More Miles of Endless Shed Hunting

*This is a post from March 2012 that never posted.*

Hiked another 8 miles today and no sheds. Saw some sweet stuff as usual and got some good exercise but one of these treks has to pay off sometime. I hit up a smaller park I had walked once a year ago and had written off as not great for deer sign. Today I found more hunter sign than deer but did come across a couple decent spots I may try in the late season. There were probably a dozen ancient wooden broken down tree stands in tall oak tress. Its always cool to see sign of hunters from long ago beating down the same paths. I saw about 30 wood ducks a couple owls and countless other waterfowl.

No idea what this is. There were two and some shreds of old leather around so I just figured it was a Giant's roller skate.

Kicking off 2012

I've had nothing but hunting on my mind with all the unusually warm weather. I talked myself into heading North to do some small game hunting and post-season scouting. I also hit the local hunting ground to get a better look at some areas I had yet to venture into. Here's how those trips went.

First trip: Lincoln, MI
Temp. 22 degrees
We had little to no snow here and I had heard many people complaining of the lack of snow up north that kept them from being able to snow mobile. I was thinking to myself that I might not get an opportunity to get into the Northern woods this time of year again for a while. Typically there are feet of snow right now. I talked myself into heading up with my 20 gauge to possibly harvest some rabbits and set up a trail cam.
As I hit Standish the snow started showing up. By the time I got to the two-track into my little piece of heaven there was about 6 inches of snow. The trail back wasn't too bad because it was downhill. The only other tracks were from snow mobiles that had packed down some of the trail which pretty much was the only way I was going to get my Malibu Maxx 2 miles back in half a foot of snow. I pushed a lot of snow but made it to my destination. A few snow mobilers came riding up from behind me as I was putting my boots on and I don't think they could have looked more puzzled as to how a car got back in the woods that far. But, my malibu is a tank.

The woods were amazing. Every little branch no matter how small had 4-5 inches of snow piled on it making both sides of the trails I walked look like a hallway with zebra print wallpaper.
I saw a few rabbit tracks, lots of deer tracks and beds and a lot of coyote tracks. I saw a couple squirrels and 2 deer but never got a chance at any rabbits.

I set up my trail camera in front of a trophy rock I poured acorn rage on. I was able to hide the camera pretty well on a pine tree about 10 yards from the bait. I hope to pick the camera back up sometime in February if the weather permits and it isn't stolen.

I hiked about 4 miles that day. I was worried about my Danner boots getting wet and my feet getting cold but they worked flawlessly. I can't believe I have used these boots in 90+ degree heat and now in freezing temps and have not had a single problem with them.
I had to rock my way out of getting stuck a few times on the drive out. Including burning through half a tank of gas in one 100 yard stretch but I made it to the road luckily.

Second Trip: Holly, MI
Temp: 32 degrees

Today I hit one of my favorite places in Oakland County. I was just out to get some exercise and maybe find an antler shed. I walked many of the areas I have been waiting for hunting season to get over to check out. I jumped 3 big deer in one spot and found 5 or 6 new tree stands I hadn't seen before. It was supposed to be nasty and windy but it was relatively nice. I found an old car flipped over in the middle of the woods which was pretty cool. It said Roadmaster accross the front I am going to google it later to see what kind of car it was. I didn't find any sheds and didn't really find any new spots to hunt but I put 3 more miles on the gps and had a good time.

Rose Oaks Oakland County Park

Well I have only been out twice in the past two weeks. Work is getting crazy and finding time is getting harder with this new class I'm taking. I hit Rose Oaks County Park with my fiancee last week. We mostly walked around so I could show her the area and how cool it is with all the lakes and trails. We tallied up about 3 miles of walking and finally settled in near a lake but didn't see anything. On the way out we bumped into deer about 6 different times. It was mostly a scouting trip since I have only been in that park one other time in September. I am one of the lucky few who's significant other is willing to enjoy the outdoors with them. She doesn't want to hunt and will not accept me even drawing on anything less than a mature buck but I we have the best time in the woods.

Tonight I hit the same park again this time alone. I got to the empty parking lot at 2:30pm and headed in to investigate the parts of the park I hadn't yet. It was very windy so I took advantage of the extra noise and movement of the environment. I probably saw 18 tree stands and one bait pile. One of the stands had 2x4 boards screwed into the tree about thirty yards away from another guy's stand. Pisses me off when people don't follow the law. Must have pissed off the other guy too because he left a message on one of the steps for the jerk.

I found a gut pile so somebody got lucky this morning.
I put on about 4 miles of scouting. I found two really good spots with awesome rubs on large trees and a few scrapes. I have the spots marked on my GPS so I can bring in a tree stand with me next time. On the way out there were 4 other vehicles in the parking lot. I talked to a guy who said he missed a giant 8 pointer.

My Dad and Brother have been seeing pretty good amounts of deer back in Croswell. My Dad even shot under the biggest buck he's ever shot at. Hopefully I can get there soon and show them how to put them down.

Last minute scouting trip.

I found some places locally, about 8 of them that are county parks with small pieces open to archery hunting. Best part is they only allow bucks with 3 points or more on one side and spreads outside their ears to be taken. Even better, all of them are within an hour from my apartment, the closest one being 12 minutes. So I decided to check out the two closest ones to see what kind of traffic they get and what kind of deer sign they held. I had to buy a parking permit for $32.50 just to get into the parks which sucked. I thought that was what I paid extra for with my license plate but I guess not. The first place was pretty decent. No buck sign that I could find. Lots of water.

All these places have multiple lakes and creeks running everywhere. I did not see any obvious hunter sign which was good. But, I did not find any kind of honey hole. The second place I went is much smaller than the first and I figured it would not be that great. Within the first mile I found a monster rub!

I also found tree stands. One blind stand which was confusing since it didn't look as though a bow or crossbow could be shot from it. I found many ancient stands and one newer one. The second place also had apple trees and oaks kicking out acorns everywhere. The newer stand I found had some corn thrown out for bait. I also saw a deer cane sack hung from a tree.

I did not see any deer which was strange since I covered a lot of ground and it was raining and windy. I did see two turkeys and a massasauga rattle snake. I looked all over North Dakota for a rattler and low and behold I spotted one in a rock pile pretty much in my own back yard. I still want to try to hit a few of the other areas before the opener but I am running out of time. Some awesome places though for sure.