I am just going to throw this out there but it appears the grumpy hunter syndrome started and has increased parallel to the wolf numbers in Wisconsin.
never hunted Wisconsin... although I would love to someday! Many "grumpy" hunters here in Massachusetts as well. I think it's all relative to the particular hunters season. Some seasons are much better than others...
I have logs of the past twenty one years of de3er hunting in west central wi from camp---the past 10 years has seen a steady decline in numbers seen and killed, from long time experienced hunters---Wolves are a huge part of this equation---I have spoken with my county representatives numerous times this year a new board chair said he was in same boat as me ! he states far lower numbers to dnr and suggests lower doe kills for a year or two DNR does the opposite and as they wish so why waste time with advisery boards ????
The author is a grumpy liberal, anti Walker guy that most hunters dont take seriously any more. In fact he is regarded as a laughing stock by most.
I would like to ask those surveyed, how much time and effort do they put into hunting. I have a gut feeling that most of these "grumpy hunters" are also "Lazy" hunters. They want to buy a tag on their way to the shack Friday night before Rifle season, walk out Saturday morning and have the Tirty pointer wander in front of them within two hours. My inlaws have a record of every deer they have taken from the land since they owned it. And they have taken lots of deer, but they also shot lots of small deer. In over 20 years only 6 have been shot that would be considered to have a mount made, they have always been more meat hunters rather than Trophy hunters and that is just fine. It was normal over the winter to see 15-20 deer in the clearings by the house/shack. Its got to be about 8 years ago now a good size pack of wolves moved into the area for about 2-3 years. They eventually moved out once there was pretty much nothing left. About that same time as they moved on, we had two consecutive very difficult winters which hurt our numbers even more. Couple years of hunters not seeing anything, when a doe finally does show up they are shooting. It is just the last few years that I have been running camera's to try and get a better inventory of the deer on the land. I have had pictures this last year of 11 unique bucks and an uncertain amount of does. This is the best I've seen since the wolves moved out. But when it came to the rifle season since only a few of us bow hunt, I was the only one to see anything. Perhaps because I am also the only one putting any time into it. I've scouted, cleared brush and planted some small plots for my hunting areas, and the deer have adjusted their travel patterns to the work I've done bring them past me more. The buck only restriction IMO has really helped increase the total herd numbers in the area I hunt, they could probably end that or maybe one more year. At that point it will be up to Me and the rest of the group to make sure we hunt with the herd and future in mind. I'm excited to see what shows up and returns for bucks this coming season.
Durkin=nonsense! He should just retire from writing and join all the liberal protesters at the capitol.
start pest control you'll see your deer more if it's messing up my freezer meat it will find a new home Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G530A using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
A lot of these articles they post in here from the staff are pretty interesting. It would be nice though if the author was part of the conversation and answered questions since it is a forum.
Your gross generalizations always crack me up. Have you surveyed "most" hunters out there? Or just your buddies?
The circles I and others close to me travel in as it relates to the deer hunting community in WI is quite large and spans a few hunting orgs. That opinion of Durkin is shared universally. Couple that with the opinions on Pat Durkin from additional deer-centric boards and its easy to see that he is not valued or respected by the deer hunting community. I think it stems from when he was fired by Deer and Deer hunting mag for his actions and then his insertion of his personal (liberal) political bias and his anti Scott Walker (WI governor) rants that show up in his tedious and tortured writings. Durkin cemented his disdain for the hunting community long ago and continues weekly telling us how ignorant and lazy and uneducated we are and that we should just let the DNR (but not Scott Walker’s DNR) take care of us. He is a provocateur that writes to insult to get attention. A few years ago, he wrote of deer management in WI that when in doubt, keep shooting because he is certain the state has too many deer because he is from Waupaca county (the highest deer population of any county in the state) so in his narrow view that must be the case state wide. Im surprised any credible hunting outlet would affiliate with him of allow his name to be lent them as a rep.
I bet he is enjoyed by all in Dane county. I have disagreed with his writing in the past but I read the article before I read who wrote it, and it was an analysis of survey data and number of kills no apparent bias. Sometimes you can learn from people other than those you agree with.
"Innovative Outdoorsman" As a fellow Wisconsin bow hunter I can say I feel your pain. It is really getting old having people who don't live here or outsiders who come in and hunt the primo spots for their money, tell people who live it and work hard to get what deer we do have left to come in front of our stands, that we are exaggerating.(Huge run on sentence, I know.) I will say that it seems to be a bit better than around 6 or so years ago in my area. For me I would say it's because in those six years I have broke my back and the bank making my property attractive to deer. I guess what people are saying is it shouldn't have to be this hard. It didn't used to be that you could sit on your property for three or four days in a row and not see a deer in Wisconsin.( That was unheard of.) But for a while that is what alot of hunters had come to expect. It now has a following and so people are starting to look into it more and what they are finding is that the elite ARE doing as they please. They put out questionnaires and hold meetings to get the hunters opinions then they laugh it off and do as they please. I hope this doesn't continue. There is increased opposition to the radical practices that take place in our state by the WDNR. It has since been published in outdoor life magazine and continues to be a controversial topic but only because the opposing side is built of "Dumb Rednecks" like myself.
I worked with somebody a few years back that had told me that his family and friends that hunt with them on their land had shot 17 deer mostly doe. That's when Wisconsin had unlimited doe tags and they were basically free to whomever wanted them. I remember thinking enjoy it now because you will be the first to complain when you don't shoot any.
Wisconsin has over harvested for years. First year I hunted Wisconsin 1991, I called to order my license over the phone, asked me how many doe permits I wanted. This was unheard of for me in Minnesota it was always a draw for a doe permit and you may get one every 3 years. So there I was a mud duck over in Wisconsin with 4 doe tags burning a hole in my pocket and a couple piles of corn. Shot lots of deer over the years, so did a lot of people.
Unfortunately we have a big population of hunters who are not aware that this type of hunting is what thins herds. the combination 1 2 punch of the DNR issuing tags and ill-informed hunters taking advantage of them hurts the herd significantly.
