Matt / PA,You have just made my day, Thank you.

I like that Matt

This is the only thing that really bugs me on a regular basis. If they admit that populations and trends aren't the same across the state then why do we have the same length of seasons and bag limits across large areas. Though they try to explain it a bit later in the post the fact remains that the deer herd needs to be micromanaged on a much smaller scale than the current WMUs.

Did anyone else note that there was no reference in the report regarding the effect of the harvest on the OWDD. Did the 2004 harvest reduce the herd by 8% as the harvest of 283K anterless did in 2001 or did the herd remian stable? Or, are they going to telll us that the harvest allowed the herd to increase even more and therefore additional anterless tags and longer seasons are necessary?

Check out their antlered harvest.


Final Deer Hunt Numbers Released for 2004-05
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 03/16/2005

Hunters registered a total of 518,630 deer in 2004-2005 Wisconsin deer hunting seasons, the second highest total harvest in state history and the fourth largest deer season harvest in national history. According to the Department of Natural Resources, a record harvest of 72,336 deer was set in the October 27-30 Zone-T season. Archers also set a new record of 93,426 during the September 17 - November 17 early archery season and a total archery season record of 103,571. Muzzleloader hunters also set a new mark of 7,074.
"Considering the adverse weather conditions during parts of the hunting season, this is good news for conservation and herd management in Wisconsin," said Keith Warnke, DNR big game ecologist.

Overall, the number of antlered deer harvested decreased by 30.6 percent, while the number of antlerless deer harvested increased 52.0 percent and the total harvest increased by 19.9 percent over 2003 according to wildlife officials. On average, the harvest ratio increased from 1.5 antlerless deer to 1 antlered deer when the units were designated as Zone T units up to 3.4 antlerless to 1 antlered when they were designated Earn-A-Buck units.

Deer are considered antlerless if they have either no antlers or antlers less than three-inches in length. Aging data from 2004 indicate that 22 percent of the antlerless deer harvested were buck fawns, 20 percent were doe fawns, and 58 percent were adult does.

The near record harvest still leaves many of Wisconsin's 132 deer management units above population goals but has brought many units closer to their established levels.

You do uh. All I can say is I'm glad I don't hunt in Pa. I think that is stupid. The more I hear about Pa. the more I shake my head. What if something goes wrong, how long would it take the state to fix it, 1/2 way into the season? Good night! Maybe we should put a micro chip in every hunter to keep track of them through out the year.

What's so hard about subtracting tags filled from tags sold?

Matt has a great idea how many would return the reports than? I'd say close to 100%
something sure does need to be done or it's just a big guessing game. The game commision needs to change because right now it's the biggest joke in the country.

thats the best idea yet Matt

Wouldn't work as you'd require all license sellers to have a computer with access to these records. Almost sounds like gun background checks. How many of them would say "forget it" when it comes to selling licenses? And who wants to have more of your personal info floating around in a govt. server or out there in cyber-space.
Now someone tell me, how do other states count there deer, live or dead?

I live on the Del.- Chester Co. line and I dought they could keep up with the count of road kills, but I agree w/ Matt gotta try something! We are still totaly over-run with deer.