WI hunter's.......really
 

Why is everyone blamming the DNR for the deer herd in WI. I blame trigger happy hunters that shoot anything because they don't think they are going to see a deer. Hey here is some advise. Instead of coming up a week before deer season to ride your 4 wheeler in the woods, chase everything out, build a cabin for a stand. Try building a stand in the spring time, leave the 4 wheeler with your truck and don't stay in the bars for ten hours. You have to give a little to gain a lot. I think the Herd is good. I seen as many deer this year as I did five years ago. I was seeing groups of 15 come into the fields at a time. For us its almost time to start shooting does to get the ratio back to normal but we know our winters will take care of that. Here is some more advise, don't shoot the first thing you see, eat a tag once in a while. The DNR doesn't control the herd we do.

Im glad to know that your area as alot of deer running around. The majority of Wisconsin isn't seeing deer and I hunt in the CWD area where there are "tons" of deer and our area is doing horrible. In the CWD area you have to shoot a doe to get a buck tag and this year was the worst for me seeing does as I saw twice as many bucks then I did does. This comes from hunting over 400 acres of very good crop land and we had 5 trail cameras out and our cameras showed the same thing more bucks then does. I did manage to get a big buck but otherwise our neighbors saw more bucks then does. One of our neighbors got 3 bucks and a fawn opening day. The DNR is ruining the herd, they are forcing us to shoot does so we can get a buck tag.

True, but there is nothing wrong with eating a tag. I guess Im fortunate to have a good neighbor with a lot of land, we have 340 acres and Im guessing he has 1200+. That CWD Zone is a croc if you ask me. Im a half hour North of Portage and things are fine here. I remember a long time ago in that CWD area people would see 100+ deer a day for rifle season. To a hunter that was the place to grow Monster deer It basically comes down to Insurance compaines are getting sick of car/deer accidents. Good news is that one dumb*** DNR got fired

there is absoluetly a decline in our population. 100% agree the DNR messed up. with the wolves and everything else moving in and not helping them. Yeah, of course you are going to see as many deer as usualy when you have more than 1000 acres controlled. thats more than a square mile! not all of us have basically our own private farm. we have 80 and lease the 80 across the street. its not much, but it gets us a deer every so often. the deer population has plummeted by us. no doubt. when we go and register our buck at noon on saturday and we are the third person to register a deer and when you stop in on sunday night to see how many they registered and the lady says 97. when they usually registered 500. there is something seriously wrong.

why should someone eat a tag if there willing to put their tag on a deer they CAN kill? just because you think you will see more big bucks if others pass on deer they want to kill, isnt a good enough reason to tell others what to shoot. BTW isnt WI the #1 state for entries in the B&C record book? I find it kinda hard to believe there are not many big bucks where you live. maybe you, like many hunters today expect them to be behind every tree, not gonna happen anywhere, no matter how many small bucks others pass on.


I also find it silly to call other hunters "trigger happy"

Don't blame the DNR and then you are glad one got fired! Which is it?

First time in 15 yrs I did not see a deer - Not even one! Wow!

I Don't give a rip if I shoot one but it is nice to see deer. The over all deer sign was way down. Down to an all time low.

Even the deer drives where fruitless..........just no deer.

So basicaly after 34 some years of deer hunting - I might be done and know of others who will not hunt!

Then what?

Well one thing less money due to loss license sales for the DNR. And lost license revenue means loss of revenue from the Feds as each license the WI DNR can sell the state does get Pittman/Robertson Act money. Which means no funding and less programs to help the deer herd - to which we all loose and including you.

And I took offense at the way you tagged the majority of WI hunters!

JW?

I guess an extra 29% of WI hunters must have built stands this fall, drank 10 hrs in the bar, and drove their ATV's all over their hunting areas.

its the dnr's fault. they said theres millions of deer in wisconsin. so hunters think they should be able to get a deer. when the season comes along no one sees anything. the dnr only look at 200 acres worth of woods and they count how many deer they seen so they divide the number of acres and the number of deer. so they think there so many deer in every acre in wisconsin. they need to actually get off there A$$ and walk around in more than one patch of woods. thats just my thinking

To an extent I agree with stabnslab in that it is our responsibility as a deer hunter to control what we shoot. The DNR did overestimate the deer herd but did tell us before the season that numbers would be down. Why are the numbers down?? Because people tend to shoot until all of their tags are filled. The last several years we could shoot basically an unlimited amount of antlerless deer. Did people ever question what would happen if we started to shoot so many deer. Not many did, especially on public land or small acreage owners. This is a very hot debate here. People like to say that private land owners with thousands of acres can control their herd and that is true, but if you work with your neighbors and limit yourself on how many deer you do shoot you can effectively begin to control your deer herd even if it's on a small piece of property. I own five acres and I had upwards of fifteen deer living in my five acres almost all season (all bald) I shot one of the does late in the season but left the rest alone so that after they spread out next spring we have plenty of deer for everyone. My neighbors are very selective with how many deer they shoot as well. It's a group effort!

stabnslab. agree and disagree.
I agree with you in the amount of people who go in the week before season and make lanes, build a stand, and what not. As a freak about scent and what not this is just about the worst thing i think people can do....
Exactly....your neighbor shot 3 bucks....??
I disagree with the fact that the pop. is fine...it sounds like your in a primo spot....i have in a fairly similar situation too...but we are a small % of WI hunters....
What it comes down to is proper management and this can be different on all land tracts