Whats the report of deer north of Highway 8 anyone ? I can tell you where I have been hunting north of highway 8 and south of highway 70 in PRICE county for over a decade is next to nothing, you get excited when you even see a track or droppings, Its a sad day when you can sit from morning until night and see nothing. Not one rub or scrape seen yet even when grouse hunting all over nothing anywhere dont even bump deer You guys in central and southern WI better hope the wolf population is not heading your way because they are running out of things to eat up here except livestock, house pets and bear dogs. Predicting another hard winter coming our way so this should just about wipe most of the deer herd out again. The point to this post is people better wake up that the deer in Northern WI need help and the people that enjoy coming up here to hunt them are losing their deer herd every year I have seen it for over a decade continue to erode to next to nothing. Contact who ever you think can make a difference and stop the herd from being killed to next to nothing by over harvest and predators out of control. Do your homework and visit us in the Northern part of the state and hunt our woods for a weekend, bring your kids and see for yourself, but remind your young hunters this is not what its like everywhere in Wisconsin, just north of highway 8 its what we consider the Wisconsin deer herd DEAD ZONE, where deer trails are a thing of the PAST.
That is a very different situation than around here. North of HWY 70, even north of HWY 77. I cover mostly Sawyer and southern Bayfield County. I am seeing many does with twin fawns and good range of age class of bucks. Not over run but looking good. I know the prediction for a hard winter is in the forecast but I just hope they are wrong. We will loose some deer if that happens but since we are not at the same peak herd like in 2013 it will be less of a drop in numbers.
From what I've seen on camera, the Buck Only policy is showing benefit already. I've know of 8 different bucks seen within the same 40 acres, 5 of them being 1.5 year olds. Does being harder to identify but I can say we have 4 unique for certain, One that has been walking around with a single fawn, another with twins, and two that will be breeding for their first year that have been with the 1.5 year old bucks. If averages follow those 4 does should produce 6 fawns, plus I know there are more does, just not in the limited area of my camera coverage. We definitely need to get wolves back off the endangered list so the DNR can open the hunting again and get their numbers back down through management. That being said the biggest problem for the deer herd is not wolves, it is hunters who do not care about managing the herd, only care about filling that tag in their possession. By what I'm seeing, I would like next year to be Buck only again, and than back to limited doe tags either by drawing or by having to get a buck first.
Good to hear things are improving for some, around the big woods areas without agriculture its a sad story. I agree the hunters need to stop just filling every tag just because they have it. I also want to see the baiting end STATE wide this keeps deer on some property and not on others, let deer be wild and find their food the way they should by moving all over the landscape. I would also like to see a six point minimum be put into place so we can get some quality bucks on the landscape, lets improve the quality of the hunt not just the numbers of deer.
I'm about 15 miles north of hwy 8, right on the edge of the big woods, and to be honest, I don't know if I've ever seen more deer. There have been 3 different bucks and several does and fawns just behind our barn.
UPDATE: 10-30-16 Spent last three days in the woods, same three deer, not one buck this is nothing special for a healthy deer population. Like I said the Dead Zone is holding up to its name. Again stop shooting all the does and lets give the bucks we do have which are very few a chance to grow up and become something NORTH OF HIGHWAY 8.
Small kill plot in the woods north of 8 and I can now confirm 17 unique deer 10 bucks, 4 Does plus three fawns. A doe with twins has been around every few day. A pair of 1.5 year old bucks three times the rest only once. At least half the bucks are 1.5. Looks the best I've seen in 4-5?years. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I'm with everyone else. I see a ton of deer up north. I think the wolf thing is overstated, and people not seeing deer is for 2 reasons. Laziness in hunting, and nothing on the land they hunt to keep deer there.
Update: 11-4-16 Been out since last Friday same few does passed on three small bucks none were following a doe had one bigger one just out of range for an ethical shot attempt. These bucks are nothing to write home to mom about, herd is very low should shut off season for a couple years and start a minimum 8 point law. I'm talking big woods around Price county so if your outside that area maybe life is good but here unless your by a farm its tough hunting. Also contact the bear hunters and ask them what they think and the northern loggers they will tell you about the wolf and no deer problem, also other predators, several coyotes howl up a song every day almost sounds like over 10 at least. So take the challenge hunt Price county in the National forest or county or state land and see for yourself what you see here. My point is the deer herd is still not where it should be the buck to doe ratio is messed up bigtime not enough bucks to get very aggressive rutting activity going. These woods can carry many more deer than we have and the logging activity needs to pick up on the landscape these mature woods are not holding deer like they should and could.
Plenty of deer in northern Wisconsin if you work hard enough. I hunt about as far north as you can get. No farm fields within 15 miles of where I hunt. All public land big woods. Hunted 25 days last year and saw 107 deer. Hunted 15 days this year and saw 42 deer. Shot a 136 last year and a 164 this year. But I also have 1,000's of hours invested. 18 Cameras go up in May and don't come down till they shed out. I shot mine this year on Halloween. Between May and the shot I had moved those cameras around to 66 different spots. 22 out of that 66 were specifically for the deer i killed. Yes I would love to see more deer just like everyone else but I'm also sick of all the people saying there are no deer. They are there for anyone that is willing to work hard.
