Cedarville deer 2023

[M134 Troll]

   Saw five different spotted fawns up at the Les Cheneaux camp area last week..   One, apparently weaned, with a spike buck and a similar sized doe which I thought were 1 1/2 year old deer based on antler and body size.  The ? 1 1/2 year olds were noticeably smaller than a lone adult doe which frequented the same location.  The other spotted fawns seemed to be with their mothers. 

Did not see any full grown bucks.

[Lloyd Smale]

went to traverse city three days ago and didnt see a single deer in the farm fields all the way there and back and both ways we drove in the evening. only deer we saw was a dead one on the side of the road near naubinway

[jedman]

 I hunted the Mi antlerless only 2 day season Sept. 16-17 th and hunted with a couple of friends near Rogers City, Mi.
We were on private land with a mix of clover fields and woods and some cedar swamp. In over 50 years of deer hunting I have never seen so many deer . I hunted from a ground blind and had a view of about 150 yards in one direction and could see a lower crop field that a neighbor owned , deer moved all day and I seen easily more than 100 deer. The first evening we had a very heavy thunderstorm and for 1 1/2 hours it rained very hard it started about 4 PM and went to 6 or 6:30 PM and it didn’t seem to bother the deer in the least. I wasn’t seeing much where I had permission to shoot but in the neighbors field groups of deer from 3 to some having 20 + deer were moving around and seemed to fear coming towards my blind. I think that opening the window facing that field made the deer cautious as it has always been closed facing that way. My friend I went with shot 2 doe about a half hour apart that evening and I shot one . The next morning I started walking back towards the woods along the edge of a clover field when it was just light enough to see and seen literally dozens of deer jumping up out of the clover and bounding away. One nice doe made the mistake of stopping and looking back. I made a 100 yard shot from a fence post and was done hunting. We came home with 4 nice does . Driving to and from the motel we stayed at early in the morning and just after dark was really treacherous as deer were roaming everywhere and you had to drive slower and watch constantly as we had many walk out in front of our truck. That area really does have too many deer !  Even in town we seen deer crossing parking lots and in peoples yards it was eye opening to say the least.

jedman

[ironglow]

  A sow and 4 cubs spotted in my woods last week.

[locust]

every year fewer and fewer hunters which means more and more deer . It's getting ridiculous because of the expense of going  . Cutting up your own deer makes it cheaper but not everyone has the tools needed and necessary to do that job. beef burger is looking cheaper all the time.

[Lloyd Smale]

you can skin bone out a whole deer with nothing but your hunting knife. anyone that pays someone to butcher a deer for a 100 bucks or more that your only getting 40lbs of meat is either very lazy or has money to piss away

[Ranger99]

Neighbor had me help drag his buck up
a couple of years ago and load it and take
it to the processor to be cut up for a C note.
I offered to help and show him for free, but
he wanted to pay the "professional " , so . . . .

My hunting buddy's youngest son was
on a draw hunt last year, and a man
with a big wallet offered him 300 to skin
and quarter a deer so it would fit in the
cooler for the ride home

It's easy enough to do unless you're
crippled up and can't

$8 00 old hickory or russel butcher knife
and some rubber gloves and a rope
will do

[ironglow]

  Don't forget, buy your Old Hickory's ahead now...  My friend Bob, is closing the factory right now..

[Ranger99]

I'd buy a half a dozen of each if I
had the extra $$$ right now

[M134 Troll]

Driving up to the UP 4th week in October saw an uptick in whitetail roadkill along US 127 and I 75 compared to earlier trip at the end of September when the spike at the cabin had rubbed his velvet off but did not show rut behavior.

Rut has been in full swing at home for almost two weeks.   Dozens of small scrape and several large scrapes on our modest back lot.  Trail camera has caught small bucks servicing the largest scrape.  Beans were picked past week or so but no corn yet.   We've had a bunch of rain the past couple of days and cornfield soil and corn moisture is not conducive to harvesting.  Standing corn impacts our deer movement and there are untiled fields between here and town that may not be combined until the ground freezes hard.

Nephew has taken two 8 pt bucks each dressing out about 175 lbs !!! a couple of miles west of home hunting unpicked soybean field.   

[M134 Troll]

Quick trip to Cedarville to winterize the cabin this weekend.  Saw only roadkill on the way up and only 4 live deer on the way home about 4:30P along M52 near Marion Springs.   Just two corn fields being combined.

In the Cedarville vicinity we saw only 2...doe and fawn.   Trial camera sightings at home dropped off the past couple of days.    Where do they all go just before the gun opener?

[Drilling Man]

  I guess I'm just lazy, I paid a place to cut/wrap my buck the other day, $85.00.

  DM