Here we go again, Wisconsin!

TJD · 02-20-2004, 11:43 AM

I thought that the DNR was going to wait until "all of the harvest data was finalized" before making any determinations regarding Earn-a-buck. Gee, I guess you can't believe everything they tell ya, huh?

I like how they try to make this a CWD management issue. That EAB zone in the northwest corner...you know, the one that is a good 300 miles away from the CWD area...must be to manage the disease among the whitetails that fly up north in the Spring.

Sswpriz · 02-20-2004, 12:44 PM

Hmmmm., I hunt in Bayfield County, looks like I could be in a Earn a Buck Area !!!! That's ok, I never see any bucks anyway, LOL !!

Beagle001 · 02-20-2004, 01:41 PM

ERRRR i dont like this BS. ill never get anything now! first goll darn thing that will walk by will be a monster and i wont be able to shoot that d*mn thing! i liked it better when we wer a tzone unit. darn im mad[:@] man... what next earn a turkey

whitetails & muskies · 02-20-2004, 04:00 PM

I know it says "preliminary", but it's probably close to cut and dried. In my are up in Iron county it is noted as a T-zone....I did not see many deer this year, although when I did, it was nearly a 1:1 buck doe ratio. Between wolves and winter, this area is usually kept in check by Mother Nature...why a t-zone I'll never know, there arn't many deer the way it is.

But you know what???? I have a real good chance to be in the mountains of Montana chasing elk and deer during the week of gun hunting this year and I think I'm going!! Next year we might have 23 days to go for it...one can only hope.

turkeyhunter_15 · 02-21-2004, 04:58 PM

Thats Bs,Im In Earn a Buck, I Think Earn a buck is gay, I Live In Shawno County, We Had T-Zone That was Better But Now This. Gay DNR
Do Nothing Right[>:][:@]

WIbucksniper · 02-21-2004, 07:56 PM

I have to say it and am going to get bashed for it but here goes . I hunt in the nothwest earn a buck and am all for it!! The area we hunt is way out of whack. Its been a t-zone for 5 years and people aren't shooting does so no they have to. It will also save alot of young bucks for the meat pole. Before anyone writes it off give it a chance. I live and bowhunt in the cwd management zone so we have had it for two years now. It is making a big dif. in the number of bucks that get another to grow. Alot of people that wanted some meat would shoot the first buck they saw. Now they shoot a doe first so meat isn't the main issue, people are tending to be a little more selective with what they fill there buck tags with. Its a give and take deal, sure you might not get to shoot that buck at 7am opening morning but in a year or two time you will see more bucks in the 2 1/2 year class. I cant argue with the number of 2 1/2 and older deer we saw this year between hunting and shining. No, it's not a fix all to the deer situation in the state but give it a chance before you write it off.
Jeff

logs · 02-22-2004, 02:27 PM

"2004 Preliminary....."
Doesn't sound final to me. I'll wait to see the final areas but even if this is how it's going to be I don't see a problem.
There is an awful lot going on at this time with the structure of the season, CWD and now an expansion of the earn a Buck program. Nothing in life is permanent and I haven't heard any arguements to show a negitive side to this at this time. Note that even though there has been discussion of a 23 day season with no zone-T units, they are still on the map. To me that means they are just tossing or feeding out ideas.

I think it is good that they are announcing this early so there will be feed back from the hunting community prior to the Conservation meetings.

logs · 02-22-2004, 02:35 PM

I don't agree that they are linking this to CWD. That is not what it states along with the map.
They talk about "an effort to control a burgeoning deer population" which does not even elude to CWD. Then they say " The state also expanded the control area for chronic wasting disease;.........."
Also not because that would indicate two different causes for a new management map.

dkbs · 02-22-2004, 03:21 PM

Hello
The past two years have been earn a buck in the area that I hunt, Southern Wisconsin. I didn't like the earn a buck in the beginning. I had to hunt hard for a doe to set myself up with a buck tag for the rut.
But I can honestly say that now I kind of like it. This fall I didn't see that many deer, but I saw several dandy bucks, one of them just awesome. I've hunted with my bow for big bucks most of my thirty years of bowhunting. Never did I see as many in one season as this year, the second year of the earn a buck program. Overall I saw less deer, but definitely there was an improvement in the bucks. One afternoon I had a doe come by with four different bucks in tow. Most people would've been proud to have taken any of those bucks. It clearly showed the doe population had been thinned and the big bucks had competition.

The last night of our season I had eight whitetails walk past my stand at 35 yards. First three does, then five bucks. I shoot a longbow and my effective range is only thirty yards. Plus they came out single file in waves. The last couple bucks came past after season was over and it was getting pretty dark, but I could see that the last one was a buck of at least 150", one that I'd seen at eighty yards just before dark about four days earlier.
NEEDLESS TO SAY, I WALKED OUT FIRED UP FOR NEXT SEASON.

These are just my observations on what the earn a buck did in my hunting area.
Dan

PS: that 150" whitetail wasn't the awesome one seen during the rut. The awesome one had the largest body I'd ever seen for a whitetail in the wild. He had a stagger to him like an angus bull and antlers to match.
DID I MENTION I'M PUMPED UP FOR NEXT SEASON!

WIbucksniper · 02-22-2004, 04:22 PM

Thats exactly my piont. And I am glad that you see the benifits of it Dan. I think that if everone would give it a chance they would all see the possitives to it.
Jeff