Madison really needs to listen to the hunters that are out there. Not look at the numbers. I have seen a MAJOR decrease in deer sightings through out Clark, Jackson, Wood, Monroe, and Eau Claire Counties. Im not the only one that has seen this decrease over the last couple years, many people that I talk to say the same thing. There are no deer. Most of these counties are in some form or another in EAB status and parts of the counties and zones are on EAB watch lists. This is a bad idea in my opinion. On the 3 or 4 properties that I hunt, I used to be able to sit for 3 hours and see as many as 20 different deer, now with the EAB in some of these area, im lucky to see 1-4. TheDNRhas made a mistake in some zones. I can see it being implimented in some zones but when more than 60% of the state is in EAB status this is a bad thing.




I've hunted in 4 of those 5 counties mentioned...and you're dead on.

After 22 of us sat for 4 days in SE Eau Claire County, and came away with 6 deer(8 ptr. and 7 does), we were unpleased to say the least. In 2005, 10 of us came home with 14 deer. We pride ourselves on keeping our zone out of EAB status...Hah.Supposedly,the over allotted antlerless tags given out, bear predation (alarmingly high in some studies I've seen), wolf numbers (don't get me started...more than double the count of what the state says exists, and I know guys all over the state that have visual contact or tracks of wolves all over their hunting sites), and a fairly tough winter due to high snowfall last year, has decimated the deer totals. All to the pleasing of the mega insurance agencies we have in our home state here who are rubbing elbows with the state legislature to reduce the amount of deer/car collisions and save them tons....can't blame 'em I guess.

If anyone else got the DNR pamphlet regarding this year's hunt, I'd love to see what you answered....I'll share my response as well....in a PM (for swearing sake).