APR 2013?

[Scott K]

I hunt in Wisconsin where baiting is legal, trust me, older deer get wise to the free unusual pile of food in the middle of no where, they may be coming to it, but it is at night only. But it sure does draw in the yearlings, and small bucks The tender meat

[RumRiverRat]

Baiting in WI is great.

Excellent way to shoot does.

My goal is to harvest at least 15 does from my property in WI.

Will have to bait to accomplish that I think.

[skee0025]

Baiting in WI is great.

Excellent way to shoot does.

My goal is to harvest at least 15 does from my property in WI.

Will have to bait to accomplish that I think.

I'm just down the road, if you want help taking does

[Scott K]

Baiting in WI is great.

Excellent way to shoot does.

My goal is to harvest at least 15 does from my property in WI.

Will have to bait to accomplish that I think.

ahh, a new twist in the APR thread

RRR, I will say on some lands baiting isnt necessary, but if you own say 40 acres, and it is all wooded, and in the middle of 1000's of acres of wooded land, a bait pile can draw some deer into a certain area. Not all land has a natural funnel area, or food plot on it. I see a food plot no different then baiting, they are both put there to draw in deer. Now I realize food plots feed deer for longer then just enough to be shot, its intent is to draw in deer for hunting.

My land in Wisconsin happens to be a decent area for deer, and I do plant food plots, and I have designed a watering hole for the deer as well, so baiting isnt really needed. I do what I can to make my land a better habitat for deer. I have been doing this for 10+ years. I have noticed the results, except when the wolves come in and wipe out the herd. This has happened 2 times in the past 5 years.

My area usually has a lot of deer, and it is in a herd control unit pretty much every year, so the taking of does is what they want. My land is mostly wooded, but some of the neighboring lands have big open fields, and if you drive past them late evening, or early mornings, you can see close to 100 deer out in these fields at times. SO there are many deer in the area. Many of those antlerless deer are young bucks, and they get shot right along with the does. Freezer filling is usually pretty easy in this area.

[Wanderer]

Opened the day with 5 sightings, 4 from the stand, no antlers that I could see. Drew back on the 3 walking by but they stayed just off the trail and out of clear shooting. Nice rush to open the season in zone 3!

[PurpleFloyd]

I hunt in Wisconsin where baiting is legal, trust me, older deer get wise to the free unusual pile of food in the middle of no where, they may be coming to it, but it is at night only. But it sure does draw in the yearlings, and small bucks The tender meat

We have some land between Ashland and Iron River. The mother in law has her house on an adjacent plot and she feeds them daily. There is usually 8-12 pt bucks eating out there every day. They just eat and watch us through the patio door. Not much fear there.

[Wanderer]

'Nother non hypothetical report from my buddy's morning.

9 deer seen, 3 does and 6 bucks; four of which were legal but moving too fast for him to get a shot.

Totals for morning 1: 14 deer sighted; 8 does and 6 bucks. 12 legal targets.

Yeah, this sucks.

Wind came up but headed back out now. Haven't been seeing anything in the open lately so I'm not expecting as good of numbers for tonight but we'll see.

[Scott K]

4 deer seen, 2 does, 2 smaller non spotted deer with them

[james_walleye]

First Evening In Stand. Past Up Shots On 5 Legal Deer. 1 Doe And 4 Bucks. Saw 7 Does And 6 Bucks Total. Very Fun Evening! Just Further Proof.....Aprs Or No Aprs.....You Put A Reasonable Amount Of Time In A Deer Stand In Zone 3.....You Are Not Going To Have A Problem Putting Meat In The Freezer. If You Make The Choice To Only Spend One WeekendIn The Woods With A Gun In Zone 3 And You Come Home Empty Handed.....YouDid Much More To Keep Your Freezer Empty Than Any Regulation Ever Could.

[candiru]

Now the farmers are mad:

http://kstp.com/news/stories/S3160682.shtml?cat=1

[TruthWalleyes]

First Evening In Stand. Past Up Shots On 5 Legal Deer. 1 Doe And 4 Bucks. Saw 7 Does And 6 Bucks Total. Very Fun Evening! Just Further Proof.....Aprs Or No Aprs.....You Put A Reasonable Amount Of Time In A Deer Stand In Zone 3.....You Are Not Going To Have A Problem Putting Meat In The Freezer. If You Make The Choice To Only Spend One WeekendIn The Woods With A Gun In Zone 3 And You Come Home Empty Handed.....YouDid Much More To Keep Your Freezer Empty Than Any Regulation Ever Could.

#1

You've got to update your keyboard on your phone.

#2

I've never had a hard time shooting a "Legal" buck in Z3. I hold out for a big rack and fill doe tags in the mean time. What APR considers legal is generally small in my eyes, but i'm completely OK with neighbors and others shooting smaller deer as i realize my goals are set fairly high.

#3

Darn Farmers.

[Jameson]

Now the farmers are mad:

http://kstp.com/news/stories/S3160682.shtml?cat=1

Crazy, now that people have to be more selective about what deer they shoot, less deer are being shot. Who would of thought that? Wonder if that has happened anywhere before with APR?

Anyone from the pro-APR side have the data that shows that APR's aren't hurting the controlling of the deer population (from the general hunters, not sharp shooters or crop depredation permits.) Or, to keep it positive, data showing that the APR hunters are doing better then the non-APR hunters in controlling the deer herd. Shouldn't be too hard to show at least an example of the data from harvest of Intensive areas in and out of zone 3.

Funny, the only place we have Early-antlerless this season is zone 3. I hunted every Early-antlerless season prior to this one, in zone 2. Funny how that worked out.

APR's are for Lottery/HC areas, areas where we do need to restrict deer harvest. Where more does need to be harvested you might need to force the hunters to do it, Earn-a-buck. Hopefully the EA season is successful so EAB won't be needed. Imagine....EAB and APR in zone 3!!!

[muskiemanAD]

99% of the land down there is private and 99% of the farmers will not allow outsiders to hunt their property. When you have 500 acres with 100 being woods and only let a few family members hunt it, well they are not taking enough. So was there no crop damage prior to APR? Has the amount of damage when up a lot since APR? Cry me a river, open up your land to a few people and have them take a deer or two.

[Musky Buck]

Should read a farmer is mad. Lets analyze that story he has 40 acres of corn and the outside rows often stink anyway in non-irrigated stuff. I didn't see him mention he had a group of bowhunters in there for the opening weekend to help out. I'd bet raccoons are also a part of that 1,500 dollar loss. So prior to APR there was hardly any crop depredation going on ? I'm sure it's all those darn yearling bucks, 40 acres of corn so all the farmers are upset, that is if you chose to only put 40 acres in the ground.

[PurpleFloyd]

Taking the word of one farmer with only 40 acres of corn doesn't seem to be a good sample size to me.

[Getanet]

It's a television news story, they aren't going to shoot and edit interviews with 20 different farmers.

The fact that the DNR says "they understand the concerns of farmers" and have established a program especially for them in the SE leads me to believe the DNR has heard from more than 1 guy with 40 acres.

[96trigger]

A high deer population for areas in the southeast has always been an issue. It appears to be a specific problem in 2 small areas. One of those area is just north of Winona, where this farmer is said to be located. It looks like the DNR knows this high density pocket exists and is having an early antler less season. I won't make assumptions about this farmers hunting practices, but I don't think APR is the sole reason the deer population on that area is out of control.

[SmellEsox]

I think the number of farmer complaints is more associated with the price of corn than the number of deer. I remember around here in central MN, more complaints came in during the winters of 96-97 than any other year. Deer numbers were low then and the winters were tough. The deer that were left were bunched up and hitting standing ag fields hard. Had nothing to do with high deer density.

[mntatonka]

Taking the word of one farmer with only 40 acres of corn doesn't seem to be a good sample size to me.

How about a couple farmers with 40 acres each who have lost half their corn? We hunt the heck out of the farms and shoot a lot of deer every year, but it doesn't help when you've got an elitist hunter next door that locks up 600 acres and only shoots one deer on a good year, or an animal rights person on the other side that locks up 800 acres and doesn't shoot any deer.

[Bear55]

Wow mntatonka that sounds like the best 40 in the world!

[Scott K]

You looking for a hunting partner?

[mntatonka]

Wow mntatonka that sounds like the best 40 in the world!

235 actually, just 40 of corn. If you're looking for big bucks, it can be a heck of a spot. We've had people from Chicago call to lease the land for hunting many times, offering tens of thousands of dollars per year, cash.

Now if you're trying to grow corn to raise beef to make a living, it's not so great when you can't even control the deer population.

[walleye18]

what the farmers have to do is let people come in and thin the population.

My wife's uncle in ND complains every year that the waterfowl eat $12,000 to $18,000 dollars worth of crops from him....yet he won't let anyone hunt his property. We hunt it and thats about it. Sad deal. He recoupes his losses via crop insurance and $$ from the government.

As far as I'm concerned, the farmers really shouldnt complain. There are metrics and actions they can take to lessen the damage. Just my 2 cents.

Dont blame APR on too many deer and crop damage.

[TruthWalleyes]

Farmer talk always kills threads

[1eyeReD]

Dear farmers:

Respectful bowhunter with years of experience, bowhunter's education, firearms hunter's education, and long standing track record of no outdoors related violations is looking to help thin your deer herd.

Can and will shoot only does at your request.

Also handy in other ways. Can help with property maintenance, computer issues (IT/computer tech), research, etc. Please reply if we can help eachother....

Wait this is not C R A I G S L I S T