https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/WildlifeHabitat/harvest/deerharvest
There are the numbers. Why is southern farmland not affected as badly as the rest of the state?
Big Game Hunting
2023 Gun Numbers Released - DNR is succeeding in reaching their goal!
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Yeahhhh do baiting is banned almost everywhere in the state yet every gas station selling corn and apples…. Hell fleet farm has a whole aisle of bait products, mostly gone by gun season.. tell me nobody is baiting… don’t agree with a lot the DNR does, but I also have no faith in majority of hunters to make the right choices either…. Humans are disgusting, walk through any public parcel, easy to tell where the humans go.
On that note, hunted public for gun season for the first time ever, shot a buck, a doe, and my buddy shot a nice buck 500 yards from me. Never saw orange, everyone else crowded the woods within 400 yards of the road, and wondered why they couldn’t see deer. I saw more than I did when I hunted private! I haven’t hunted deer much in the last 12 years, but I used to be hardcore, had. 300 acre lease, got out of it to pursue waterfowl while I was young enough to go hard, getting back into it and finding out 90% of public land hunters are just to lazy to succeed, deer number are down from the early 2000s…. That means you gotta work a little harder.
Ultimately what I see in my little sliver of the state is much different than anyone else’s. I loved having leased private, but the flexibility to hunt public where the sign is and the deer are at the time is awesome.
I really do enjoy reading the differing and common opinions on this, just shows how different it can be even a few 40s over…. I will say the guys who have habitat that hold deer or find it on public do the best.
As for wolves, never saw one in the wild, never heard one, don’t hunt up north, so don’t really have an opinion, but I do know they can put on serious miles and sometimes kill just to kill, management (not total annihilation) needs to happen, as well as habitat work in the north.
On that note, hunted public for gun season for the first time ever, shot a buck, a doe, and my buddy shot a nice buck 500 yards from me. Never saw orange, everyone else crowded the woods within 400 yards of the road, and wondered why they couldn’t see deer. I saw more than I did when I hunted private! I haven’t hunted deer much in the last 12 years, but I used to be hardcore, had. 300 acre lease, got out of it to pursue waterfowl while I was young enough to go hard, getting back into it and finding out 90% of public land hunters are just to lazy to succeed, deer number are down from the early 2000s…. That means you gotta work a little harder.
Ultimately what I see in my little sliver of the state is much different than anyone else’s. I loved having leased private, but the flexibility to hunt public where the sign is and the deer are at the time is awesome.
I really do enjoy reading the differing and common opinions on this, just shows how different it can be even a few 40s over…. I will say the guys who have habitat that hold deer or find it on public do the best.
As for wolves, never saw one in the wild, never heard one, don’t hunt up north, so don’t really have an opinion, but I do know they can put on serious miles and sometimes kill just to kill, management (not total annihilation) needs to happen, as well as habitat work in the north.
With the exception of some of the counties in the far northwestern part of Wisconsin, Most counties already have a feeding and baiting ban.
Question is, how many people still do it ?
If bait sites draw deer making it easier for wolf depredation, so do food plots. Those then too should be banned.
The lack of deer up north could be due to varying factors. Such as Harsh winters, wolf and bear and coyote depredation. Along with over harvest of does having a big effect.
Attached baiting ban map
https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/hunt/bait
Question is, how many people still do it ?
If bait sites draw deer making it easier for wolf depredation, so do food plots. Those then too should be banned.
The lack of deer up north could be due to varying factors. Such as Harsh winters, wolf and bear and coyote depredation. Along with over harvest of does having a big effect.
Attached baiting ban map
https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/hunt/bait
Thanks ihookem, that was the point I was trying to make. Its already mostly banned and didn't do anything, so the comments themselves were sort of pointless. Seemed more like rambling of a lake-linker to me, but coming from the DNR.
I have a very good memory for past events and I can very clearly remember them saying how baiting/feeding in the north contributed to high deer numbers in the past. Their reasoning to ban it was due to it contributing to those higher numbers. It was a while ago, maybe people don't remember it. People were complaining because they wanted higher numbers, the usual stuff.
I do agree wolves figure out bait piles, wasn't trying to get that started though as I think its been beat to death. Was just pointing out discrepancies between DNR stances then and now.
I have a very good memory for past events and I can very clearly remember them saying how baiting/feeding in the north contributed to high deer numbers in the past. Their reasoning to ban it was due to it contributing to those higher numbers. It was a while ago, maybe people don't remember it. People were complaining because they wanted higher numbers, the usual stuff.
I do agree wolves figure out bait piles, wasn't trying to get that started though as I think its been beat to death. Was just pointing out discrepancies between DNR stances then and now.
Stein,, Price co. public land is being raped, at least where I have land. . As for baiting in the northwoods, it is hardly legal anywhere anymore but I agree. A bait pile does attract deer and they create a pattern... When deer create a pattern, the wolves figure it out faster than you can slap a tick... Here is an example. If you go on Facebooks U.P. trail cams... You will see picture after picture of wolves at bait piles. They get so many wolves at the bait piles... It is easy to see that wolves see a pile of corn and know full well the deer are close by... The Yoopers just dpn't get it though. They just keep complaining about wolves on the cams..
Anybody baiting up north where there’s wolves is just making it easier for the wolves… think they don’t catch on to bait piles and where it’s easy to ambush a deer?. Hunting up north sucks because of the habitat, it sucks, deer aren’t big woods creatures, the thrive on the edge, prairies, crp, small woodlots, thick swamps, but if you have no food it doesn’t matter what’s being killed the landscape can only sustain so many. What’s going on for logging? Is there any habitat work being done in “up north”? If you own land you can make your property better for deer. You can’t expect areas that were good 30 years ago to still be good today if the forest grew up and nothing was done to it.
I'm not usually one to quickly blame the DNR, but I will laugh if I hear them contradict themselves. The other day I read how the WI Deer Biologist Pritzl said that one of his fixes for northwoods deer numbers was to end baiting everywhere. I had to laugh because I'm pretty sure he's the one who was around when they said the northwoods had too many deer due to baiting/feeding years ago, how they survived winters easier, etc. DNR logic I guess. That was all debated on here to the usual extent.
He also said he hunted the northwoods and saw no deer or something like that. Made me think he's as bad as the rest of the people on this site finding excuses or things to blame, even when its his job he blamed the government's baiting law.
He also said he hunted the northwoods and saw no deer or something like that. Made me think he's as bad as the rest of the people on this site finding excuses or things to blame, even when its his job he blamed the government's baiting law.
ihookem,
No, she wasn't able to get a shot at anything we saw except that nubbin buck, which she opted to pass on. She enjoyed the sit though, as miserable as it was weather-wise. You are right though...getting them outdoors does wonders. My boys love going hunting and fishing already and they are 5 and 3...
No, she wasn't able to get a shot at anything we saw except that nubbin buck, which she opted to pass on. She enjoyed the sit though, as miserable as it was weather-wise. You are right though...getting them outdoors does wonders. My boys love going hunting and fishing already and they are 5 and 3...
Good to hear Master Piker, Did she get one of the deer in the picture? If not, just being out there seeing deer changes their lives for the better. I might go out tomoroow for the last time After that , it will be Nov. 17, 2024 before I hunt deer with a gun. That is 11 months from now and I will miss it.
I took my 13 year old niece out on Thursday morning in the rain/sleet/snow mix to try to get her a deer. It was a cold, wet, miserable sit, but she never complained once. We sat from 6:30 until 10am...saw some deer, but she was not able to get a shot at anything but a button buck and elected to pass. I was proud of her showing restraint at such a young age. Since she was hunting with me at our farm, she asked if I wanted her to shoot it. I was honest and told her it was her choice as it was a legal deer and I had a tag for it. She said it will grow antlers for next year and she wanted to watch it instead. Perfect. We did hear a few shots the first hour. Our farm is in a very high deer density area, so shooting a few antlerless deer isn't a problem. I shoot does in lieu of 2.5 - 3.5 year old bucks. My wife and kids have the green light to shoot whatever they want.
As for the Southern Farmland not being affected as much when it comes to kill numbers...there is more private land/farms in the southern half of the state than up north and far less public in the southern part of the state. That means (like some have mentioned already) that private landowners tend to manage their own deer based on the numbers they are seeing. The DNR has a lot more control of the harvest up north due to them controlling the number of antlerless tags issued up there. They probably aren't as informed or intimate with the deer populations up there as farmers and landowners are in the southern part of the state. They count the number of deer they see coming home from the bar and plug that number into a (controversially) wildly inaccurate/outdated population model and issue tags based on what their computer tells them, not real-world observations. I saw a video the other day that the state of Colorado just reintroduced wolves in a couple places where they didn't used to be...the video clip was about 30 seconds long and showed about 6-8 people as they were opening the kennels and releasing them...the only one smiling was the governor. Not the biologists or anyone else present...only the governor. I won't get into the politics, but I find it VERY messed up that we have a wolf problem in this state and we can't do anything about it because the federal government thinks there aren't enough of them *eyeroll*...
At any rate, I had a good season. I passed a few nice bucks that I hope make it to next year, shot two nice does (one with rifle and the other during muzzleloader), so I will have plenty of meat for the year, and most importantly was able to spend quality time with my kids and family while hunting. I am planting about 1500 trees of various species in the spring on our land, so I am excited for the coming years to see how the property upgrades improve my hunting even more.
As for the Southern Farmland not being affected as much when it comes to kill numbers...there is more private land/farms in the southern half of the state than up north and far less public in the southern part of the state. That means (like some have mentioned already) that private landowners tend to manage their own deer based on the numbers they are seeing. The DNR has a lot more control of the harvest up north due to them controlling the number of antlerless tags issued up there. They probably aren't as informed or intimate with the deer populations up there as farmers and landowners are in the southern part of the state. They count the number of deer they see coming home from the bar and plug that number into a (controversially) wildly inaccurate/outdated population model and issue tags based on what their computer tells them, not real-world observations. I saw a video the other day that the state of Colorado just reintroduced wolves in a couple places where they didn't used to be...the video clip was about 30 seconds long and showed about 6-8 people as they were opening the kennels and releasing them...the only one smiling was the governor. Not the biologists or anyone else present...only the governor. I won't get into the politics, but I find it VERY messed up that we have a wolf problem in this state and we can't do anything about it because the federal government thinks there aren't enough of them *eyeroll*...
At any rate, I had a good season. I passed a few nice bucks that I hope make it to next year, shot two nice does (one with rifle and the other during muzzleloader), so I will have plenty of meat for the year, and most importantly was able to spend quality time with my kids and family while hunting. I am planting about 1500 trees of various species in the spring on our land, so I am excited for the coming years to see how the property upgrades improve my hunting even more.
Yesterday I went out for the dreadded and despised Holiday Hunt... I really enjoyed it. I saw a woodpecker , a Chickadee 4 robbins a pheasant hunters lost dog( that they found ) and a deer. It was a beautiful sit. Today I only saw 4 robbins, the wind shifted and i did not enjoy the hunt so I left early. There are fresh deer tracks everywhere but am sure they are moving at night.
As I tried o convey before, the State DNR / DNR-NRB can mandate all the hunting regulations they want. But the land owners will micro manage the hunting on their properties.
Different managing can have varying results. One larger tract of private land can be virtually void of deer. Another two miles down the road can have a deer behind every tree. ( Hypothetically speaking )
Most public lands are over hunted and usually anything brown is a target. Over harvested and to much hunting pressure.
The deer need food, water, safety, and minimal human activity associated with danger.
One other factor of deer density is loss of habitat. I can readily think of multiple small tracts of what was wooded deer habitat that now has one or two houses built there, pushing deer to other areas.
Different managing can have varying results. One larger tract of private land can be virtually void of deer. Another two miles down the road can have a deer behind every tree. ( Hypothetically speaking )
Most public lands are over hunted and usually anything brown is a target. Over harvested and to much hunting pressure.
The deer need food, water, safety, and minimal human activity associated with danger.
One other factor of deer density is loss of habitat. I can readily think of multiple small tracts of what was wooded deer habitat that now has one or two houses built there, pushing deer to other areas.
Displaying 31 to 45 of 154 posts
