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Michigan SH public land challenge.

MattMan81

MattMan81

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2020
Messages
5,373
Location
The Mitten
So it was mentioned at the Meet up. Gonna generate some conversation. Not sure if I could swing it. Depends on where it's at. But it would be a blast to watch you guys get it done.

What do you got for ideas?
Location? I assume some place northern Michigan with lots of public.
Campground? Or you guys gonna ruff it?
Time of year? I would think middle October? Weather can be decent still. Hunt your good scouted spots for the opener.
How many days you willing to hunt for? Just a weekend? Long weekend?

Starting the conversation.
 
deertrout said:
I'm down. I'd recommend the Pigeon River Country State Forest. I've hosted deer and trout camps there for years, could recommend a few locations for camp.
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I use to trout fish every opener up at pigeon river when I was a kid. Some great memories from
That place
 
Boomah21 said:
I use to trout fish every opener up at pigeon river when I was a kid. Some great memories from
That place
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Yeah, I kinda grew up in there. Its not what it used to be, even now vs 10 years ago, as far as having that "big wild" feeling when you're tromping through the woods. I stopped hunting there around 5 years ago, but still spend a fair bit of time there hiking, fishing, etc. Good place for a gathering like this for a variety of reasons:

1.) Its big (~105,000 acres as of about 5 years ago, its been added to since).
2.) Its centrally located, you can be in the heart of the Pigeon from Detroit or Marquette in about 3.5 hours.
3.) Lots of habitat and terrain types, doesn't matter if you're a marsh, cedar swamp, ag, hillcountry or river bottom hunter, the Pigeon has something for you.
4.) Lots of deer, though it feels like there are a lot less than there used to be, there are still a lot of deer. You always have a chance of at least seeing something there.
5.) Its challenging. The northern lower doesn't get the pressure of southern MI, but there is enough pressure there that the deer act like real deer, because of #6 below
6.) Its not a secret. Which makes it a great place to talk about on a public hunting forum. We aren't going to ruin the place.
7.) Even more public land is readily available outside of the Pigeon than whats inside the forest boundaries, and is a short drive away from a Pigeon based camp location.
8.) Several small to medium cities nearby for restaurants, supplies, gas, etc.
9.) The elk. Always cool to hear leaves crunching their way toward you and out pops an elk instead of a whitetail.
10.) I don't hunt there, but love to make friends/acquaintances think I do. Or maybe I do and try to make em think I don't:laughing:
 
Out of high school. I hunted opening gun with a friend and his uncle on a piece of private that backed up to the pigeon. They were about to include me in the lease, and they ended up loosing it. Guy did something different. It was a nice area. We didn't see a lot of deer on the property. But I did miss a small buck the one year. Would be neat to get back up that way. Do you usually stay in a campground, or boondock?
 
MattMan81 said:
Out of high school. I hunted opening gun with a friend and his uncle on a piece of private that backed up to the pigeon. They were about to include me in the lease, and they ended up loosing it. Guy did something different. It was a nice area. We didn't see a lot of deer on the property. But I did miss a small buck the one year. Would be neat to get back up that way. Do you usually stay in a campground, or boondock?
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I've done both, mostly boondock. Depends who is camping with me and their tolerance for pooping in the woods. Some of the state forest campground see seasonably heavy use, others are almost always empty when I drive through. The tricky part about using the state forest campgrounds for something like this is the sites are first come, first serve, so you never know if there will be enough spots available until you get there.

Both are still good options, but I'd recommend going the boondocking route if the group size is larger, or setting up a backup spot if the group decided to go the campground route, got there, and found it didn't have enough spots available.
 
Swampwalker said:
Sounds like we’ll have to figure out some sort of handicap system seeing as you know it so well!
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Im an open book on the PRC, happy to share everything I know about it. A good friend was one of the founding members of the advisory council that was set up when the forest unit was created in the early 70's to kind of look after the area and make management recommendations to the DNR. I actually sat on it for a few years, too. He shared everything he knew about the PRC with me, partly to help me fall in love with the area and partly so I'd do the same to help other people fall in love with it. He felt that special places needed a lot of people looking after them, and that was one of his ways of making sure the PRC would be taken care of after he was gone. He passed away in November 2021, and I can think of no better way to honor his memory than to help you guys out if that's where we end up hunting or not.

Here's an article I wrote about him shortly after for anyone interested.

https://deertrout.blogspot.com/2022/05/do-all-good-you-can-remembering-dave.html?m=1
 
deertrout said:
Im an open book on the PRC, happy to share everything I know about it. A good friend was one of the founding members of the advisory council that was set up when the forest unit was created in the early 70's to kind of look after the area and make management recommendations to the DNR. I actually sat on it for a few years, too. He shared everything he knew about the PRC with me, partly to help me fall in love with the area and partly so I'd do the same to help other people fall in love with it. He felt that special places needed a lot of people looking after them, and that was one of his ways of making sure the PRC would be taken care of after he was gone. He passed away in November 2021, and I can think of no better way to honor his memory than to help you guys out if that's where we end up hunting or not.

Here's an article I wrote about him shortly after for anyone interested.

https://deertrout.blogspot.com/2022/05/do-all-good-you-can-remembering-dave.html?m=1
Click to expand...
I'm joking with you. Hoping you took it in the vein I intended. :)
 
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