Wisconsin Deer Hunters
 

Where are all the deer? Has anyone noticed the decline in the number of deer they have seen during hunting? Ive seen more deer in southern wi then up north. Would like to know your opinioun about that earn a buck crap.

RE: Wisconsin Deer Hunters
 

Do a search on here. This topic has been discussed way to much... EAB is a good prgram but only for private lands. Thats where the DNr is f'in it up by not distinguishing and making different programs for private and public lands keeping the herd control programs where they need to be (on the private lands in the herd control areas)...

I was talkin with a couple Illinois DNR guys about a month ago were tellin me about how many deer they have been cullingthe last couple months in high pop areas and they said they need to get some EAB/herd control"type" programs going in certain areas and were askin me about what ours was like and I said whatever you do don't be retarded like WI and implament these programs on public lands and this was their response. "Oh god no that would be stupid and would not let anything like that happen.All the pop problems come from the private lands". WCL

RE: Wisconsin Deer Hunters
 

yeah i agree i dont think the wi dnr know whats going on. hopefully they will make good changes for up comming deer season

RE: Wisconsin Deer Hunters
 

Same problem here in MN.

RE: Wisconsin Deer Hunters
 

down here in southwest wisconsin i havent seen the deer i have the past couple years. the dnr need to pull their heads out of their butts and pay attention to the deer herds.

RE: Wisconsin Deer Hunters
 

lol. you guys think earn -a-buck is so bad?? I dont know if you all have heard, but they are bringing a vote this idea for the 2009 bowhunting season.. basically- its an all antler less season except opening weekend and the 2 weeks during the rut. but seein as how the DNR is incapable of figuring out when the rut is and the rut varies every year based on weather and that kind of stuff, they are basically going to completeley F*** up WI bowhunting. I dont know why they don't realize what they are doing, but it is stupid. I hunt near Necedah where we have the fastest growing wolf pack in WI. (Silough wolf pack) and we did not see a single deer for 9 weekends in a row. It is getting pathetic. and now because we couldnt kill any deer because the wolves drove them off, we are on teh ear-a-buck watch zone. Also, another reason people are not seeing deer is because for the past 5 years, the state has not accounted for winter severity and kill off. I went shed hunting this past weekend and found 11 diferent dead deer killed from winter on just 100 acres. That is ALOT of deer!! I think if the DNR would just leave the population alone, and let nature take over for a season or two, they would become more popular and the deer herd would be able to reheal..

RE: Wisconsin Deer Hunters
 

The bow thing I doubt willpass and yes they (or should I say the guy in charge who proposed it) knows exactly what hewas doing. He is trying to make the gun hunting better for himself anda few othersby hiding it in his proposed method. Another big reason was a hidden screw over of the bowhunters while making the gun hunters think its a great deal and they would see more bucks to shoot. Think about it, gun hunters way out number bow hunters and thats where the revenue is and with the past two years they are losing revenue. It wasn't a deer control tacticeither its far from it. The logic behind it shows ya. Bowhunters on the majority hunt for bucks and some does. They do harvest does as they wish the entire season but implamenting the new plan wouldn't make the doe kill much higher. It would keep more people out of the woods who are out there for the chance to shoot bucks but may take a doe. All in all I don't think doe kills will differ much between the two season structures. Besides gun hunters kill such a great number of anterless deer than bowhunters do it wouldn't even make a difference....

It's the darn SAK system for pop they continue to use which is out dated yet "is the most trusted model biologist still agree is the best" Thats a load of BS. If you don't know the SAK system is based off of many things including winter kill and the biggest one, buck fawn kills to total deer harvested and such. Well even though they don't admit it deer hunting is not the same as it was 20 years ago yet the same model is used. Lets think about the differences, alot of people have started practicing QDM, pay attention and try not to kill buck fawns, have larger plots of land that can be managed better privately, and the biggest one EAB which leads to a higher buck fawn kill because they are the stupidest deer in the woods typically leaving mother and being the first deer into a field resulting in hunters killing hte first antlerless they see to get their sticker. Higher buck fawn kills to lower total kills = the model being completely f'd up. with no way off correcting it...

They have accounted for winter kill but were way off last year and I'm betting will be off this year...

Your statement about finding deer dead only supports what the dnr wants. It shows that your area has to many deer and the food during winter months is not enough to sustain them...

EAB has completely messed everything up because the DNR won'tseparate private and public lands when it makes regulations. The bow thing is the least of WI deer pop worries although as a bowhunter I would hate to see it. WCL

RE: Wisconsin Deer Hunters
 

just make a hunting seoson for wolves and for couple years make it to hunters choice for deer...the population will be good in no time

RE: Wisconsin Deer Hunters
 

I agree they are just trying to better themselves. No doubt. And I believe the DNR did screw up. I think i read somewheres they claimed to overestimate teh population by 3 million? thats one heck of a number to overestimate by. Every one of the deer were little yearlings.

DT- I agree. Alot of people say hunters are selfish becuase wewant to kill the deer rather than let the wolves do it. And that is exactly right. I spend an awful lot of money buying the land, putting in the time and food plots, buying all the equipment, cost of travel for all the weekends, hotel room fees, etc. So yes. when i spend all that money, i DO want to see deer and dont want wolves chasing and killing them off.

BS

RE: Wisconsin Deer Hunters
 

No not quite. The estimation before the 2007 season was 1.8 million deer in WI and was beleived to be fairly close with the high harvest that happened in 2007. Before 2008 season I believe the estimation was around 1.6 million deer but after the season started they soon realized there was a bad estimation due to winter kill and the poorly projected bear populations in 2007 which resulted in masive winter and spring fawn kills along with the fawn kills in some lowland areas due to the massive flooding we had last spring in WI. Their new estimate which came half way throughthe gun season (to late at that point) was reduced from 1.6 to 1.2 or somillion but possibly as low as 1.1 million deer.... Thats about a 1/4 to 1/3 decrease in pop and matches up withwhat the harvests dropped throughout the state. WCL