money to Bear hunt in Maine but it is worth it .
Quotebut your chances of eating tag soup are much greater than whitetail hunting in MI where my father averages 6-9 deer a season
Ain't that the truth! I have the opportunity to harvest one deer in my unit during our general archery season. If I knew someone with land, I might get lucky enough to put in for a draw and get a 600 series tag.
Archery season is 90 degrees. I just came back from a wedding in Va. Sure do miss tall oaks and multiple whitetail tags. We draw for everything here in NV.
Yes def hunt on the ground- practice scent control, pre-scout and play the wind, it always blows my mind how much more game one encounters vs. sitting up in a tree for hours. Good luck! Pre-season scouting seems to be where it's at. Think like an animal.
When I see posts of fellow members that have just shot their 3rd or 4th deer of the season or get a pig every 2 or 3 weeks I get a bit envious. Different states offer different options. Hunting where I do in New York my opportunities are few and far between but I try to keep a good attitude and a positive outlook and keep at it. Even when I have gone to other places to hunt it does not mean your are going to be successful.....for me it has become the journey not the destination. Keep an open mind and enjoy the journey.
Bruinbow, you're forgetting one of our most challenging dangerous game hunts.
We have some of the biggest and most dangerous mosquitoes anywhere in the northern hemisphere.
A few years ago at Selfridge AFB, one landed and they pumped in 20,000 gal of jet fuel before they figured out is wasn't a KC-135 tanker.
The grass is always greener. There are plenty of alternatives to river cane for making arrows in your woods. Wild rose, dogwood shoots, split poplar or spruce. I am willing to bet there is someone with a bamboo patch nearby that will happily have you cut some of it. And you don't want feral anything.
I hear ya!
One of my biggest gripes or set back is the lack of land close to home that I can go hunt. And what I can hunt has alot of pressure and no game.
I think we all get a little green with envy from time to time. The only thing we can control in our situation is ourselves.....that means being ready when those fleeting opportunities arise.
Surely you have coyotes to hunt. Very challenging.
But what's better than hunting whitetail deer? Uh..........NOTHING!
Sure, I would love to hunt elk but I just don't have the money for that. Heck, just deer hunting and bowfishing keep me plenty occupied enough to forget about hunting much of anything else.
Let's see, over the counter tags.....elk,moose,mule deer, whitetail, sitka blacktail, columbia blacktail, caribou, mountain goat, stone sheep, bighorn sheep, black bear, cougar, lynx, bobcat, wolverine. No tags required to hunt coyote, wolf, and small game or upland birds.........have to draw for grizzly, Dahl sheep, and bison.
The tags are the easy part though. I have yet to kill a moose or mule deer with a bow.........and they live in my yard. But the seasons are restricted, and game populations are not super high. So the opportunities to fling broadheads at big game are few and far between, smorgasboard of tags notwithstanding.
I sometimes deer hunt for days without even seeing a legal deer.......let alone within my effective longbow range.
Gotta make the most of where you are.
Darcy
:campfire:
QuoteThe tags are the easy part though. I have yet to kill a moose or mule deer with a bow.........and they live in my yard. But the seasons are restricted, and game populations are not super high. So the opportunities to fling broadheads at big game are few and far between, smorgasboard of tags notwithstanding.
Yup. Nothing quite like a bull moose at 14 yards with two brow tines and nine total on either side in a deuce/tri/ten zone.
Or a sheep at 20 yards that is just ticking the 7/8ths in a full curl zone.
My favourite was the bull elk at 15 yards that was 5x5 with a short cheater point and not legal where he was standing, but three hundred yards across the river he was fair game :banghead: