Frequently Asked Questions
How is deer hunting in the Michigan Upper Peninsula versus the Lower Peninsula?
Hunting deer in the Upper Peninsula is totally different than hunting down south. According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, there are fewer deer up north because the winters are brutal, there is less farm food and wolves and bears eat a lot of fawns. However, because the woods are huge and remote the bucks that survive get massive, especially if they find good acorn crops. The southern Upper Peninsula counties like Menominee, Dickinson and Schoolcraft have more farms and better deer numbers. Wolves are a massive problem for the deer herd in the western Upper Peninsula. But because there are way fewer hunters up north, guys love buying land there just to get away from the crowds down south.
What is the Michigan elk hunting program and how does it affect land values?
According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the state manages a wild herd of about 1100 elk in a specific zone up in Otsego and Montmorency counties. The state only gives out a few hundred hunting tags every year through a lottery draw and most hunters wait years to get one. If you buy private land inside this elk zone that has open feeding areas, swamp edges and very few roads, hunters will pay a massive premium for it. They want that land so they have a guaranteed private spot to hunt when they finally draw a tag. Some landowners in the zone even make extra money running guided elk hunts on their property.
What makes Michigan ruffed grouse and woodcock hunting on private land special?
Michigan is the absolute best state in the Midwest for hunting ruffed grouse and American woodcock. According to the Ruffed Grouse Society, these birds need thick young aspen forests to survive. Because the Michigan logging industry constantly cuts trees, new aspen shoots grow back incredibly fast across the northern Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula. If you buy a property that mixes young aspen trees, thick creek bottoms and old apple orchards, you will have birds all over your land. Guys with pointing dogs drive from all over the country every October just to hunt the thick bird cover in Michigan.
