How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

Me and my dad went out hunting this morning for opening gun season in Wisconsin. We hunt right on the edge of a fields looking over knee high grass, a stream, and a corn field. we had all the right signs and thought we did pretty good. guess not. went out all day.... An half hour before opening and stayed out till closing. Didn't see anything but squirrels. All around us we heard shots all around us but not where we were. I'm really pissed. How was everyone else opening Wisconsin hunt?

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

Mine was horrible...The DNR needs to reevaluate whoever is counting deer numbers. There arent as many deer as they say there are. They need to stop all of this herd control at least around me. Hopefully everyone did better than me though

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

I was in my stand 45 minutes before shooting, stayed until 10, which was as long as I could with as cold as it was. Got back in my stand by 12:45 and stayed until the end. I saw 5 or 6 squirrels. Ugh.

I heard a lot of shooting in the area but nothing came by me. I know the area is good but nothing today.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

i shot my doe around 11 am.
i heard the ppl to the north east of me shooting so i got ready and then i saw a doe runing straight at me from the east i looked for shooting lane and she never came to it. i looked back and all i could see was her breath. i followed it to her hiding in some thick brush, but she was looking right at me about 30yd. i shot her in the neck and she run 20 yd and jumped the creek and double over. doe # 3 and and deer #5 in my hunting career.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

same here man actully regulating how many deer were taking off our land their just not their saw one today

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

I was hunting up in Lake Tomahawk, and the hunting was just horrible. On Saturday, I saw nothing at all, except blue jays, but my dad's friend shot a nice little 6 pointer at 4:30 PM. Today I saw 2 does out of range running on top of a hill, and that was it.

Me and my dad stopped in at the registration station in L. Tom to check on the number of registered deer, and weheard that it was down 50 PERCENT last year. Unbelievable, just totally unbelievable. Almost every deer track I saw had wolf or coyote prints right behind it. The DNR has to stop them, and eradicate wolves again.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

Me and my dad went out all day yesterday he got a shot off at a little spike at about 8:30a.m. but missed. I saw does all day went on a little push about 1:30p.m. to try to push something to my dad was pushing a bunch of does right at him when 2 bucks came from the other direction a big 8 and an even bigger 10 I shot the 8 before I even noticed the 10 was behind him. The shot didn't even scare the 10 he just looked at me and carried on his marry way no flag no running nothing. The only thing he did was stopped to smell the 8 that was down right in front of him.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

I hunted in zone 56 - Juneau County - Necedah Wildlife Refuge

Out of 11 hunters in our group we got (1) little buck.

8 hunters in the group saw no deer! and theoverall gun shots heard in the area was much less than prior seasons.

Last year our results were about the same. I think we got 2 or 3 deer in 2007

The Necedah Refuge does have a very large wolf pack but thats only a small piece of the problem in my opinion.

We have hunters in our group that have hunted my particular spot for over 30 years,and with the stories these old timers tell at camp I can assure anyone, including these DNR idiots that the deer counts are way off!

These Old Timers in my group talk of the "old days" when maybe 1 guy in camp had a doe tag and everyone else only had buck tags. Hell! between myself and my wife we have 4 friggin doe tags this year. We have guys in the state using these tags and even buying more. Its hurtin the population BIG time!

Chronic Wasting??? laughs. this disease just all the sudden popped up in the state hun? I just dont buy it, but Ill give it to ya DNR. great excuse to reduce your so called 1.6 million count herd or whatever your saying it is up to now. go hunt once and see how many deer you see!

I have all the same complaints as every other hunter I ran into this weekend but the most important concern I have...

"Take a kid hunting!!!"

we have all heard this before and its great! get these kids outta the house and away from video games, computers and TVs. or worse yet, drugs and violence.

but with a opening weekend I just had... 8 out of 11 guys didnt even see a deer!

how in the hell do I keep a 12 year old kid interested in hunting when they dont see anything?????

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

Kanes, you are absolutely right. I'm 14, and I've never shot a deer, so I can relate to your son. I hear the "take a kid hunting, so they get off of the video games, and stay away from drugs," and other stuff of the like, but whats the point if you don't see anything?

I really think we should let the DNR know that a "traditional hunt" (Which is what they said about this year's hunting season) DOES NOT mean that you sit for hours, and don't see anything, and we also have to let them know that wolves can't be their priority. Its all they care about. They admitted that they failed in stopping CWD, and they failed in stopping invasive species. You don't hear them finding a solution, you just hear them talk about wolves.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

Saw one doe....running it's a$$ off. Sat thru killer temps for nearly 12 hours both days for that.

Heard ya there. These numbers aren't even close. Talked with a guy on saturday night who says he knows the DNR is fudging the numbers high to get a higher kill and lessen the auto/deer collision rates in the states. Says the big insurance companies are washing some hands in Madison. Wouldn't surprise me.

I'll be trying down here this week....up near Eau Claire was terrible.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

i actually took 2 does on saturday and a doe today. my buddies son got his first buck and we saw another 10 or so doe.i have heard that numbers are down though.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

I had a really great opening weekend. I was fortunate enough to take good bucks both mornings, and used both buck tags that I had from last year as well as taking a doe Sunday morning around 10:30 to have a tag that will be good for next year. Good luck to those who haven't been seeing much, I hope things turn around for you.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

Had a pretty good opening weekend. We have 6 people in our group and ended up with 7 deer, 5 does and 2 bucks. I got 2 does on Saturday at 11am. Six does came walking down a trail about 100 yards out, stopped, I put the biggest one in my scope and shot, two took off and four stayed. So, I took a shot at a second and they took off. Went down to where they were, just off the trail was the second deer I shot and about 30 yards in was the cow of a doe I shot first. The first does was about 140lbs dressed and the second was 100lbs dressed. Good Luck to everyone else for the rest of the season.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

First off how do you get 2 buck tags in WI? You are only issued ONE gun buck tag. Nice bucks I just hope someone else tagged one of them.

I saw 10 bucks Saturday. One was a 140 class 8 pointer. I didn't have a perfect shot so I held off. I'd rather shoot him with the bow anyway. I think I saw over 30 deer Saturday so it isn't bad everywhere.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

isaw six deer saterday and nothing sunday

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

cmscat50. You get a buck tag for every doe you shoot in EAB areas.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

You get a buck tag validation sticker for every doe you shoot in EAB areas. This must be affixed to a valid buck tag. As far I understand it, you could take a buck with an Archery Buck tag and another with a Gun Buck tag (and perhaps a third with a Muzzleloader tag but I think that falls under Gun). Tags themselves do not carry over year to year but the stickers do carry over one year.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

Our weekend at our place wasn't too bad. I shot a 2 does, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. I saw a couple other does and fawns and a spike. Our camp got 4 deer total so not too bad.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

No, you get a buck tag VALIDATION for each doe you shoot in EAB units. You still are issued only ONE buck tag for firearm season. The only way you can legally tag 2 bucks is if you also archery hunt.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/news/DNRNews_Lookup.asp?id=145#art1
Day 1 State report. Some places did well, others did not. I know that in our party most of the guys were out of the woods by 10:30-11:00 because of the cold rather than at noon, and didn't go back out until 2:30 or so. Less time in the woods means fewer chances.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

You better read page 25 of the regulation (http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/wildlife/regs/index.htm)
in the CWA zone you can kill more than one buck a year legally.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

It's funny how somepeople know everything, until they are proven otherwise...

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

i saw a total of 5 does and 5 bucks. 3 were forks, one was a spike and the other was decent 8 point. probably would score 110. i passed on all of them. the corns still up here so all the deer are in the corn field. so when we pick this week ill be standing in the corn waiting for the deer to come out

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

If I'm not mistaken, an unused green EAB sticker from last year is valid for a buck this year. If you shoot a doe this year, you'd get an accompanying buck tag for an additionalone for the same calendar year. I think in CWD zones you can get as many bucks as you bring in does...

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/wildlife/regs/deer08.pdf

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

i am in a cwd zone and you can take as many does and bucks as you want(with buck stickers). I have 5 buck stickers(2 does last year and 3 this year)but havent seen a buck this year yet.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

Saturday I seen four deer total, had chance to shoot at two of them, I let them walk because they were a little small. Sunday morning at 6:53 I lured in a small 8pt. with my drag line and bleat can. He is now hanging in my tree. I have to work through Wed. so I might get out again on turkey day. GOOD LUCK TO ALL. HAVE A SAFE HUNT.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

Well...I agree that the opening weekend stunk, but with a little different opinon on why. We hunt in Polk county on the NW side of the state. We are avid Bow hunters as well as rifle. This year, up till this weekend, we have seen more big deer than many of the prior years and saw more bucks during bow season than ever before. We saw plenty of "shooters", basically three years old or greater up to this weekend.

However, come Saturday....almost a complete reversal. Perfect weather (cool, cloudy and little wind)but no deer moving. While we don't always get nice deer, we sometimes do and usually see a lot more than we just did. We also heard a LOT less shots around us. We usually joke that Saturday morning is like WWIII. Not this year.

We also talked to the local registration station and they too were off dramatically, close to 40% less deer registered.

I think it had to do with the rut and what stage it is in. I do not believe that the DNR is misleading us, at least not in parts of the states I know well or friends in mine hunt.

Basically, the peak action in our part of the state usually occurs around the 4th - 7th of Nov. This year it was a week later. The main action happened the 14th and 15th. This was also noted by many of the other hunters in our area. With the peak taking place just a week before the gun opener, the timing would be "just right" for bucks to just lie down with does - in essence the peak breeding time.

Thinking about this, and sick of seeing literally no deer where I typically see quite a bit and get a buck opening day (75% of the time), I got out of my stand and still hunted starting 1:00pm Sunday.

I really took my time, probably covering 100 yards an hour. Made as little noise as possible and glassed every nook and cranny over and over and went straight up wind. 3 hours later, I got within 25 yards of 9 bedded deer, including two bucks. I got an 8-pointer and they had almost no idea I was there.

Today, my father-in-law took this tactic in a different part of our land and got a real nice 2 1/2 year old. He said he barley moved 350 yards in 4 hours.

So, I think the deer are simply lying down. It makes sense given what we have seen as well as what we have reas/learned about the phases of the rut.

In WI, this next weekend could be fun as they get up and move again.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

Thanks for fielding that question or actually a bit of an accusation for me Handles. I DO in fact huntin the CWD Zone of the state, so YES I had 2 buck stickers from last year. I also now have a sticker for next year being I took the doe Sunday morning. It really can be somewhat irritating when someone wants to point fingers when they have no idea what they're talking about.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

I read through some of the reports on the DNR website and most of them seemed to be from the middle of the day and claimed the lack of registration was due to the fact that it was cold enough people could afford to let their deer hand and stay in the field. yea right. an article i read today stated numbers were down 22%, thats a significant amount, and where i hunt ( northern part of unit 42) it was -2 degrees out at 5:30 saturday morning, and some people arent prepared to sit in that weather. I put in about 17 hrs on the stand and walking the woods this past weekend and saw 0 deer, as did 6 of the other 7 guys in my camp, one guy was lucky to see 2 deer and he got even luckier and dropped one while it was running. I hope the action picks up later in the week or numbers are gonna be incredibly low throughout the state. good luck to the rest of you and don't get discouraged. hunt safely.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

Re-reading my posts I see how it can read that I am pointing fingers. I did not intend to sound that way. I appologize. I intended to clarify my second post by asking for any regulation clarification, but as always being in a hurry that sentence was left out. I hope no one loses any sleep.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

It's all good cms....no worries here. I agree with keeping a watchful eye on people when it comes to good bucks around here as I've seen large antlers turn people into idiots. I love hunting far too much to ever think of breaking a game law and in effect making myself a hippocrite. I believe if you get a nice buck all things being square (legal) then CONGRATS! If you have to cheat at all even if it's one minute of shooting hours....you don't deserve it! As I stated in my original post, I hope that those of you out there that haven't been seeing much have better luck as the season goes on...good luck out there and be safe.

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

Awesome!!:D 7:30 Saturday Morning

RE: How was your opening Wisconsin gun hunt?
 

When I registered my buck (which is nearly a twin to the one tikka posted, wow I thought mine was a 1 in a million with the 1tine right side) there was a DNR guy there so I asked him how many deer were registered, he said "over 100 easy" the lady doing the registration immediately came over and counted her tally sheet off for me and she had officially checked in 47. Since they can't even count dead deer right, I highly doubt they even have a clue as to how to count live deer. The guys that hunt to our north got none, the guys to our south got none, and our 5 man hunting party got 1. The WI DNR has screwed up the deer population in my area for years to comewith their EAB system. It should have ended 2 years ago but they continued it for whatever reason. Most of the hunters in my area bought into the notion that there were too many does and they needed to be thinned, you read it just about everywhere that there are too many does and hunters need to shoot as many as they can. Well, we did and now we are reaping the "rewards"..... a deerless woods. After 8 days of hard hunting I saw7 deer. I sat opening day until 1:20 pm without seeing a deer. I hope changes are coming.