Traverse City Record-Eagle

Archive: Friday

November 20, 2009

Firearm season off like a shot in region

By MIKE ECKERT and JAMES COOK

Outdoors Scrapbook

Submit your buck photo »

View the photo gallery »

TRAVERSE CITY -- Firearm deer season is well underway and hunters are still pulling bucks and does out of northern Michigan forests.

Department of Natural Resources wildlife technician Steve Griffith said that 34 deer had come though the Traverse City check station on Wednesday by mid-afternoon.

"As far as action at the check station, we've been busy," Griffith said. "It's hard to compare to last year because we had three other check stations open. We've had several hunters say 'Kalkaska is closed, so we're here instead.'"

While the TC check station has been busy, it may not be a good indicator of the overall success of this year's hunt.

"The talk from most guys and ladies coming in is they're not seeing as many hunters or hearing as many shots," Griffith said.

Several factors could play into that, including the warmer temps.

"Deer with their winter coats, when it's too warm they tend not to move a lot," Griffith said. "It's been getting cold enough at night. That has somewhat been a factor, but not like years past."

Also, the lack of snow makes it more of a challenge for those out on the hunt.

"It makes them harder to spot," Griffith said. "Having snow as a backdrop, hunters like that. (Not having snow) definitely makes it more difficult as far as tracks or seeing them."

Sunday was opening day across the state, which wasn't necessarily the ideal day to begin the season.

"With opening day on Sunday, we expected it to not be that busy," Griffith said. "We were open from noon to 4 p.m. and we had 15. That's a pleasant surprise for this weekend."

Mike Gabourie, owner of Gabe's Country Market in Maple City, said business for processing deer has been fairly brisk, considering where the opener fell in the week.

"Being that the opener was Sunday, I don't know how many people can take Monday and Tuesday off," Gabourie said. "Opening day was kind of slow. Everybody's busy bragging about their bucks. The second day we were flooded."

Gabourie said they are ahead of last year's pace for taking in deer and said about 175 have been brought in through Thursday.

Griffith expected more activity this coming weekend.

So far, the leader in the clubhouse -- so to speak -- at the Traverse City check station is an 11-point buck.

"We've had some real nice ones," Griffith said. "We've seen some nice older bucks out of Grand Traverse Academy. Most are the average, but we've definitely seen some nice ones."

One place that is seeing a lot of bigger bucks is Leelanau County. With the county's enrollment in the Quality Deer Management since 2003, hunters there can only shoot a deer if it has at least three points on one antler.

"I know there's a lot of big bucks being shot in Leelanau, both on public and federal land," said hunter Aaron Patrzik, who said he saw 21 deer on opening day hunting in Benzie County.

"We've been hearing good stories," said Patrzik, who also works in the hunting department at Gander Mountain. "A lot of the better stories we hear are about the QDM in Leelanau County. People want to get Grand Traverse and Benzie counties to go along with that same program. That's been the big buzz in our area, is getting that QDM started."

"That QDM has really, really helped," Gabourie said. "We've seen a big difference in the last couple years."

But that could be offset by a couple of other factors.

A hard winter has thinned the herd a bit, and an increasing coyote population also hasn't helped.

"Last year really hurt the deer with the long winter like it was," Gabourie said. "Not being able to bait anymore was a factor. And there's so many coyotes. I've personally seen coyotes running deer through orchards."

Text Only