Rumen AcidosisA few years ago I found three fresh deer carcasses in our neighborhood with stomachs stuffed with corn in early March. Neighbors who thought they were helping probably killed these deer.
Anyway, our group hunts public land near the Winter area in Sawyer county. We try to follow the logging, focusing on select cut hardwood stands adjacent to clear cuts. Further from the road the better the hunting. We kill deer every year, mostly between 9:00 and 2:00. We’ve found when there’s active baiting nearby, we don’t see the daytime movements. With few exceptions, these daytime deer have had no corn in their stomachs. The clear cuts are the corn field of the north. Five years post cutting, these are the most productive areas, providing accessible browse and refuge/bedding cover. People gripe about clear cuts because they aren’t huntable two years post cutting. Mature hardwood stands don’t offer much outside of acorn season when there’s little sunlight penetration. Bring wolves into the mix, these northern deer don’t venture far from cover as they’re more apt to be run down and killed in an open hardwood stand vs. a dense five year old clear cut. More logging is better for deer and almost everything else. County Land>State Land>Federal Land.