Well, the Wisconsin DNR, in all of their wisdon the last few years has finally hit a new low with me this year. In four days of hunting hard from 6:45 am to 4:00 pm everyday, somehow I have managed to NOT see a single deer from my stand, that in the last 30 years has never failed to produce a deer, or at least see something to keep the blood flowing. I have never heard a quieter opening day in all of my life, maybe 20 shots all day ?? The DNR is even thinking of extending the season by 7 days, so we can shoot more deer that we don't see !!!!! After talking to some of the registration stations up in NW Wisconsin, many are down about 50%, even from last years pathetic deer kill. I am truly disgusted with the way that the DNR has been handling this. The question that I have, is what was wrong with the deer herd in Wisconsin from 10- to 15 years ago ? Is the Insurance industry driving some of this ?? C,mon Wisconsin hunters, whats up with this mess >???
Sorry to hear of your luck, Priz.. But, I can understand your frustration. Take a look at me... I haven't been out in the woods yet at all!!! Working this graveyard shift (including nights/weekends) has really kicked my a.$.$. When I do have time, I'm still just too doggone tired. Or worse, when I have a few days off from work, I have a bunch of "honey do" lists to do - that I normally can't do because of working nights. But then, hey, it's a job... In times like these, I shouldn't complain. Lots and lots of folks are out of work and losing their homes.
i talked toa few locals in the north woods a few weeks back... they told me the resurgent wolf population has been devastating the herd this past year... walking thru the woods thru summer they were finding carcasses all over the place... don't know if there's any truth to it, but these seemed to have a good understanding of what's goin on up there...
Though I only took the smoke pole out for a couple hours this season here, I can tell you that the gun kill is indeed way down again this year. At our cabin, my family and my cousins camp usually kill around 20-25 deer per year. This year the total was 6. The guys out hunting said they heard very little shooting and the registration station near us said the count was very low as well.
Here's an article on the WI DNR website about opening weekend...... Hunters register 100,330 deer opening weekend of 2009 season News Release Published: November 23, 2009 by the Central Office Contact(s): Keith Warnke - (608) 264-6023 or Bob Manwell - (608) 264-9248 EDITOR'S ADVISORY: This news release has been modified from the original posting to correct a misquote. MADISON – Warm temperatures and heavy fog in many areas greeted hunters on the opening weekend of Wisconsin’s 158th gun deer hunt. Hunters participating in the traditional November 9-day gun deer hunt registered a preliminary tally of 100,330 deer over the first two days of the hunt. The 2009 preliminary count compares to a similar opening weekend count of 133,828 from 2008. Buck harvest statewide in 2009 was 49,583 (52,477 in 2008) and antlerless harvest was 50,478 (81,351 in 2008) “We want to remind folks that these preliminary numbers come from a staff call-around to deer registrations stations this morning,” said Tom Hauge DNR’s wildlife management director. “The final opening weekend tally will likely be somewhat larger, when all the registration stubs are entered into the data base over the next couple of months.” A breakdown of the harvest by DNR Region and county is available in portable document format. This fall, wildlife staff indicated that they expected lower total harvest numbers - especially antlerless deer harvest numbers - due to several factors including lower deer numbers in many areas of the state, fewer herd control units and no earn-a-buck units outside of the chronic wasting disease management zone. “There was pretty dense fog until 10-11:00 a.m. opening morning,” reported Kris Belling DNR West Central Region wildlife expert. “The fog coupled with wet conditions, made it hard to hear anything coming and definitely impacted the morning hunt. Hunters I talked to (in West Central Region) enjoyed the mild temperatures and it was comfortable enough for them to stay out hunting, and that seems to have offset the original difficulties due to the fog. Overall, it was just a nice week-end to be out. Lots of interest in getting the deer butchered quickly.” However, the weather improved later in the day. “Many folks take this week off leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday and given the slower start to the season, there should continue to be good opportunity out there in many areas. There is still a lot of hunting left,” said Keith Warnke, DNR big game ecologist. As of early Monday afternoon, 571 “opening weekend” hunting trip reports have been recorded on the department’s new online reporting database. Hunters reported seeing 796 total deer on those trips which translates to an average of 1.39 deer per trip. These numbers will also likely change as trip reports were still coming in at a rapid pace. Hunters wish to report their hunting experiences can do so from the DNR website.
I was also told that the rising bear numbers Is northern Wisconsin were causing havoc with the new born fawns In the spring/summer.
i didn't see as many deer as in the past but i took a great deer in bow and gun season. my brother took a nice buck in bow and a buck, a doe, and a coyote in gun season. my uncle shot a spike and my cousin got a nub buck. overall a good season for us as a 7 person hunting party for gun(4buck,1doe) and 2bucks for 2 people hunting in bow season, just my brother and i. i have friends that say the wolf population has destroyed their deer herd, and i think the dnr is doing a poor job at getting an accurate count. the earn a buck and all their other goffy programs aren't helping. they keep saying these huge herd #'s but no one is seeing any of these deer. i believe that some areas may have higher population than they want, but most areas are not even close to what they say. i hope they do something soon to fix the problem before we see no deer at all and only scavenger animals
Of course it's down. They issued far fewer tags than the last 5-7 yrs. It's a combination of many things: -Last winter was actually snowy, most of these deer have never seen a snowy winter. -Yeah there are wolves, but there are far more wolves where I live, and they have yet to run the whitetail to extinction! -I have seen a ton bears around, but 3/4 of the deer I've seen down there have been fawns & yearlings. -60 degree temps late November don't help "normal" deer movements either I'm not trying to say that the DNR hasn't f'ed up quite a bit, but looking at historical records makes it hard to gripe about the "terrible" numbers that are being put up in WI. Here are some stats about last years "Awful" season. 352,601 deer killed in the rifle season. 2002 only had 317,888 Every single year prior to 1995 had a smaller harvest than 2008 2008 ranks 11th all time for harvest numbers Not every season can be a top ten all time season. That's not a sign of a healthy population. You wanna see devastation, look at the early 70's after a few harsh winters. Success %s hovering near 14%. Makes the low 54% seem pretty nice. Just some food for thought...
Weird, sounds like they have learned from MN DNR. The only thing that we would do different is make it a different license.
Here is where the WIDNR went wrong. 1. The unlimited doe tags a few years ago. 2. An uncontroled wolf population. 3.Bear and yote's eating way to many fawns. I saw 3 mature does this year without fawns.In the last 3 years I have seen my numbers drop from sightings to trail camera photo's.We have not taken that many out.
I feel your pain. Here in California our season has been over for over a month. We can't shoot does (forkedhorn or better) and from mid-August to the end of October I saw 1 legal deer in 2 weeks in the woods. We have a big cougar, bear, yote and poacher problem.
