This was my 50th year of Deer hunting in Forest County. I did kill a decent 9 point, but it has been a long time since I killed the last buck. The silence in the woods up here is deafening. Our last good year was 1995. The winters of 95 and 96 were terrible, and we had 60% mortality in a lot of areas. I don't normally like to feed deer but those years I feed about 60 head at my shack near Hiles. Used alfalfa and potatos. Or herd has NEVER CAME BACK. Wolves, bears and coyotes are a big big problem as well as too damn many doe tags. The root cause of the bear problem is dumping corn in the woods. Deer baiting has ruined deer hunting up here and I suppose everywhere else it been done. I believe corn is the direct cause of the bear population explosion. Years past a sow had 1 or 2 cubs, now they are so fat and healthy they often have 4 and even 5. I had 6 in my back yard last spring. If you don't belive bear kill a lot of fawns, just look up bear and dear predation studies done buy almost every state in the union. I don't know how many bow hunters I have talked to the last few years that rarely see deer but bears are on their baits constantly. How long does it take for the light to come on. Dumping that GD corn in the brush is ruining our deer herd. You also hear the statement made," we have bucks on the trail cams but only at night", there again, how long does it take for the light to come on. QUIT dumping corn on the ground, it makes them nocturnal and they don't have to feed normally. It has brainwashed a generation of (hunters)into thinking that its the only way to kill a deer. IT DON'T WORK. I could rail on about wolves and coyotes, but will end with this. A young guy was bow hunting north of the Pine River Road about a month ago, when 13 wolves came through. If this so called game management in this State don't change their attitudes about these predators and start killing them we may as well sit in the shack and play cribbage. Sometimes I wonder if thats what they want.
