Bayfield County Deer Hunting 2014

How's it looking this year? Acorns plentiful this year? Deer numbers up or down? Bigger bucks being sighted?

called up to bear country gas station yesterday in drummond to see what the total snow accumulation was and they reported a legit 20"! UNREAL...It's gonna be another long winter for whats left of the herd. I still plan on heading up this weekend to check cameras and see where the deer are located but it's going to be an interesting year attempting to get back to my regular stands with 20" of snow already on the ground! adubs

Got my buck at about 10am Friday morning on Chequamegon nat'l forest land. Not over bait, he came through searching for does and i made a perfect shot, he only went 30 yards. Glad he came by when he did because the rest of the weekend was pretty windy. He was the only deer i seen that day, only the second buck i've seen all season up there. I know they are there, we have trail cam pics but seeing them during daylight seems to be an issue. The trail cam pic I have of this guy is from over a mile away at a different stand location. My dad never saw a deer all weekend. Good luck guys.

nice job and thanks for the report. good luck to u in the gun season.

Well, here it is: 3 guys in my cabin. We finished with 2 fine 8 pointers hanging. I did not get a shot at a buck of choice. I passed a few small ones. I had enough action to keep me interested, though I did go 3 days without seeing a deer in the middle of the week. The wind was horrible. Scrapes were everywhere. Chasing was going on. 1/2 the does had stained tarsals, 1/2 didn't. Don't bother with the open oaks. Stick to the thick stuff. Trail cameras were nuts with big bucks at night. I saw enough does to give me hope that the population will make a swift recovery given a mild winter, though we're not off to a good start with 8"-16" of snow in the forecast in the next couple days. Acorns are still everywhere. If you set up on the edges, you'll see does and possibly a cruising buck. If you are in the open oaks, be prepared to not see a thing. My cabin didn't bait and we went 2 for 3. Our other cabin, who all used bait laid a goose egg. Our crew stuck to pinch points, runways, and scrape lines. Food is the last thing on a buck's mind right now. Back to Jefferson County for me and hopefully peak rut there. See you gun season! By the way, my wife Brenda will be bartending at Scenic Drive Resort during gun season. Pay her a visit and let her know I sent you. I'll buy you one tap beer.

Spent the weekend up in Bayfield County, my report is very similar to Chris2fur. Seen numerous scrapes and some does/fawns. On Saturday night a big 8 pointer I have had an eye on came in directly behind me as well and got within 5 yards. I was not able to get a shot off as I didn't want to turn my body and risk spooking him. He was able to sneak off without presenting a shot. Brother seen a decent buck as well on Saturday evening cruising. Will be back up on Wednesday for a few days to try and put one on the ground. Good luck to everyone else.

oh,idk, there are few deer roaming the vast great north there always is. I guess its like this if you want to see deer every day your out hunting stay out of the far north because you will be very disappointed.

First sit of my vacation this afternoon and what shows up? The 10 pointer I'm targeting! Too bad he didn't read the script, he snuck up within 20 yards behind me when the wind was blowing hard and busted me moving when I turned to see what had made noise right behind me. Oh well...back at it tomorrow. Driving, I did see a 120" buck chasing a doe across the road. Reports from the rest of my crew are similar with small bucks. I'm seeing quite a few scrapes. I'll check back in if anything interesting happens.

Wow chief that is a Dandy!!! Nice job!!

Wow Cheif. Great buck. Congrats! I can just picture that brute stomping down a creek bottom like a bull in a china shop. Nice to see that theres a few big bucks like that still around in N. Wisconsin. Not too much to report from me. Had a cam out for 2 weeks in some oaks earlier in the month with zero deer pic's. ( was a good spot last year). Pulled the cam and decided not to hunt north of Hwy 8 this year. With a 40 minute wheeler ride to my camera and 3 trips up to the cabin I seen zero deer and zero tracks. Talked to the neighbor next to the cabin a couple weeks ago too. He feeds the deer around the lake year round, but does not hunt. Claims he only has 2 deer coming in this year. A doe and a fawn. Says they live in his yard and never venture too far away. 5 plus years ago he averaged 30-40 deer visiting his yard during the warmer months, and over 200 in the winter. Now only 2 remain. Wasn't a real tough decision to make on my part after no deer pic's in my best spot and only 2 deer left in the neighborhood. Now I know why half the cabin's in Northern Wisconsin are for sale. Good luck this year up north guys! I will miss it greatly.

I had to cross the line into Douglas county. hunted in BFC for 3 Days, just couldn't find the deer in my usual area. this guy was out roaming, came through a brushy creek bottom like a bull. good-luck.

CHIEF!!! Fill us in on that slob! Holy smokes! Leaving in 2 hours for the cabin, that picture makes me want to drive faster!

Wow Chief that's a nice one, was that up near your place?

morning of October 28th

I have a handicapped cousin who was hunting from a ground blind this past weekend in Bayfield County. He had a couple does milling around eating acorns about 100 yards away so he decided to try his hand at rattling, something he's never done before. Well, the results were pretty cool for him. A giant buck came out of nowhere a few minutes later and started chasing those does right past him. He couldn't get a shot. But, just the fact that he witnessed this, which may have been due to rattling, (or not) just shows that bucks are on the move. With so few does, I really expect hunters to see a lot of nice bucks in the next 2 weeks because they're forced to search. I'm leaving Friday for 9 days of action. Can't wait!

Well, just to let you all know, I've returned from my WWIA Bayfield Cast & Blast, 2014 event. I apologize that this isn't strictly a deer hunting report, but I've had people ask me via Messenger to post how our event went. Attached are some pictures. Fishing was awesome. I had one Hero boat a 41" and 35" musky, missing another mid 30's fish. I had another Hero boat a 41" x 16" northern pike. What a beauty of a fish. The colors were awesome. DEER HUNTING. That was another story. 2 hunters saw plenty of does. I had one in Mason and one in Iron River. Both on private property hunting over apple orchards and food plots. A third hero only saw bear. (Kind of funny because he was trying to decide whether to take the British Columbia bear hunt or my deer hunt. Turns out he could have shot a bear on MY hunt!) Duck hunting wasn't good. There was action, but not a lot. It was too warm. Grouse hunting in Grandview on a 360 acres private piece of property was fun but we ended up empty. Our guide worked hard for us and we saw 8 woodcock and 2 grouse but they flushed way too early. My guess is that they were skittish from the leaves dropping. It was fun watching the heroes react to the woodcock after almost stepping on them! (Note: This is the most woodcock I've ever seen, and the least grouse I've ever seen) Report: Acorns were still in the woods. I saw does on the roads while taking these guys to their stands and back. I did see a couple fawns that I hadn't seen earlier in the year. Among 4 hunters, nobody saw a buck. I ran into another hunting crew at Scenic Drive Resort and none of them saw deer. Leaves were about 75% down. Should be all down by this weekend. It was pretty warm and the deer weren't moving until after dark, according to trail camera pictures. I had a nice 8 pointer on camera but at 4:30 AM. I will be headed up on the 31st for my annual week long trek into the northwoods for the rut. From what I'm seeing, I believe the rut will be late this year. I also believe it will be intense. There's not a lot of deer out there so the bucks will really be cruising looking for the hot does. I believe if you can hack sitting in a stand from an hour before sunrise to sundown, you will have action. Much of it will be mid-day after the does have bedded and the bucks begin to search. Shoot Straight! Chris (Charlie Delta, being my military initials...Delta where my cabin is)