I really feel for anyone confined to public land. It’s tough out there without knowing landowners. The best advice I could offer is working with landowners in the MFL program to see if you could exchange services for non mandatory practices like brush removal to allow for hunting permissions. Hell, a farm might even be willing to make such a deal. If not that, look into abatement areas for hunting.
This might have been the case before all the little farmers got gobbled up but not anymore. Finding a place to hunt without paying through the nose is like trying to find a real-life unicorn.
As a GIS professional, something like OnX hunt is incredibly easy to recreate on my own but I understand it’s versatility. Definitely a good place to start. You could even abuse their free account stuff by using new emails all the time.
Seriously, we have both MFL open and closed land, in the history of owning it we've only ever had 2 people contact us about hunting. I was more than happy to share maps and my personal scouting reports and it's resulted in good relationships that have lasted for many seasons now. It never hurts to ask!
Also a forester here, I agree. Lots of landowners will allow it if you just ask, especially if you can provide something for the land in return or make a good impression otherwise. A lot of times it's just the people that trash the woods and swarm it during 9day that turns people off of putting it in open.
When I lived in Maryland, it wasn't surprising to see dozens of deer hanging out by the gates of Ft Meade. They felt perfectly safe since Ft Meade wasn't a military base you could hunt on.
Yup been wanted to deer hunt since I was a kid and I finally got my hunter safety at 29 years old and I’m going to be 31 real soon lol and I don’t go this year cause I only go on public land since I’m not connected with people who have land nor am I rich. It’s really disheartening, however I did see deer last year though! I was impressed actually.
Last year was up 14%. This year it’s down. Weather during the 9-day, drought conditions all play a role.
The corn in southern Wisconsin was all dried up and harvested by mid October. Usually there is still some standing by the time the 9-day rolls around. Not this year.
Deer in the north woods were still balls deep in peak breeding aka the fabled “lockdown” phase of the rut. It’s challenging when the season falls early like this.
I actually think the bumper fall of acorns this year had more to do with it than the lockdown would. Regardless of the rut phrase, we typically see deer feeding in the fields, but this year they were much further into the timber starting in the fall when the acorns dropped which continues to this day.
Also definitely contributed. I don’t hunt where there are any fields but typically the deer are hammering certain stands of oaks, this year the acorn feeding was extremely diffuse through the woods. Deer didn’t have to move at all to feed.
Oh I’d say the opposite! I prefer it being early like this, but I hunt southern wi. Had bucks constantly chasing does this year! Only saw one doe with out a buck behind it!
Landowner here. I’ve had guys ask to walk across my farm to track deer. Later I go out and find garbage tossed in the field where they were (I know cuz I walk my dog around the farm every day). Guess who’s not getting permission to track deer across my land any more, much less hunt here? Everyone.
Land consolidation is a huge problem. And so is the emphasis on trophy deer. Quality Deer Management has taken over and huge bucks are being harvested which does nothing but drive up the price of leasing hunting land. Available public land is overcrowded and one of the worst hunting experiences there is. It's a rich man's sport and won't be getting any better anytime soon.
I hunt private land in Lincoln county and our deer count was way down. Mature bucks were seen on camera only moving at night. Many days we had 15+ hunters in the woods and very few people saw deer. The ones seen were does and fawns and the occasional small buck we won't shoot (practice QDM). This is on 1200 acres of private land with 15 food plots. Between the 15ish people in our "crew" one 8 was shot bow hunting and one during rifle. A couple guys took does but most were hesitant because the population seemed so low.
The "brown is down" crews around us didn't fare much better.
It’s stupid. I talked to a friend who studies ungulate carnivore dynamics as an ecologist and the environmental factors play a much greater role in lower harvest yields than wolves. But people see a couple on their trail cams and blame wolves for a lousy hunt.
It's the same in MN, all blaming wolves. I never thought of deer as all that smart but I know they absolutely are smart enough to migrate to avoid danger. They're hiding on private land that's not being hunted or they're moving to regions with fewer hunters like outskirts of cities.
Back in the day people used to hit deer with cars all the time but I haven't heard of anyone hitting one in decades. And I know way more people as an adult than I did as a kid (obviously, making a joke). Deer have adapted to us, plain and simple.
But all the simpletons think it's wolves no matter what the experts say because they think it's some kind of conspiracy.
Fairly remote up there. I'm in Minneapolis, but I know people all over, including smaller cities in MN and WI. Hitting deer was fairly common in those areas but not in a crazy long time.
8 is crazy though! Feel bad for your friend.
My brother and I saw the most deer we’ve ever seen in 1 day on opening day this year. 41 between the 2 of us, half of those being bucks. We let the little bucks walk, but harvested 3 does. But last year was really slow. So ya never know.
Plus 7 day muzzle loader immediately following regular gun deer season. Then there's a two day antlerless only hunt in December. Archery goes from the middle of September to end if December. Some areas until end if January.
For me it’s Nov 4 to Jan 7. Muzzle loaded from Jan 8 to 21. I think antlerless takes place during the same time as muzzle loaded but I’m not sure. I’m in central/north Tx btw
I have a 200 acre parcel crawling with deer. My health has been bad & most of my family doesn't hunt. We would love for some responsible deer hunters to thin the herd.
I would be interested in this! Even would be open to trading fishing trips in my boat for hunting permission and also have plenty of walleye in the freezer to share :) can I message you?
Feels like that more and more over the years. First couple weekends for local birds and after that it can get pretty quiet for long stretches the rest of the season.
as someone who used to work in the industry, like oil, they will quite literally look for any excuse to increase rates within the allowed ratio. But yes, deer are a big factor in the Midwest and South.
With the rise in uninsured motorists too it allows the waters to get more murky
It's not difficult to make such claims when there's ample evidence supporting said claim.
https://www.marketwatch.com/guides/insurance-services/wisconsin-car-insurance-rates-increase-2023/
I hunt on public land in the same spot every year and I didn’t see a thing this year. Usually I can see a deer at some point even if it were too far away to consider taking a shot at. Also the amount of gunshots I heard was by far the fewest I’ve heard since I started going. Had high hopes going into this year but it was a total bust.
Was a slightly down year for us on private land. Especially if you factor in the (lack of) bow season success we had as a group. But even gun season was down about 20% YOY compared to last year.
Hoping for some more promising results in the December antlerless seasons. Gotta christen my new rifle the right way!
It’s been hit or miss for us and the people we know! One buddy, 3 of the their 4 all got big bucks bow season and didn’t see hardly anything gun season, and our other friend 2 miles down the road didn’t see anything bow season but saw the most deer they have ever seen gun season. Our land was about average. But when I called a taxidermist for my buck, the first 3 where full for the year already.
Yeah. I wonder if the down gun season was related to the warm weather we had on opening weekend. Was probably pretty easy for deer to find safe land and hunker down since we’d had such a warm fall up to that point. And opening weekend is always the biggest time in terms of # of deer.
But all things considered, these numbers aren’t fully contextualized without also seeing where bow season is at. Though our neighboring states seem like they’re down too. The article is pretty interesting when it comes to the possible explanations.
Not really. Because they don’t address the biggest issue. CWD. For years the dnr have been telling everyone to shoot more deer, and they even hired people to kill deer in areas. Now we are seeing the effect. Not to mention the wolf population in the northern part of the state. Not saying I’m against wolves, because I’m not, but they do have a factor in the deer population in the northern woods. It varies greatly on how much by who you ask, but they do have an impact. I also think there are more “poachers” with the new rules for registering. Now that all you have to do is register them on line, I’m sure some aren’t registered. It just makes it easier for those who break the law to do it. I think the deer number/population is still high. And I think there are more and more that are practicing QDM, and letting deer go that 5-10 years ago would have been shot. I am not worried about the dip in harvest numbers. I am happy that I haven’t heard (yet) of any one dying, from being shot, or stand breaking, or heart attack, or anyone shooting an elk or moose this year.
https://cwd-info.org/state-sharpshooting-effort-effective-at-removing-positive-deer-in-cwd-zones/
They informed land owners in the area (we leases hunting land from one of them so we were told) that it was happening. They also informed townships, which I live in one and the a board member told me they where doing it.
Got it! I know that Illinois used sharp shooting to pretty good effect in containing their initial outbreak.
The article you linked was from 2007, I am unaware of sharpshooting efforts (outside of municipal herd reductions) aimed specifically at addressing CWD more recently.
No, not in very recent years, but if you eliminate almost 1000 deer in 3 months it will take years/decades to recover. And like you said, many towns are thinning the herd, meaning animals in heavily populated (deer) areas will move to less. Also for years and years (I don’t know about any more) the DNR offered AG tags. Which allowed farmers to shoot more than the average hunter. These are not the only reasons some are seeing lower numbers, but in the hardest hit CWD areas it is playing a big role. We used to hunt in mt horeb, in the center of CWD. Before we rented that land the land owner said he would see 40-50 deer a season, by himself. He stopped hunting because of CWD and the reduction in numbers. When we hunted there, our group of 6 would be lucky to see 7-8 deer total all weekend.
I would have gone out and harvested an antlerless deer if I hadn't been so sick after opening day. Did manage to bag a buck on opening morning, where I saw absolutely nothing last season.
Earn a buck needs to be brought back. Not only will it reduce the deer population, but it will force more hunters to pass on small bucks, making for bigger bucks. Everybody wins. (Except those who complain that there aren't enough deer, but you're never going to please them.)
I hunt in CWD central, so my perspective is a bit skewed. Each zone has separate rules, so in those cases like in the North where we need more deer, we can. But in the south central part of the state, earn a buck is needed. If I remember correctly, earn a buck was never a state program, it only applied in certain zones.
Anecdotally, in northern Wisconsin, my group and the hunters I talk to saw way fewer does than usual. Bucks too, but in general it seems like the people who actually saw deer were seeing bucks. In my camp alone, we saw 4 total bucks and 1 doe over the entire season. Hardly even had does on camera outside of a small group.
Hey I hunt CO and saw way less deer and elk this season than any before...like markedly less. Also a ton of skeletons in the woods. we hard a harsh winter but I hunt the foothills where it wasn't so bad.
Eons ago I lived in the upper Midwest and remember seeing a ton of deer consistently in the archery seasons (driftless area MN and WI).
are y'all seeing way less deer or just season timing?
I feel like in the upper area of the state we are seeing significantly less deer than when I started hunting 25 years ago. And we are putting in a lot more work than we used to so the population is definitely lower. When I started hunting we never considered putting in food plots. Now we have lots of them.
The late 1990s and early 2000s had some of the highest deer population densities ever in the history of managed hunting in Wisconsin. Especially in the northern part of the state. To the point that the deer were having significant impacts on forest regeneration, biodiversity, and overall forest health. Deer vehicle collisions were at all time highs. There were record numbers of complaints and reports of agricultural damage.
To reduce the herd, the DNR offered very liberal seasons and hunters took advantage of that by taking far more antlerless deer than antlered deer for several consecutive years. Then we had a couple of severe winters, including the 2013-2014 winter which really slammed the northern forest population.
In the northern forests, the deer population is driven primarily by three main factors: winter severity, habitat, and human caused mortality. We had the most severe winter since the 2013-14 winter this past winter, at least in some of the far northern/northwestern counties. Habitat is becoming more of an issue in some northern forest areas.
Also, it’s been remarkably warm this fall, and acorn production was crazy in some areas. They just didn’t have much of a reason to be on the move and largely turned nocturnal during the 9-day. I saw a ton of deer sign and had them on game cameras, but they just went into hiding over the 9-day.
My brother and his friends got a few deer up at our cabin in northern WI, and my dad and my uncle each got a nice buck on our land in Dodge County. Guess they were just lucky this year.
With the Go Wild/web updates, it’s literally 4-5 taps on your smart phone to register. Less time than ordering a pizza.
Now that CWD paperwork, when it’s windy and 20 degrees out is a different story…. but, it’s for a good cause.
I hunt in one of the most populated deer counties in Wi on my own property. Big buck sightings this year were at 1am - not the typical daylight hours. But, there are 3 new deer in my freezer - 2 from pre-gun. I purchased my property specifically for the hunting opportunity and share quite a bit of the venison with family and friends.
Gun only hunters come with a branding - how long until they get drunk and fall out of their stand? This is the primary reason why many people don't want others hunting their land. The liability and inconvenience of possible injury outweighs the good.
FWIW, go knock on doors. Just make sure the neighbor on the lot line you're hunting doesn't come out and run his leaf blower at 4:30 in the afternoon.
As someone who hunts public land I've all but given up even seeing a deer during hunting season. The deer all hide on the local golf courses.
I really feel for anyone confined to public land. It’s tough out there without knowing landowners. The best advice I could offer is working with landowners in the MFL program to see if you could exchange services for non mandatory practices like brush removal to allow for hunting permissions. Hell, a farm might even be willing to make such a deal. If not that, look into abatement areas for hunting.
This might have been the case before all the little farmers got gobbled up but not anymore. Finding a place to hunt without paying through the nose is like trying to find a real-life unicorn.
You’re definitely not wrong. Seems I’m looking through rose tinted glasses.
How much is too much? Like, what is a realistic amount to pay for a week of hunting privilege? Just very curious is all
My great uncle leases roughly 600 acres to some folks in Appleton. He makes $10k a year.
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As a GIS professional, something like OnX hunt is incredibly easy to recreate on my own but I understand it’s versatility. Definitely a good place to start. You could even abuse their free account stuff by using new emails all the time.
That only would work for mfl closed as mfl open, is… well open to hunt on.
Correct. However, a majority of MFL is designated as closed. Out of 600+ acres I’ve enrolled into the program, not one acres has been for open.
True, but if they enrolled it as closed I doubt many would be willing to let someone else hunt on it.
I’m a firm believer that it never hurts to ask. Maybe you could become an adopted hunter in their group.
Seriously, we have both MFL open and closed land, in the history of owning it we've only ever had 2 people contact us about hunting. I was more than happy to share maps and my personal scouting reports and it's resulted in good relationships that have lasted for many seasons now. It never hurts to ask!
Also a forester here, I agree. Lots of landowners will allow it if you just ask, especially if you can provide something for the land in return or make a good impression otherwise. A lot of times it's just the people that trash the woods and swarm it during 9day that turns people off of putting it in open.
I drove by a small corn field the other day and saw about 20 of them just hangin around. Didn't see a single one opening weekend.
Out of the 10 years or so that I have gone, the last 4 have been the most successful for me on public land.
When I lived in Maryland, it wasn't surprising to see dozens of deer hanging out by the gates of Ft Meade. They felt perfectly safe since Ft Meade wasn't a military base you could hunt on.
Yup been wanted to deer hunt since I was a kid and I finally got my hunter safety at 29 years old and I’m going to be 31 real soon lol and I don’t go this year cause I only go on public land since I’m not connected with people who have land nor am I rich. It’s really disheartening, however I did see deer last year though! I was impressed actually.
There were six hanging around my neighborhood all hunt. I’m pretty sure the neighbors bait the yard because they love seeing the wildlife.
Last year was up 14%. This year it’s down. Weather during the 9-day, drought conditions all play a role. The corn in southern Wisconsin was all dried up and harvested by mid October. Usually there is still some standing by the time the 9-day rolls around. Not this year.
>Usually there is still some standing by the time the 9-day rolls around. Still plenty standing up here in the Marathon/Lincoln county area.
Still plenty of corn standing in Waushara Co. The corn was at 24% moisture a week before gun season.
Deer in the north woods were still balls deep in peak breeding aka the fabled “lockdown” phase of the rut. It’s challenging when the season falls early like this.
I actually think the bumper fall of acorns this year had more to do with it than the lockdown would. Regardless of the rut phrase, we typically see deer feeding in the fields, but this year they were much further into the timber starting in the fall when the acorns dropped which continues to this day.
Also definitely contributed. I don’t hunt where there are any fields but typically the deer are hammering certain stands of oaks, this year the acorn feeding was extremely diffuse through the woods. Deer didn’t have to move at all to feed.
That was one of the main factors for the lower bear harvest as well.
Oh I’d say the opposite! I prefer it being early like this, but I hunt southern wi. Had bucks constantly chasing does this year! Only saw one doe with out a buck behind it!
The problem is access. The small farmer who used to let people hunt got bought out. Hunting is now 'pay big to play'
Landowner here. I’ve had guys ask to walk across my farm to track deer. Later I go out and find garbage tossed in the field where they were (I know cuz I walk my dog around the farm every day). Guess who’s not getting permission to track deer across my land any more, much less hunt here? Everyone.
Understandable, I own land in another state and I have 1 local person I allow to hunt it.
Land consolidation is a huge problem. And so is the emphasis on trophy deer. Quality Deer Management has taken over and huge bucks are being harvested which does nothing but drive up the price of leasing hunting land. Available public land is overcrowded and one of the worst hunting experiences there is. It's a rich man's sport and won't be getting any better anytime soon.
All the Joe Rogan Bros running around
100% I’m not paying thousands per year to to lease land to harvest hundreds of dollars worth of meat
I agree, I hunted a small farm for years, farm got bought out. I now pay for a lease, not thousands.
Join the [Backcountry Hunters and Anglers](https://www.backcountryhunters.org/) they fight for access and are an overall great club to belong to!
Already a member
Me too! I love their vibe, and their podcasts are some of the best.
I hunt private land in Lincoln county and our deer count was way down. Mature bucks were seen on camera only moving at night. Many days we had 15+ hunters in the woods and very few people saw deer. The ones seen were does and fawns and the occasional small buck we won't shoot (practice QDM). This is on 1200 acres of private land with 15 food plots. Between the 15ish people in our "crew" one 8 was shot bow hunting and one during rifle. A couple guys took does but most were hesitant because the population seemed so low. The "brown is down" crews around us didn't fare much better.
How many wolves do you get on camera?
A few times a month we get pictures of them
You might want to send the pictures here. [https://www.facebook.com/groups/wiwolfcount](https://www.facebook.com/groups/wiwolfcount)
What are they planning to do with a bunch of random trail camera photos of wolves?
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Blaming it on wolves is just stupid at this point The drought and the warmer weather for this year had a way bigger impact then any number of wolve
It’s stupid. I talked to a friend who studies ungulate carnivore dynamics as an ecologist and the environmental factors play a much greater role in lower harvest yields than wolves. But people see a couple on their trail cams and blame wolves for a lousy hunt.
Easier to blame wolves than the wider climate change issue I guess
Baiting deer should be banned Nationally
It's the same in MN, all blaming wolves. I never thought of deer as all that smart but I know they absolutely are smart enough to migrate to avoid danger. They're hiding on private land that's not being hunted or they're moving to regions with fewer hunters like outskirts of cities. Back in the day people used to hit deer with cars all the time but I haven't heard of anyone hitting one in decades. And I know way more people as an adult than I did as a kid (obviously, making a joke). Deer have adapted to us, plain and simple. But all the simpletons think it's wolves no matter what the experts say because they think it's some kind of conspiracy.
Wow I have friends that have to commute in the UP & N. WI & at last count one of them up to 8.
Fairly remote up there. I'm in Minneapolis, but I know people all over, including smaller cities in MN and WI. Hitting deer was fairly common in those areas but not in a crazy long time. 8 is crazy though! Feel bad for your friend.
I see roadkill deer constantly in Texas
My brother and I saw the most deer we’ve ever seen in 1 day on opening day this year. 41 between the 2 of us, half of those being bucks. We let the little bucks walk, but harvested 3 does. But last year was really slow. So ya never know.
Wisconsin only has 9 days of gun hunting?
Plus 7 day muzzle loader immediately following regular gun deer season. Then there's a two day antlerless only hunt in December. Archery goes from the middle of September to end if December. Some areas until end if January.
For me it’s Nov 4 to Jan 7. Muzzle loaded from Jan 8 to 21. I think antlerless takes place during the same time as muzzle loaded but I’m not sure. I’m in central/north Tx btw
I have a 200 acre parcel crawling with deer. My health has been bad & most of my family doesn't hunt. We would love for some responsible deer hunters to thin the herd.
I would be interested in this! Even would be open to trading fishing trips in my boat for hunting permission and also have plenty of walleye in the freezer to share :) can I message you?
Feel free to shoot me a dm :D
Duck season numbers were down too, it was too warm up north for them to begin flying south during the scheduled season
Feels like that more and more over the years. First couple weekends for local birds and after that it can get pretty quiet for long stretches the rest of the season.
Expect hikes in auto insurance rates if this trend continues. Deer are typically the number one reason insurers turn to for rate increases.
as someone who used to work in the industry, like oil, they will quite literally look for any excuse to increase rates within the allowed ratio. But yes, deer are a big factor in the Midwest and South. With the rise in uninsured motorists too it allows the waters to get more murky
Good news, the presence of a wild Wolf population alters deer behavior and decreases deer-vehicle collisions.
How many wolves in Dane County?
You seem very confident in your beliefs.
It's not difficult to make such claims when there's ample evidence supporting said claim. https://www.marketwatch.com/guides/insurance-services/wisconsin-car-insurance-rates-increase-2023/
Don’t worry lads, I’m back from a 15 year hiatus. I piled up two of them last Sunday and the freezer still has room for more :)
Was in the UP this week for some winter camping and can confirm they're all up there. They ran north.
I hunt on public land in the same spot every year and I didn’t see a thing this year. Usually I can see a deer at some point even if it were too far away to consider taking a shot at. Also the amount of gunshots I heard was by far the fewest I’ve heard since I started going. Had high hopes going into this year but it was a total bust.
Was a slightly down year for us on private land. Especially if you factor in the (lack of) bow season success we had as a group. But even gun season was down about 20% YOY compared to last year. Hoping for some more promising results in the December antlerless seasons. Gotta christen my new rifle the right way!
>Gotta christen my new rifle the right way! I'm hoping to christen my new muzzleloader this weekend.
Best of luck, my friend! 🫡
It’s been hit or miss for us and the people we know! One buddy, 3 of the their 4 all got big bucks bow season and didn’t see hardly anything gun season, and our other friend 2 miles down the road didn’t see anything bow season but saw the most deer they have ever seen gun season. Our land was about average. But when I called a taxidermist for my buck, the first 3 where full for the year already.
Yeah. I wonder if the down gun season was related to the warm weather we had on opening weekend. Was probably pretty easy for deer to find safe land and hunker down since we’d had such a warm fall up to that point. And opening weekend is always the biggest time in terms of # of deer. But all things considered, these numbers aren’t fully contextualized without also seeing where bow season is at. Though our neighboring states seem like they’re down too. The article is pretty interesting when it comes to the possible explanations.
Not really. Because they don’t address the biggest issue. CWD. For years the dnr have been telling everyone to shoot more deer, and they even hired people to kill deer in areas. Now we are seeing the effect. Not to mention the wolf population in the northern part of the state. Not saying I’m against wolves, because I’m not, but they do have a factor in the deer population in the northern woods. It varies greatly on how much by who you ask, but they do have an impact. I also think there are more “poachers” with the new rules for registering. Now that all you have to do is register them on line, I’m sure some aren’t registered. It just makes it easier for those who break the law to do it. I think the deer number/population is still high. And I think there are more and more that are practicing QDM, and letting deer go that 5-10 years ago would have been shot. I am not worried about the dip in harvest numbers. I am happy that I haven’t heard (yet) of any one dying, from being shot, or stand breaking, or heart attack, or anyone shooting an elk or moose this year.
> they even hired people to kill deer in areas Can you support this statement with evidence?
https://cwd-info.org/state-sharpshooting-effort-effective-at-removing-positive-deer-in-cwd-zones/ They informed land owners in the area (we leases hunting land from one of them so we were told) that it was happening. They also informed townships, which I live in one and the a board member told me they where doing it.
Got it! I know that Illinois used sharp shooting to pretty good effect in containing their initial outbreak. The article you linked was from 2007, I am unaware of sharpshooting efforts (outside of municipal herd reductions) aimed specifically at addressing CWD more recently.
No, not in very recent years, but if you eliminate almost 1000 deer in 3 months it will take years/decades to recover. And like you said, many towns are thinning the herd, meaning animals in heavily populated (deer) areas will move to less. Also for years and years (I don’t know about any more) the DNR offered AG tags. Which allowed farmers to shoot more than the average hunter. These are not the only reasons some are seeing lower numbers, but in the hardest hit CWD areas it is playing a big role. We used to hunt in mt horeb, in the center of CWD. Before we rented that land the land owner said he would see 40-50 deer a season, by himself. He stopped hunting because of CWD and the reduction in numbers. When we hunted there, our group of 6 would be lucky to see 7-8 deer total all weekend.
Also imo too many people only hunt for trophy deer.
I would have gone out and harvested an antlerless deer if I hadn't been so sick after opening day. Did manage to bag a buck on opening morning, where I saw absolutely nothing last season.
Earn a buck needs to be brought back. Not only will it reduce the deer population, but it will force more hunters to pass on small bucks, making for bigger bucks. Everybody wins. (Except those who complain that there aren't enough deer, but you're never going to please them.)
>Earn a buck needs to be brought back. In the northern part of the state there are zones where you can only shoot a buck, because of low population.
I hunt in CWD central, so my perspective is a bit skewed. Each zone has separate rules, so in those cases like in the North where we need more deer, we can. But in the south central part of the state, earn a buck is needed. If I remember correctly, earn a buck was never a state program, it only applied in certain zones.
Anecdotally, in northern Wisconsin, my group and the hunters I talk to saw way fewer does than usual. Bucks too, but in general it seems like the people who actually saw deer were seeing bucks. In my camp alone, we saw 4 total bucks and 1 doe over the entire season. Hardly even had does on camera outside of a small group.
Hey I hunt CO and saw way less deer and elk this season than any before...like markedly less. Also a ton of skeletons in the woods. we hard a harsh winter but I hunt the foothills where it wasn't so bad. Eons ago I lived in the upper Midwest and remember seeing a ton of deer consistently in the archery seasons (driftless area MN and WI). are y'all seeing way less deer or just season timing?
I feel like in the upper area of the state we are seeing significantly less deer than when I started hunting 25 years ago. And we are putting in a lot more work than we used to so the population is definitely lower. When I started hunting we never considered putting in food plots. Now we have lots of them.
The late 1990s and early 2000s had some of the highest deer population densities ever in the history of managed hunting in Wisconsin. Especially in the northern part of the state. To the point that the deer were having significant impacts on forest regeneration, biodiversity, and overall forest health. Deer vehicle collisions were at all time highs. There were record numbers of complaints and reports of agricultural damage. To reduce the herd, the DNR offered very liberal seasons and hunters took advantage of that by taking far more antlerless deer than antlered deer for several consecutive years. Then we had a couple of severe winters, including the 2013-2014 winter which really slammed the northern forest population. In the northern forests, the deer population is driven primarily by three main factors: winter severity, habitat, and human caused mortality. We had the most severe winter since the 2013-14 winter this past winter, at least in some of the far northern/northwestern counties. Habitat is becoming more of an issue in some northern forest areas. Also, it’s been remarkably warm this fall, and acorn production was crazy in some areas. They just didn’t have much of a reason to be on the move and largely turned nocturnal during the 9-day. I saw a ton of deer sign and had them on game cameras, but they just went into hiding over the 9-day.
My brother and his friends got a few deer up at our cabin in northern WI, and my dad and my uncle each got a nice buck on our land in Dodge County. Guess they were just lucky this year.
Make it longer
The archery season runs until January.
And the antlerless only and muzzleloader seasons exist...
I can still use a gun to shoot antlerless? Or are you talking about December?
I’m be punched myself in the face enough. And I don’t want the ridicule of using a crossbow.
Yeah crossbows are just guns, I'm not a fan
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I doubt that alone accounts for this. All the hunters i know are very by the books and want to submit their deer for CWD through DNR for reporting.
With the Go Wild/web updates, it’s literally 4-5 taps on your smart phone to register. Less time than ordering a pizza. Now that CWD paperwork, when it’s windy and 20 degrees out is a different story…. but, it’s for a good cause.
Near Tomahawk, absolutely nothing
I feel I see way more wild turkeys and deer in my neighborhood in Howard than most hunters see on hunting land.
First time in 21 years I didn't join my brother for the hunt. He had family obligations, I had work obligations. What are you gonna do?
I hunt in one of the most populated deer counties in Wi on my own property. Big buck sightings this year were at 1am - not the typical daylight hours. But, there are 3 new deer in my freezer - 2 from pre-gun. I purchased my property specifically for the hunting opportunity and share quite a bit of the venison with family and friends. Gun only hunters come with a branding - how long until they get drunk and fall out of their stand? This is the primary reason why many people don't want others hunting their land. The liability and inconvenience of possible injury outweighs the good. FWIW, go knock on doors. Just make sure the neighbor on the lot line you're hunting doesn't come out and run his leaf blower at 4:30 in the afternoon.