Deer in wmu 47

So my brother and I just finished up our first deer hunt in the northern woods and didn't see one deer. We we're only able to hunt for 2 1/2 days and not one deer did we see. Lots of sighn around, found a few scrapes and heavily used trails. We sat sun up too sun down for 2 days and hunted from sun up till noon today. We have had great success hunting on our fathers farms in 87D in the past but thought we would try something new this year. What a difference hunting small bush lots and farmers fields vs the big northern woods. I'm not giving up on wmu 47 I will be back next year that's for sure. The area we hunted was around lake Commanda and area off 522. Did anyone else in the area have any luck or see deer?

I own some land in that area and the herd is way down. Northern deer hunting is what separates the deer hunters for the deer shooters - lol. Just saying.

Finally got a chance to get out, hunted Friday and Saturday, saw 7 doe and 2 fawns. Heard a big bucks grunting snorting stunning but couldn't get him out.. Saturday night had doe ans 1 year fawn with her within 20 yards. Decided not to shot. Still have meat in freezer.. first time hunting WMU 47 private land which is great. They're are hitting the apples hard..

Ya I hear you lol tough go up there. I was up there quite a bit this summer and saw lots of does with fawns all around lake Commanda and lake Restoule. Couple times I saw twins

Its been a rough two years in this area. An easy winter is needed by the deer herd.

Youll find a lot if people do pushes in the north which is often needed to get deer moving. Its a drastically different hunt then the south

Two weeks and got 3 deer; our lowest success since the dark days of the early 1970's. Same story for most of our neighbouring camps. The two CO's we talked to said all the camps they visited had between 0-3 deer.

The last 2 winters hit the deer hard. Never heard so much wolf howling before either. I also can't help but wonder if we have contributed to the problem over the last several years by filling all those doe tags that the MNR has been so generous to offer us.

I do think that everyone would have done better had the weather not been so unseasonable warm. Our deer sightings and success instantly jumped as soon as we got freezing temps and snow on the last day.

Lots of deer seen at my grandpa's he is on the east side of mwu 47 .
Before the season they got thousands of pics of deer.

They seemed to of moved out just before the season. They had several does and fawns with also with twins and a few bucks On his 100 acres.

They didnt see a deer in the first 10 days. Then Wednesday evening they saw and took a fawn. Thursday morning they got a doe and Saturday morning they ended their season . Was a tough go for sure. They saw a few moose aswell. By dad saw 3 as they pushed a neighbor's bush.That's
A young guy that bow hunts my grandpa's property had a big cow and calf walk out on him just before the controlled hunt .

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Originally Posted by ninepointer

Two weeks and got 3 deer; our lowest success since the dark days of the early 1970's. Same story for most of our neighbouring camps. The two CO's we talked to said all the camps they visited had between 0-3 deer.

The last 2 winters hit the deer hard. Never heard so much wolf howling before either. I also can't help but wonder if we have contributed to the problem over the last several years by filling all those doe tags that the MNR has been so generous to offer us.

I do think that everyone would have done better had the weather not been so unseasonable warm. Our deer sightings and success instantly jumped as soon as we got freezing temps and snow on the last day.

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I'd agree the warm temps had a lot to do with poor success. We - 4 guys - filled are only doe tag on Wednesday. I passed two does after that and missed a shot on a buck. Hunting with a tired 14 yo old beagle also hampered us, but she did move a few deer. Maybe time for a new dog. We did see deer every day, but usually they were moving pretty good.

2 does for our gang of 8 in 47 first week. Second week at our camp got skunked. Worst year ever! Heard tons of wolves. Spoke to a gang of 30 guys they got 1 doe and 1 bear. WTF???? We seen a few other does. None of the does we shot or saw had fawns.

"None of the does we shot or saw had fawns."

Not good.

spent 6 days in WMU47 near Mowat off 69 just south of french river.
2 days scouting, 4 days hunting. nothing. lots of tracks, no deer seen, one bull moose seen.

1st year out hunting deer. kind of a disappointment but lost of fresh air and clear night sky to see the milky way.

Just talked to my friend that has a camp in zone 47, 2 weeks of hunting,15 guys first week, 15 guys the second.
3 deer shot, they saw more moose than deer and could not get a tag for them either.

TOO WARM, I was in 47 for the first week. There were 5 of us, all with trail cams. Every single night we each had multiple deer from fawns all the way up to big bucks on all of our cams. We didn't see a single deer during the day. We only found a couple scrapes and the other sign in the bush was little. The trail cams proved that the deer were there, just not in the day time, and rut activity was nil.

MC

I was up there last week from thursday to sunday and my two buddies were up there for 10 days. We saw lots of sign, one guy missed an 8 point buck the first day. They saw lots of does but I'm the only one with a doe tag and I couldn't get up there earlier due to work and my 2 month old daughter. When we were sitting in our most promising spot on saturday morning my buddy scared away the only two does we saw that had walked into within 15 yards but on the wrong side of me. Note to everyone, if you didnt already know make sure you turn off any watch alarms as well as other electronics. I was painstakingly taking my time turning to get a shot and my buddies alarm went off... It seemed like they were around just not at the times we were hunting which was from legal light until legal light.

Second week of gun season in 47, 12 guys. Seen only 3 does, shot and missed. The worst year out of 5 years us hunting there. Seen moose EVERY day. We blame worm weather.

We hunted the 1st week within 4-5 km of Lake Commanda. By the end of the day Thursday we had 7 deer down and we seen at least that many more. Were in the honey hole for sure in that part of our province.

guy hunted not far from you. At our camp we were seeing the local deer only. By the last of the second week we were starting to see sign of the migration starting from the north. I imagine with this snow and colder weather the yards will be filling up. Anyone bowhunting in this area should have some luck, we got a nice buck. old243

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Originally Posted by old243

guy hunted not far from you. At our camp we were seeing the local deer only. By the last of the second week we were starting to see sign of the migration starting from the north. I imagine with this snow and colder weather the yards will be filling up. Anyone bowhunting in this area should have some luck, we got a nice buck. old243

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Is there a deer yard right there in cammanda? I remember as a kid going for drives with my grandpa to see a all the deer.

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Originally Posted by fishfood

Is there a deer yard right there in cammanda? I remember as a kid going for drives with my grandpa to see a all the deer.

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From what I understand there is one in Loring that has been there for a long time. They had to move it away from the road and the new location is a bit of a secret though, to keep the natives from shooting them from the road.

Ya your right thats where it was.

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Originally Posted by old243

guy hunted not far from you. At our camp we were seeing the local deer only. By the last of the second week we were starting to see sign of the migration starting from the north. I imagine with this snow and colder weather the yards will be filling up. Anyone bowhunting in this area should have some luck, we got a nice buck. old243

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Was up there early this week after the big snowstorms and didn't see a lot of sign that the migration had started. A few tracks at night but nothing crazy. Only seen 3 in 2 days but unfortunately out of bow range. I'm thinking the daytime temps are still to warm for them to yard up.

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Originally Posted by old243

guy hunted not far from you. At our camp we were seeing the local deer only. By the last of the second week we were starting to see sign of the migration starting from the north. I imagine with this snow and colder weather the yards will be filling up. Anyone bowhunting in this area should have some luck, we got a nice buck. old243

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Any deer shot during the 2 week rifle season will be summer range deer. It takes a sustained period (i.e. 2 weeks) of >30-40 cm of snow depth to trigger yarding behavior. Can't remember the last time we saw a foot or more of snow for the whole 2 weeks.

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Originally Posted by GuyJR

From what I understand there is one in Loring that has been there for a long time. They had to move it away from the road and the new location is a bit of a secret though, to keep the natives from shooting them from the road.

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How exactly does one more a deer yard? Is it like relocating a deer crossing by moving the road sign? ;)

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Originally Posted by fishfood

Is there a deer yard right there in cammanda? I remember as a kid going for drives with my grandpa to see a all the deer.

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The largest yard is in Loring as Guy said, but while the deer numbers were high there are countless smaller "yards" scattered across the broader area where groups of 5-10 deer were spending the entire winter in the nearest hemlock/fir/cedar swamp.

How exactly does one more a deer yard? Is it like relocating a deer crossing by moving the road sign? ;)




Move the feed, move the deer.

https://sabarton.files.wordpress.com...ard-gif-i4.jpg

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Originally Posted by ninepointer

Any deer shot during the 2 week rifle season will be summer range deer. It takes a sustained period (i.e. 2 weeks) of >30-40 cm of snow depth to trigger yarding behavior. Can't remember the last time we saw a foot or more of snow for the whole 2 weeks.



How exactly does one more a deer yard? Is it like relocating a deer crossing by moving the road sign? ;)



The largest yard is in Loring as Guy said, but while the deer numbers were high there are countless smaller "yards" scattered across the broader area where groups of 5-10 deer were spending the entire winter in the nearest hemlock/fir/cedar swamp.

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I grew up in Loring and if you want to see deer in the winter time travel the sideroads around Golden Valley, Arnstein and Loring.

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Originally Posted by GuyJR

How exactly does one more a deer yard? Is it like relocating a deer crossing by moving the road sign? ;)




Move the feed, move the deer.

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I was under the impression that no supplemental feeding was happening...unless it's done by the local residents and clubs? The Loring yard covers a pretty extensive area (few hundred km's square) and from my understanding not something that can simply be "moved" around. The deer head there due to the protection given by the hemlock trees.

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how much snow is on the ground?

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Originally Posted by vom Dufenshmirtz

how much snow is on the ground?

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Probably be all gone by the morning with all this rain.

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Hunter John....lol
I was hoping they cold move the yard closer to my stand...say 20-30 yds lmao

Most years by the end of the second week, there seems to be more deer in our area, of the yard . whether it is from hunter pressure making them move , or just natures way.. We have been doing some , cutting of bush on our property over the last few years. It is giving the deer and moose , winter feed and summer brouse. Some planting of clovers will also encourage some of the deer to stay in the spring. I agree that we are not getting the heavy , early snows we used to. old243

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Originally Posted by GuyJR

How exactly does one more a deer yard? Is it like relocating a deer crossing by moving the road sign? ;)

Move the feed, move the deer.

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A deer yard is a product of the habitat (particularly the type of tree cover and the contributing soil and topographic conditions) not a product of feeding programs by humans. White tailed deer may have been yarding for the last 8,000 years (since sometime after the last ice age) in what is now known as the Loring area. While supplemental feeding by humans does occur in deer yards, it is not the reason why deer choose to yard where they do. Some good reading can be found here: http://www.wildliferesearch.ca/snow/...nservation.pdf

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Originally Posted by ninepointer

A deer yard is a product of the habitat (particularly the type of tree cover and the contributing soil and topographic conditions) not a product of feeding programs by humans. White tailed deer may have been yarding for the last 8,000 years (since sometime after the last ice age) in what is now known as the Loring area. While supplemental feeding by humans does occur in deer yards, it is not the reason why deer choose to yard where they do. Some good reading can be found here: http://www.wildliferesearch.ca/snow/...nservation.pdf

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Interesting read, thanks for that. I should have been more specific in saying the supplemental feeding area was moved.

I was up near golden valley this weekend for a couple days. I realize the cold weather hasn't arrived yet and there's no snow on the ground, but there is very little deer sign. Compared to years past at the same time, we got only a handful of pictures since the 12th of november. I think it time the ministry cuts off the additional deer tags for 2016 and cut back doe tags as well. Going back up on the 11th of December, will report back after my hunt.