Partner(s) needed to backpack Hunt N Manitou Island MI 04

[HuntenNut]

None of my friends are crazy enough to attempt this hunt, and it is ill advised to go alone, so I am looking for a partner or partners interested in going on this hunt. Anyone who has hunted the island and is familiar with it is obviously welcome, as well as anyone who has not but is dedicated and physically up to a serious backcountry hunt. I myself have not done this hunt, but have done several backcountry hunts of smaller time duration.

This is a special population control hunt for whitetail deer which have no natural predator on the island. The only cost is for a regular MI deer tag and a lottery entrance fee of around $25. Deer do not count against your MI bag limit. Also, there is a parking fee and backcountry pass fee. Access to the island is by ferry only, so there is also a small fee for that. Information can be gott from

http://www.nps.gov/slbe/NMI_hunt.htm

The hunt is on North Manitou Island which is part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Forest. It is approx 15 miles off the west coast of MI in Lake MI. The island is approximately 15,000 acres (about 4 miles wide by 7 miles wide). Terrain is rugged for MI with max elevation change of almost 500ft from lake level. The island is primitive with no modern facilities. No fires are allowed, and low impact methods are mandatory. The ferry comes by once a week, weather permitting, and may be off schedule by as much as 3 days if bad weather prevents passage, so you must be prepared for as much as 10 days. All food and gear must be packed in (no vehicles are allowed). All water must be manufactured using portable filter (like PUR Hiker, etc.).

They have several hunts through October and November, but I am looking at the 1st week of rifle, which will be the last week of October. The rut may be starting on then, and you have advantage of the first week (there are 2 weeks of rifle). The first 2 weeks will be archery and 3rd week muzzleloader, but not much rut activity is likely until the end of Oct.

A single bicycle wheeled buck tote is allowed, but in my opinion, is not worth the extra trouble, as with only one wheel, would be difficult to handle on rough terrain. If a deer is harvested. I have quartered and de-boned many deer. Only meat, head and hide will be packed out. This can be done with your expedition pack and garbage bags.

If you are SERIOUSLY interested in this hunt, please PM me or send me an email.

[Hawkeye6]

I've done this hunt myself.  Once in 2000 (I think it was) with a partner and last year (2003) solo.  

I enjoyed it both times.  Never saw a deer on the last hunt and my partner and I took one on the first one.  The deer are rather small from what I've seen.  And they are not nearly so numerous as they were, say, 10 or 15 years ago.

Drop me a note if you go and let me knwo how you do.  Maybe next year.

I'll offer free advice if you ask for it and I garuntee it will be worth every penny or double yoru money back!

Hawkeye

[HuntenNut]

Hawkeye,

Doesn't look like I'll be going this year. Unable to locate a partner and my wife won't let me go solo. Its getting a bit close to throw it back on the schedule for this year, but if your up for next year, lets talk.

I've heard the herd is thinned out quite a bit. I'm not so much interested in going for the deer as for the experience. I actully have quite a few deer close to home, so I usually get one during the season anyway.

[Hawkeye6]

I could be up for it.  Don't really know right now.  It will depend on how things are going next year in the early summer.

Have you done any backpacking before?  I've been backpacking a number of years and would rconsider myself reasonably well qualifed to do a hunt like this.  And I've backpacked NMI 5 tiems including the hunts.  Studied the topos quite a bit and am conversant with the history of the islands as well.

What kind oof physical shape are you in?  You will need to be in reasonably good shape for  this exercise.  I don't mean Ironman competitor, ripped bodybulider type stuff, although if you are it would not hurt.  You do need to be able to strap it on and hike 6-8 miles a day for several days running to do this with a degree of confidence.  If you can go out and walk around your neighborhod 3-4 miles in 60 to 90 minutes with, say, a 25 pound pack on your back.  And then do ti again the next day and the day after without problems, you'll be ok for this.

How are your woodsmanship skills?

Well, enough for now.

[HuntenNut]

Hawkeye,

I have been doing an annual pack in hunt along the black river for the last 3 years for opening day. The spot I go into is about 3 miles in and I stay out there for 4-5 days. All supplies I carry in. The terrain is fairly rugged for Michigan with all the ridges and washes coming into the black river. I have carried 3 deer out of there myself with no help. The last one I skinned and deboned onsite packing out only the meat, head and hide. I also go to the same spot for several weekend bowhunts which are 2 day/2 nights. I pack in the dark on Friday night and hunt the next 2 days.

I have been backpacking for 15yrs on and off. Did lots when I was in the service, then slowed back a bit for a few years. Gotten back into it the last few years, but mostly for the hunts above. Not much time for it with the family, which is more into the "car" camping (have 5yo daughter and city slicker wife)

I am in reasonably good shape, although I have bad left knee from old sports injury/surgery. I'm no ironman, but I can carry a pack no problem.

I have my own gear and am proficient with it including Gregory pack, North Face down bag, coleman apex stove (just got a brasslite alcohol stove which is looking to take over though), PUR water filter, etc.

I can use a map and compass without a gps to navigate.

I have studied the topo for NMI, and looks to be very challenging for a hunt, but looks to be a good time as well. It looks like the better areas to look for deer would be in the ridges and draws west and northwest of lake Manitou, with a camp somewhere near the lake to facilitate mainaining water supply (I always find it easier to camp near water supply rather than carrying large quantities of it around).

What would you say is the best tactic:  Establish base camp and hunt the same area, or hunt and move camp daily? Maybe a combination of the 2?

[Hawkeye6]

What would you say is the best tactic: Establish base camp and hunt the same area, or hunt and move camp daily? Maybe a combination of the 2?

You're probably going to need to plan for a combination of the two.  

You'll arrive on, say, Sunday around 1030.  That means you'll spend the first day getting to your area, finding a spot and setting up your camp.  You'll have 5 full days to hunt and move around.  Day 6 (Saturday in my example here) you'd have the morning to hunt and then you'll need to break camp and head back in near the village.  If you set it right, you might be able to do some hunting that evening, too.  Then you'll need to get your self moving to get to the "Village" and the dock so you are ready once the ferry arrives.

What you could figure on is setting up a base camp and then carry enough light camping gear with you in a day pack that if you range around enough during the day, you could stay over a night.  My first hunting trip there was warm enough that that would have been almost comfortable.  The second one, well, that would NOT have been a fun option.

Honestly, if you plan on moving your camp every couple of days, that effort is going to get pretty time consuming.  But that may be ok with you if you are in it mostly for the experience.  You might look to doing the relocation once mid-week and again on Saturday.  

I'd strongly recommend spending the last night on the island relatively near the village area.  Near winter weather could make packing and hiking that last morning an unpredictably difficult challenge.

There is a "Village Campground" that some of the hunters use.  I stayed at it one summer when my wife and daughters were along on their first backpacking trip.  My wife was recovering from some knee surgery about  three months earlier and was up to walking so we set up in the village and did dayhikes pretty much every day of our stay.  That puts water close at hand, pit toilets in the campground and the actual backpack was only about 1 -- 1/2 miles from the dock.

I've gone to using alcohol stoves as well.  I picked up a "Swedish Armey Mess Kit" consisting of a Triangia alcohol burner, a stand, a 1 L. and a .5L pot.  All nests together and cost less that ~$10.  Fuel (denatured alcohol) is readily available.  Works like a charm and no complications like my Colman Apex has.

Later.

[HuntenNut]

I think maybe setting up and moving once mid week might be a good plan.

I am in it for the experience, but I do want to spend most of the time hunting.

I like to move slowly through the woods while hunting, rather than just staying put all the time. I usually sit through opening morning and then walk around the rest of the week, and on following weekend hunts. I have shot deer using both sitting and walking methods, but the walking is certainly more exciting.

I figure that NW corner could be a good place to slip about for a few days while maintaing a camp along the shore of the inland lake.

Maybe I would move the camp midweek just to check out some different areas. Would depend I guess on how good the NW corner turned out to be.

I can see what the terrain is like from the map, but what is the vegetation like?

Is the weather roughly the same as northern lower MI?

I have a Ruger 44 carbine that is small and light that I was considering for this hunt, but it is limited to about 100yds. Are longer shots reasonably possible? If so, I might consider going to a Ruger Compact 7mm-08.

[Hawkeye6]

The NW part of the island is as good as any to aim for.  I've been up in that area in the Summer, but not in the times I've been there for the hunt.

Vegetation on the Island is thick.  Very thick.  You probably won't see too far in the woods.  Your Ruger .44 carbine should work fine.  Is it the new one (looks kind of like the Mini-14) or the old one (looks kind of like the 10/22)?  There are some big open fields or meadows, but I don't think you'd really have a good shot beyond 150 or 200.  When I was up there last fall, the only deer I saw come off the Island was shot with a muzzleloader.  A few years back on my first trip, my buddy got one with a shotgun at ~20 yards.

I don't know about the weather as I'm from Indiana, not Michigan.  But I would think ti would be pretty similar to the NW part of the LP.  Travese City is the closest large town, but you probably already know that!

Lake Manitou (the lake you refer to) is probably not a bad place to target either.  If you set your camp on the west side of it you could probably hunt its shoreline.  I would think there would be deer watering there.

Honestly, I do not think the heard is anywhere nearly as large as the last published figure of 400 that I saw.  I'd guess (and that is all it is) that it might be 150 to 200.  

There are coyotes on the island.  I think the the NPS introduced them, probably as measure to "naturally" control the deer population.  Of course, the deer are not natural to the island either, being privately introduced in the 1920's for a private hunt club.  

On my earlier trips to the island, the 'yotes seemed rarer, but not last fall!  When I was there in 2000, I only heard one or two and the NPS prohibited hunting them.  And according to a couple of guys who had been there before that had been the case for years.  But last fall, they were allowing you to hunt them.  I think all that was required was a Michigan small game license.  (Does that make sense?  Or was it a fur-bearers license?  Or both?)  And Boy could you hear them last fall!  They were all over the place on the southern end of the island.  I think I heard at least three different packs calling down there.  

The NPS also let you shoot squirrel with a SG license.

[HuntenNut]

The 44 I have is the old Deerstalker, not the new Deerfield. Its a sweet rig for the thick stuff, but no good past maybe 125yds. Very compact and light which would be added bonus for this hunt (the old Deerstalker is a bit lighter than the new Deerfield). Its outfitted with a Williams peep and firesight up front. Also have Simmons pro diamond 1-4x20 on a Williams side mount (drilled and tapped to the side of the receiver so you can still use the peep).

Since the NPS is managing the island and not the MI DNR, I'm not sure who's deciding on the hunting regs. I did call the NPS office and the ranger I spoke with says they estimate the current herd to be around 200 deer. You only need a small game license to hunt yotes in MI. You need a fur tag to hunt coons and other fur bearers, but not yotes. I do always get a fur tag anyway just in case I see a coon. My beagles treed 3 coons this past weekend while rabbit hunting and we killed all 3. One of them was a big rascal which I'm getting mounted. My taxidermist says its one of the bigger ones he's seen. Anyway, back to yotes, I guess if I was lucky enough to tag deer and they are alllowing yote hunting, I might spend the rest of the week staking out the gut pile. Carrying out one deer would be enough work, and since the regular season in MI doesn't overlap, I'll have plenty more chances to get another deer (I got 3 the year before last, including a nice 8pt).

[Hawkeye6]

As I understand it, the NPS merely administrates the hunt.  The MDNR rules and regs are in effect.  

I alwyas thought the Deerstalker was a neat little package.  In fact, if I could come up with a really good reason for one, I might track one down.  Problem is that, sisnce I live in IN, I don't have a lot of hunting justification for another centerfire rifle.  I've got a nice .308 that meets my centerfire needs so...

I may try using my Ruger SRH .44 this year.  My prior IN deer hunts have been witha 12 bore and I'm certainly more comfortable with a longgun.

Have you given consideration to what kind of one-wheel buck tote you might use on NMI?

[HuntenNut]

I got the deerstalker specifically for a pack gun due to its size and weight. I too live in a "shotgun zone" and do most of my gun hunting with a single shot 12ga or muzzleloader.

As to the buck tote, for the last few years, I've been skinning and de-boning my deer in the field on my pack in hunts. Put the meat in black garbage bags and pack it out along with hide and head in my regualar pack. I then go back to retrieve my gear. When I called the NPS, I asked if this was ok to do on NMI and they said it was. I actaully think its easier than a buck tote, especially since they will only let you have one with 1 wheel. They work fine on a trail, but no good at all in the woods or up and down hills.

[Hawkeye6]

I picked up a Swiss Army Surplus "Mountain Stretcher" a couple of years back though The Sportsmans Guide.  It uses one bicycle wheel in the center and has handles on both ends.  The body is shaped kind of like a punt. and is fairly light sheet metal for the most part.  It's still a fairly hefty weight, but I don;t have to worry about it collapsing like a couple of home-made ones I saw up there did!

It is a little awkward to handle with one person, but I got by ok with it.  It's meant for rough use, obviously.  I think with two people it would work fine after a little practice.  And it will hold quite a bit of gear so you don;t have to carry everything on your back.  I think it woudl work ok with a larger tent and one of those collapsible wood stoves.

I've not seen too many one-wheel totes marketed commercially.  I did see one listed in Cabela's catalog and website last season, but its not there thsi year.  THe one they had was a lot smaller than this one and a bit cheaper.  I was considering buying one of those, but never really saw the need.  

Your idea of skinning and deboning will work fine up there.  In fact, the first year I went that was what the other team that got a deer did.   Actually, it ws kind of a funny story on that.  The NPS asks you to bring the head into the village (at least) so they can age the deer.  So these guys did.  But they could not leave the head in the trash or anything.  Had to take it off the Island with them.  It hit the first trash bin on the mainland dock.

Actually, once youve deboned the carcass on the NMI deer, There won;t bee all that much to pack out!  YOu might just be able to lash our game-bags on the pack and do it on one big hump instead of two trips.  (Think large dog as to the size of the carcass.)  The one's I've seen ahve been about 75 pounds field dressed.  Now if you don't want the hide and the deer does not have a worthwhile rack, you aren;t really going to have that much left to pack out.  And if you do have a partner to split it with, it'll be that much easier.

One thing to consider about water is that it shoudl not be a big issue.  Take a filter with you and some purification tablets and you'll be fine.  I've filtered water out of Lake Michigan up htere quite a bit.  There is water at the Village and I generally load up ther ebefore I leave it.  Last fall I took two 5 Qt. bladder canteens, a couple of 1 Qt GI canteens and a couple of 1 L waterbottles with me and was fine for about half the week.   There was  spring that I knew about within about a mile of my camp so I just resupplied out of it as needed.  The last night I camped about a mile from the village so I brought water from there for dinner and breakfast.

I have had no problems drinking from that spring without treatment.  I've done it on several trips.  Its not recommended, but I'd say its pretty low risk.  

There are several other springs on the island.  I think a total of three are marked on the USGS topo map.  One on the NE corner of the island and one on the west central side near Tammarack Lake.  The one I mentioned is in the SE side near where the main trail turns west.  Ther earen;t any shown on the map on the NW side, but the guidebooks mention that there are springs in the area.  I guess you'd just have to look for them.  But Lke Manitou is probably ok witha  filter, too.

[HuntenNut]

If the deer are that small, I would defininely pack them out as meat only. I always take the hide as well for tanning. I about have enough hair on hides right now to make a nice queen bedspread.

I would take the head off the island to get my "sucsessful hunter" patch unless they give you one there. You get them from the DNR by taking them your deer head for inspection.

I think the cart sounds like more trouble than it would save myself. I have a very warm down bag, so the woodstove wouldn't be necessary. A bigger tent would be nice though. I have an old Eureka Timberlite 2 right now which is tiny for me (I'm 6-4"). I do have a Cabelas Alaskan Guide 4 man which is bulletproof and roomy but very heavy for backpacking. Might not be bad if it was split between 2 people though. I am in the market for a new backpacking tent but haven't narrowed down the search yet. One I am seriously considering is the Golite Hex which is a pyramid style tent that weighs under 5lbs and is nearly 5' tall at the center. http://www.golite.com

I am also considering the Hilleberg Nallo 2gt  which is an awesome tent but pretty pricy
http://www.hilleberg.com

Both of these would probably get cramped for 2 on a week long trip, but separate shelter would allow the option of jauntering off for a day here or there if necessary.

[Hawkeye6]

I would take the head off the island to get my "sucsessful hunter" patch unless they give you one there. You get them from the DNR by taking them your deer head for inspection.

Unless they've changed, the NPS gave you the Manitou patch.  Did not need to go anywhere else with the head.

In the two trips I've been on, I've only seen one guy head out with without a tote.  He was on a 2-week hunt and was headed up around Lake Manitou and/or the NW side.  IIRC, he left some food and so on for a resupply with the Rangers and was going to come back in to pick it up sometime during the 2-weeks.  I saw him head out on the first Sunday, but did not see him come back in.  He might have come in after we left on the second Sunday.

Hey, we've done pretty good just talking about this, the two of us.  Wonder if anyone else ahs any thoughts?

[HuntenNut]

I guess I'd have to see how the tote handled. I am comfortable carrying my pack with a weeks gear just about anywhere. Just seems like the tote would be unstable and hard to handle off the trail when you encounter all those logs, holes, ditches, etc. With a pack, you just scramble over, under or around the obstacle.

I'm not sure what other audience we are getting. I put the original post up in June and also posted it under the Deer Hunting forum. You are the only one that has posted a reply. I don't think this is in the realm of the typical eastern deer hunter. Most I know don't want to walk more than a 1/2 mile to a stand and then need a crew or an ATV or both to retrieve their kill. Those that would be more inclined to undertake this type of hunt are probably hunting elk or something out west in the mountains.

I myself originally got into this type of hunting to escape the crouds of opening day and also to get back into backpacking (I had a lot of gear that went unused for several years after getting married and kids). I have found that since I got into it, I look forward to the trip even more than the kill. I always have a good time just being out in the woods for days even if I am unsuccessful at the hunt. When I am successful, it is incredible feeling of satisfaction to have packed in, taken an animal and packed it out all by myself. Since I have been de-boning the meat in the field, I even do my own deer processing which is very satisfying.

[Catahoula]

Just found this thread.  My wife and I are considering this hunt next year.   We're both experienced in wilderness trips and backpacking.  We're looking at it as a backpacking trip, with the hunt as a bonus.   Do you know how difficult it is to get a permit?  Do most applicants get drawn?  Is the hunt open to non residents as well.  Thanks & good luck on your hunt, if you make it up there.

[HuntenNut]

cat,

from what i understand, most anyone that enters gets drawn. you could probably get exact statistics by calling nps at sleeping bear dunes.

[olbiffer]

hey hunten nut, I know your post is almost a year old, but I just ran across it, about north manitou. we have been doin the deer hunt since 93 and look forward to it each year. the deer are few and far between but the camping, hiking,fox squirrels and coyotes are worth the trip.if ya get the chance you should really try it, it's an experience.

[groovyintheusa]

cat,

If you and your wife are looking for a good hiking trip, with a hunt as a bonus, this would be right up your alley!!! I've went the last 3 years for mostley the same reason. There are deer there, but not many. On the other hand, if you get into squirrel hunting, the fox squirrels are good hunting, and the 'yotes are there for the taking too. (w/ a small game lic.) The hiking is wonderful! There are nice trails for "trail hiking", and if you prefer the "off beat path" the island is a treasure trove!!!