You're hunting area now versus 10 years ago?

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Dewey
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Re: You're hunting area now versus 10 years ago?

Unread postby Dewey » Sat Dec 17, 2016 5:08 am

Stanley wrote:Nothing stays the same. Hunters are to blame for the most part. Greed, ignorance, Play a huge part in the herd reductions. The "I'm going to get mine attitude" runs rampant. Hunters just aren't willing to save some for the next guy.

I agree. Some of the biggest criticts of the DNR "killing all our deer" are guys who have killed 6-7 or more deer a season in the past. I know a guy that killed 5 bucks in one year with unlimited EAB tags in the CWD zone years back and every single one was small. Another guy killed 20 deer in ONE season out of a small area in northern WI when they sold unlimited antler less tags in the late 1990's early 2000's. That area is now pretty much devoid of deer.


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Re: You're hunting area now versus 10 years ago?

Unread postby cbay » Sat Dec 17, 2016 5:10 am

Thinking more about this topic. Like other states, Mo. has a lot of different dynamics going on within the state, statewide, etc. I have seen ehd destruction and 40 miles away have a great rebound from ehd 5 years earlier.

Not sure if statewide, but funding and resulting habitat efforts with foodplots have been cut in the s.w. portion of the state. Most of the conservation areas i've been to here no longer have food plots planted. They still do successive mowing, some burning, and boundary maintenance but no more crops. Exceptions to that would be quality ground that can be leased to farmers. This started around 2008.

Ehd outbreaks were staggered in years depending on parts of the state. This could span from 2004 (and earlier) to present. Some portions of the southwest were hit really hard somewhere around 2004 and rebounded in about four or five years, where other parts of the southwest got hit hard in 2008 and nearly every year since somewhere.

The MDC does a pretty good job by using county management as well as units. But the ehd along with cwd outbreaks really puts a strain on the best of efforts.

These days 10 years is a long time in terms of deer dynamics. Some scenarios can run full circle in that amount of time it seems.
Joe mentioned CRP, if we lose some funding there it could be devastating to our wildlife as we know it.

So throw in the social aspects and changing population of hunters to all this we could very well be seeing the best of our sport right now. Something to think about and reinforces the need for educating and promoting our young hunters in the right way.
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Re: You're hunting area now versus 10 years ago?

Unread postby whitetailassasin » Sat Dec 17, 2016 7:51 am

Things sure have changed. It's why out of state hunting has been the route I've chosen.

Small rant here: midnr make a base license mandatory $11, cost of licenses went up $5.00 a tag, yet all I see is waterfowl and bird lands getting more on them. Why hasn't whitetail deer received the much needed attention it's deserved for some time? I'm no fan of the direction our whitetails have and are headed. We are being charged application fees and more license fees but nothing's being done. BS if you ask me. Rant over

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Re: You're hunting area now versus 10 years ago?

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Sat Dec 17, 2016 8:03 am

Stanley wrote:Nothing stays the same. Hunters are to blame for the most part. Greed, ignorance, Play a huge part in the herd reductions. The "I'm going to get mine attitude" runs rampant. Hunters just aren't willing to save some for the next guy.


That is my biggest complaint about my state, really when it comes to the urban deer hunting. Outside of urban, your one and done, thankfully.

Seems like the ONLY thing that matters to many is "how many deer can I kill in one season?"
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Re: You're hunting area now versus 10 years ago?

Unread postby Tufrthnails » Sat Dec 17, 2016 8:46 am

In Florida the harvest numbers overall are way down. But I'm seeing a healthier herd overall in my area. With a more even number of deer on cams buck/doe over the last two years. It is still doe heavy, but a lot better.

I didn't hunt KY 10 years ago, but according to my cousin the Farm has plummeted. This was the best year of the four I have hunted and he was saying it pales in comparison to the number of deer he used to see and that was when him and all his neighbors were brown it's down. I'm hoping that the last 4 seasons of letting young bucks walk and harvesting does will pay off it sure looks like it is starting to after this season.
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Re: You're hunting area now versus 10 years ago?

Unread postby Stanley » Sat Dec 17, 2016 10:48 am

Dewey wrote:
Stanley wrote:Nothing stays the same. Hunters are to blame for the most part. Greed, ignorance, Play a huge part in the herd reductions. The "I'm going to get mine attitude" runs rampant. Hunters just aren't willing to save some for the next guy.

I agree. Some of the biggest criticts of the DNR "killing all our deer" are guys who have killed 6-7 or more deer a season in the past. I know a guy that killed 5 bucks in one year with unlimited EAB tags in the CWD zone years back and every single one was small. Another guy killed 20 deer in ONE season out of a small area in northern WI when they sold unlimited antler less tags in the late 1990's early 2000's. That area is now pretty much devoid of deer.


It is truly amazing how thin the herd is in SW Wisconsin compared to a few years ago. I am totally bummed out every time I go through that area. When you don't see any deer at dusk you know something isn't right.
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Re: You're hunting area now versus 10 years ago?

Unread postby Sykotik » Sat Dec 17, 2016 3:16 pm

I've been hunting the same maybe 5 or 6 square miles of woods in East-Central Pa since I started hunting back in '81. I know them bushes.

Good hunting for the first 20 years or so...Although I was not a very good hunter...I shot a few here and there. Saw deer pretty much every time out and when we would get together for drives, We'd see a lot.

Then came the extra doe tags and concurrent seasons....It took a toll. 10 years ago, I could expect to see maybe 5 to 10 deer in a full day of still-hunting. If driving, 30 to 40 would not be out of the question. Thankfully, my unit is buck only for the first 5 days now. This past season, I put in 4 full days....Saw 11 the first day...all doe. Had Friday off....4 doe seen.

Saturday, Doe came in. I saw 2 right at daylight. that was it. We done quite a few drives on the last Saturday and only kicked out 5 deer. I could have shot one but just didn't have the heart.

I figure we are somewhere near rock bottom...Only way to go is up.
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Re: You're hunting area now versus 10 years ago?

Unread postby titan23_87 » Tue Dec 20, 2016 4:31 pm

Ridgerunner7 wrote:How has your main hunting areas changed from 10 years ago? I've been talking about this a lot with my buddies. My home area in southern Michigan has changed so drastically in the last 10 years. Deer numbers have plummeted. Properties that I used to hunt and see 8 to 10 deer an evening now don't hold a single animal. Years and years of over doe harvest have definitely taken it's toll. I can drive around in the evening sometimes and not see a single deer. Yes you can still drive through certain areas that have limited hunting or big chunks of property that are lightly hunted and see good numbers of deer. The farmers have continued to eliminate cover and hedgerows and the deer that are around gravitate towards those properties with the Primo cover leaving 90% of the area with very little wild life. This of course drives up leasing costs and everything else. Are you guys seeing the same thing where you hunt?

Has your hunting improved or worsened in the last 10 years? I can't say that getting on better bucks has gotten harder but just finding deer numbers in general is much more difficult.

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NW Ohio is the same as Southern Michigan. It's sad really. Very low numbers. Liberal doe tags, loss of access (1 reason is very cheap non-resident hunting licenses), loss of habitat (fence rows, ditches cleared out), large groups of gang hunting with "if it's brown its down" mentality. Those gang hunters trespass, shoot and tag deer with whoever still has a tag, if they even tag it. Run them for miles with trucks, ATV's, radios. Same groups year after year.

I personally haven't shot a doe in 5 seasons trying to at least do my part. Just refuse to do it because I've seen the decline and decreased sightings. I don't even participate in gun season because of what goes on as a whole, which sucks because I used to enjoy going. At what point do hunters look in the mirror and not contribute to the problem.
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Re: You're hunting area now versus 10 years ago?

Unread postby Hunter74 » Wed Dec 21, 2016 5:30 am

Something I have noticed big time in the last 3 years in central WI is the deer numbers are coming back some. They're not what they where ten years ago but there quite a bit better than they where 5-6 years ago.

However what I have seen is the deer that are there are much more educated, skiddish and nocturnal. They are tough to hunt and I've have had plenty of hunts that I saw nothing but the deer where there. I think a big part of it is there are more deer there than a lot of ppl realize but we have created a smarter more weary deer heard with all the antlerless harvest and pressure that came from it. Just something to ponder

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Re: You're hunting area now versus 10 years ago?

Unread postby headgear » Wed Dec 21, 2016 7:42 am

whitetailassasin wrote:Things sure have changed. It's why out of state hunting has been the route I've chosen.

Small rant here: midnr make a base license mandatory $11, cost of licenses went up $5.00 a tag, yet all I see is waterfowl and bird lands getting more on them. Why hasn't whitetail deer received the much needed attention it's deserved for some time? I'm no fan of the direction our whitetails have and are headed. We are being charged application fees and more license fees but nothing's being done. BS if you ask me. Rant over

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Deer tags are pretty much a cash cow for most DNR's, they put zero money or effort back into the heard and just sell tags every year. Back in the boom days the MN DNR was selling bonus tags and raking in a million or more in extra revenue every year. I highly suspect these millions of $ played a rather large roll in the decimation of the herd. As far as I can tell almost nothing is spent on deer or deer habitat, just tags and enforcement.
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Re: You're hunting area now versus 10 years ago?

Unread postby JC7 » Wed Dec 21, 2016 7:59 am

In south central MI where I grew up, I would say there are overall fewer deer than 10 years ago. My success is a lot better than 10 years ago but that has little to do with the area improving. There seems to be more hunters than ever, both archery and gun. Crossbows have gotten a lot more people in the woods, which is both good and bad. Loss of habitat etc. EHD from a few years back really took a heavy toll in some areas.

However, there is a very slow change happening from the complete mentality of shoot anything that moves, to waiting for a better deer to come by. So there is a little hope left. Definitely lots of "Brown its Down" still though. Most of my family still shoots anything that walks by. A lot of guys in their 20's or 30's that I know are self proclaimed big buck hunters, whether or not they are is still up for debate. Very few really are. I do not claim to be. There are some big bucks shot around here every year, but very few people do it with any sort of regularity. All the hunting pressure and lack of access make getting even one a very tall task. There is almost no public land around these parts, and most of the private is already buttoned up pretty tight. It wasn't always like that. Most of the people that do shoot big ones every year have large chunks of family land. Or are lucky enough to be in one of the areas where neighbors are more selective. I don't fall into either of those groups lol. I don't have exclusive access to any property here. I am thankful for what I do have, but I do have to share it.

I do think there is less poaching now than there was, as more guys watch whatever little slice of land they have closer than ever. Or the poaching is at least a lot more discreet than when I was younger. Just my two cents.

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Re: You're hunting area now versus 10 years ago?

Unread postby BassBoysLLP » Wed Dec 21, 2016 8:48 am

I don't hunt a single piece today that I hunted 10 years ago. Amazing when I reflect on the journey.

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Re: You're hunting area now versus 10 years ago?

Unread postby UntouchableNess » Wed Dec 21, 2016 10:21 am

I've hunted one property since 1987, another since 1991, deer hunted since the mid'70's. It's been a roller coaster ride.

The last ten years, the properties have come out of CRP, and put back into row crop production. This is good and bad, as it still feeds the deer, and maybe makes travel patterns more predictable.

About 15 years ago, I do think the herd was out of hand when we pulled into the farm driveway one moonlit snow covered night and counted over 100 deer feeding in an 11 acres hay field. I shot quite a few does for a stretch back then. Then, we had two recent back to back years of EHD, right at the end of the liberal antlerless tags. The deer numbers have been reset back to early '90's. Not terrible hunting, as I'm still see enough activity to keep it interesting for the most part.

I haven't shot a doe the last couple of years.
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Re: You're hunting area now versus 10 years ago?

Unread postby JoeRE » Thu Dec 22, 2016 12:45 am

Stanley wrote:
Dewey wrote:
Stanley wrote:Nothing stays the same. Hunters are to blame for the most part. Greed, ignorance, Play a huge part in the herd reductions. The "I'm going to get mine attitude" runs rampant. Hunters just aren't willing to save some for the next guy.

I agree. Some of the biggest criticts of the DNR "killing all our deer" are guys who have killed 6-7 or more deer a season in the past. I know a guy that killed 5 bucks in one year with unlimited EAB tags in the CWD zone years back and every single one was small. Another guy killed 20 deer in ONE season out of a small area in northern WI when they sold unlimited antler less tags in the late 1990's early 2000's. That area is now pretty much devoid of deer.


It is truly amazing how thin the herd is in SW Wisconsin compared to a few years ago. I am totally bummed out every time I go through that area. When you don't see any deer at dusk you know something isn't right.


Yea that's kinda what I am thinking too. We like to make the DNR our whipping boy...but if you are complaining about deer numbers and yet are also shooting does, the problem is the face in the mirror.



BassBoysLLP wrote:I don't hunt a single piece today that I hunted 10 years ago. Amazing when I reflect on the journey.

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Agreed...I only hunt a couple of the same pieces of property. And I hunt them a lot differently :lol:
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Re: You're hunting area now versus 10 years ago?

Unread postby thwack16 » Thu Dec 22, 2016 1:51 am

JoeRE wrote:Yea that's kinda what I am thinking too. We like to make the DNR our whipping boy...but if you are complaining about deer numbers and yet are also shooting does, the problem is the face in the mirror.





Agreed. There is a guy that posts on a state forum I look at that started a thread complaining about deer numbers. He's already talked about killing a couple does this year and has posted a barely legal buck. Yes, a 5 doe limit is too liberal for most areas of my state and especially the region he is complaining about, but it's not the wildlife department's fault that anyone pulls a trigger.


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