Public vs Private Antlerless tags

I attended the spring meetings in Marathon county this year and listened to the biologist present on antlerless goals and tag issuance for this year. This is the first year that there will be public and private antlerless tags. What surprised me was that in Marathon county, 15% of the antlerless tags were set aside for public land. The biologist explained that 12% of the land in the county is public, so 15% of the tags were set aside for this group. I thought the idea was to increase antlerless pressure on private land, but setting aside MORE tags for public would have the opposite effect. I then called the biologist for Portage County (where I own a farm) and asked her the same question. She said she looked at public vs private land harvest in the last 5 years. 7% of antlerless deer were historically killed on public land, so they set aside 15% of the tags for public. THIS IS EVEN WORSE! I own private land in these counties and we don't have a deer shortage on the land we own. I am afraid that with this type of tag issuance we will have too many deer shot off public land, and not enough on private. The Portage county biologist said they did this to make sure that public land hunters get a chance at an antlerless tag- this amazed me.

Well then boneshredder, if you are killing 9-11 deer on public land in WI yourself, then the new rules are intended exactly for people like you. Public land tags are limited this year, and will even be more limited next year when the free tags printed with your license will not be good for public land areas. The new rules will be a blessing for us public land hunters who pass on most deer as we know the population is down. People talk all the time about hunters having to regulate or police themselves because the DNR hasn't done it. Well, this answers this question - we hunters cannot regulate or police ourselves. There will always be guys like boneshredder out there. If you feel like there aren't enough deer on public land, and you pass up that fawn, there will always be guys like boneshredder out there to kill the deer you pass on. Thank goodness the majority of hunters are more concerned about the herd than simply hunting only to fill their freezer, and have supported methods to restrict guys from shooting so many deer on public land. I believe this change is long overdue.

JC not hundreds but thousands of acres of untouched northern units. I like peaches by the way

Actually these deer came from four counties and all public land gun kills except the bow kills were on my private land that we do not gun hunt. Cant wait to fill the freezer this year getting a little low here

Bone and Central~ "Some times it is better to be quiet and thought a fool, than to open you mouth and remove all doubt." Abe Lincoln.

"I shot a big ten and a doe opening weekend of bow last year and was done for the season. I then shot 9 deer with my rifle and they too all went in my freezer. Let the internet tuff guys blast this post i dont care. Every bit of that meat was used on my table this winter. I will shoot as many as i can this year also, dont like it dont hunt near me i could careless have a great day. " So, you shot 11 deer last year yourself. If you have private land with hundreds of acres and very few hunters, then this doesn't bother me as this is the only way to control the population. If you don't have hundreds of acres, your neighbors must think you are a peach.

i have never complained one time about lack of deer i see 15 a day where i hunt

I shot a big ten and a doe opening weekend of bow last year and was done for the season. I then shot 9 deer with my rifle and they too all went in my freezer. Let the internet tuff guys blast this post i dont care. Every bit of that meat was used on my table this winter. I will shoot as many as i can this year also, dont like it dont hunt near me i could careless have a great day.

not banning group bagging but to separate the gun season or bow seasons and allowing only certain amount of tags like spring turkey hunting. that would indirectly break up big hunting groups.

"putting 1 deer makes me a bad for deer hunter." Didn't say that. Complaining that you have to purchase a public land tag and a private land tag and lamenting about it as a money making racket, that is the response I expect from people that don't care about the public land deer herd, and an example of why this rule change is important. "i was just asking questions about the rules screw it i just wont buy any tags and shoot my deer. maybe ill buy 4 or 5 tags this year and start putting 4 or 5 in the freezer " Great attitude, and stay classy. Go ahead and fill your freezer, I don't care. I don't hunt next to you anyway. Just don't complain about the lack of deer, and don't complain when the warden comes knocking on your door. You are a perfect example of why regulations need to change in this state.

putting 1 deer makes me a bad for deer hunter. JC get over yourself. i dont think you should get a license for about 10 years. i was just asking questions about the rules screw it i just wont buy any tags and shoot my deer. maybe ill buy 4 or 5 tags this year and start putting 4 or 5 in the freezer

Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Again, there will always be a percentage of hunters that will buy 6-8 bonus tags and fill all of them...they got to get their money's worth. I like the idea of increasing the cost of bonus tags. Hell increase the cost of the license too. Maybe even a stamp to hunt on county land to make up the lost revenue from less bonus tags and licenses sold.

The private vs. public tag change is made exactly for guys like centralwiwalleyeslayer. Thank goodness the rule was passed. To complain about having to buy separate tags is very shortsighted for seeing the good in the rule. Thiemer, who is for breaking up family hunting parties? There are many families who hunt together, but don't need party tagging to have a good time. Why would banning group tagging ruin family hunting tradition? That doesn't make any sense. A family can still go out hunting together, and banning group tagging wouldn't stop that.

Regarding borders, its no different than things we have now. If I hunt public near the border of private, I won't shoot a deer if I think it could make it to the private land. Then again I hunt far enough off the line to eliminate that chance, assuming the shot is good like it should be.

i have never put more than one doe in my freezer I do know of people putting 5 or 6 in the freezer but they buy the tags and fill them so thats there right.

i have hunted the same area my whole life lol 1 doe is not gonna hurt the population trust me.