Hunters are worried about seeing fewer deer in the woods.
MARQUETTE COUNTY -- Mark Simon has been hunting in the woods on the Chocolay-Sands Township border for 10 years now. But this year, as his trail camera is proving, he's worried about seeing fewer deer in the woods.
"Last year on my trail camera, I had 21 different bucks at this time, along with a lot of does and fawns," said Mark, "and this year I have one spike horn recorded on my trail camera in exactly the same area."
Something as small as an acorn can indicate what the deer population will be like this season. This year hunters say there are plenty of acorns on the ground. That’s a sign that not as many deer are eating them.
So this year Mark is using less bait, because he can't compete with food that's already available to deer.
According to Terry McFadden, a wildlife biologist with the D.N.R., you can blame seeing fewer deer on the last two winters.
"We had a couple severe winters," said McFadden. "Last year the winter severity was quite high. It broke early, but still you know we're seeing fewer fawns."
McFadden says there are more deer in the south central U.P. in Delta, Dickinson and Menominee Counties.
But Mark believes there's something more than it just being cold and snowy. He says he's seen a dramatic increase in wolves and coyotes while hunting.
McFadden does believe wolves could be eating the stressed winter deer.
"Across the board, it's better for predators when game species are stressed," McFadden said. But McFadden believes the major cause of the decline is the stress deer face because of the winter. He says they will know more after a predator-prey study is concluded.
Regardless, Mark will continue to hunt this deer season.
"If there's one deer left in the U.P., I'll be out on opening morning," Mark said.
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