I went up to Black River Falls this last weekend to try the muzzleloader season for the first time. My concerns were that since it is immediately after the Gun Deer Season that the deer would be few and far between because the are still running scare.....so to speak. I hunted all day Saturday and Sunday and didnt even catch a glimpse of a deer. I know that this happens even for the gun deer season, but I just wondered what other Wisconsin muzzleloader hunter's experience has been. Is it normally very slow or is this just one of those years?
I am 13 miles south of BRF and all my trail cam activity was at night for the whole week. I did see a couple out in a field Saturday at noon, but that was it. I'm sure they are laying low. However, I did hear a few shots Sat. morning.
I almost always see deer when i go out but saturday night i saw nothing and sunday morning my buddy saw nothing which is extremely unusual
The weather didn't help My WI cams were lit up but all at night also. Need cold and snow to get em up during the day. The amount of pressure they had will have something to do with it also.
I sat out Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday both morning and night with a muzzle-loader and only saw one small buck, 2 does (they were not together) that were to far and behind trees and a doe with a fawn. Very slow action after the first gun season here in Illinois. Not sure how long it will take them until they are back to moving like normal. Half tempted to call it a season
I had a 2.5 year old 8 pt. come out of a thick balsam stand around 3:50 and 40 yards away on Dec. 1. Most of my time with muzzleloader shows deer very nervous and nocturnal after gun season. The last four days of gun season usually has good action in daylight if not pressured right after gun season. One of my areas had a lot of muzzleloader hunters on the weekend but they are gone now. That 2.5 year old saw me raidse the gun and was gone before I could get a bead on him. I will be out this afternoon for last day. I hunt in NW WI. on National Foerst.
My brothers seen a few deer, one of his target bucks showed up this morning, has a big droptine unfortunately he missed! He'll never live this down. I haven't heard the full story yet thou.
Good Luck Smokey! It sounds like they are not to be seen right after the gun season...for the most part. I have gotten bored with hunting with a rifle and wanted to try something more challenging (muzzleloader without scope), but if I am not going to see anything I am not sure if the muzzleloading season is the answer I was looking for. My son turns 12 in a few months and I was hoping to get him into muzzleloading instead of gun, but now I dont know what to do. Maybe I will just take him out with a rifle for the youth gun hunt and give muzzleloading another shot before buying him a muzzleloader. Maybe I am just spoiled because I havent been skunked in many years with a rifle. Good thing I got one with my bow this year! Thanks everyone for the info!
