Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 2009 Wisconsin Gun Season - Let's hear it ...

I typically hunt north of Ladysmith on private land - and we have had a really lousy season up there so far. By this time, we normally have about seven or eight dear hanging by now. So far, only one doe (mine, taken on Saturday dusk) and two fawns. We've been hearing wolves at night though - thank you so very much, DNR.

Today however was very different ... I came home yesterday (live in Wausau) and decided to go out this morning to some land I own north of town. I wasn't in a big rush, so got to the stand really late (about 830am), figuring that I would just watch the squirrels play. I decided to futz around with a doe bleat call for giggles, and about 10 minutes later, a very nice 7 point buck came along looking for love. One shot through an opening in the saplings with my CZ550FS in 308 (I love that rifle) and I ended up with the biggest buck I have shot ~ 17" spread ... That is very much the exception this year!!!

Since I left the 4-wheeler in Ladysmith, I was in for the uphill drag that would not end ... next time I need to shoot them closer to the truck ...

Slow slow slow.

Not alot of deer seen let alone bucks. I'm in zone 72. They've pretty well thinned the herd by us. Ridge and valley region.

Bow season was the same way.

Snowing now, maybe tomorrow will be different.

DNR said harvest was down 25% from last year and 40 something from the year before that. That's what happens when you kill too many antlerless deer. Too many nubbins shot and a majority of a generation is lost.

Wausau eh? Me too.

I hunted up in Park Falls for the firs 4 days and saw a grand total of ...... 0, zip, nada, nutin' zilch. Not a tail, hair, hide, nuthing.

Never had that happen before in WI. Opening day was the quietest I've ever heard, no matter what state I've hunted. I heard less that a dozen shots total, and only 3 of those were remotely close.

I'm going to try it again near home on Friday-Sunday.

We did get one nice 7pt. A 3.5yo buck, 17" spread. Shot by my wife's uncle. Nice buck, but real short tines. Came out of the Chaumagon near Butternut.

Slow season. The reports I heard on the radio didn't sound that great either.

On the drive home today, I saw very few deer in cars, trucks, or trailers.

I was up by Pittsville... struck out.

Crazy foggy Saturday, got stuck in a stand that wasn't my usual spot. It was right next to a newly cut clear cut.

Sunday, rained hammers and horseshoes until noon. Saw the backs of two moving through the willow bats at about 100 yards. Never got a clear shot. Too thick.

Did have a good time though. Only three other guys at the cabin this year, I was the youngest guy by 25 years. My 1971 Marlin was the newest gun there. We had 1898 Model 94, a Remington #5 rebarreled to 444 Marlin by Munich Arms back in '68[? according to its owner], and an 1873 45-70.

Going down to my spot in Crawford County for the next few days.

Oh I still had fun. Always do. FIL saw a big 8 running near my place this afternoon. When I get home on Friday afternoon, I plan to have him hanging by Sunday...if my FIL doesn't get him first that is.

At least I'll see deer around wausau, or a lot better chance anyway.

I do think the weather played a big role this year, but the DNR says that every year. No doubt there are fewer deer state wide.

Slow, as others said,,I Hunt Mercer for the past 30 years,,Out of 5 Guys I saw the Most deer,,but very early morning
Managed to connect on a Spiker Opening Day at 4:25 P.M.
None of the deer i saw had been swollen or any or hardly fat on them. To darn Warm
Steve

Very poor in Oulu - Maple areas in Bayfield/Douglas counties... Tons of wolf sign & sightings. Quite a few folks are working pretty effectively to fix that problem.

It seems like there are a few areas with a few more deer, but so many areas are nearly void of all sign. Some of the crews that do a lot of driving have quite a few on the pole, but very slow, overall. They still have over 4000 doe permits for sale in unit 2. WTF, over.

It's very doubtful that the WI DNR will get the 300 plus bow and rifle deer license dollars next year, that I've been giving them for so long. It's like giving them a stick to whack you with. No more. Quite a few folks are feeling the same, both resident and non...

I didn't make it up this year; I usually hunt near Bayfield and Minocqua.

Then you didn't miss much. I have a pard that hunts Minocqua area. They haven't seen a deer. Southern Ashland, northern Price, we had 3 deer sightings for 4 guys in 5 days. One buck shot, it was the only one sighted.

Slow here, still wondering about it. Four days on state lands in Tomahawk area. Historically, don't see tons of deer but usually few bucks and by seasons end, more/less guys will fill up. This was my first year up here in about 6yrs. Was eerily quiet.... Saw three yearling does pass thru together, otherwise not a hair between 4 guys. Lotta grouse, fat red squirrels. One probable wolf track. Fair amount of deer sign in places. But for the most part, silence. Was odd. Said to hunting buddy, "It's silent, like right before the cougar or sasquatch attack." LOL. My impression is combination of over-permitted hunting + some contribution each by high bear numbers, wolf predation, and increasing percentage of deer population enjoying life not in the big woods, but in edge habitat of city sprawl.

I'm sure the wolves have something to do with it. But I'm also sure that there are not as many wolves as hunters claim there is.

I believe the real problem is the extra tags that the DNR sells, and the hunters that keep using them. You can't continue to shoot the amount of does and expect to see a ton of deer every year.

I met a guy that shot 4 does on opening morning. He said he kept thinking that "this may be the last one I see this year", so he shot each one. Idiot.

We should all buy extra tags in the units that aren't HCU. That way some other idiot won't shoot nubbins and fawns. Only way that we will be able to cure it.

Guy I work with shot 3 "does" opening morning. 2 nubs and a yearling doe. Then he complains about not seeing any bucks and nobody in the area shot a big buck.

Hmmmm.....1+1=2. Don't live by if it's brown it's down. Idiots.

That's what we do. We all had tags for area 14. None of us had any intention of shooting a doe, after the first day anyway when we saw how few deer there were around, and how few shots we heard.

Not buying a license is another way to get back at the DNR. I'm seriously thinking of that next year.

I live and hunt in unit 41.I have about 10 acres in food plots this year.I only had a 8 point and a spike on camera.Maybe about 4 differnt does.I have about 30 shots of bear.We have Wolves howling nightly.3 of us hunt 80 acres.No one saw a deer opening day.In fact the first deer I saw was Weds. afternoon.A small spike Buck and 2 does came out at 3:00 Pm to eat in a food plot.I have decided to shoot no Does untill the population gets better.I hope the Spike makes it through the season.Next year he could be an 8.At the registration station in Amberg they are over 50% down from last year,which was 30% down from 2007.
I went to the Deer meetings the DNR had around the State in Oct.Our meeting was in Crivitz.The game biologist assured me there would only be a token amount of doe tags for unit forty one.Turns out to be 2,400 tags,last year they had 9,000.When we had hunters choice the most they ever gave out was 900 tags.The DNR is managing the Big Woods thae same as ag areas of the state.They are brain dead.

This year was extremely hit or miss. I did the best out of our group - most didn't see a thing, or if they got something, it was a yearling. It was weird - I had an incredible season while the rest of the guys had a lousy one.

I suspect that it's a combination of a lot of reasons, a lot more wolves, weather, too many bears, too many bambis taken too many years ...

Bears and wolves are prevalent in our area. My grandparents neighbor had a bear in the cornfield opening morning. They saw a different one later the same day.

Everything compounds quickly. "Hopefully" the DNR gets it's crap straight.

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.

I almost forgot.At the meeting the Deer Biologist wanted to blame The Auto Ins. Co.s for all the Doe tags.There was a guy from Marinette there who has an American Family Agency.He told us The Ins. Co.s could care less about the amount of Car Deer accidents.They just adjust the premiums in those locals accordingly.Actually during the late 70`s and throughout the 80`s we almost always filled our Buck tags and they were quality Bucks.I have several rafters full of Horns in my barn.None from the last few years .

I agree, I don't think that the Insurance companies have much to do with it either. Their model is to assess the risk and charge premiums accordingly, just like the agent stated.

We saw very little sign in the areas that we typically hunt the past couple years. I guess that next season we'll have to branch out a little more and get to some places we've looked at on maps, but have never really tried hunting.

Huntz, where abouts do you hunt in DMU 41? We've stayed pretty much in the Town of Amberg and Wausaukee areas. Hunt State and County Forest Land pretty exclusively. May have to start looking into the Town of Silvercliff and Goodman.

On another note, we had some friends that were lucky enough to shoot a 9 and 8 pointer on Opening Day. They had them aged by a DNR biologist at 2.5 years old. The kicker is they were only 100# deer dressed. I shot a 2.5 year old 2 years ago that went 180# dressed. So, not only are there not a lot of deer, but the ones that are there are not getting the greatest nutrition.

Very slow in northern Bayfield County Unit 3. Had two camps of hunters and only 1 of us (not me) saw any deer. Rest of us watched trees grow. Chickadees were pretty though.