WINTER WONDERS IN THE NORTHWOODS
By: Ray Hansen
While hunting the Channing / Sagola area of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, I once saw a Fisher lope across an old logging with its odd, sinuous gait. A sleek dark brown to black body about three feet in length (including the long tail) contrasted with its white-streaked head. Strangely, it startled me, like suddenly seeing a snake will do. I was in a tree stand, and it posed no danger. I’m sure if it had been aware I was a round I would never have seen it.
Fishers don’t fish. Their relatives, the more common mink rely on fish for much of their diet, but not these larger creatures. Hunters who watch for deer from elevated tree stands during the fall and winter often notice a sudden decrease in the local red squirrel population. The fisher will stay around until these tasty little treats are all caught, then move on. Don’t worry about the squirrels though. They quickly re-populate.
The fisher is one of the few animals that will take on a porcupine. They are said to take them face on, grabbing the porcupines snout and holding on until they can work their way down to the throat for the kill. You may find the ‘pine’s skin in the woods, feet up, with the edible parts removed from the inside starting at the soft belly, which is not protected by deadly quills. I have found deceased porcupines in this condition, usually in the winter.
Seeing one of these graceful predators while hunting is a rare, but fascinating sight. After a day in the woods, the experience makes a good story to relate around the night’s campfire.
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2009
Showing posts with label Channing Michigan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Channing Michigan. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, October 27, 2008
PREDATOR AND PREY
Author’s note: I enjoyed a successful hunt last week in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I spent the week in a bowhunting camp owned by life-long friend Duane Deno of Gladstone, Michigan. Duane and I have hunted together for many years, and as usual, we were the only ones in camp during the nine-day hunt this year. Hunting is far from over. Bow hunting continues until the end of December, and the annual “rifle season” (the firearms portion of Michigan’s whitetail deer hunting season) runs from November 15 – 30. We will also be out in the woods with muzzleloaders in early December.
Both Duane and I tagged adult does during the bowhunt, and we both retain tags legal for one antlered buck each through the remainder of the season. We also have the option of tagging another antlerless deer with archery equipment if we want to use our buck tags in that way.
Anyway, I keep a detailed journal during the hunt since we normally have a number of experiences worth writing about. Today’s blog is about an injured deer I observed while hunting this year.
To set the stage for this incident, I was hunting from a small tree stand about twenty-five feet above the ground at a spot I call Birch Hill. I was experiencing a lot of deer activity that morning, and had seen nine different deer in five hours. Some offered easy shots which I decided not to take. I was confident I would see additional deer and was enjoying the activity. A group of three deer were browsing around my stand, consuming maple leaves and small, woody roots growing up out of the ground from the main roots of nearby maple trees. This is what I witnessed:
PREDATOR AND PREY
The third deer in the group was hanging back while the others began browsing. It was small, and did not have the somewhat “sleek” look of a healthy deer during the autumn season. As it maneuvered closer I saw that it had recently been attacked by coyotes or wolves. Perhaps a mountain lion or one of the local black bears. Its sides were raked heavily as if by claws, the lower jaw was broken, and its tongue protruded out of its mouth sideways from the right side. Once in a while, deer survive an attack from these predators, and make an escape. The injuries could also have been caused by a vehicle, but we were so far away from the nearest road that I did not think this was the case. Even then, the closest roads are dirt and quite rutted. Ten miles per hour is about top speed.
I decided to kill this deer if I could. I watched it try to eat with the others, but it could not bite effectively. It stayed out on the fringe of the group, and when it got closer the others would drive it away. Unfortunately (I guess) the injured deer walked away toward the east, and I had no opportunity to get a clear shot. That’s just the way it is when hunting with a bow.
Although I spent a lot of time hunting many different spots in that area for the nine days I was in camp, I did not see that deer again.
In upcoming days I will detail other hunting adventures I had. See you then!
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008
Both Duane and I tagged adult does during the bowhunt, and we both retain tags legal for one antlered buck each through the remainder of the season. We also have the option of tagging another antlerless deer with archery equipment if we want to use our buck tags in that way.
Anyway, I keep a detailed journal during the hunt since we normally have a number of experiences worth writing about. Today’s blog is about an injured deer I observed while hunting this year.
To set the stage for this incident, I was hunting from a small tree stand about twenty-five feet above the ground at a spot I call Birch Hill. I was experiencing a lot of deer activity that morning, and had seen nine different deer in five hours. Some offered easy shots which I decided not to take. I was confident I would see additional deer and was enjoying the activity. A group of three deer were browsing around my stand, consuming maple leaves and small, woody roots growing up out of the ground from the main roots of nearby maple trees. This is what I witnessed:
PREDATOR AND PREY
The third deer in the group was hanging back while the others began browsing. It was small, and did not have the somewhat “sleek” look of a healthy deer during the autumn season. As it maneuvered closer I saw that it had recently been attacked by coyotes or wolves. Perhaps a mountain lion or one of the local black bears. Its sides were raked heavily as if by claws, the lower jaw was broken, and its tongue protruded out of its mouth sideways from the right side. Once in a while, deer survive an attack from these predators, and make an escape. The injuries could also have been caused by a vehicle, but we were so far away from the nearest road that I did not think this was the case. Even then, the closest roads are dirt and quite rutted. Ten miles per hour is about top speed.
I decided to kill this deer if I could. I watched it try to eat with the others, but it could not bite effectively. It stayed out on the fringe of the group, and when it got closer the others would drive it away. Unfortunately (I guess) the injured deer walked away toward the east, and I had no opportunity to get a clear shot. That’s just the way it is when hunting with a bow.
Although I spent a lot of time hunting many different spots in that area for the nine days I was in camp, I did not see that deer again.
In upcoming days I will detail other hunting adventures I had. See you then!
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
WHAT DO PARTRIDGE EAT?
BIRD HUNTERS AND DEER HUNTERS CO-OPERATE
By: Ray Hansen
One of the wonderful things I get to observe from a treestand while waiting for a deer to pass within range is other wildlife going about its normal daily routine. Here in Michigan the small game season opens September 15th each year, and that includes Ruffed Grouse. Hunters who hit the woods with pointing dogs each fall call these gamebirds Partridge, and I frequently exchange information with a handful of these guys.
They want to know where I have seen birds, and I want to know where they are seeing deer. And since I simply watch Partridge walking through the woods without shooting them – I’m hunting deer after October 1st – I get to see them feeding. Hunters with dogs never get this chance because the dog points the bird and the hunter moves in to flush it and hope for a clear shot as the partridge rockets away. In the heavy forest cover found hereabouts, the Partridge wins this contest most of the time.
Anyway, from my treestand I have seen these birds consume a variety of foods including leaves from apple trees, buds from the branch tips of aspen (poplar) trees, clover, wintergreen berries, small leaves from fruits like wild strawberry plants, and a small, round black berry that I believe is hackberry.
I have also watched them pick at apples when I hunt near wild apple trees, and I think they catch beetles or grasshoppers at times. I’ve watched them bite and peck in grassy areas and I’m not sure if they chasing bugs or eating the grass itself. When near oaks, I’ve seen them grab acorns but I can’t imagine how they could swallow one. Maybe they target the smaller acorns.
Of all these grouse treats, I have most commonly seen them forage on apple and aspen leaves or the buds from these trees. I often advise grouse hunters to look for places where these trees grow close to a water source, since these spots typically provide gamebirds with all their necessities in a setting where heavier cover offers them security.
Places where wood cutting has taken place two to five years ago are potentially great spots. Here in the Upper Peninsula, poplar (aspen) starts refilling the cutover tracts the following year. Small trees with tender new buds grow in profusion. In addition, the left over branches and brush are usually piled throughout the cut area and grouse use these brushpiles as cover.
Deer also like these “second growth” spots as they are called. I recall hunting near Channing, Michigan one year when I put up a treestand in older growth forest right long the edge of a cut area. In the course of a five-day hunt, two of us tagged bucks thanks to bird hunters.
As the hunters put out their dogs on the edge of the cut nearest the old logging road, deer would move out ahead of the pointers. In nearly every case, the deer would simply circle back through the older timber – and sometimes past my stand – to get behind the bird hunters. The guys looking for partridge often failed to see the deer, or didn’t care because they were not hunting deer. They sure did me a favor though. It made my hunting a lot easier!
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008
By: Ray Hansen
One of the wonderful things I get to observe from a treestand while waiting for a deer to pass within range is other wildlife going about its normal daily routine. Here in Michigan the small game season opens September 15th each year, and that includes Ruffed Grouse. Hunters who hit the woods with pointing dogs each fall call these gamebirds Partridge, and I frequently exchange information with a handful of these guys.
They want to know where I have seen birds, and I want to know where they are seeing deer. And since I simply watch Partridge walking through the woods without shooting them – I’m hunting deer after October 1st – I get to see them feeding. Hunters with dogs never get this chance because the dog points the bird and the hunter moves in to flush it and hope for a clear shot as the partridge rockets away. In the heavy forest cover found hereabouts, the Partridge wins this contest most of the time.
Anyway, from my treestand I have seen these birds consume a variety of foods including leaves from apple trees, buds from the branch tips of aspen (poplar) trees, clover, wintergreen berries, small leaves from fruits like wild strawberry plants, and a small, round black berry that I believe is hackberry.
I have also watched them pick at apples when I hunt near wild apple trees, and I think they catch beetles or grasshoppers at times. I’ve watched them bite and peck in grassy areas and I’m not sure if they chasing bugs or eating the grass itself. When near oaks, I’ve seen them grab acorns but I can’t imagine how they could swallow one. Maybe they target the smaller acorns.
Of all these grouse treats, I have most commonly seen them forage on apple and aspen leaves or the buds from these trees. I often advise grouse hunters to look for places where these trees grow close to a water source, since these spots typically provide gamebirds with all their necessities in a setting where heavier cover offers them security.
Places where wood cutting has taken place two to five years ago are potentially great spots. Here in the Upper Peninsula, poplar (aspen) starts refilling the cutover tracts the following year. Small trees with tender new buds grow in profusion. In addition, the left over branches and brush are usually piled throughout the cut area and grouse use these brushpiles as cover.
Deer also like these “second growth” spots as they are called. I recall hunting near Channing, Michigan one year when I put up a treestand in older growth forest right long the edge of a cut area. In the course of a five-day hunt, two of us tagged bucks thanks to bird hunters.
As the hunters put out their dogs on the edge of the cut nearest the old logging road, deer would move out ahead of the pointers. In nearly every case, the deer would simply circle back through the older timber – and sometimes past my stand – to get behind the bird hunters. The guys looking for partridge often failed to see the deer, or didn’t care because they were not hunting deer. They sure did me a favor though. It made my hunting a lot easier!
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008
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