We hunt near Amberg also, off of County K. I was the only one of our group of 7 to see a deer in 5 days hunting. I got a fork horn on Opening morning. Our party ate 3 doe tags, not by choice however.
The way I see it, if we don't buy licenses or fill the tags that are being offered, the DNR will only move to more liberal seasons (i.e. proposed 2010 regulations). For whatever reason, they are trying to get the deer herd back to early 1980's levels. I guess that they are doing their own form of QDM, but the way they are doing it is quite a departure from what is read in the popular magazines and books on the subject.
I like to believe that politics haven't entered into many of the decisions that have been made in the past 20 years, but it sure is getting harder and harder to believe that it truely isn't the case.
Also, one other area of deer hunting in Wisconsin that I've noticed much more in the past five years was hit on in a very well written editorial in the January issue of Deer & Deer Hunting Magazine. If you get a chance, you should read it.
