Really quiet this year.

[Bowhunting Brian]

You guys in WI have it quiet near you this year? I'm wondering if the public/private choice on the tags has something to do with it. The public land I hunt was void of hunters when I was there. Usually I ran into a few during the season.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Jackson Marsh]

Yesterday when I was out I had a huge chunk of land mostly to myself, I did see a couple of guys about a mile away. I was surprised.

[ Post made via Android ]

[wihunter]

I ran into a couple guys opening day on public and basically had place to myself other times i went. Not much shooting in area and no deer movement either.

[Crazinamatese]

There were a few public sections by me that got pounded. You can easily tell. Im gonna safely assume from deer drives during Thanksgiving. Thats when I usually see small clans of hunters do their drives out there. Other than that, I seen only a few other hunters sitting on a few sections I walked through and barely heard any shots coming from anywhere. I remember back in the early 90's when I was old enough to hunt opening weekend seemed like endless gun shots in every direction and all the neighbors out where we lived in the country had their own hunting camps going on as we did also. Don't see that anymore. Seems like gun hunting has been declining over the years.

[hunter_mike]

Most of the properties i went to were very quiet. However there was one i went to that was getting pounded hard, saw lots of guys out in the wet stuff too. Overall tho yes quiet

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[mag1]

Not sure for gun, but the spots where I get for bow seemed To get hit hard. Seemed like most deer where nocturnal early, I had only seen 2 deer in my 1st 7sits. I normally see more. Here's to late season.

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[Dewey]

Just took a ride to monitor hunting pressure and was quite surprised how many guys were out today for one last chance at the gun season. Saw a few stragglers first heading out between 4:00-4:15 pm. No idea what that was about. One guy was headed out with his two kids. One kid carrying a gun had blaze orange on and the dad carrying a bow along with a toddler were not wearing orange. Obviously he didn't know the laws. Couldn't catch him in time to let him know as he was already pretty far from the parking lot.

My late bow season starts next Saturday. I have 20 days available to work on filling my WI buck tag. Feeling refreshed and ready to go. Hopefully some colder air sticks around through December.

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[tgreeno]

In my area's if you gun hunted Mon thru Wed you'de basically have the wood to yourself. Thurs & Fri seem like the big "drive" days. I saw 1 deer on the back of a truck the whole season. In the past they were all over.

[Hatchetman]

My area in Manitowoc County seemed down for hunters, down for shots heard and down for deer in general.

I hate to make population estimates on just what my two sons and I saw during gun season. I've been through enough years of an ungodly amount of relentless "brown its down" pounding all season long, thinking there can't be a deer left in the whole township, then it snows, and holly crap! there are some deer left! So i'll wait till it snows to make my own population estimate.

Seems like a lot of older guys might be slacking off some or hanging it up all together (at least for gun hunting). Not sure if there is a many youngsters filling the voids in gun season?
Now bowhunting and especially crossbowhunting is going upward, FAST. I wonder how many older and younger, (usually gun hunter only) guys picked up hunting with a crossbow in the last 3 years and are having such a good time with it that they don't really care as much about the gun season? I think they are still buying a tag just not pushing near as hard as they used to.

I don't really know for sure, just a hunch.

[Jonny]

My honest belief is that there are fewer hunters walking and pushing deer. Majority of hunters I see in my area own either huge ladder stands or summit climbers. No knock against any other stands, but these work perfect for guys who want to sit all day. All of the deer my dad and I saw were the result of people moving on the ground. Once the guns start blazing the deer don't go to a bed a mile away, they bed in the thickest stuff that is as close as possible to where they are. I really believe people are finding out that sitting all day gives you the best chance to see and shoot deer. The issue is that with more people doing that, there are less who are going to walk around like elephants attempting to still hunt. Thats why I always hope for a couple inches of snow and extreme cold during gun season. More reasons for people to get up and walk around and move deer. A noon packer game on sunday always is a huge plus. I sit all day Saturday and Sunday. Monday and Tuesday I get down to go have a 30 minute lunch with my dad cause you need to do something during the day. All day sits suck. With the advancement of treestands and clothing, more guys sit all day, and that equals less pressure on deer to move. They just hunker down and wait for something to push them. I heard more shots in doe only areas on tuesday of gun season than I heard opening day in the clark county forest. What does that tell you? Either numbers suck or the deer simply do not move without pressure

[Dewey]

Sounds like the deer kill will be down again this year.

http://www.weau.com/content/news/Wiscon ... 87056.html

[Jonny]

Sounds like the deer kill will be down again this year.

http://www.weau.com/content/news/Wiscon ... 87056.html

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat ... rvest.html

The historical data is really disturbing. 2000 had almost 530,000 deer registered for 694,000 hunters. Right now its 140,638 deer. 16 years later a drop by almost 400,000 deer? Almost sickening to see what we could've had in this state. I really hope my math is wrong on this but I don't think so. If the number of hunters stayed the same, thats about 1-2 deer per group of 7. Exactly what my group got, except we couldn't find a buck

[tgreeno]

My late bow season starts next Saturday. I have 20 days available to work on filling my WI buck tag. Feeling refreshed and ready to go. Hopefully some colder air sticks around through December.

Dewey,
Just remember you cant shoot a buck during the stupid Dec 8-11 statewide antlerless hunt.

[wihunter]

My honest belief is that there are fewer hunters walking and pushing deer. Majority of hunters I see in my area own either huge ladder stands or summit climbers. No knock against any other stands, but these work perfect for guys who want to sit all day. All of the deer my dad and I saw were the result of people moving on the ground. Once the guns start blazing the deer don't go to a bed a mile away, they bed in the thickest stuff that is as close as possible to where they are. I really believe people are finding out that sitting all day gives you the best chance to see and shoot deer. The issue is that with more people doing that, there are less who are going to walk around like elephants attempting to still hunt. Thats why I always hope for a couple inches of snow and extreme cold during gun season. More reasons for people to get up and walk around and move deer. A noon packer game on sunday always is a huge plus. I sit all day Saturday and Sunday. Monday and Tuesday I get down to go have a 30 minute lunch with my dad cause you need to do something during the day. All day sits suck. With the advancement of treestands and clothing, more guys sit all day, and that equals less pressure on deer to move. They just hunker down and wait for something to push them. I heard more shots in doe only areas on tuesday of gun season than I heard opening day in the clark county forest. What does that tell you? Either numbers suck or the deer simply do not move without pressure

Warmer temps didn't help either...No need to get down and walk around when its 40 degrees and above out there. Agree with the thick stuff thought too. I'm hunting solo so its just about impossible to walk thru it and hope to get a shot if you jump one.

[goldtip5575]

My area in Manitowoc County seemed down for hunters, down for shots heard and down for deer in general.

I hate to make population estimates on just what my two sons and I saw during gun season. I've been through enough years of an ungodly amount of relentless "brown its down" pounding all season long, thinking there can't be a deer left in the whole township, then it snows, and holly crap! there are some deer left! So i'll wait till it snows to make my own population estimate.

Seems like a lot of older guys might be slacking off some or hanging it up all together (at least for gun hunting). Not sure if there is a many youngsters filling the voids in gun season?
Now bowhunting and especially crossbowhunting is going upward, FAST. I wonder how many older and younger, (usually gun hunter only) guys picked up hunting with a crossbow in the last 3 years and are having such a good time with it that they don't really care as much about the gun season? I think they are still buying a tag just not pushing near as hard as they used to.

I don't really know for sure, just a hunch.

Agreed on the bow hunting/cross bow being a cause. The guy that beetles my skulls said hes had a huge increase in work prior to the start of gun season the last few years. He also said most of the skulls appear to be 2 year olds so maybe you can link that to the elimination of EAB some.