Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest S.E. Wis. gun hunting

[ihookem]

I was wondering if anyone hunted the noerthern Kettle Moraine State Forest this year. Did y asee many deer? How many hunters were there? I looked around today and saw a lot of cars. I hunted 1 1/2 hours. Didin't see anything. How bout you?

[ihookem]

Well, for what it's worth, I didn't see a deer in the 4 2hr sits. Very little for fresh deer tracks, I don't think they are even moving at night much.

[dan]

That area gets a lot of pressure... There are big bucks, but you really need to find the over looked pockets and if your going to sit in a gun stand and expect to see daylight movement you better be right over the bed.

[PredatorTC]

What area do u consider northern kettle moraine. Like near what towns or counties.

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[ihookem]

Dan, I agree. I was very close to the beds. Whether they were kicked out of them, I don't know. There were nice beds in the high grass , Tamerack trees and Red Dogwood in that areas 2 weeks ago. They may not have even been there there though yesterday. There were human tracks almost everywhere. One persons track went very close to where I found some beds. I thought just maybe on the last day, with this cold front coming in they might move 10 min before dark. Maybe they did but I didn't see them. I hunt in northern Washington co, southern Fon Du Lac co. and eastern Sheboygan co. form Kewaskum to New Prospect. Maybe the hunting pressure is a bit less towards the northern part, I don't know, but if pressure is this high, I can't imagine anyone getting a deer.

[dan]

if pressure is this high, I can't imagine anyone getting a deer.

Welcome to my world... Its all about the over looked spots.

[matt1336]

It's tough up there. I'm from kewaskum and have scouted out there lots. It takes some effort and imagination to get where others don't. There are big deer to be had out there though.

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[PredatorTC]

I live smack dab in the middle of that area. The bucks are here, but you have to find them and that's the hard part. When you finally find them they get bumped around a ton. Bow season, Duck season, pheasant season, youth season, gun season, coon season, and so one. You never know which seasons pressure is going to impact the deer that your after The few times in my life that I have hunted other areas and traveled, i found hunting to be much easier, with way more deer sightings.

[ihookem]

Matt and Predator, that is music to my ears. Ya say there are deer there and I agree. There are areas that look like prime deer country and deer sign proves it. I have some places that is just loaded with deer sign and when I go hunt it I see nothing. The only thing I can see is there are so many people out there. I live in the Town of Wayne so maybe we know each other. Anyway, I hunted and scouted it very hard the last three yrs. SOme things, the best days are windy, nasty rainy days. Keeps out everyone except the duck hunters. Several days of this and it seems the deer move a bit more. Midweek seems better. Predator, ya think the deer here are tough to hunt? They are but I think the deer way up north are spooked easier. Ihookem.

[PredatorTC]

Matt and Predator, that is music to my ears. Ya say there are deer there and I agree. There are areas that look like prime deer country and deer sign proves it. I have some places that is just loaded with deer sign and when I go hunt it I see nothing. The only thing I can see is there are so many people out there. I live in the Town of Wayne so maybe we know each other. Anyway, I hunted and scouted it very hard the last three yrs. SOme things, the best days are windy, nasty rainy days. Keeps out everyone except the duck hunters. Several days of this and it seems the deer move a bit more. Midweek seems better. Predator, ya think the deer here are tough to hunt? They are but I think the deer way up north are spooked easier. Ihookem.

Up north is one place I have never hunted, but I would love to try.

[ihookem]

Predatror, you would be sadly disapointed. You can go days without seeing a deer, even a whole week and it is nothing out of the ordinary. It is harder than the Kettles in some ways. Deer are skookier there than down here. Down here just pull back the bow and shoot. Up there, the slightest move and they mad dash for 30 yds and look back,,,,, maybe. Hardest deer on earth to hunt is those big woods bucks.

[woody283]

The north kettles were extremely hard to hunt this year!! Not to be beating on xgunners! It was almost certain than the more time i spent on trying to get away from people the better chance i had for a person to walk by me" with a cross bow" still hunting. I have seen about 2 deer for each ten hrs of hunting!

[ihookem]

Two deer per 10 hrs? You are doing good. I saw one deer so far in about 20 hrs. Went out today and nothing. No shots fired neither. It was very pleasant . Thre owls in the pines hooting were neat. Nothing but a Blue Jay and a Red Squirrel. Beautiful though.

[rutjunkie]

I have scouted the area around long and mauthe lakes. Found a couple promising areas, but all showed signs of being hunted. One spot was a intersection with a primary scrape. This scrape is huge,with another 4 or 5 nearby. Looks great for prerut. I look for a tree, found one, has climber marks from yrs of use, look for a tree for a different wind. There is a tree pruned out for hang on. I have looked at this spot over the yrs, someone brushed in a ground blind last time I looked. This scrape gets used even in spring. Never seen that. Anyways never hunted because of the looks of hunting pressure.

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[addisonlee]

I've grown up hunting this area all my life and can second what Dan said,"find over looked pockets." These will be your best bet at harvesting a deer. Some areas seem like they get a lot of pressure but really don't because other hunters think the same way. Other areas get a ton of pressure but one section of the property doesn't get pressured. The deer in this area will tolerate human scent but if you get too close for comfort, they will relocate.

All in all, there's some big bucks in this area but also a lot of pressure. Over looked pockets are key.