RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

Funny how the DNR says there are all these Deer around and thousands of people that actually walk in the woods for a week in November see nothing, less sign, much fewer Deer where they used to see herds.
I don't know how many Deer there are where others hunt but I can tell you, I hunt in the Nicolet national forest nearLakewood, there's no EAB, no herd control, no Deer! I'm not stupid, I'm sure thereare Deer there butnot near the numbers there used to be.
Would seeing more Deer make for a better hunt? Damn straight! You gotta see them to shoot them and I'm getting too friggin old to chase them through the thickets and swamps.
I have no idea what, but something is changing, maybe it's the Turkeys, Coyote's??

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

There are a number of reasons for the smaller pop of deer. I do think the DNR is inflating it's numbers. Part of the number games is that there are a larger amount of deer on private/non-huntable land thanin the public lands. I'm not saying that there is no deer on public land, just less than there use to be. I hunt in Black River Falls every gun season,& yrs ago w/would see deer at night standing on the side of the road. Every night not uncommon to see 20-30 in a 5mile stretch. This yr. 1-2 maybe. Everyone hunting up there is not seeing as many. I saw 2 in 4 days. I took one of them. Out of our group if 6m we did okay. We got 4, 3 bucks & a doe. I don't know what truth there is to the urban legend of the insurance companies donating money to the DNR to insitute the T-zone & late anterless only hunts. I wish the DNR would learn from Colorado, & realize that they will never ever be able to erradicate the deer in lower Wisconsin. Too many private land owners won't allow them to take any deer off their property. I know for a fact, that 7yrs or so ago, when the T-zone was introduced in Black River falls, it decimated the herds. Hunting after that for 2 yrs absolutely sucked. No one seen any deer for 1 week hunts for quite some time. I wish we as hunters would be able to form a lobby, & get that power away from the DNR, so that the hunting would return to it's former status. Now it is getting very tough to take a deer on public lands, where the hunter population is high, such as the Kettle Morraine. I have taken one nubbn' on private land this yr. None on public. Don't see them as much.

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

I have no problem with EAB, and I know that there are plenty of deer out there. I would just like to seet the whole state EAB, or none at all. Take a look at the buck registrations innon EAB zones neighboring EAB zones. I'll let you make your own conclusions. I thinknext year I may just bow hunt. This gunseason just forces the deer nocturnal around our little 40.Sat 4.5days, approx fifty hours, and didnt see anything. Bow season I had deer in bow range everytime I sat. Who knows, I just keep trying to get a little smarter and become a little better hunter each time out. :)

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

Dan sorry but things are way different down our way especially with CWD and the way the DNR is handling it.
It is like 2 different worlds when it comes to up your way and down our way.
Now with 30-50 deer in a field that is out of control but I have never seen that here in South Eastern Wisconsin.
Wisconsin has hot spots with to many deer and it sounds like you might be in one of them.
Now that spot me and you been chatting about that I go to maybe some type of management down the road might work but right now it is not because of the brown its down with most hunters. It is public timber company land and I dont think it will ever change IMO.
I also can not wait until baiting goes out the window for the whole state not just down here.

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

I drive 50 miles to work one way every day and I have seen less dead deer in the ditches that I have ever seen. Not sure if more people are being that more cautious or what. And my route runs right through some of the biggest public hunting land in Clark and Wood County. Right through the Sherwood Forest. It used to be nothing to see 30-40 deer laying alonghwy 73and in the last 3 months I think I have seen 5-10. Damned EAB is helping drivers but it sure isnt helping most hunters. I know one family that has a group of 20 that come up every year, they hunted the entire 9 day gun season and took 2 deer. 1 buck and 1 doe.

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

The last year or so I have spend a ton of time in the south east and central part of the state. All I can say is there is no where near the deer sign, the deer hit on the road, or the deer seen, compared to my home county in NE iowa right across the river. The amount of cover and type of terain is comparable to back home. Back home there are 30-40 deer per square mile or so in the county before hunting season.

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

Now it would seem the majority here says they are seeing and shooting fewer deer, those of you seeing more deer are most likely in zones where there either is no EAB or has not been EAB for more than a season or two...........like I said before EAB has it's place, but to go state wide with it in areas where the population is already severely low would be pretty much eradicating the herd there.........as far as I'm concerned seeing more deer does not = a better hunt, but seeing a major loss in the doe population over an entire season has me very concerend that the deer herd around me is going to be very low the next few years, possibly to the point that I will need to stop hunting it for a couple years to allow it to build back up.And even then it will take a number of years to establish what I have worked for since 1989 in terms of QDM................the DNR is ruining our deer herd and we are blindly sitting by letting them do it!

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

I also want to know what happened in Wisconsin? I hunt with a group of 15 people. The entire 9 day season hunting hard everyday we saw a total of 30 deer, this coming from a group who usually shoots about 15 deer per season, we only shot 3. The DNR is full of it. We hunt with a guy who flies airplanes for the DNR and he counts deer numbers and tracks the wolves and he says he knows there is not the amount of deer that they claim there are. There are large numbers in certain areas but not everywhere where they claim to be. Why does the DNR continue to claim these high numbers when they arent there?

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

Im with you on this one lung. I agree with you 100% of the way

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

Ill tell you why....$$$$$$$$ Its all for money. The DNR says that there are so many deer so more people will buy licenses and draw revenue from inside the state and not to mention all the out of state dollars they receive every year. For all you out of state hunters that come to Wi to hunt, I say, stay home, save your money.