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

Not in the north woods. The only corn that was out, was bought at the feed mill.

Slowest I've seen in a long time.

I'm thinking the DNR's method of counting deer needs to be rethought. I used to see more deer on opening day in the 80's and 90's than I do all season now. I hope I'm a better hunter now than I was when I was in my teens. When they came to the conclusion that black bear numbers were off by 50% a couple of years ago, I'm really having my doubts on the deer count. If they are right now, there were twice as many deer back then. Just my thoughts... Tom

I would have to agree with your comments about the count accuracy. As you mentioned, the bear count is much much higher than they initially predicted. I would have to say that in the case of deer, the situation is the opposite in they predict many more than there are.
It is my opinion that these numbers are skewed those directions intentionally.
I think the general non-hunting urban public has an influence. I think in the state of Wisconsin, people see a lot of deer dead on the road or near roads and view them as a safety hazard and want them managed heavily especially around your urban areas....and the DNR obliges by printing more permits. On the other hand, the general big city public don't see a lot of bears, so they put on their pita shirt and pressure the DNR to limit the permit numbers.

Here is an example:
In LaCrosse a while back, a black bear was spotted which is rare. Then it wandered into the city limits near the zoo where there is a huge kids play area. The police came and the bear treed. They were not able to get a hold of a tranquilizer gun, so they shot and killed it. All sorts of people were pissed about them killing it.....even though if that bear paniced and hurt a kid, they would have been pissed that nothing was done quickly.
On the otherhand, you have urban areas where hunting isn't allowed and the deer numbers grow to an unsustainable level. The DNR pays to have a bunch of deer culled by snipers in a inconspicuous way and noone says a word.

The general non-hunting public don't understand what management really means...and unfortunately they have all of the weight.

Very true. Another thing I have noticed, is the fewer numbers of deer road kills I have been seeing in the past couple of years. Being in a past EAB unit, does and fawns got there heads painted so they couldn't be picked up and registered for the buck sticker. Out of curiosity, asked out insurance agent, who is a good friend, said claims were waaay down from previous years. I'm kind of doubting that the deer have learned to look both ways in the past few years? Tom

The statement quoted is in reference to the decrease in the number of hunters I observed in the woods, not a decrease in the number of deer I observed.

"I saw what I believed to be far fewer hunters this year than in years past; I don't know the reason for this apparent decline.
"

DaveKing -
You don't have to shoot the does just because you have the tags. It appears that MD has a bigger problem with crop damage than WI.
V

If the "they" you are referencing here is me or anyone from my group you are incorrect. I shoot crop damage deer in Maryland, not Wisconsin. I was simply using my experience with farmers and "hunters" here in Maryland as an example.

Shooting crop damage is different than hunting, it is killing. The majority of farmers I know have had very little success with decreasing their deer problem by opening up their land to hunters. It seems the hunters want to husband the deer population rather than shoot the buck factories. Farmers aren't stupid, they know the does must be shot and they will not waste their time with buck shooters.

The "tags" I had were WI issued deer hunting tags.

I shoot deer that are legal for the hunting area. If I had wanted to shoot only bucks I could have done that too but I didn't see one that was big enough to bother killing.

I was not trying to manage the deer population in WI, I was hunting within my legal limit.


Parts of Maryland have a deer problem. It comes from the amount of land locked up as non-hunting and the proximity of crops. The places I shoot crop damage are backed up to parks and urban zones. THE MD DNR has recently begun opening up these parks to hunting but even then the kill is insufficient by the standards used to determine and issue crop damage permits. Hunters are not the answer in many cases, it seems hunters are reluctant to shoot does in sufficient numbers to decrease the population.

The guy isn't doing anything wrong, he's simply going out and enjoying a sport that he loves to partake in. Don't beat him up for doing something legally. You guys are fighting the wrong fight here, this is the kind of stuff the anti's love to see.

That bear in LaCrosse wasn't rare. They are everywhere. Down the road in Sparta they have been sighted in town and I mean downtown for the last 7 years. Damn bears are everywhere.

My grandparents live 4 miles out of town and they had 2 bear sightings on the neighbors property opening day. Numerous cougar sightings this last year.

Now where do you think the deer are. Fertilizer in the form of poop.

I drove today from Stevens Point to Algoma and I was really suprised to see so many car kills near Wausau.

I hunted last night on a 60 acre cornfield that only had the outside 10 rows off and saw at least 4 and shot a doe. There is still so much corn up that the few guys hunting muzzleloader near us are not seeing anything.
The population estimates are definately way off but I find it hard to believe that the DNR will admit that and cut back on the tags. The most important thing I have found near me is that you have to be out hunting instead of complaining like my neighbors who sat 2 mornings and can't believe they didn't fill up with 6 guys.
We hunt a farm where if we do not take any does the farmer will ask for ag tags for damage which he really has.

Nice buck btw....congrats.

No sir, I was refering to the majority of the farmers I know around here that apply for the ag tags... they let their family hunt them only. I know several that get them strictly to keep them away from other hunters, which I don't have a problem with, it is the ones that use every tag they have issued. There are certainly some that need the tags, but nearly as many that don't

Agreed, there is a lot of corn around.

sincere apology Dave. Today I did phone a Laurie Ross, liaison for the DNR Board, WI. She suggested to email her so as to make my comments public record, available to press, etc. Hope that's true anyhow. Below is a c/p of the email I sent:

"Hello Laurie,
This email is a follow-up for the phone conversation we had today. I am a recreational land owner in the northern central portion of Wisconsin. I've owned this land for ten years, the main purpose is for gun deer hunting. I would like to express my disappointment regarding my 2009 deer gun hunt. Not a white tail deer was seen by myself and my brother who hunts with me. Also, the 2007 & 2008 gun hunts were void of deer activity.

One gage I use to judge deer population/activity in my area is the quantity of firearm reports, i.e., gun shots I hear in the surrounding area. I've noted that for the past 5+ years the quantity of gun shot activity has fallen substantially. To me this indicates fewer deer either seen or available.

In particular I was pretty annoyed by the 2008 deer population reports released by the DNR. DNR reports leading up to the gun hunt were presented as good. When harvest results were released, amid "noise" of complaints by hunters afield, DNR states that maybe they screwed up on their population numbers. Also DNR released info regarding the WI black bear population was much greater than projected. The DNR indicated that bear permits would be increased for the 2009 hunt to reduce bear numbers.

What I've concluded is that DNR "science" regarding bear population, deer population, wolf population, is flawed. Or, at least the info presented to the public is.

An additional disappointment I have is with the DNR "desired population goal" regarding the size of the WI deer herd. Never did understand what constitutes a desired pop. goal. Could the desired pop. be what the auto insurance vendors want to minimize car/deer hits? That's one theory I've heard told around the campfire so to speak. I recall when WI deer hunt harvest totals were in the 600,000 range +/-. Then this seeming endless request from the DNR for WI hunters to kill as many female (doe) whitetail as possible. Unlimited bonus tags, earn-a-buck, T-Zone, and so forth. Then the CWD scam to encourage hunters to kill all the deer in the more or less Madison area. Now, let's add the rapid increase of the wolf, bear, coyote predator population. There is now an active wolf pack in my area. DNR wolf map says so. Heard a wolf howl this year too. By the way, both 2007 & 2008 deer hunts, I was visited up close and personal by black bears. 2007 I was able to "yell" the bear off. 2008 yell off did not work. Had to fire gunshot to scare bear away. No bear this year though (relief).

Long and short, I do realize that many factors affect the deer hunt. Here is a list of what I feel contributed specifically for my 2009 deer gun hunt:

1)deer "rut" (breeding) was over. deer were tired, need rest.
2)warm temps, with said rut done, deer took advantage of warm weather to pretty much bed all day.
3)lack of snow, makes seeing deer that were moving difficult.
4)predation by wolfs, bears, coyote, fisher.

bullet #4 I feel is a huge contributing factor to the reduced deer population in my area.

Laurie, I've spent $84 in deer tags for the '07, '08, '09 deer gun hunts. Plus the monies I've spent for food, supplies, and so forth for those hunting years. I saw a news brief on the DNR website a week or three ago saying a 16 day gun hunt is being considered for the 2010 season. Why? I'm not real encouraged to go sit in the woods for 16 days just to see more of nothing.

My current position is that I'll simply not spend the money for the 2010 deer hunt. And encourage as many like minded friends and so forth to boycott the 2010 gun deer hunt as well.

I've attached a PDF document regarding wolf predation. I do believe that the information and data contained is valid. You know, a concern I have is that when the predator population in northern WI finds limited opportunities to feed on wildlife (deer fawns?), where will these find their food source. Common knowledge is that predators will simply relocate to an area that has a food source.

To close: I'd sure like to be told the truth by the DNR regarding deer population numbers. And told of how they were arrived at. The typical press releases issued by the DNR have generally left me having listened to many words that have said nothing. Fluff.

Thank You for your regard,

my sig & contact info was here"

Laurie Ross email addy for any here who wish to contact her.

laurie.rosswisconsin.gov

Very well written and put together.

Thanks for the contact.

I grew up in LaCrosse and have over 20 (not exaggerating) uncles and aunts + my parents that live in LaCrosse county.
None of my family or extended family which includes 7 farms have ever seen a black bear until the last 3 years. Bears weren't around this area until the last, as you say, about 5 years. And as far as LaCrosse city limits, less yet.

They are spreading south as the numbers increase.

I heard on the radio on my way into work this morning.... Sen. Russ Decker told the WI DNR that anybody that has anything to do with deer hunting, needs to be fired.

I don't agree with most things that guy stands for, but that was funny. I do know he is a deer hunter. We live in the same town, and being a politician, he gets around.

I don't know anything about Senator Decker's political views but hearing that, I'd vote for him for Governor! I hope he makes life miserable for those arrogant liars!

Hey WN....Check out the thread in this section calle "Cheese Hunters are Serious, by fluffy.

It has the link to the article there.

And don't be surprised if he runs for Gov. Can't be worse than what we have now.