What has happened to the game animals here??!! Im not just talking about deer....I was looking at my logs from bowhunting and in over 40 hunts i have seen ONE gray squirrel!!!!I used to see about 5-10 every bowhunt in this area!!! I am also a rabbit hunter and am having a very tough time finding rabbits anywhere...I hunt in central Wisconsin...just wondering if anyone else has noticed this trend...
I saw tons of tree rats this year but never saw a rabbit. Saw quite a few yotes that maybe why theres no rabbits, but havent seen any grouse this year either and very few turkeys, I think last winter killed off more than we think.
I saw alot of turkeys this year, haven't seen a grouse in about 5 years (maybe more) I miss getting the crap scared out of me when one flushes under my feet.
How was your mast year? In parts of northern Virginia they had a zero acorn drop this year, picture that, absolutely no acorns. States experiencing drought late in the Summer very often have so little mast or even ag crops that game animals starve en masse. Habitat loss is a real game slayer, species such as grouse and quail are severely afected by it. Has the habitat where you hunt changed? It doesn't take much to change the local game population. Overhunting the previous season can dramatically affect not only the target species but several others as well. Take out enough does and you'll have way fewer deer the next year, add some coyotes and the rabbits and ground nesting birds suffer. There is no one single factor.
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Kevin Haendiges
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1. Lots of predators around, coyotes, coons, skunks, possum, owls, hawks these will each take a portion of some of the small game and game birds be it chicks, eggs etc. I've seen more coons this year than squirrels. Not many people hunt them anymore. Landowners don't want dogsscaring "their" deer onto other properties.
2. Last winter was really tough on the squirrels, not a huge accorn year to start with, then 3 feet of crusty snow prevents them from getting to much of their burried caches, overall a poor accorn year this year too.
Centauri,
Do you ever get in the woods around Weston? I helped a buddy find a doe this fall and we could hear the crowd at the Weston football game. Lots of deer/turkey in that area.
Nope, its illegal to shoot anything over a .22 caliber in the town of Weston, and I gun hunt only.There's about 10 acres of woods in our backyard (Its owned by another neighbor) and there are some big deer back there. I've seen a two 4 pointers, two 6 pointers, a big 8 pointer, lots of does and fawns,and supposedly there's a 12 pointer back there. We have a small corn pile to see the deer. Wasit Stehim (sp?) Stadium?
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Animals in Wisconsin....
