Deer wmu 47

Restoule area. Worst hunt we've experienced in the 30 years I've been hunting there. Same for the other camps all around us; all had zero to little success. Weather was terrible both weeks, but there is little evidence that the herd is recovering from the 2013 & 2014 winters. The coyotes are plentiful, but you can't shoot them without the special wolf seal. MNRF had cut the doe tags in WMU 47 from 6000 to 4000, but it doesn't matter, those numbers are still way too high; we still get more doe tags than our camp could ever possibly use (we drew 15 doe tags this year!). Doe tag issuance in WMU 47 has always been marked by extremes; its either feast or famine and has no relationship to the deer numbers hunters are seeing in the woods.

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Originally Posted by Jim Davis

Hunted second week in Port Loring area, the snow did reveal some tracks but did not see deer for 4 days dogging and blocking with 13 guys, 5th day we changed things up as most tracks headed east, set up a block line and took 4 deer that day. We are seeing an increase in coyote/wolf activity over the last few years and definately need to thin them out. Also seeing adult moose but no calves.

Bubba14, did you see tracks around your gut piles or just gone?

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We saw the coyote tracks, up and down our main trails right to the gut piles. On the Friday of the first week one of the guys went for a walk and said he saw a massive wolf track along with scat full of hair on one of our trails.

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Originally Posted by Bubba14

We saw the coyote tracks, up and down our main trails right to the gut piles. On the Friday of the first week one of the guys went for a walk and said he saw a massive wolf track along with scat full of hair on one of our trails.

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Ok thanks, just curious as most of our gut piles were taken away by ravens

Did the 2nd week for the first time in the Maple Island area. Went in Sunday to lots of snow. Argo would hit a tree and whoosh, down the snow would come off the branches. I looked like a snowman driving a stage coach as I was sitting up high on sheets of plywood, LOL.

The guys that went in Friday and hunted Saturday, didn't like getting covered in snow walking through the brush. They saw tracks, but no deer. Sunday they cut downed trees on the trail.

We had 3 doe tags for 7 guys.

Monday 1 doe was seen, but not taken. 1 fellow saw at least a 55 to 60 inch bull. There were many moose tracks. The deer were travelling at night for the most part.

Nothing was seen Tuesday, but a lot of tracks. 2 fellows saw where bucks were breeding does. There was blood present at those sites.

Wednesday we went 3 abreast up some ridges and I put a doe over to a guy within feet of him and he let it pass. A 100 yards or so later I put up a fawn and let it go. It had been laying down in the sun. After lunch we did a push and I put up another doe over to another driver within feet of him where it stopped and he let that one go. There was a 2nd one with it from the tracks when I got up to where I saw it. It was playing along fine, then decided to turn and go back through us, but no one saw it.

Thursday the 4 non doe tag holders went home. Us other 3 cut wood, fixed a winch cable on a quad, replaced a solenoid on another quad and I changed a punctured Argo tire, and took it easy.

Friday woke up to 4" of new snow. I got onto a fresh track, my partner also found a buck track. Got onto it right from his freshened scrape. I follow my track and saw where it went up onto a rock and looked back and saw me. On the run he went from there. My partner radioed me and said he was now on my track, so I let him catch up and we had lunch. That buck took us south and south a long ways, always running until he made an abrupt right turn, dropped off a 4 foot drop down to ice and crossed a 30 foot wide, long beaver pond without breaking the ice. It was 2 o'clock and we didn't feel like backtracking a long ways to take up the track again.

Saturday we only saw 1 fresh track, but absolutely tons of night time tracks and several places where they eating. Just about every where you went there were tracks, and a lot of single, big tracks.

No wolves were seen or heard, no bear either, but saw where they had broken oak limbs.

Saw 4 deer. Had fun, even with no deer down.

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Originally Posted by cramadog2

Did the 2nd week for the first time in the Maple Island area. Went in Sunday to lots of snow. Argo would hit a tree and whoosh, down the snow would come off the branches. I looked like a snowman driving a stage coach as I was sitting up high on sheets of plywood, LOL.

The guys that went in Friday and hunted Saturday, didn't like getting covered in snow walking through the brush. They saw tracks, but no deer. Sunday they cut downed trees on the trail.

We had 3 doe tags for 7 guys.

Monday 1 doe was seen, but not taken. 1 fellow saw at least a 55 to 60 inch bull. There were many moose tracks. The deer were travelling at night for the most part.

Nothing was seen Tuesday, but a lot of tracks. 2 fellows saw where bucks were breeding does. There was blood present at those sites.

Wednesday we went 3 abreast up some ridges and I put a doe over to a guy within feet of him and he let it pass. A 100 yards or so later I put up a fawn and let it go. It had been laying down in the sun. After lunch we did a push and I put up another doe over to another driver within feet of him where it stopped and he let that one go. There was a 2nd one with it from the tracks when I got up to where I saw it. It was playing along fine, then decided to turn and go back through us, but no one saw it.

Thursday the 4 non doe tag holders went home. Us other 3 cut wood, fixed a winch cable on a quad, replaced a solenoid on another quad and I changed a punctured Argo tire, and took it easy.

Friday woke up to 4" of new snow. I got onto a fresh track, my partner also found a buck track. Got onto it right from his freshened scrape. I follow my track and saw where it went up onto a rock and looked back and saw me. On the run he went from there. My partner radioed me and said he was now on my track, so I let him catch up and we had lunch. That buck took us south and south a long ways, always running until he made an abrupt right turn, dropped off a 4 foot drop down to ice and crossed a 30 foot wide, long beaver pond without breaking the ice. It was 2 o'clock and we didn't feel like backtracking a long ways to take up the track again.

Saturday we only saw 1 fresh track, but absolutely tons of night time tracks and several places where they eating. Just about every where you went there were tracks, and a lot of single, big tracks.

No wolves were seen or heard, no bear either, but saw where they had broken oak limbs.

Saw 4 deer. Had fun, even with no deer down.

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We are just around the corner from you. Few miles past the Maple Island store south side of the Mag river We would probably hear you shoot....lol. We saw absolutely nothing. Plenty of moose sign but never heard wolves or coyotes. That tells me there aren’t many deer left. They stopped feeding in the deer yards same time as the harsh winters. I’m afraid it will never bounce back.

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Originally Posted by terrym

We saw absolutely nothing. Plenty of moose sign but never heard wolves or coyotes. That tells me there aren’t many deer left. They stopped feeding in the deer yards same time as the harsh winters. I’m afraid it will never bounce back.

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This pretty much sums it up...
https://www.northbaynipissing.com/ne...s-way-of-dodo/

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Originally Posted by ninepointer

This pretty much sums it up...
https://www.northbaynipissing.com/ne...s-way-of-dodo/

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I didn't realize the Loring Deer yard was essentially an artificial creation. If that's the case, I think it's better that the MNRF has decided to stop feeding. What's the point of artificially boosting the population in the area? It's not sustainable, and the current situation seems to support that.

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Originally Posted by rf2

I didn't realize the Loring Deer yard was essentially an artificial creation. If that's the case, I think it's better that the MNRF has decided to stop feeding. What's the point of artificially boosting the population in the area? It's not sustainable, and the current situation seems to support that.

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Deer have been migrating to the Loring deer yard as their winter range since the forest formed after the last ice age. Beginning in the middle of the 20th century the deer benefited from management activities that included supplemental feeding, cutting of browse and trail creation.

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Originally Posted by ninepointer

This pretty much sums it up...
https://www.northbaynipissing.com/ne...s-way-of-dodo/

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That article is from April 2016 , old.
I just spoke with a friend that has 800 acres in the area up there, he said that the feeding program was dropped at least 22 years ago by the then M.N.R. and that the hunt camps in the area carried on with it.
He has been involved as he said he has taken from his farm In the K.W. area, 15 round bales of good hay for the least 18 years, the last 3 years the number of hay bales has dropped considerably as the number of deer has been dwindling drastically.

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Originally Posted by jaycee

That article is from April 2016 , old.
I just spoke with a friend that has 800 acres in the area up there, he said that the feeding program was dropped at least 22 years ago by the then M.N.R. and that the hunt camps in the area carried on with it.
He has been involved as he said he has taken from his farm In the K.W. area, 15 round bales of good hay for the least 18 years, the last 3 years the number of hay bales has dropped considerably as the number of deer has been dwindling drastically.

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The article is just as relevant as it was 2 years ago. Nothing has changed since 2016 or since the harsh winters of 2013 & 2014. The deer herd is not showing a recovery.