CherokeeHunter

Well, this is surely a dark day for me. This was my third year hunting property that my former landlord owns. I treated the land as my own, because I used to rent a house on this land. I watched it like a hawk and was always running off trespassers. This land holds special meaning for me as this is where my hunting memories began. I got started hunting late in life, at the ripe old age of 22. I couldn't get anyone to teach me to hunt so I am 100% completely self taught. I still vividly remember every detail of all my successful hunts, as well as some painful lessons learned while sitting up a tree. Now I guess you could say that I have a certain nack for hunting. (My dream is to be a professional hunter someday) The first time I attempted to hunt anything was September 16, 2000 opening day of the whitetail bow season. I climbed into my tree at about 3:00am because I was so excited. At 7:00am I slipped an arrow through a respectable 8 point buck. Gun season of that year, I put a slug through a 7 point buck, and a few days later I took a doe. My ex-wife bought me a brand new Thompson Center inline muzzleloader for father's day and I shot a very large doe. In 2001 I slipped an arrow through a respectable 5 point buck. Gun season I shot a doe, and a few days later I knocked down a monster one horned 4 point swamp buck. 2002 I shot a yearling buck to get my earn a buck tag, and after 3 years of struggling I brought down a huge doe with a quartering away heart shot, from my trusty bow. I slipped an arrow through my best buck yet, a very nice 5 point, and I took another doe before the gun deer season. So now that I have covered all 11 deer that I have taken in my 3 years of hunting we get to the bad news. The farmers next door have been trespassing and poaching deer since before the bow season opened. Gun shots all day long. I used to see between 15 and 30 deer a day, sometimes in range sometimes not. Now this year as you can imagine, the deer sightings have gone way down. I had to hunt extra hard to get the 4 deer that I have shot this year. Well the landlord gave permission to her granddaughters husband, brother, and dad to hunt the land. They have not seen any deer and neither have I. She called me up and said that it was my fault that noone was seeing deer, because I shoot too many. I said I think it has more to do with the people next door. She said regardless, I would like for you not to hunt anymore so my granddaughters husband, brother, and dad can shoot some deer. Needless to say I am completely heartbroken. The land is very difficult to hunt, mostly swamp with everchanging swirling winds, with a huge tract of public land next door. But I welcome the challenge and have answered the call for 3 years with 11 deer to show for it. But my biggest question is........ what now?? Without going into detail my financial situation is very poor, and I recently got laid off from my job. So buying, leasing or renting land is out. Public land gets hit hard all through my area, and scouting is not yet one of my strong suits as I mainly hunt by the seat of my pants. Gut instinct and what have you. (Been hunting from the same tree for 3 years, all my deer have been taken from this tree)So where does that leave a devoted hunter?? I made a personal goal for myself that I would try to harvest a buck with a bow and gun every year. Well I have about a month left to get another buck on the ground and here I am with nowhere to hunt. I'm not too social of a person, so no friends or family that I can hunt with or anything like that. I'm really between a rock and a hard place here. I understand full well that the number one problem across the nation for hunters is finding somewhere to hunt. But for me I go to the woods not only to hunt but to talk to the animals and to do an awful lot of praying. (I am Native American. Cherokee and Chippewa.) But this must be done in solitude with no interruptions, so once again public land doesn't help much. Is there somewhere that you can look for private land that people allow hunters? Or what is my best way to go in this? I really don't want to give up on hunting, especially when I just started and I truly savor all my hunting days. Anyways, sorry to have made this so long, but I wanted to express how very important that my hunting is to me and that there is a dire urgency that I find somewhere to hunt. So if you can offer me some suggestions I would truly appreciate it. Mitakuye Oyasin.

JRW

You're in Zone 70G right?

There's a huge tract of public land on Morse Rd. east of Hwy 51 that I haven't seen many hunters in. Rowan Creek on CS in Poynette gets some hunting pressure, but not too bad.

There's a TON of public land in your area. I'd burn a tank of gas or two and check it out. You might be surprised.

JRW

TreestandEd

3 years 11 deer for one person on one property is ALOT. Someone had to tell her or them about all these deer harvested. I dont blame her.

TrestandEd

"Hard work ... conviction ... pride ... responsibility ... class ... character ... success...BOWHUNTING

Indianahick

11 deer in 3 yrs. Wow that is alot even if the area was deer rich. I will only take 2 a year for us to eat and there are 4 of us and that gives us deer meat every week for a year and when I get my first for the new year some to the feeding of the homeless here in my town. The neighbors are now hunting the area. You were bragging to much evidently or they would not have been there. The words former or ex landlord says it all. If as the previos poster stated there is ample state owned land handy that is not over hunted use it and start asking around to local farmers. Do not mean to sound angry but I can understand giving land to hunt to Granddaughter and her husband. After all she is family. I too lost my hunting area this year because the person that was renting quit paying his rent, so I do feel sorry for you in the long run. Next time you get a honeyhole like that do not over hunt and keep it quite.

JRW

Guys,

11 deer in 3 years may seem like a lot...but it isn't. CherokeeHunter is in zone 70G, which has been in "T-Zone" for the last few years...and is now part of the CWD Management Zone.

In short, it's very overpopulated and the DNR's has been throwing free doe tags at people there for years to try to get the herd thinned out. 11 deer in 3 years isn't "overhunting" that area. In fact, taking a few more would only help the herd.

JRW

nub

If you had reason to believe the neighbors were poaching, you should have called a game warden. If you want to find private land to hunt, start knocking on some doors. All they can say is no. For those of you who think 11 deer in 3 years is too much, come on out and hunt WI. We could stand to kill a few more in certain areas. Even after the firearms season we probably still have a million and a half or so. I don't recall hearing this gun hunt setting any records so I'm sure we're still considered overpopulated.

bandgod

I wish we had the deer back up here in northern WI. I only saw nine deer all season and that was quite a lot for our group. We got some deer but it was tough hunting. We were in the T-zone last year and the neighbors have been shooting everything and now your lucky to see a deer. I believe the DNR count is inacurate and needs to be reviewed here in Wisconsin. As for hunting someplace I would suggest public ground. Even if it gets hit hard there are places that some people aren't willing to go and that's where you've got to be.

CherokeeHunter

Well suppose that it's time to start replying to those that replied to my post. To JRW yes I am in 70G and the land I used to hunt connects to that public that you speak of on morse road. I used to live in that little white house on morse road. I have seen so much orange through that land in 3 years. More importantly though the other day when we had the snowfall, I walked all around that public all day and I didn't find one deer track. The deer seem to have taken up residence somewhere else. I know that there is a lot of public land in my area, but not knowing how to scout and especially not sure how to go about hunting the late bow season after gun hunters is my main problems.
To TreestandEd, it appears you need to go back and reread my post. I used to see between 15 and 30 deer a day on that land. 11 deer in 3 years is not a lot. I also didn't include the number of deer that I shot at and spooked off and the number of deer that I shot and lost due to various reasons. The landowner owns about 100 acres and the public next door is a few thousand acres plus the land I hunted is surounded by thousands of acres of private land. So once again 11 deer in 3 years is not that many. As for the landowner knowing about the deer harvested I took every deer I shot to the house and showed them. They were well aware how many I shot each year. They wanted me to be successful just as much as I wanted to be.
To Indianahick I do not believe in bragging. I believe very much in honoring and respecting all wildlife while it's alive and after it's dead. True I tell people when I am blessed by the guardian of the trail with harvesting a deer but it really only matters to one person. ME. Creator and I are the only ones who know how the scenario played out and how big the deer harvested was. I do not know why they decided to hunt here after all these years. But I still feel that the best thing to have done was to show the landowner the deer I harvested. If this is considered bragging so be it.
To nub, I have tried repeatedly to contact the DNR about the poachers and tresspassers. The landowner will not give me the neighbors names that are poaching or press charges when I do get trespassers names. So it's not for lack of trying on my part. I believe they have been poaching since before I started hunting the land. As for knocking on doors, since wisconsin has set so many records in the record books for bucks and also holds the former world record typical most landowners will not allow you on their property so that you will not shoot any of their big bucks. I understand how they want to be the ones to shoot the big bucks but what about regulating the deer herd and also allowing the sport of hunting to continue moving forward? All I have ever heard is not to expect to get onto private land anywhere around here.
To bandgod I don't have any problem with hunting public land. What I do have a problem with is lack of knowledge when it comes to hunting period. I haven't the foggiest idea how to scout or how to best decide where the deer are gonna be or where they are gonna go. As I said earlier I went out on the public land and didn't find one deer track. So what then? Do you just wander into the woods and sit down whereever?? let me tell you in 10 degree weather I'd like to at least put the odds in my favor that I'm going to at least see something when I'm out in that cold of weather. Considering we are through the gun season and muzzleloader season goes until Dec. 14th, I still have to deal with nocturnal deer and also hunting pressure. I am only allowed to hunt with a bow this year so the odds keep getting stacked higher and higher against me. If there was somewhere i could go to learn about scouting or if someone would be kind enough to teach me, things would be a little easier. Until then, I'm just gonna be hunting blind.
Thanks to you all for the advice and hopefully I'll figure something out. If not, I'll just take my memories I have now and hang the bow up for good.

nub

CH: I don't mean to sound blunt, but <BLOCKQUOTE id=quote<font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>As for knocking on doors, since wisconsin has set so many records in the record books for bucks and also holds the former world record typical most landowners will not allow you on their property so that you will not shoot any of their big bucks. I understand how they want to be the ones to shoot the big bucks but what about regulating the deer herd and also allowing the sport of hunting to continue moving forward? All I have ever heard is not to expect to get onto private land anywhere around here.
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>Not true. For one, find out if any of these private lands are in the forest reserve or other state funded programs. A lot have to allow access, and some even supply a parking lot. <BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote> As for knocking on doors, since wisconsin has set so many records in the record books for bucks and also holds the former world record typical most landowners will not allow you on their property so that you will not shoot any of their big bucks. I understand how they want to be the ones to shoot the big bucks but what about regulating the deer herd and also allowing the sport of hunting to continue moving forward? All I have ever heard is not to expect to get onto private land anywhere around here.
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>We all didn't learn scouting over night or by sitting on the couch. You have to get out in the woods and look for sign. learn where they eat and where they feel secure enough to bed and you have it licked for the most part. Trial and error pal, JUST DO IT!

jagertiger

Cherokeehunter I have been hunting on and off from the age of 13 and just started getting into it seriosly this past year. I picked up a book from North American hunting club called whitetail wisdom I paid like $5 for it at a book store or maybe a library has it but it has alot of good hints and stratagies in it about how to hunt,track,scout and is very well written in my opinion.Also just look on the internet I have found alot of good advise out there and hope you continue hunting it is a very important cultural event and everyone who wants to should be able to. Well good luck I hope you find some land to hunt on but you have to remember alot of people don't like to work to hard so if you find a thick enough swamp on public land you might have it all to yourself.