JW

To say that the low Hunter accident reprot was due to people not taking the safety off their gun is ludicrist! Calling all us Wiscosninites unsafe hunters no more no less with that statement is what I took offense too!

No soap box here at all - you are blaming all the wrong people.

You had better look for at your Insurance Lobby at Doyle's end!
And the fact the Wisconsin mentality is Brown it is down!


And let me add - Next year's Deer Rifle Kill count will be down at least another 20%!
JW

mr.mc54

I was one of the guys who said; no more does till they rebound. It has happened on our land, with one exception,young hunters can kill anything. Your calculation is correct,Handles,however we are upset that even though the herd is down, the DNR is promoting a longer season. I have talked to alot of guys who feel the DNR is ramming this (longer season) deal down their throat weather we agree or not.

I do think the lack of hunter participation is directly related to the lack of deer. The DNR pushes through the mentorship program, I might add, only for the money. I am not against this, its their out-right greed that will ruine deer hunting, i'm afraid. I know from what we saw, that the deer herd in our area is very low and a longer season may totally destroy it all together.

Handles

It's really easy to combat a longer season, don't hunt more days. That's what our party did the last two years other than a couple doe shot after the first 9 days. JW is right, the brown/down ideal is a huge part of the problem. If you feel in your area there aren't enough deer, then don't shoot any. Save 5 adult doe and you should have an additional 10 deer by fall. Hunters must use self control and restraint if they expect changes.
Also hunters must realize that what they are or are not seeing does not always represent the population. In our area of the state we had extremely heavy fog several mornings. That put a limit on deer sightings and harvest, otherwise we would have been nearly identical to 2008 and 2007 numbers. Also remember that where YOU are makes a difference. I saw 6 doe all season from my stand. Several hunters on the SAME PROPERT saw between 10-50 on opening morning alone (yes, some of these could be repeat sightings).
Hunters control the harvest, the DNR does not.

browningbolt

EAB = DNR CONTROLING DOE HERD HARVEST.You pay taxes and make payments on your land in EAB UNITS.So if you want to shot a buck which is what most people bought the land in the first place for HELLO YOU HAVE TO SHOOT A DOE.No matter how much you dont want to shoot that doe you are FORCED to.How the DNR thinks they should decide how each landowners herd should be regulated is complete B.S.If you were still seeing large amounts of deer landowners would shoot them but they are just not there.

mr.mc54

Don't shoot'em on your land and make the DNR squirm. In the CWD units they want every living deer dead, not a good situation for a deer hunter.

The Famous Grouse

What I've heard and what outdoor news reporters who have been present at the WDNR public input meetings have reported is that there was overwhelming support from the public at these meetings for a longer season.

In advance of the meetings, the WDNR was on record with their position that they were NOT strongly in favor of a longer season because of concerns over a shrinking heard size and the possibility that CWD could worsen.

While you might not be in favor of a longer season many of your fellow Cheesehunters (sorry, couldn't resist) are certainly throwing their support behind it for various reasons. Bottom line is that it doesn't sound to me like it's an idea that is only supported by the DNR over there.

And least we all forget, hunting has been proven to have very little impact on deer populations when compared to other factors like winter kill, predator kills, and road deaths. The area I hunt in Minnesota has sustained large scale harvests every year since the 1980s, but the only thing that seemed to significantly reduce the overall heard were the years when there were very harsh winters with deep snow and cold. Every mild winter sees an uptick in the deer numbers the next year even if the previous season had a record deer harvest.

Grouse

mr.mc54

Handles: I am looking at the big picture here. The deer on our property will come back. I do feel sad for the guys that don't have a place to hunt on private land. The brown is down thing started when the DNR gave unlimited tags away. I also feel most sportsmen hate the DNR because they have been misled too many times. All the mis-trueths from the DNR as well as the EAB and cheap tags gave many hunters a reason to hang it up. To me thats too bad.

cayugad

Well the numbers in my area dropped dramatically. I talked to one friend of mine today who's girlfriend works at a registration station. She said they were 38% down from last year. Add that to the year before, and its kind of scary. I asked him how many deer he saw in the gun season. He only had a buck tag. None was his reply, not even a doe. And he hunted all day every day. He also took his kid with him this year. The sorry part is the young man does not want to hunt next year. I guess too many days of squirrels and wood peckers is not too exciting. He said he's not going to hunt anymore until the numbers come back up. He's (like many of us) is a meat hunter not a horn hunter.

I think you might see even more hunters hang up their rifles until the herd comes back. So the DNR's solution is to extend the season.

JW

both bow and gun seasons should be buck only and the buck with at least a fork or bigger for a few years - but that will never happen.....

JW

sconnyhunter

The 16 day season structure will "typically" add only 2 days to a hunters time in the woods. This will in most likely not dramatically increase the deer harvest for the next few seasons, as the EAB seasons have seen to that.

The most opposition I have seen is from BOWHUNTERS. Mostly due to the other factors that go along with the 16 day season. Such as the 1wk (in OCT.) Youth hunt as well as the earlier muzzel loader season, supposedly to be held during the same week as the Youth hunt.
Now for a group who has a roughly 120 day season, currently broken up only by the 4 day oct. t-zone, 2 day youth hunt, 9 day regular firearm, 4 day dec. t-zone, and dec. muzzel loader seasons, they sound awful selfish to me.

The over-all population goals are what (IMO) is driving the decision by the DNR to continue to offer and expect the increased harvest of doe's. What this does is lower the number of hunters in the woods, because they aren't seeing anything, as they had in the past.