steeliebob

Nice boat, Mine is a 1976 spent most of her life in a pole barn. Now I pull her up to the dock and get laughed at by the guys w the 50,000$ Trophy until they see whats in the cooler. It is whats in the cooler that counts not the boat that got you there

I am just waiting for a pack of wolves to start munching on the elk in pigeon river state forest. Then we will see just how federally protected the wolf really is as you see Michigan Conservation Officers shooting them. When that happens they won't be so protected in the UP anymore either. I would bet that the DNR has already told its officers to shoot wolves in the LP. Go to the news site and check out the story on Coy Wolves.

Another deer eating machine in the woods. How long before the PETAS have these federally protected?????

We have only one more year of Jen in Michigan. I can only hope that we can elect a Governor who will do somthing this time around. Jen sat in office for 8 years and watched the state fall apart around her.

The quality deer management thing in the UP started about 1990 with a small group of hunters who own private land near Cedarville. Hunters have voiced their opinion over the years but this small group of people kept crying to the DNR and finally it passed. A majority of hunters only buy the single tag now as a result and still shoot smaller bucks. A DNR biologist was at out sportsman club meeting last winter and said that there is no sound biological proof that this will ever work. You want quality bucks up here cut back on tribal hunting, shoot wolves, shorten the season, and don't issue doe permits. The wolves are federally protected so I guess that you can cut that one out. They will migrate across the ice in the winter. How many wolves do you think it will take to have an impact on the ELK???? My guess is 10 to 20 can wipe out the ELK hunting season. I have seen what they do in a deer yard up here and they do not descriminate. Even though they are federally protected do you think that the DNR is going to let them eat up all of the ELK. I think that the DNR will be out there shooting them. Nobody knows how many wolves are in the LP but we do know that they are there and we know that packs exist in Wilderness State Park and Dingmans Marsh only a few miles from prime Elk country. As the population of wolves grow in the UP the social pressure will force more and more of them to cross the ice. In deep snow an Elk is a pretty easy target for a pack of wolves. Let them shoot just one federally protected wolf in the LP and there will be a few less of them in the UP. I believe that the DNR is quietly trying to kill them off in the lower penninsula right now. In the last 10 years they have pretty much wiped out the deer in four prime hunting spots that I had in Mackinac County. These are spots where you would see 10 to 20 deer in a day. Now you can consider yourself lucky to see a single deer in these spots. So much for QDM!!!!!

When was the last time an employee of the DNR has ever asked a sportsmen about their opinion on anything???? It is like you are the idiot and they know everything. In the UP the wolves are like God to them. They will not plant fish in the UP because of gill nets or they tell you nobody fishes up here. This year they sold 48000 less deer licenses than they did last year. Mabey when they count their money that will send them the message. The damn wolves do not bring hunters to the UP. Now that there are about 1000 wolves in the UP and a few in the lower what is the DNR going to do when they populate and start eating the elk in the lower???? You guys at the DNR should open season on the wolves and plant a few more fish in the UP. Your deer management ideas are really stupid too. You buy a combo tag and you have to shoot 4 points on one side in the UP. The wolves get them up here before they get that big. In the lower you can't use bait....have you guys ever looked under an apple tree???? What difference does it make if I throw 20 apples in front of my blind or 200 apples fall off of a tree??? Absolutely none!!!!! You just want an excuse to fly your airplane over top of my treestand and write tickets. Do you know that most of the guys on private land in the lower are using bait anyway.

Next time you guys throw some fish in the smoker put a couple ( I usually smoke up about 4) cornish game hens at the same time. I don't brine them I just pull them out of the package and put them in the smoker. Smoked up the game hens go great with a smoked trout or salmon. Wash em down with your favorite barley malt and you really have a good combination.

Good fish Dan. I hope the thick water comes soon as I am ready to go

You just have to come up to the UP where we have 6 months of ice and 3 months of in between then three months of boat fishing. Last spring you guys down south were catching salmon and we still had 2 feet of ice in St Ignace. Hang in there diesel, I used to have 1 teenage daughter and 9 of her friends all of the time. I don't expect ice for awhile so keep the long poles out. Steelhead fishing is super right now

We hunted off from Lake Ogemaw there is deer but the property needs some improvement. I had two doe permits and filled one of them saw an 8 pointer and a spike. There is lots of deer but it was way too warm and they would not move. Most of the deer were laying around in the cottage yards. I guess you have to hand it to them they know where it is safe. I used to hunt off of Greenwood Road on a private camp that was too good, I wish that land was back in the family. I have all of the federal land that I want to hunt up here just all of my good spots are dried up or wolves are in them. I will do some bow hunting next year, I am sure that I will find deer again. I do still plan to hunt in W Branch for gun season if I don't go to Canada

I usually hunt pretty close to water, so it makes it easy to throw a line out and continue hunting. We have snow and cold in the forcast so ice fishing should be good in a couple of weeks. I can't wait because it sure is fun catching those big steelhead through the ice. I am going out on the river this weekend just fishing I already have one deer in the freezer. It will probably be the last opportunity to use the long poles before freeze up

You are soooo right Adam. I live in Mackinac County and I fight with the DNR every year over hunting and fishing issues. They want wolves and moose to dominate the UP. They want lots of Elk in the northern lower penninsula and few deer. All of the hatchery trucks go straight to South Haven. We have 156 miles of shoreline in Mackinac County alone and we only have about 20000 trout planted annually. I believe that I might just as well burn my money rather than buy a license from the DNR. I do catch some fish though at times I am rather spoiled only because the natural reproduction up here is great. I got a deer this year on private land in West Branch but for the money I invest in hunting it is not worth it. Most of the good deer hunters that I know are hunting in Canada now. The group just keeps getting bigger and bigger every year and these guys won't ever buy another Michigan deer license.

New Count as of 7:30 am 11/30/09 the count was 3893 a far cry from the numbers we have had a few years ago. It is down 37% from last year which is down from the year before and so on. I hunted for four days in an area that used to be real hot and did not see a single deer. The guy I work with has 7 guys that hunt out of his camp, in 9 days they saw a total of 6 deer. The DNR will have to think of some good excuses now but these guys are going to Canada next year. I have a few months to decide wether I will go to Canada, Illinois, or the lower penninsula.

I guess that by now you are back to fishing, how are you doing???? The steelhead are starting to cooperate in the UP finally. I got two nice chromers Saturday right behind the deer blind in the UP. Have not even seen a deer yet up here good thing that I hunt in the lower, I got a nice size doe, missed an opportunity on an eight and let a small spike go for seed.

Took a break from deer hunting Saturday 11/28 and threw a line out by my deer blind. After a few casts I got a nice 10 pound steelhead and followed that up with a nice 7 pound steelhead. I guess a good day of fishing beats a bad day of hunting. So much for muzzelloader season, I think that I will get one more weekend of fishing in before the snow and cold brings on ice fishing.

The Michigan DNR claims that the UP can sustain a wolf population of about 2000 wolves and there is a possibility of a wolf hunting season. There is also a possability that there will never be a wolf hunting season. Right now they estimate that there are between 500 and 700 wolves in the UP. I find it ironic that deer numbers are always estimated on the high side and wolf numbers are always underestimated. I am by no means an expert on deer numbers but I do know that they are way down in the UP. I cannot believe how the DNR does their math, in the future they may sell 100 wolf licenses for what about $100 ea which equals $10000. Lets underestimate but I believe about 25000 residents and non residents of the UP will not be buying a Michigan deer license next year at $30 ea or $750,000. How long is the DNR willing to eat this loss of revenue? What about the UP businesses who rely on sportsmen to support them? They have already proven that they will jump ice flows to migrate to the lower penninsula. It is only a matter of time and the lower penninsula will have breeding packs. A wolf is a non game species the same as a cougar, the DNR has a fund to collar them, tag them and chase them around the woods. This money comes right out of your license money plus some federal dollars which comes from the money you spend on guns and ammo. So you live and hunt in the lower penninsula and you don't believe that the wolves in the UP will effect you. Just wait another 5 years and look up this post. Somebody please show this post to a DNR biologist I am willing to bet that they will not disagree with me.

As far as I am concerned shoot all of the wolves & cougars that you want to. The season never closes but don't get caught. It doesn't even make the classifieds anymore when someone shoots a UP wolf during deer season. I have yet to ever hear of the DNR paying their $5000 reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone who has killed a wolf. I think they die of lead poisoning about 5 miles from the point of impact. What I hate the most about them is that the DNR spends hunderds of thousands of dollars per year on them and they are federally protected. Now the DNR is going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on cougars. I think the budget will be reduced when they don't get deer license fees anymore. If I could not hunt in the lower penninsula I would sell all of my hunting gear. Back in the 1990's there used to be 20+ deer per sq mi where I hunted now there is less than one deer per sq mi.

St Ignace MI. My office is 200 ft off of the lake huron shoreline. I get off work back up to the boat drive a mile to the launch site and in about 40 minutes from work I have four lines down. It sure is nice to get off of work and have fish in the cooler w lines out within an hour.

I started in 69 when you pulled long lines with a tadpoly or flatfish. I fished the runs on the rifle river for a few years then moved up to the UP where catching coho was the norm. Then I moved back down to the rifle river area again. Now I am fishing back in the UP probably will stay until I get planted or tossed overboard. I caught my first salmon at age 13 and at 14 I took my first nice steelhead which by the way was netted by Fred Bear. I remember that one the most of all of the chromers that I have caught.

You have to sit on the edge of a swamp and just wait them out. It is tough to do but they are there. The small cedar swamp that I was set up on came to life at dark an hour after I shot my deer. Good Luck. The guys hunting up in the UP are seeing more wolves than deer. I just talked to a guy who saw three wolves last night. US 2 hardly has any traffic right now, nobody wants to hunt up here anymore. The DNR should open season on them.

Way to go!!!! Save some room in the freezer for the fish. I got my deer and I am back to fishing tomorrow

Before all hell breaks loose, let me sell you a homeowners policy and we can both go to Gander Mountain

Nice buck he should make a great hat rack

Across the road from the camp gate is a big apple tree, when I pulled in Friday night after dark there were about 15 does and fawns eating with 4 bucks none bigger than a 4 point. I wonder if the DNR considers this a baitpile??? There is no sound biological proof that stopping hunters from using bait will stop the spread of desease such as CWD or TB. Just like in the UP where if you have the combination license your first deer has to have 4+ points on one side. The DNR did that to produce bigger bucks but there is no biological proof that this will work. I was at a meeting recently where a DNR biologist admitted the DNR was wrong by doing this. If their own biologists disagree with what the DNR is doing then I am sure that sooner or later the DNR will be challenged in court. I think that it is a money issue and the DNR wants a reason to write more tickets. Just like a few years ago a DNR biologist commented that wolves were good for the deer. I guess so right down to the last one.

Every hunter in the family filled a tag this year (2009) one Illinois deer one lower penninsula deer and two from the upper penninsula. Everyone has extra tags so it will be interesting if anyone gets a bonus deer. Nobody has been in the woods more than 4 days so far, so for the limited time invested that is not too bad. A couple of does and a couple of smaller bucks.