Michigan Hunting Report

Deer Anatomy

2011-11-23T10:37:00.001-08:00

DEER ANATOMY

Found this information today on an educational hunting website.

Not only useful for learning about the deer's anatomy,
but also good for shot placement education. Whitetail deer hunting is a learning process that gets passed down through the years. However, this is one part of deer hunting you don't want to GUESS about. A good shot placement is key.

Trail Camera Update

2011-11-20T17:32:00.000-08:00

Still walking after the first week of rifle season.

Micheline Mrasek 8 Point

2011-11-20T17:13:00.000-08:00

Micheline with her 8-point shot on 11/19/11 at 7:30am
at 48 yards.

Micheline's 8 point 11/4/11 8:09am caught on trail
camera 3/4 of a mile from where she shot him.

Micheline's First 8-point

View of the hunting area.

Pat Craven - 8 point

2011-11-19T23:42:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Pat Craven with a Nice 8 point shot on November 15th.

Justin Resseguie - Hartland Buck 11/18

2011-11-18T16:45:00.001-08:00

Justin Resseguie takes this nice 9 point buck in Hartland MI with his bow just after 5:15 pm on November 18, 2011. Great Job!

Justin Resseguie - Hartland Buck

2011-11-18T16:44:00.001-08:00

Justin Resseguie takes this very nice buck near Hartland on November 18th just after 5:15 PM with his bow. Nice Shooting!

Great morning.... cold with frost

2011-11-18T06:37:00.001-08:00

It was a wonderful morning to hunt. The air temp was cold, frost on the ground and little to no wind. I could hear animals moving around in the tall grass of the brush this morning but I did not have any come across my shooting lanes.

I have an active scrape line to the south of this spot. Looking at the tracks in the food areas and on the scrape line, it appears this area is used very heavy at night. The animals are not very far off because the cover to the south and east is very dense and you could not go into it without pushing the animals away.

There were not very many hunters out this morning and the ones that I have seen are mostly using portable tree stands. One challenge we have hunting with this much food and cover is .... people have to move to bump the deer or they will wait until the safety of darkness to feed.

That does not mean I do not encourage people to sit. Especially first thing in the morning and just before dark, however during the slow periods of the day... you have a firearm and most times if you can see the animal, you can harvest it.

I am looking forward to the "2nd opener" which is basically the first weekend. When the season opens on a Tuesday or Wednesday many people cannot hunt or just hunt on the first day. There will be many people taking off an extra day of work to have a 3 day hunt.

This weekend will have some additional pressure on the animals which should help the hunters yield a better harvest. So far many people are seeing a few deer but the majority of animals have still given hunters the slip.

Good luck and do not forget to play the short game. (what is he talking about?)

When going out hunting - deer will often bed less than 100 yards from where most people enter the woods. These areas are in plain sight but are often overlooked by hunters wanting to travel as far from the truck as possible.... sometimes only to find a group of others who had the same thought.

The deer that were normally using this area during the off season - moved away from the scent and activity to quiet areas often in plain view of the hunters coming and going from the area.

When in doubt of figuring out where to hunt... stop, stand still and ask yourself this question?

IF EVERYONE IN THE WOODS WAS SHOOTING AT ME - Where Would You Hide?

That is often the best place to start.

Douglas Resseguie

Director of Field Operations

Hot Hunting Spots

Jon Rieger - 10 Point

2011-11-17T16:58:00.001-08:00

Kim Martin Dewey - Nov 17

2011-11-17T16:54:00.001-08:00

Kim takes a nice buck with the .308
This buck is 17" wide

Great Shooting Kim!

November17 hunt

2011-11-17T09:58:00.001-08:00

http://www.mytriprecorder.com/myTripRecorder.html#userid=1372001&trip=Nov%2017%202011

Swamp scrape line still active...

2011-11-17T05:20:00.001-08:00

The scrape line I posted before firearm season is still active. Waiting to see If I can change that...

Nov 17 morning hunt...

2011-11-17T05:17:00.001-08:00

Wayne Haskin buck!!

2011-11-17T03:23:00.001-08:00

Wayne Haskin and his very nice buck shot 11/16/11

Shot on the evening of 11/16/11 in Clare county. 17" spread, 9" tines

Mark McCrary

11/16/11

2011-11-16T03:48:00.001-08:00

A very nice clear cool morning with some wind. Waiting for daylight.

Photos from Keith --- Nice Shooting!

Ingham County Opener

2011-11-15T05:29:00.001-08:00

A nice day overall for the Firearm opening day in Ingham County.

I hunted the Dansville State Game Area and the morning started off a bit slow due to fog. The temperature was warm for this time of the year. As the temperature changed just before light the humidity level in the air jumped up and we had a hazy fog covering the air until almost 9:45 am.

The first shot I could hear in the morning was shortly after 6:10 am and then the majority of distant shots began around 7:00 am.

I invited my friend Dan to hunt this morning and it was nice to have a fellow hunter to share the mornings events with.

The spot I hunted was a thick swampy area that holds plenty of deer all year long but especially when the hunting pressure it increased. I could hear animals in the brush, but the fog really limited my visibility from the tree stand to about 25 - 30% of my normal range. All in all it was a great morning and the weather was great.

I had to work in the afternoon, so Dan will give the afternoon report later.

Firearm season begins

2011-11-15T04:48:00.001-08:00

Limited visibility in Ingham County...

11/15/11 Opening Morning

2011-11-15T04:39:00.001-08:00

View from Den's treestand.

Opening morning Clare County. Saw a nice 8 point plus chasing two does at 8:15am had one chance at him but couldn't get a clear shot. At 9:38am saw 9 does at 40 yards that walked by then bedded doe behind my stand.

19inch brown on fly ron

2011-11-13T19:26:00.000-08:00