RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

Probably not the answer you'd expect from me, but.....NO!

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

Actually, brother, it is.;)

Its the same answer I have.

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

I hear ya, Dan. My numbers this year are gonna be WAY off last years.....but I have my suspicions "why". I'm also hoping it's a trend;).

I'd rather see 1/4 the deer I'm seeing now.....with the chance of seeing just a FEW more "quality" bucks. I'm "almost" to the point I'm going to have to let some impressive (for this area) animals walk. THAT will be a tough day in my woods.....knowing my neighbors. But...I'll do it.

Neighbor stops my wife, day before yesterday.....says to tell me she saw a MONSTER (OK....it's a relative term:D) coming out of one of my woodlots.

PLEASE let him make it two more weeks.....[&:]:)

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

You think its bad this year wait till next year. With the high amount of does killed this year there arent going to many deer around at all next year, just a hunch but maybe i can be taken for a fool next year.

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

I'll take your hunch...[8D]

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

I agreee with GregH and __Dan, you do have to look harder for them. I rifle hunted with 5 others and most of those guys did not see a deer. I, on the other hand saw one doe with fawn and one buck fawn, 3 spikes and a wall hanger at 325 yrds sneaking away from me down wind. Was it a successful hunt? Yep, am i the farthest from the road? yep again. They are out there, and letting smaller bucks does pay off. My brother saw 7 deer before 7AM opening day,shot a 6 point that I would have loved for him to let walk and taken a doe instead, but to each his own. He saw nothing after that for two days, but he also did not take the hunt as seriously after he had one on the ground. I would bet that if there ws snow on the ground the kill would have been much higher also, in fact, I'm sure the kill was higher, just not the recovered deer due to no tracking snow. Keep looking and changing little things and you will get your deer. I would rather see few deer and maybe a wall hanger than a bunch of 1-1.5year olds running around all over. Good Luck all!

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

It is going to be different depending on where you hunt, but I hunt in a pretty wide array of areas accross the state, and where I hunt the deer numbers are WAY down from just five years ago. And I'm not just talking about how many deer I have seen, the deer sign just isnt there. It was an honest accomplishment to see just one deer a night/morning this bow season. We have a cabin in northern WI (Sawyer County) and ussually have some awesome hunts up there, this year after a few weekends of scouting we figured out it wasnt even worth the trouble, to even find a freshly used deer trail up there took hours of scouting. I also hunt in northern Juneau County, deer numbers have been down there the last few years, but with some work it was possible to find some deer. I did also for the first time do some hunting in Western WI, onpublic land and did find some deer, I have not hunted there before soIdont know of thosenumbers are down or up. Ispend a lot of time talking toother hunters and in local sportshops, and most peopleby talking to these people you would think the deer have gone extinct. There are still deer around,but itthe numbersdo seem to have gone down. It just takes a little more work to find them.

I have mixed feelings about it, becauseI did see far less deer this year than past years, but I alsosaw a lot more maturebucks, (I missed2 130+ bucks on back to back nights). I hunt both public and private land, and since EAB has started we have taken more good bucks off publicland then in all previous years combined. I would say the quality of the deer herd has actually improved, but the nights of seeing15 or even 8 deer in a night (for me) are veryfew.

I am sure there are areas where deer numbers are a totally different story, but I spend a ton of hours in the woods, and I feel I have a pretty good idea of how many deer are in the areas I hunt. I also hunt MN andthere seemed to be a lot more deer over there this year.

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

Personally, I think deer numbers are down since the DNR started implementing T-zones, EAB, etc. several years ago. That's not saying there are no deer around...just means the DNR is closer to their management goals whether right or wrong. I harvested two deer this year, so no sour grapes here. One doe with my bow in Outagamie County and an 8pt. buck in Forest County.

One gripe of mine about the DNR is comparing deer harvested year over year, and using this as a reference to deer population. With the number of herd control and EAB units increasing, there should be more deer harvested. Just isn't apples to apples comparison in my opinion comparing deer harvested from 1990 to 2007 for example.

One other gripe is moving a couple units to herd control this year in the NE region, specifically unit 38. I hunt a little in this unit as well as other folks I know. The deer population just doesn't justify a herd control unit in my opinion.

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

It's hard to tell. I hunt in St. Germain (gun) and the pressure has to be at least double what it was when I started. I definitely see less deer. I did see a drive of about 20 people last weekend, though. I think stuff like this probably does more to reduce the deer herd in my area than the DNR does. And those guys will probably do the same thing next year and wonder why they don't get anything.

RE: What happend to wisconsin???
 

around me it seemslots have become nocturnal. shine feilds at night and theyre everywhere. daytime they disappear.