The transition. South and east of here the country is farm ground, north and west it turns to state land, swamp, and second growth. Central Michigan gives you both within a short drive, and the deer behave differently on each side of that line.
Isabella, Clare, Gladwin, Gratiot, Montcalm and surrounding country. Observations from Mount Pleasant Municipal Airport (station KMOP).
Loading.
On the ag side the corn harvest drives the pattern the same way it does in the Thumb. On the forest side it barely registers, and mast, logging cuts, and swamp edges matter far more. If you hunt this region, know which of the two you are actually on, because the same week can call for opposite plans a few miles apart.
Agricultural weight: mixed. Harvest matters on the farm side of this region and much less on the forest side.
A property with row crop on three sides plays by ag rules. A property backing state forest plays by big woods rules. Do not carry one plan onto the other.
Recent timber cuts, swamp edges, and regeneration hold deer where there is no agriculture to key on.
State land in this belt fills up on November 15. Plan access and entry routes around other hunters as much as around deer.
Michigan deer country changes a great deal over a few hours of driving. If you hunt more than one part of the state, the plan that works here may be the wrong one an hour away.
The most agricultural deer country in Michigan. Corn, soybeans, and sugar beets run to the horizon and the woods come in small pieces: fencerows, ditc...
Rich ground, long growing season, and the best nutrition in the state. Southwest Michigan grows heavy corn and soybean country broken by hardwood lots...
Big woods, national forest, orchards, and openings. There is far less row crop up here than in the southern and eastern parts of the state, so the cor...