Good luck to all the deer hunters!

I was able to get a little buck fawn on some public land thanksgiving morning. I was the second car there an hour before shooting time and when I got my deer out there was 8 vehicles. Hopefully hunting pressure during the holiday hunt is lighter.

I was thankful for little deer after a mile plus drag out.
 
wisturkeyhunter said:
I was able to get a little buck fawn on some public land thanksgiving morning. I was the second car there an hour before shooting time and when I got my deer out there was 8 vehicles. Hopefully hunting pressure during the holiday hunt is lighter.

I was thankful for little deer after a mile plus drag out.
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Congrats...conditions were better later in the week, but anybody that got a buck off public land this year deserves a kudos. :cheers:
 
519vx said:
Some might not like that...but the only way to rebuild the northern herd is to stop shooting does!
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In talking with my buddies who live up north, and the guys that I know that just hunt up there....they think the low kill has more to do with how cold it was than numbers being down. Said the bars were busy pretty early this year. Less people in the woods will equal less deer getting killed.

I really have no idea. I haven't been up to pull my cameras in months.
 
Every year of a declining harvest, there is an excuse given by the WDNR. Too cold. Too windy. Too warm. To late in the year, etc. etc. etc. Remember a few years ago when a DNR spokesperson actually attributed some of the decreased harvest to the fact that there was a noon Packers game??? :rolleyes:

Look at the facts. Harvest declines for the last several years despite huge numbers of anterless tags available, an ever increasing number of special seasons (ie youth hunt, holiday hunt, blackpowder hunt, anterless only hunt) etc. Decreasing number of car-vehicle collisions. Decreasing numbers of agricultural damage claims. Increasing numbers of predators. Couple that with a few bad winters, and it is not difficult to see that the overall population is in decline. :mad:
 
I hunted N Vilas Co from 1988-2007. The deer heard was never like the farmbelt counties but I didnt see a deer from 2005-2007. Drove me over the edge. The population still isnt back and NOT shooting does for 2 years IS INDEED the quickest way. Certainly, sever winters etc will negatively effect it, but there's no quicker way than bucks only for two years. Also, there were almost no hunters up there the last year I hunted Vilas County. The registration stations were singing the blues..
 
519vx said:
Every year of a declining harvest, there is an excuse given by the WDNR. Too cold. Too windy. Too warm. To late in the year, etc. etc. etc. Remember a few years ago when a DNR spokesperson actually attributed some of the decreased harvest to the fact that there was a noon Packers game??? :rolleyes:

Look at the facts. Harvest declines for the last several years despite huge numbers of anterless tags available, an ever increasing number of special seasons (ie youth hunt, holiday hunt, blackpowder hunt, anterless only hunt) etc. Decreasing number of car-vehicle collisions. Decreasing numbers of agricultural damage claims. Increasing numbers of predators. Couple that with a few bad winters, and it is not difficult to see that the overall population is in decline. :mad:
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Great points.

Do you think that the wolves are playing a role too? Obviously they take a certain number, but in talking with people, some seem to think that the number they take is far greater than some would like to think.
 
I absolutely believe that wolves are a factor. Its interesting to me where wolves seem to be popping up all over the State in what the DNR doesn't consider wolf territory (ie Oshkosh, Columbus, etc). Studies show that an adult timber wolf eats the equivalent of 17 to 19 adult whitetails per year. A key word there is ADULT whitetails. If you assume that a fawn is the same as 1/2 an adult, and half of what they eat is fawns, you are really looking at each wolf killing 25 to 29 deer per year.

I can also tell you my personal observations from hunting the same land for 30+ years that the number of other predators is way, way up. I'm about an hour north of Green Bay. There are bear all over. Bears are terrible on fawns. We've never had so many coyotes and bobcat on trail cameras either.
 
519vx said:
I absolutely believe that wolves are a factor. Its interesting to me where wolves seem to be popping up all over the State in what the DNR doesn't consider wolf territory (ie Oshkosh, Columbus, etc). Studies show that an adult timber wolf eats the equivalent of 17 to 19 adult whitetails per year. A key word there is ADULT whitetails. If you assume that a fawn is the same as 1/2 an adult, and half of what they eat is fawns, you are really looking at each wolf killing 25 to 29 deer per year.

I can also tell you my personal observations from hunting the same land for 30+ years that the number of other predators is way, way up. I'm about an hour north of Green Bay. There are bear all over. Bears are terrible on fawns. We've never had so many coyotes and bobcat on trail cameras either.
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Lots of people are claiming that coyotes are taking deer in great numbers, but some claim that a coyote will not take a healthy deer? I saw some cam pics last weekend at the bar of a very healthy deer being chased by coyotes.

Maybe they were just playing a game of tag? :D
 
519vx said:
Kind of like the game of tag I like to play with them (.223 or .270)? :D All 'yotes are shoot on sight with us and all adjacent landowners where we hunt.
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I am actually going out to do some calling tomorrow night. :thumbsup:

Was going to go tonight, but I will need some time to dig out my cold weather gear.
 
519vx said:
Be sure to post some pics if you have score. Good luck! :thumbsup:
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I don't have high hopes Lol!

I just started doing it last year and really have no idea what I am doing. Came close the last time out though, so maybe I am figuring something out.:thumbsup:
 
I spent the second weekend of the 9 day in price county. I did see more deer sign than I'd have thought and saw 2 does but I covered miles of low spruce and alder swampy areas looking for a buck. Overall I'd say deer numbers are pretty low, but I haven't hunted up there enough to know if they are lower than normal.

More logging would probably help the deer numbers more than anything. It seemed like I couldn't go far without running into bear tracks. Even with cold temps and snow.

Really don't see the point of a antlerless season up there.
 
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