Sault Ste. Marie is a perfect place to establish a base camp for any Upper Peninsula hunting excursion.
In addition to hunting for the usual suspects, including deer, bear, waterfowl and small game, as well as an increasing population of turkeys, the Sault area offers an opportunity that is not found in any other parts of the state: a hunting season for sharp-tailed grouse, open only in the eastern portions of Chippewa and Mackinac counties.
Quite different from ruffed grouse, which are also abundant throughout the area in heavy cover, sharp-tails offer an experience similar to what pheasant hunters enjoy. They are a wary, ground-dwelling bird that keeps moving ahead of your dogs and often flushes well out of range. If the conditions are right, though, a brace of sharp-tails can be had, and their dark meat is all the more delicious knowing that it came to you in the only place hunters can pursue these challenging game birds in Michigan.
Much of the land where sharp-tails are found is privately held farmlands, but some of them are open through the state’s Hunting Access Program, and there are public lands to chase sharp-tails in the Munuscong State Forest and in the western edge of the state’s eastern sharp-tailed grouse management area. Consult the Department of Natural Resources’ hunting digest for specific information.
Waterfowl hunters have targeted the EUP for many years, as the St. Marys River provides an abundance of coastal marshland that attracts good numbers of migrating ducks and geese. Big water favorites include Munuscong, Potagannissing, and St. Martin’s bays, but since the Eastern UP borders three Great Lakes, you can certainly find your own favorite spot along the shores of Lakes Superior, Huron, and Michigan.
If you prefer smaller waters for waterfowl, the EUP has an abundance of small lakes, rivers, and beaver ponds that provide hunting opportunities.
More and more hunters are visiting the Sault area for another game animal that is becoming increasingly difficult to find outside of the U.P. — the snowshoe hare, which was once just as common in the Northern Lower Peninsula as the U.P. Even some U.P. hot spots don’t hold as many hares as they once did, but hunters who seek the right habitat of conifers interspersed with young hardwoods will find plenty of snowshoes to keep them and their hounds busy all day. Hunters can access an abundance of state and federal forests south and west of Sault Ste. Marie holds snowshoes. Drummond Island, with its extensive state land holdings, is a great place to hunt for not only snowshoe hares but white-tailed deer and bear.
No matter what you’re after, Sault Ste. Marie is the place to be for hunters, but don’t make a mistake; some do by thinking you can drive up, sit under a tree and wait for a deer or bear to find you. Just like anywhere else, successful hunters need to put the time in scouting, but that’s all the more reason to make more than one trip to the area.
Do you have a favorite game to hunt in the EUP? Tag us in your photos of with #ilovethesoo so we can share in the fun! Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Guest writer Tom Pink provided this blog post.
Visit Michigan.gov/DNR for more information.
