mammasboy

There are times that I may not see deer for days on end, doesn't mean there aren't too many. I remember the days that during 9 days of rifle hunting you would only see a handfull of deer. But, you would have a good chance at seeing a nice one. Usually for me, the less deer sightings I experience the better.

bnhcomputing

Earn a buck is here to STAY! I agree that the way the DNR evaluates deer population needs to be looked at, but we also need to look at what is happening to hunting, not only in Wisconsin, but in other states as well, in general.

Sportsman pay extra taxes every time we purchase equipment, ammo, guns, etc. This money is intended to set aside land on which we can hunt. In my area, we have many refuges, but not much public hunting area. In the old days, we used to have a group of 20-30 guys. We hunted every property in the area. We used the old you drive mine and I drive yours. Now everybody has the “me” attitude, and so we all hunt our own little corner, the deer don’t move, and thus we don’t see/kill as many.

We also have to look at urban sprawl. Every golf course in the state has become a refuge during the hunting season.

As for crop damage claims, again it’s the “me” issue. If they put in a claim, they MUST open their land to hunters, so they simply don’t put in the claim. Unless we, as landowners and hunters, start working together, we will destroy the sport for the common man.

I predict that within 20 years, we will have to pay exorbitant land use fees to the guys with all the money, who will own all the land, or we won’t have any hunting areas. Wooded hunting property is selling/assessed at over $80,000 per 40-acre parcel in most places.

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It’s God’s country not mans.