As a fellow hunter in a CWD area, Wibucksniper and DKBS you guys are right on. Everyone should go back and re-read both of their posts. Hunting is much more exciting now as there are more mature bucks out there. Even if I don't get to shoot one, it is awesome to see a 130-150 class buck doing his thing! The two doe from last bow season taste great. I legally had the chance to shoot at over 20 different bucks, but never pulled the trigger. I don't want the earn-a-buck to go on forever, but I do think that it is very beneficial to areas of the state with an out of whack doe/buck ratio. Give it a chance and I think that on the last day of the season, when your freezer is full of doe meat and you still see some bucks out running around you will be happy, and thinking about Next Year.
Buckmine...One major factor that you haven't thought of. Wisconsin has 2X more deer hunters than MN does (900,000 vs. 450,000) in less square miles. That means a lot to the annual harvest, so some guys aren't going to see much. Our deer opener is almost a state holiday, similar to your fishing opener. There are also lots of places in MN where there aren't many deer. Especially after the winter of '97. You might not be north enough to have been affected by that one, but deer were pretty scarce in the top 1/4 of the state, Lots of complaining and guys that just didn't hunt. Things seem to be doing in most of those areas...except where the wolves have almost taken over.