Controversial antlerless deer regulation takes center stage in Waupaca County What do you guys think about this? I don't hunt this area but not sure how I would feel about not having the opportunity to shoot a buck. Would probably cause more problems than anything.
I would assume the hunters would boycott deer season all together if passed or would call in their buck and say they killed in another county. Just my thoughts. Some WI residents have learned the hard way not to kill off the deer population after the earn a buck and CWD nightmares. There are a few pockets that still have good deer hunting in WI but they are very few now days.
So am I understanding this article correctly? Are they saying that there are too many deer and taking out does only will not allow as many to get bread?
Basically yes they think there is to many deer so they want to eliminate the buck hunting to force hunters into shooting does only.
I wish they would do that in my hunting area, just for one season though. I think it would help bring our buck to doe ratio closer.
we did a similar approach here in PA. we killed off almost all the does and now our rut activity is awesome. you can actually call in bucks and see chasing. used to be the bucks just locked down with does from day one. now they have to travel for does. our management in PA has been a rollercoaster for a few years now. I know what you guys will be going through. you will be better for it in the end.
This is what I don't get, they can make up there own rules for that county and have a doe only season why can't they make up the earn a buck rule instead? They should transplant some wolves there that would take care of the problem in a few years. Wisconsin's game management has become a joke and they need to strip everyone out and start over, Dr. Deer created more problems then he fixed.
I think it is funny they are all upset now even though this has been discussed for years if they don't shoot more does. They didn't and this is the result. Waupaca county has a very high DPSM density. It sucks for them as I would be pissed too. Walker banned EAB so this is the other legal tool to try and curb doe pops. Now if EAB was still legal to implement they would of done that and everyone would of been OK with that.
I think this will have the opposite effect though. If people can't shoot bucks they will either not buy a license or hunt somewhere else. it is so easy to kill a doe in Waupaca county that nobody is going buy a license for does.
All we've ever done here in Pa was regulate the number of "antlerless" tags for individual WMUs. We also ran/run concurrent seasons, but there has never been "no buck hunting" in any county/WMU.
Earn a buck would be a nice tool, but unfortunately its overuse was a big part of the problem that has resulted in such poor numbers the last few years. Just looking at the kill numbers shows how big the herd is in Waupaca Co. Being 1/2 the size of marathon which is also a very good hunting county, and only 1,000 less deer harvested. Since earn a buck isn't an option at this time, I would go with a hunters choice type system. Every Waupaca county hunter gets a doe tag and can put in for a Buck tag. Hard part would be keeping them from shooting bucks in just registering them under different counties. Once again though this is a result of hunters not doing what is best for the herd by choice, and DNR being forced to make a decision.
My plan: Decrease the amount of time a buck can be harvested to one week for bow and one week for gun (rather than banning it altogether for the year). Then they should have a Waupaca county wide drawing with prizes like a few new guns, bows, trail cameras, stands, etc., where the only method of entry is with a punched doe tag. If they donate the meat to the donate a deer program they get entered twice. Participation up, doe population down. Problem solved.
Sadly hunters would just lie and still hunt bucks and just call them in as does, or say they harvested them in a different county.
The the state rules on deer hunting only apply to the counties that want to follow them? I read that Walker part 1) You have Officials and I use that term loosely deciding whats best when the numbers dictate what to do and use any way ethically to get there. Much like the wolf population being decided by a judge that was on the take from PETA.
That's going to be a problem regardless. That's called poaching/breaking the law and it's impossible to prevent that. To help combat people calling in bucks as does, the best thing you can do is institute a physical check-in requirement for Waupaca county. Besides, if someone really wants to be in the drawing they would have to play by the rules and bring the doe with punched tag to be entered. Illegal hunting is rampant in all states with all hunting regulations. The idea is just to get back to a healthy buck:doe ratio, this wouldn't be permanent.
