2018 Archery Season

17 days until go time! How many people actually hunt the early September season? Where in Wisconsin are you hunting? What type of terrain? Any expectations? Introducing any youth to the great outdoors? 

I will start- I absolutely love the first 2 weeks of archery! 

I will be hunting the northern part of Juneau county!

i will be climbing very close to the hottest oak tree in the area! I usually start on a beautiful 40 acre chunk of county land! Trying to leave the private alone until the youth hunt! 

I have higher than normal expectations for this year due to the mild winters and great crop selection! The herd is in really good shape! Not quite as good as pre 2000 doe slaughter years but getting close again! I’m somewhat scared to drive on the roads at night which hasn’t scared me in almost 20 years now! Really hoping my 12 year old daughter or 9 year old nephew connects this year?

We should possibly have 5 youth hunters this year so that is going to make for a great year as long as safety is priority #1!

Im extremely excited as always and ready to go! 17 days and it’s my favorite time of year! I also wanna wish everyone else a safe, enjoyable, and memorable season ahead!

Wow. What a beautiful deer!

awesome looking mount! and deer..  congrats!

Drptine-  Nice looking mount and neat way to display..That will be a tough buck to top..

Dead Bucks, Thanks for taking the extensive time to relate this seasons experiences. Great reading.  Good luck in the future. 

78 years bowhunting years experience w my crew, thats our biggest for sure!  I have one thats close and a few other nice ones.  Lots of mediums and smalls.  If i sealed the deal on all the encounters ive had i would have a block full of houses full of mounts.  Haha.  Big, as in 4yr old plus buck sightings have increased for our crew markedly over the last 4 years.  Sightings doesnt equate to killing....i had 7 buck encounters total this season, 2 times had multiples.  4good ones, one great one, 3 smalls, score shoulda been me 4 bucks ,,,3.  Yea right.  Bucks 6 me 1 is how it turned out,i got a small one, and that wasn't  with the bow, i doubled up w the shotgun and was damn happy to do it!buck and fawn, boom boom!  My bros double sticker,,,and me,enjoying that crazy week of gun season.   Sheds won't fall for a while,  no real ice im willing to go on, gonna have to dream about those encounters for a few months

Wow, that is a huge buck for any area !!!  I hunt some in the Kettle Moraine Northern unit and the logging there has been a mix of hardwoods and in the pine plantations (which I support).. Only takes a couple of years for the nasty berry bushes and other thick underbrush to re-populate the pine plantations..A tornado/wind storm hit one of my favorite areas pretty hard this past year and it will take years to come back

Deadbucks-  I echo the comments from Rangerkid.. One topic I saw you mention was the CDAC process.. While I agree it is far from perfect I do support the overalll concept of having numerous stakeholders at least have the opportunity to meet with local hunters to discuss the upcoming deer season.

Like you I also hunt public land quite alot and like many I have seen a decline in deer numbers over the years. Due to a family issue I could not attend my local CDAC meeting last year but in the two previous years myself and a couple of other attendee's raised concerns about increasing the public land antlerless permits. In both cases the CDAC group decided to keep the permits at the previous year level. I had actually requested for a decrease in the number so it was not a total win but I at least felt the guys that attended the meeting for this issue accomplished a "small win" on this topic. Like you I hunt in multiple counties but can only attend my local county meeting to voice issues. There are other flaws with the CDAC process but I do wish more guys would attend these meetings to voice their concerns. It can have an impact on decisions!!!   Congrat's on that doe, she was a big deer.. 

Deadbucks, nice wrap up, of your year in review. Thanks for taking the time to write about it. You have a good outlook and perspective on many issues. Oh, and welcome to L.L.

Black River Falls is one of the areas I hunt, and I agree with big mac. It's been more than a few years, that no, or extremely limited doe tags were issued. The population has increased and it would be nice to take a doe, especially since the area I'm hunting isn't known for bigger racked bucks. This could very well play into one of the reasons, why license sales are decreasing. 

Thump55

I totally understand & know that deer tend to herd-up during the winter. 

The 15 deer I saw Saturday,  were scattered through the day. 

Thus is a common event throughout the hunting season. 

Hey, I just would like the option to harvest a doe once in a while. 

Big Mac 

big mac - keep in mind that this time of year deer are herded up together much more than in the fall, so because you see 15 deer in January doesn't mean the same as seeing 15 in fall.

I can tell you that my food plot that was getting drilled all through Sep-Nov by deer had about 5 tracks in it during the week we had snow on the ground. Those deer have gone elsewhere, and whoever's land they are on now is thinking the same as you are: Wow! there are lots of deer. When it is not necessarily the case at all.

"One piece of private in waushara can have 50 deer living on it,  down the road 10 miles,  you can barely cut a track. "

I would bet a majority of the state is like this.

Figured as much lol.