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OPPOSITE OF IOWA - MICHIGAN - baiting legalized!

Sligh1

Sligh1

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Anytime anyone wants to go “how do we ruin our hunting??!?!?!?” Just do what MI does. It’s a dead horse I’ll never stop beating. It’s my hunting version of PTSD as I grew up there & had years of my life seeing a ruined broken system that caused most the other kids to quit. It’s still traumatic thinking back at how bad it was ;). & technically speaking- nov 15 was in a way a WAR with bullets whizzing by & full battle going on!! :)
They just legalized baiting… you pay $20 for a license now & u can bait!!!!! They did away with it due to CWD but now u can bait during deer season only!!! You can’t supplemental feed outside season.
So- supplemental feed, mineral, etc is ONLY for the health of the animal (whether one agrees or not). Has zero to do with bringing in deer in range to shoot it. Iowa for example is polar opposite. Can supp feed but can’t throw corn piles out during season. Which, if I was in charge…. Keep it exactly like this. MI- does the OPPOSITE!! Like always!!!!!! So- we can’t spend time, $ & resources helping deer OUTSIDE of season with mineral, protein, etc BUT now they can throw corn, carrot & sugar beet piles all over during season. & oh- when season is done & it really gets cold, tons of snow…. Ya, pull the bait piles. The deer destroy the natural browse & piles of them starve.

lll be fair though as everything has +/-‘s…

Benefits of corn piles:
-ME SHOOT DEER EASY & MAKE HUNTING EASIER
-$ off bait sales & $ off bait license sales

Downsides to bait piles during season:
-destroy native browse by concentrating deer
-lots of data & common sense understanding of predation around bait piles (coyotes, wolves, etc)
-aflotoxins in corn piles (mold) that kill wildlife.
-taking skill, challenge & woodsmanship out of hunting. I’d strongly argue that retention of new hunters is vastly lower in bait pile situations.
-when bait is pulled- winter goes full swing & piles of concentrated deer struggle or die.
-corn, etc hurt deer for digestion (can kill them) all the way to massive hoove deformities if they don’t have corn fields around & corn in their digestive system
-takes motivation away from doing plots & improving habitat. HUGE.
-in reality- zero benefits to deer & all downside to the deer- nutrition to habitat to them literally dying because of it.
-piles of corn - I’m probably not so worried about CWD personally …. I’d be more concerned on Tuberculosis or other bacterial or viral diseases.
-MI for sure destroyed any credibility they did have that CWD was a serious & urgent issue needing addressed.

Wish states or logical groups of people could weigh out +/-‘s of things. Wish common sense was used in other states for the herd management. Wish government wasn’t a broken record of bad decisions ran by bafoons. But- some states never learn & double down on stupidity. Why MI has seen a third the hunters quit. Why they are scrambling to solve the hunting CRISIS & throwing more bad ideas on top of others. MI is BROKEN. So glad we have common sense in iowa. Not without its flaws but if “done right - IOWA” had its polar opposite…. It’s Michigan. The dead horse I can’t stop beating. ADHD rant of the day over :)
 
I grew up there as well. Lower and upper peninsula's. Hunted there 1983 through1995. Many good friends and family there as well. I do something between make them jealous and piss them off with harvest pictures from around here every year :cool:. But if I suggest making the changes that would make them a better deer state than Iowa, most want nothing to do with it. Especially moving gun season away from opening on November 15th!
 
By the way, I saw over 100 deer in 1983...not one antler. I took about 8 deer those years. Every single one was 1.5 years old and likely the only antlers I saw the whole season. They have a little better age structure now but still not anywhere near what it could be.
 
One of the grandest proverbial middle fingers to the hunting decision makers in Michigan I often dream about is acquiring a few thousand acres in the lower tier of Michigan and proving the quality possibilities in that state.

Complete fantasy obviously, but it would be glorious. Big enough piece, immune from their crappy regulations and I have no doubt it would be as good as Iowa.
 
Yep!! All this above is SPOT ON!!! “But we have more people & smaller tracts!!!” Why are there mature bucks all over next to Des Moines or any populated area in iowa then? Tons of people & hunters & small tracts!!! Or- then why do u have 2 bucks per person?!?!?! 14 days on a calendar & 1 buck would blow that state up.
“But it doesn’t have the soil or potential iowa does!” BS….. southern 3-4 counties along whole state is mind boggling good… gazillion times more habitat & nutrition areas than all of iowa… …. Premium nutrition & some are low populations of people & more deer. Van buren, hillsdale, Jackson, allegan, berrien, Kalamazoo, etc etc…. As good as anything u see in Iowa. 2 year olds that could score 120’s & 3 year olds that might be 140-150” on occasion. All gunned down nov 15-17. More mature bucks are happening for 3 reasons: 1) 1/3rd rhe hunters quit 2) serious guys locked land up to insulate from the insanity & 3) younger guys, to their credit, started passing 1.5 year olds.
Any “it’s getting a bit better” seems like they come up with a new reg to keep it ruined. That states goal is to ruin deer hunting & the outdoors…. They don’t say it but their actions are perfection for that & I honestly believe they are DEAD LAST of 50 states for how wildlife & resource are managed.
 
Hardwood11 said:
Minnesota is not the best big buck state, but I do think it’s better than Michigan!
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Smokes it!!!!!! No contest!!!!!! Same with WI. Same with even pa!!!! IN, OH, KY, MO, IL, etc - it’s not even close!!!! I remember as a kid dudes would be like “I’m going to MN to hunt. They have like 120-130” deer, some are even bigger!!!!!” I wanted to go so bad cause that sounded GREAT!!!!
 
So the entire lower peninsula is wide open free baiting now officially? Or does the bill have to still get some signatures to be real. I see no recent media on it since march
 
Snail3496 said:
So the entire lower peninsula is wide open free baiting now officially? Or does the bill have to still get some signatures to be real. I see no recent media on it since march
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one article online said it passed but then there’s more of these that say the bill is introduced. I Spose I need to make a correction that it’s a proposed bill & it appears it hasn’t passed yet….

 
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