Rifles in Waupaca County

[2112foru]

Just read in Wisconsin Outdoor News that rifles will be legal in Waupaca County starting in 2011. Not sure how I feel about that. Many heavily hunted areas in Waupaca are so close to homes, etc. With such high hunter densities as well, will accidents be more prevalent? I know shotgun sabots from rifled barrels and high-charged muzzleloaders can push some distances, but I'm not sure I feel totally comfortable with the neighbors blasting .308 wins at running deer in my direction. What do you think?

[PY Antlers]

I wish the DNR would make everything south of HWY 10 shotgun only, period.

[sconnyhunter]

Waupaca county, seems to be fairly well forested from the aerial photos I looked at. The bigger problem that I have is allowing bow hunting during the regular firearms season.
As if the bow hunters don't already have enough time on their hands they have to make the already too short gun season that much harder.

[PY Antlers]

Lol, Sconnyhunter.....Do you really think bowhunters that are out using a bow during gun season are going to effect the outcome of someone hunting with a rifle. Seriously

[sconnyhunter]

Regardless of the "impact" that bow hunters have during the 9 DAY regular firearm season. This is about the fact that bow hunters in WI, already have from Sept. through early Jan. to hunt.
They do not need the 9 days delegated to firearms hunters added to there already generous season. If anything, the gun season should be extended to allow more opportunity for this group, to be fair.

Secondly, it is also a possible safety hazard to have bow hunters in the woods at the same time as gun hunters, unless they must comply with hunter orange dress codes.

[PY Antlers]

Maybe instead of whinning about it, you should start bowhunting, then you would realize the difficulty level of it. If you can't get yourself a shot opportunity with a rifle in 9 days of being in the woods, you might consider the meat section at the grocery store. And yes, anyone one hunting during the gun season must wear pumpkin colors and anyone with half a lick of sense would do the same.

[sconnyhunter]

I have bow hunted. I do know the difficulty level.
To continue to advocate to take over of the gun season by bow hunters for 9 days, is a sign of greed, IMO.
Why don't they be satisfied with the generous 90+ days they already get.

[ranger400ex1994]

Waupaca County was going to be rifle last year but the DNR decided to wait one more year. I hunt just out side tigerton and we went to rifle 2 years ago and i have to say i love it. But i dont live in a rifle area so i dont know how i would feel about that.

PY Antlers why should everything south of 10 be shotgun?

[PY Antlers]

Because it helps harvest more does and more bucks would be passed on because they got missed. The buck to doe ratio in WI is way out of whack! Take a look at Iowa, shotgun only for the whole state and the ratio there is 2-1 maybe 3-1 in some areas. The ratio around us is probably 20-1 or worse. Bow hunting in Iowa is so nice, if you see 10 deer on a sit 6-7 of those deer are bucks and probably 2 of those are shooters (130 or better). The best thing WI DNR has done in the recent past was Earn-a-Buck then they took it away. Apparently the majority of hunters in WI want to see a lot of deer and shoot young bucks. Personally, I would rather shoot a bunch of does for meat in the freezer and put my buck tag on a Monster.

[MZS]

Trees do a good job at stopping bullets. That is probably the reason for allowing rifles. Am guessing this county is now much like Portage county where I grew up with a lot of woods mixed with farmland. Even in northern counties, there are a lot of homes peppered throughout the land in WI and there are few incidents of bullets hitting homes. One must use caution no matter what though. Personally, I would not hunt in densely hunted public woods during a rifle season, farther south or up north.