Answers to why many haven't seen a deer.

[GatorBait]

Wildlife officials say several factors likely contributed to the lower count including lower deer numbers after several years of herd reduction strategies, very cold hunting conditions on opening morning in northern units, a late opening weekend that missed the peak of the rutting season, poor fawn recruitment this year, and tough winter conditions last year after a string of mild winters.

They have all the answers as to why they're not around. Herd reduction strategies have worked more than they expected, and now were left w/o jack. 16yrs of hunting and it's the first time ever not seeing a deer in the 20hrs of hunting this weekend. Keep handing those tags out and expanding the EAB, sure makes it fun for everyone.

[Cooter]

I couldn't agree more. Speaking of making it fun for everyone, I can't imagine why we have fewer young hunters....

[dudewheresmyboat]

I remember opening morning was like a war zone!!! Not any more. I'll stick to bowhunting at least you see them!

[Muskyhunter23]

I agree! 14 hours spent time on stand and only see 2 deer. I went home empty!

[fishtrapgirl]

I saw 14 deer on Saturday just from my stand, 12 withing easy shooting range. Took a mature doe in the afternoon. Saw more running across fields around the area. I though this was a fair amount of deer considering other years I haven't seen any on opening day.

[DonBo]

Zone 10 was very slow. Heard very little shooting compared to years past. I did end up shooting a button buck last night, first opportunity I had in 3 days of hard hunting. 3500 anterless tags in this area this year? Way to many IMO.

[mwal]

In Zone 9 and 2 we have seen more wolf sign than deer sign. They have been howling at dawn each day sort of spooky.

MWal

[DonBo]

In Zone 9 and 2 we have seen more wolf sign than deer sign. They have been howling at dawn each day sort of spooky.

MWal

LOTS of wolf sign in our area north of Grantsburg as well. One guy in our camp has seen 2 in just the last 2 weeks.

[Cooter]

I'll bet if we could get the DNRs wolf people to do a population estimate on deer they'd have a count of about 75,000 statewide and end up on the endangered species list.

[snoozebutton]

Good one Cooter.

I've been hearing the same things around here, more wolves and coyotes than deer.

[GatorBait]

Ya, after are little snow we had, I took a walk around my area of hunting and only tracks I found were coyote tracks. Not many wolves here yet, but they'll be more present here within time I'm sure. Coyote populations are off the charts around this area. There fun to shoot though, good practice.

[snoozebutton]

Guess what I saw tonight? On our way back from the lake there was a deer standing alongside the road. That's right, a deer!!! So there's one left in Washburn county.

(Didn't catch any fish though.)

[DonBo]

Where exactly did you say that was?

[JAR JAR]

I hunt private land up here in area 2 and only seen 6 deer total all season, I did harvest a 6 pt and a doe but there were deer around but they only seemed to move at night. The local DNR said on Sunday that there harvest count was down about 40% from last year. They didn't seem to want to blame the wolf and coyote but the pushed the blame to the amount of bears this year. I know that some areas still had bears coming in and feeding on gut piles and bait, I thought they would be hibernating by now

I also had a doe in my yard when I got home from work

Jar Jar

[nolte]

The local DNR said on Sunday that there harvest count was down about 40% from last year. They didn't seem to want to blame the wolf and coyote but the pushed the blame to the amount of bears this year.

This makes a whole lot of sense, since we've had about the same amount of bear for at least the last 5 years if not 10. It was their bear count that was way off (hence results of the tetracycline study), so why should we expect anything else with the deer count.

I'm sure it had NOTHING to do with giving out mitt fulls of doe tags for the last 5+ years. Couple that with a little more snow/cold from last winter and that is the reason there is less deer. I also think that wolves don't kill as many as people think (they do kills some), but the definataly make the deer more seclusive. If we happen to get a really bad winter, the deer are going to take a pounding.

[snoozebutton]

Where exactly did you say that was?

That's a secret, I plan on hunting him next year.

Heard on the radio yesterday that the DNR is blaming the low kill numbers on the late season, the CWD scare, and the weather. There's plenty of deer out there.

[snoozebutton]

NRB denies request to suspend anterless deer hunt.

Quote:

The Natural Resources Board denied a state group's request to suspend the December antlerless deer hunt.

Citing low harvest numbers from the recently completed gun deer hunt, the Wisconsin Hunters Rights Coalition asked the NRB to use its emergency rule authority to stop the antlerless-only hunt, planned statewide Thursday to Sunday .

"It is the responsibility of the DNR and sportsmen to protect this cherished resource," said Greg "Kaz" Kazmierski of Pewaukee, representing the Wisconsin Chapters of the Safari Club International. "To err on the side of caution seems prudent with the data that is in."

Hunters registered 276,985 deer in the gun hunt, a 20 percent drop from 2007. The coalition said its request was on behalf of hunters statewide who are "concerned that the overstated population estimates by the DNR may have already resulted in an overharvest of antlerless deer."

NRB chair Christine Thomas said she considered the request but, based on biological information from the DNR, didn't feel it was warranted.

"We aren't on the brink of population collapse," said Thomas. "And people have made their hunting plans for the upcoming season. The staff will take a hard look at the numbers and come up with the best recommendations for next year."

Prior to the season the DNR estimated the state's deer herd at 1.5 to 1.7 million. An updated estimate, prepared from 2008 harvest data, will be available in late January.

The Wisconsin Hunters Rights Coalition is comprised of Wisconsin Chapters of Safari Club International, Wisconsin Bear Hunters' Association and Wisconsin Chapters of National Wild Turkey Federation.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/outdoors/35836804.html

[DonBo]

I'm glad to see SOMEONE is looking out for our interests. It seems hunters across the state agree that the deer population estimates put out by the DNR are way below reality.

[ARNE]

Global warming!!! LOL

[outdoor ran]

I was hoping they would shut down the Dec. doe blast too! We had 12 guys making drives all over the place this deer season and we got two bucks total. Only two bucks seen the whole season. Other then that pushed out a few fawns, few bears and wolves.

I don't buy the whole bad weather and late after rut idea. I've been doing some walking around now that there's snow and it ain't easy finding deer tracks on the public lands we hunt.

I'm not sure how they come up with their deer numbers but why can I see some guy driving down the road and he sees a doe standing on the road next to a dead deer that just came off someones private land thats not hunted and he goes "oh my god theres deer every where, going to have to give out 10 tags to every hunter and let them hunt for 7 months to get his HUGE deer population down"

[DonBo]

The public / private land issue is a real problem IMO. If they would hold these "extra" hunts on private land only I would have no problem with it. But the public land we hunt gets hit hard by local landowners who don't want to shoot "their" deer.

As Randy said, the public lands hold very few deer while the private lands hold the majority and don't get hunted near enough.

[outdoor ran]

Then some land owners (not all) seem to think its ok to dump 200 pds of corn every night to keep them there. Its private land, who's going to stumble on to their piles and report it.

I know the low numbers are a healthier herd and better for the highways but I got to tell ya, I'm spoiled and miss those days of seeing alot of deer. Even if you didn't shoot at them, its just nice seeing deer.

Don, I did have a turkey ruffle my feathers while in my deer stand. Dang, did I jump lol. What number is your area now for turkeys, six?

[DonBo]

Don, I did have a turkey ruffle my feathers while in my deer stand. Dang, did I jump lol. What number is your area now for turkeys, six?

Zone 4. Covers the whole area I might be interested in hunting, from Elsworth south up through the Somerset area all the way up to and north of the cabin in Grantsburg.

Did you apply this year?

[outdoor ran]

Don, I did apply for zone 6 for my first choice because its closer to home. But I did put down zone 4 for my back up. Have to wait and see

[goblueM]

for what its worth, northern minnesota hunters really saw a decrease in deer too. I think the WI dnr hit the nail on the head - its a lot of factors, but weather in my opinion was a huge one this year. It's been a crazy year from the start, with such a late spring. This year there was NO rutting activity in my hunting area, last 2 years there has been a ton. Very interesting year indeed