83mulligan

Ok, well I am certainly not an expert and I don't want to sound like a know it all, but I'll share some things that were taught to me on the two trips I have taken with some experienced guys. 1) Boots. You have to break them in before you go. You walk up and down and on lots of side hills all day long and if your boots aren't broken in good you get blisters fast and your hunt is ruined. 2) best glass you can afford. You will be looking through it all day. it makes a difference in what you can see and with eye strain. I'm not saying go buy swarovskis, but you should have a good mid range binocular at minimum. i have a cheap harness that keep them on my chest and a bino shield because its dusty. 3) stay off the skyline when you walk ridges. eyesight is their best defense, its very open 4) keep your shooting sticks on you all the time. the shots are usually long and they make a great support for your binoculars which you will look through all the time. 5) have plenty of water and chapstick. 6) its cold in the morning (around freezing) and can get up to 80 in the day so plan accordingly. Once we had sunny and warm one day and blizzard that shut down the highway for a day and a half the following day. 7) there is a lot of cactus you will have to pick it out of your hands and knees if you don't see it. Spanish bayonette looks harmless but lives up to its name. 8) mule deer are very difficult to see. you can't assume that there is nothing out there with your naed eye. It helps to pick areas apart in a grid like fashion with your binos 9) try and set up somewhere before dark in the morning and glass as soon as you can see. Its your best chance to catch them on their feet. we usually glass at least 3 hours in the morning. ideally, you want to see them browsing towards their bedding area and stalk them after they have bedded down. Once they bed, they usually stay there all day, so there is no race to go stalk them. It's alot harder to move on them when they are on their feet., 10) there is a good processor right in kaycee that can turn around your cape and processed animal in a day or two. especially if you tell them what time you are leaving. Its a reasonable price too. lastly i'd just google glassing mule deer on the internet and read as much as you can. there is a lot of good information on the where and how. hope this helps

have you been out west hunting before?

I heard reports that it was a really mild winter and they had record amounts of rainfall in May. Should be some good antler growth this year. Best of luck to you and your crew!

Same deal for us. Deer in Region C and then antelope. Are you camping or staying in a hotel? We stay right in Kaycee at local hotel with bar/restaurant attached. Our season opener is Oct. 1. Is yours the 15th or the 1st?

Hey Dan, I've hunted area 22 and the place where we hunt borders I-25. I am going this year too. Your unit is the west side of the highway. What kind of info are you looking for? If you are hunting public land I'd strongly recommend geting the onxhunt chip for your gps or the app for your phone. Learn the rules of BLM and State land hunting before you go. They do not tolerate trespassing one bit out there and write a lot of tickets. BLM and State land is accessible to the public, but you have to be able to access it from a public road and that road cannot go through anyone's private property for you to be able to use it without permission. There is a lot of private land in units 20 and 22. The blm and state land is often landlocked in it. What looks like a well used public road is sometimes not. Once you figure out where you can hunt, you will have a blast. There are alot of antelope. You will probably see hundreds of them, so learn how to field judge bucks. There isn't a lot of difference between a run of the mill antelope and a real nice one. Especially at 500 yards. Hope this helps. Ask away and I'll try and help.

Thanks Rascal, but we are back on east side of state now. Maybe in a week or two I can get back over to the west side.

My nephew woke up sick and we never made it out. Disappointing to haul boat over for 2.5 hrs fishing. Thank you for your advice. I appreciate it

I didn't have any herring, so I followed your advice and ran white or green paddles on divers wit green one blue flies. Some blue spoons, greens, bloody nose.

We did. We set lines around 7 a.m. And pulled at 9:30 because the kids were tired from driving in from Chicago with their uncle and it was a bit choppy. Anyway, we got skunked, but had fun. We started in 90 fow and fished out to 135 and back. Wind dir made it hard to do north and south in a little boat. We are going to give it a better effort tomorrow. Sounded like most struggled today.

What's the damage look like? Is the housing messed up or is it the gears inside from the prop hitting the rock?

Thanks. Is that a place you can drop down and catch lakers if it's slow on salmon?

Will do. Hoping for light winds

Thanks guys, any nets or other trouble out of either?

Hey everyone. Heading to west side of state this weekend. Haven't fished Lake Michigan all year. Boat is not big (17 ft). Looking for some info/suggestions on which port to fish out of. Staying in Grand Rapids. We will have a kid with us so I'm looking for something easy (near shore, not long run) where we can get into some fish. Whether those fish be lakers, steelhead or salmon not all that important. Just some good action!

Frank, how is the evening bite in the summer. Thinking of driving up after work with my two kids a couple times in June.