deer ?

[walleyeguy7]

Im sure theres a post talking about deer (or lack thereof) I just must have overlooked it or got too lazy. any way this is the first time in seven years that i havent seen a deer during rifle season. everyone that ive talked too has had a poor season either just saw small deer or nothing at all. I was just wondering if anyone has any idea whats going on if the population is going downhill or if there is an overwhelming population of predators.

[mrklean]

haha there are about 50 post talking about this, looks like wisconsin is having a slow year to. To be honost i think its just one of those years, so far with bow and gun our group took 7, only 2 bucks, and the gun season was really really slow but there out there. Just one of those years around the midwest.

[SlabSlayKid]

In the limited time i've been able to hunt this year (opening weekend and a hand full of bow hunting outings) i've seen well over 100 deer. Im seeing just as many deer as I ever did. I hunt southern Minnesota however. Maybe your hunting way up north where they've been doing quite a bit of logging and there just isnt the habitat anymore. I however am not conscerned at all about the population or the harvest. The selectively managed land I hunt is still producing and I look to take a bruiser this weekend there with the smoke-stick.

[Christopher Quast]

Wow I think your the first Hamburg person I have ever seen on here I am from Norwood, where did you hunt I am hunting the late season around Cologne and Bongards and it has been really crappy on Sat we drove eight really good woods and not one deer ran out, just can't figure out where they are all at this year.

[Drewski]

I know a buddy of mine hunts where one of the biggest wolf packs in minnesota is located. He says that ever since the wolves came back he hasn't seen [PoorWordUsage] for deer. I'm sure most of you don't hunt where there are lots of wolves but I know where there are wolves the deer populations are way down.

[BobT]

Could be anything including but limited to any one or combination of the following:

• Two years of drought (2006, 2007) taking its toll on food and water supplies.

• Last year's harvest.

• Last year's winter weather conditions.

• Weather conditions last spring.

• Weather conditions this past summer.

• Weather conditions during the hunt.

• Disease or viruses spreading

• Increased predation (larger herd will improve predator health)

• Timing (maybe the rut got thrown off a little this year for some reason)

• Natural cycles.

I guess for me, I'm not too worked up about it. After living and hunting during the '70s and '80s, I think we still have much greater deer hunting than we did then. If memory serves me correctly, this could be said for the '60s, '50s, or anytimg before.

Our party enjoyed a 60% success rate this year, which has been our average since the early '90s. Considering that the average success rate in the area we hunt is closer to about 30%, I'd say we've done well although we have noticed that we encountered fewer deer than what we did over the past two to three years.

How quickly we get spoiled.

Bob

[BobT]

In the limited time i've been able to hunt this year (opening weekend and a hand full of bow hunting outings) i've seen well over 100 deer. Im seeing just as many deer as I ever did. I hunt southern Minnesota however. Maybe your hunting way up north where they've been doing quite a bit of logging and there just isnt the habitat anymore. I however am not conscerned at all about the population or the harvest. The selectively managed land I hunt is still producing and I look to take a bruiser this weekend there with the smoke-stick.

Oh but I see you have fallen for the logging destroys habitat folly. NOT TRUE! Logging is by far one of the best things that can happen to an old forest in terms of promoting wildlife production.

You go into a new area and want to find deer? Seek out a young forest that has been recently logged off. It may be tough to hunt and hard to see great distances but the deer, grouse, rabbits, and yes predators are in there.

Bob

[gulllakeguy]

The rising predator populations are a large part of it. And the intensive harvest and management tags have done their part, too. There are just fewer deer. I'll put money on the DNR switching to statewide lottery, soon.

[inspec_brad]

The rising predator populations are a large part of it. And the intensive harvest and management tags have done their part, too. There are just fewer deer. I'll put money on the DNR switching to statewide lottery, soon.

I sure hope they do. Go back to bucks only 1st season, and need to apply for a doe tag 2nd season. Start the season 1 or 2 weeks later. Do you think that any DNR heads are reading these sites?

[Mark Christianson]

Harvest down 11% guys.

The sky is not falling, and there wont be any major changes next year being down only that much.

Sure certain areas will get adjusted, but we arent going to see a wholesale change based on the harvest we just had.

I think BobT hit it very good. For those younger guys that think we have it bad, just ask your Dads and Grandparents how the deer hunting was back just 20 or 30 years ago.

Everyone seems to think they are entitled to gauranteed deer.

Step in the time machine to the 70's and come back with a report.

[Roofer]

11% only, heh? That is huge!!

With pretty much limitless permits, that number plainly sucks.

I would like to know how many fewer hunters there were and how many hunters took out entire families of deer (does and fawns) in the past years.

I don't get it. People shooting all these young deer and expect the population to stay up??????

[skee0025]

It was a slow weekend in Wisconsin, but I am willing to place a large part of it on the amount of standing corn. we were surrounded by farms in every direction that still had hundreds of acres of corn still standing. We got a number of deer, we just had to work alot harder to get them.

[Mark Christianson]

Exactly Skee.

Conditions dictated a large part of the decline. Not a lack of deer for the most part.

Massive amounts of standing corn, and weather conditions that were not exactly conducive to deer moving on opening weekend.

Take those 2 situations and reverse them, and that 11% decline, would have been taking probably.

[SledNeck]

From what Ive been hearing from guys that bow hunt and rifle hunt is that theyve seen the most deer ever in a season bowhunting and the least ever for rifle hunting

[KOTTKE]

Christpoher,

We are hunting just w. of kelly ave and n of 212. Where are the deer? Bowhunting we saw plenty of deer but now they all seem to have found some safe place to lay up. We have seen hardly any hunters this yr. No one else moving deer.

[BobT]

In our area, I'm not sure we saw that many fewer deer but it did seem that the ones we did see were generally younger. This would seem to suggest that any or all of the reasons I mentioned earlier could be to blame. Drought conditions that would deplete water and brouse supply will take its biggest toll on the old. Having such a robust population over the last few years won't help in this situation either. Predators too will take the easy ones, very young, weak, sick, and old. Poor weather conditions coupled with mal-nutrition will benefit predators. With the prey numbers up so high, predators get it easier for a while and so their numbers rise. As the prey population is depleted due to drought, predation, etc., predator populations will decline right along side. Drought, weather, etc. can also result in lower birth rates adding to a decline in deer numbers. Back-to-back record deer harvests by hunters certainly doesn't effect deer numbers, right? It all plays the game.

Bob

Edit: Oh yeah. I started deer hunting in 1971 when I was 12. I finally got my first deer in 1982 when I was 23. I think I went another 3 or four years before success came my way again. Hardly the kind of hunting we have today.

[Mark Christianson]

Either a lot of turkey put people to sleep, or people took a step back on this one. LOL.

Thanks for the 70's hunting input there Bob.

We have it pretty dam good right now. If people would really put perspective into their equation..... They might realize it aint so bad overall.

[splakeshaker]

From what Ive been hearing from guys that bow hunt and rifle hunt is that theyve seen the most deer ever in a season bowhunting and the least ever for rifle hunting

I'll attest to that. I saw around 30-40 deer during bow season. Only saw 2 deer during rifle. I was successful but it was much more work than in the past. In retrospect of the season, I have to say I did appreciate the rifle hunt more this year than in the past. Stand hunting wasn't working. I was on the move a lot after the opening weekend. Both does I got with the rifle were bedded and I was lucky to see the either of them. It took a lot of work and a lot of time this year.

[fivebucks]

The rifle season was very windy most days and deer do not like to move too much in heavy wind. The deer are out there, they just weren't moving too much. We hunt up in the north woods where sometimes you have only 1 chance at a deer over 4-5 days and I took a doe and then passed on 4 bucks (including a decent 8pt) waiting for a big one. I saw more deer than I usually do and almost all were right at dusk. They were sitting tight during the day. I think having the harvest down only 11% is still a great harvest with the weather we had during rifle season.