Well after two pitchers of beer and a few more frosty treats at home, I started thinking about deer hunting. Seems to me I've been thinking about it a lot the last few weeks. Not sure why.

It probably doesn't help that I saw two velvet racked beauties on the way home from a semi successful muskie fishing trip last night. Two pigs I tell ya two pigs and they still have some growing to do.

So anyways, I'm watching the Brewers and drinking...because it seemed like the thing to do at the time and was thinking about sugar plums and big bucks dancing in my head. I said to myself...self (thats me), when was the last time you sharpened your 2000 hunting knives that you can't seem to pass up everytime your in the sporting goods store.

So down the basement I go and sharpen away. Now it just doesn't sound like they are sharp so I run my thumb across the one I just finished. I'm pretty numb from all the beer so I really can't feel if it's sharp or not, but the blood comming from my finger says it is, so I move on to the next.

Well, 2000 Buck Knives later they are all sharp. So know my question is... What the hell am I going to sharpen the last week of October? This is a real issue here boys and girls. It is tradition that I sharpen those babies the week before the MN season. At this rate all I'm gonna have left is a handle. I gotta buy another knife or something.

There is still 3 1/2 months to go.

Man I got it bad.

Tom

A clear case of DWP. (Drunk while posting!) Thursday evening I started "Scope swapping". Took Trijicon Accupoint off of 7 mag. and put it on 350 Rem. mag., 3.5-10x 40 Leupie went on 7 mag.,took 2-7x33 off of 7600 '06 and put it on 10-22, 6x42 that came off of 350 mag went on an AR-15, I need a set of rings now to mount an "extra" 6x42 on the 7600.... All this because I had a feral hog digging up the leg of one of my deer feeders & I feel he deserves a 250 grain Partition, at night...

I need to get out this weekend and start shooting my bow, as the annual October Wisconsin trip is fast approaching. Even though it's a hunnert degrees every day here, "Fall is in the air!"...

" Falls in the air" That it is. I can feel it. It is comming right behind this 90% humidity we've been having.

Is that bacon I smell? I sure hope so. Any hog that digs up a feeder needs no less than a 250 bullet the settle the score. MMMMMMMM I can taste the BLT's now.

Where do you come up to WI to hunt? How late in October? For some reason this year I'm seeing some pretty decent bucks around here. Quite a few seem to have smaller bodies but what looks like good racks already.

Well they have a few months to fatten up. I don't remember seeing this many bucks so soon for quite a while. Not seeing a ton of does and fawns though, but that is good we're ususally over run with them.

Tom

Way up Nort'. Bayfield/Douglas counties (Grew up in "Oulu"), close to the lake. Usually early/mid October, but I kind of keep it flexible on the early trip because I'm a bit "inflexible" on the Thanksgiving trip that just happens to coincide with Rifle season...

A couple of weeks at the Hunting Shack every Fall is the best way to recharge one's batteries, EVER. Being out in the woods for the Fall color is just amazing, for certain.

Last year was not a good hunting year, up there. Lots of wolves sighted, and a lot fewer deer than normal. Many will say it's a coincidence, I don't think so.

Tom-

You can still hunt in MN next week. Skeeters might be pretty bad though.

I get a case of scope swapping quite a bit as well...grin...

Yep, it is hard to be at peace when scopes are on the wrong rifles.

tom, we're headed off to eat venison off a huge smoker right now.

A whole deer cooked all day in this monster smoker at a buddies house. it's going to be awesome!!

But it's going to put me into early rut just like you... dang it!!

Later

Dave

I've been in rut now for the last month and a half.....

Scott,

Whatchou talkin 'bout Willis? Hunt in MN now? Leaglly? I mean I've been doin' it for years but I didn't know it was leagl.

Do tell.

Acutly the skeeters around here right now are big enough to hunt.

Oulu,

Have the same problem with the wolves a county to the East of you. I hunt in Southern Ashland Co. Sometime it may even be Price Co if I'm in the right blind. If it's not the wolves it the 200 pounds of corn at what seems like every stand.

I'd like to say we get some big ones, but we don't anymore. SKANE can tell stories of the same I'm sure.

Bayfield Co is defenatly beautiful in the fall with all those hardwoods and ridges and valleys coming down hwy 13 in Octber. I usually take hwy 2 home from our MN camp in the fall just because it is so beautiful.

Tom

A whole deer cooked in a smoker. Holy smokes

That sounds like some mighty fine eatin'. Don't forget to have a beer for ol tzone will ya.

I hear you about the early rut. I pizzed on my legs just a while ago while rubbing the top of my head on the toilet paper roll.

Tom

I can indeed. I've taken some decent bucks in that country, and, can tell you for a fact it's no longer the same. I've hunted Bayfield, Sawyer and Price Counties and it is indeed marvelous country. The Wolves have indeed impacted northern WI and the deer heard but I don't feel they've had near the effect as the baiting. While I understand its role in some of our southern states and certainly think people ought to be able to hunt how they deem appropriate, it was never a way of life for WI hunters. Today, in the northern half of the state, woodsmanship and understanding of the animal being pursued have been replaced with 4 wheelers and corn piles. With the feed, IMO, the age class of animals in the northwoods has changed significantly in recent years. The 1.5 year old bucks are being harvested with a lot greater success at the bait stations - obviously not allowing those deer to reach maturity - that never used to be the case.

While I surely haven't given up on hunting the northern part of the state, I'd say my tactics have certainly changed. I've found myself hunting in other states and provinces in November these days - so if I miss the WI opener, no biggie. I have had some decent success during the late ML season after the corn has been cleaned up and deer begin to get back to browsing and their normal feeding patterns.

Yea. The deer sure do change patterns when there's huge piles of corn around. I try to find trails and staging areas leading to and from fields and set up there, especially during bow season. But rifle season has sure changed lately. Baiting has been going on for a long time & while I do believe it doesn't help hunting up there, the lower deer population is directly related to the wolves. Especially closer to the lake and the larger state forests (Brule River and Cheq.) and paper company land. After last year I'm pretty sure there will be more SSS going on. Like the old 1970's bumper stickers said, "Support the DNR...With a rope!" (Just joking! But it was funny then, too.)

*L*....They (DNR) really have a thankless job but I also they think ya reap what ya sew. They've seen this coming for years and did little about it.

Know more than a handful of fellow hunters that have taken the wolf situation into their own hands. <grin>

I suspect it's the moon cycle.

Last week I dug out my big game backup scopes with a view to reconsidering which rifles they back up.

This might not be too bad. They are all K-4 Weavers except for one Swift.. One is a modern one and has duplex reticles, the other three are "El Paso's" but have varying degrees of finish on them.

At least bear season opens in August....

I for one would have a big problem with wolves in my hhunting area........I have enough problem competing with other hunters for that big buck so with that said I also would probably take the wolf situation into my own hands.

Tom-

Given the fact that you're likely to suffer less consequences if you killed another human being than a wolf in WI, I'd say that goes a long way in saying the sportsman in WI have had ENOUGH of the wolves.

I'm sure they have.............and I'm also sure that many practice the SSS technique.

Bingo!

I know what you saying. Usually it does not happen until late Aug to Sept. But I've been thinking non stop now for 2-3 weeks. Visiting gun shops, driving around the woods, etc.

Every now and then the 90% humidity breaks and it gets cool at night I think my neck swells and gets really bad.

Scott,

Ya know I've never thought about wolves the way you put it. But I believe you are right. A hunter would probably have no serious files charged if he killed another person while hunting. But you shoot a wolf, man pick out a rope you like because you'll be hung. Sad to say, but its the truth.

With the recent bear population estimate from the UofW, the bears may be having their fair share too.

Yeah, little difference in the estimated bear population from the DNR numbers compared to the UW numbers. *L* Perhaps they'll issue a few more bear tags in the future?

Difference betwixed the bears and wolves is that you can get a tag for a bear..... I think I read somewhere that a single wolf is good for 20+ (maybe more) deer a year. And, they don't just take the weak or the fawns whereas the bears are taking the newborn deer in the fawning season.

I've heard the same thing on the wolves taking 20 deer or somthing like that.

DNR missed the boat on the bear numbers that's for sure. MN gives out a ton more tags, kills a ton more bears, you can't run with dogs, and I have seen WAY more bear in WI. By a large margin.

Maybe the bears can start eating some wolves. PETA will probably protest them too.

If you took the dog hunters out of the equation, you'd likely get a bear tag in WI every other year. While I don't dismiss their involvement and roll in the sport - and think people have a right to hunt the way they wish, I don't agree with each group of dog hunters having every Tom, Dick, Harry, third cousin and forty guys from the mill apply for tags so they can shoot a half dozen bears a year. That's nonsense.

SSS for me on the wolves in WI.

Wolves, what wolves?

If you want to enjoy hunting up here now, with little competition get a muzzleloader...Hunting like it used to be....Crowds are gone, lots of deer, and bait piles are gone too...

Ssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......Don't ruin it sgt....

What is a muzzy ldr these days. I have not seen too much out this summer. I like the Triumph but havn't seen and around. I used to have an Encore and sold it to a friend I worked with. He likes to remind me how good it shoots and what a deal it was. Oh yeah and how he would never sell a gun like that. I just can't justify the coin they want for an encore now, espicially since I don't think I paid $500 for it then.

What is a decent muzzy ldr these days. I have not seen too much out this summer. I like the Triumph but havn't seen and around. I used to have an Encore and sold it to a friend I worked with. He likes to remind me how good it shoots and what a deal it was. Oh yeah and how he would never sell a gun like that. I just can't justify the coin they want for an encore now, espicially since I don't think I paid $500 for it then.

Yeah, I thought of that, but it's usually cold enough and snowy enough, I don't worry too much....