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Post by papa99 on Jan 17, 2008 5:16:54 GMT -5
Good morning men. i am a newbe from michigan. i am an avid bow hunter and i am looking to add sikas to my list of unfinished projects. i am going to plan a bow hunt for 08. and i am looking for advice. guides, location who to & more so who not to contact. a little about me. i have a small farm in southern mi 300acers. i am a member of life member NRA life member north american hunting clud member michigan QDMA member mi. bow hunters ass.
Thanks for any & all assistance papa99
live to bow hunt
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Post by brandon on Jan 17, 2008 9:26:38 GMT -5
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Post by papa99 on Jan 17, 2008 19:39:15 GMT -5
thanks ducksnbucks, i sent them an email about a week ago. stll nothing. i also contacted sikastag. i have not heard from them either. this is why i am starting my research now. while i still have 9 months to study. dont think i want to try this on my own the first time. i will start looking at public land next. or looking for private land owners that will lease. or swap a hunt for a garented michigan whitetail.
any help from anyone. would be appreciated
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Post by Hardcorehunter on Jan 17, 2008 20:34:20 GMT -5
Muddy Marsh I have heard has some nice sikas, but I contacted them 10 months ago, twice, and am still waiting for a reply. The good thing about outfitters is they bait, which is the most guarenteed way to get a shot at a sika. I have shot two this year over a feeder. And zero in the last three years on public land. The bad thing about outfitters is the is cost, $200 bucks a day is around the going rate give or take fifty bucks.
The skilled sika hunter doesn't need bait piles as they know where and when to catch sika moving. I still havn't grasped that, but have learned alot trying. The deer hunter (member on the site) has killed three sika in two years all on public land. The Hunt swap may appeal to a few guys who would like to kill a 300 pound whitetail. Which ever way you go, good luck. But I must warn you. Sika deer hunting is addictive!
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Post by papa99 on Jan 18, 2008 5:49:36 GMT -5
glad to meet you hardcore.i have been addicted to whitetails for over 30yrs. for me. bow hunting is a lifestyle not a hobbie. it is somthing i do year round. i am not sure what draws me to the sika. instead of heading west for mully. this has been rolling around in my head for a few years.now it is time to find out why. the big question is will you guys help me. i need to check outfitters and find land owners. i would like to use an outfitter this first time. or a landowner that leases buy the week. kind of like we do in ill. 5 of us get toghether and lease two farms for a week. the rest of the season he leases to other bow hunters.
thanks and i hope to here from you agian
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Post by osprey on Jan 18, 2008 10:43:13 GMT -5
Papa, don't know if you'll find a week lease, most of the private is either year long leases or private clubs, but the good thing is that probably half of sika country is public. I've taken all my sikas on public ground, just plan on getting deep. Think of bringing a boat or canoe, hip waders, bug protection (Thermacell, spray, Bugtamer clothes). Look at either the 2nd or 3rd week in October, that's when you want to be here. Keep in mind we have a 3 day blackpowder season the Thu-Sat of the 3rd weekend of October, so an extra set of tags and chance to play with another weapon if you desire. For public lands check our DNR site for Fishing Bay, LeCompte and Taylors Island WMA's, Lewis and Beechground CFL(Chesapeake Forest Lands) tracts. Call Blackwater NWR hunt coordinater and get put on the mailing list for the Refuge hunts for next year (Allen Johston, 410-228-5018), 10,000 acres open there. I may be up for a hunt trade, never killed a deer in Michigan, but not sure where I'll be next fall. Will probably be in N Dakota working for an outfitter for archery mulies, just not sure how long and what months yet. Don't know what's up with TJ at MMO, I sent several guys that come out west with us to him, but they never heard back from him either. Those guys end up with 15-20 hunters every year at nearly 3 grand each with us, so they could afford some hunts! And Hardcore, I'm going to take at least half credit for one of DeerHunters spikes - since I scouted and picked the tree out for him!
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Post by THE DEER HUNTER on Jan 18, 2008 11:19:00 GMT -5
Thanks to Osprey on that tree. I would have picked it anyway though. ;D
Seriously though, it is addicting! I am not even going to go after whitetail until late October next year. Going to spend every moment I have in the sika marsh until then!
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Post by papa99 on Jan 18, 2008 22:14:00 GMT -5
thanks guys, i think i am already addicted. and i can get started on some research. watched that video on sikastag pretty cool. sounds to me like you folks all know each other. so tell me wich of you does the best. and how do you age a sika on the hoof. i have been watching whitetales in the back yard for a long time. around here it is not if you will get one. it is witch one do you want. i am ready to step up to the challange of a little black deer. really how hard can it be now that ougt to get you guys talking. an i will hang on every word.
Osprey i will check into this public land you speak of. i also would be interested in a mullie with a bow. i have never taken one of them either. and my business is finaly at a place were i can look at taking time & little money to do what i want. and bow hunting is what i want.
thanks for all your help guys. and if anyone wanted to send me pixs of there deer& the country they are hunting in. or trail cam shots i would eat them up. just ask for email address
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Post by papa99 on Jan 19, 2008 4:43:50 GMT -5
i have been working on a list of questions for you men of the sika. like native browse, prefeerd food.just info in general. can you point me to some books or any good reading on there habbits & habbitat. hunting stratiges. how close to the white tail is he.
yes i do own a few boats and a canoe.i also have waders & knee boots. river steel head are my spring fling
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Post by davep on Jan 19, 2008 7:43:30 GMT -5
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Post by osprey on Jan 19, 2008 11:27:31 GMT -5
Papa, for mulies check this link, www.littlemissouririveroutfitters.com/ and go back through my threads on the Other Game section on here. If you're thinking 08 you need to put in for tags by the end of March, $215. Also go back through the threads on here on sika, lots of your questions will be answered. Browse and food? Love corn, but no baiting on public land. You will almost always find corn in their stomachs, which tells you to get between the thick stuff and private property - at some point they are going to bait piles on private. I've killed them a mile out on the marsh and they're full of corn from midnight trips to distant bait piles. Native foods, well, they'll eat most anything. They like salt hay (spartina patens), cordgrass, bayberry leaves, myrtle leaves, clover and forbs, acorns, apples and crabapples, holly leaves, I've even seen them eat phragmites. Habitat? Thicker and wetter the better. Saltmarshes, lowland pine woods, oak/pine forests, thick and nasty bayberry thickets, switchgrass thickets, etc.
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Post by papa99 on Jan 19, 2008 11:35:35 GMT -5
thanks i have had that one on my favorites list for a year now. were does a guy find an aplication for this assateague island. looks like it may have a lot to offer.
my partner left for vaction today. this means i have to bust the hump for the next 10 days. i will try to check up on you folks as much as possible. again thanks for your help keep thinking a michigan whitetail for some help with a sika.
markdowding@hughes.net
hdfabracations@hughes.net
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Post by osprey on Jan 19, 2008 11:37:16 GMT -5
how do you age a sika on the hoof. i have been watching whitetales in the back yard for a long time. around here it is not if you will get one. it is witch one do you want. i am ready to step up to the challange of a little black deer. really how hard can it be? If a stag is 3x3 figure he's at least 3 years old. Most aren't too picky, especially until they've killed quite a few. Partly becuase the meat is soooo tasty! ;D As for how hard can it be?? Wellll, just ask Big Fox! Truthfully you never know. I've heard of guys who walk in the woods, sit down and kill a big 3x3 stag in 15 minutes. Others go years without seeing one. But we call 'em Devil Deer for a reason. You gotta remember, too, that they are 50-100 lb deer, only 2-3 feet tall at the shoulder, and most of the grass and cover is 3-8 feet tall even out on the marsh. Oh yeah, and the mud trails they use are a good 6" lower than the rest of the marsh. ;D
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Post by osprey on Jan 19, 2008 11:41:45 GMT -5
were does a guy find an aplication for this assateague island. looks like it may have a lot to offer. www.nps.gov/asis/hunting-at-assateague.htm is the link for Assateague. Try it if you want, but I think the sika hunting is much better in Dorchester. Never had much luck at Assateague, and everybody I've talked to says it's nowhere near what it used to be. Course with 4-6 animal limits in every season down there it's no wonder, I think the NPS is trying to wipe them out to make room for the dang ponies.
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Post by papa99 on Jan 19, 2008 12:09:14 GMT -5
alot of my info is old and probable out of date. some i gathered a year ago or better. i was going to do this two years ago. but my wife came down with cancer. it has taken 18 months of chemo but she is doing ok now. so she gave me permission to continue my pursuit. i have ordered new maps of 6 counties down there. just to study think i would still like a guide for my first trip. or someone who knows the ropes.
awsome pixs would you say he is a shooter. it does apper the state would wipe them out with such liberal bag limits. what do the land owners think. i am pretty protective of the deer on our farm. we dont just shoot anything. or you could take one every day. pretty soon you have no huntable deer. my wife says i am a deer watcher not a deer killer. but yet i have not had a year with out a bow killed buck since 1978. time for a new challange
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