Whats going on in WI?

I have a buddy that owns 120 acres just north of Siren Wi. He has owned it for 5 huntable years. It is (3) fortys stacked east to west. It is a mix of Oak and Pines with low huntable grass in between. We set up the ground rules the first year by saying it has to be 8 points or better. Here is the problem. I have yet to see even a basket 8 pointer? I am seeing less bucks every year! There has to be something going on with this piece of land that we dont know about. Any help would be appreciated.

Your in wolf country. Are you finding alot of carcasses? I have property in Winter Wisconsin not far from you. We had wolves constantly running through on our trail cameras. Just a thought.

What is their major food source there? Maybe that particular area doesn’t have the food to hold the deer?

We are seeing a TON of does this year during the gun season. I dont think there are wolves in the Dunn county area but there is a over abundance of does. In fact we have 4 poeple that hunt our land. So we said this year esp. we are going to take does. We ended on Sunday with 4 does. I think that may be a problem everywhere.

Are the neighboring properties baiting the heck out of them? That’ll change the patterns….

Tim

Food source is something we discussed pretty heavily this weekend. The property has acorns and that is about it. We are not surrounded by any corn fields or much crop land at all. There is a hay field in front of the property but that’s it. It is in Burnett county. As far as does go I would take one if I could see one that wasn’t doing 100mph through the woods. It really seems as thought when I see deer they are not grazing like they are on my home property in MN. They are on the move heading somewhere very quickly. I have not seen any carcasses or wolf tracks to speak of. We do not know the neighbors good enough to know if there baiting heavily but it is possible.

Someone has corn around you. Corn=Deer. Even during the rut, bucks will still take some time to eat corn.

Yep, Scott hit it on the head. Corn = Carbs. Carbs = Energy. Bucks also know that Corn brings in the does. So the bucks can sit tight down wind around corn piles and scent check all the does that come in. Perhaps the little hay field in forn could be a food plot next year. This may help bring / hold more deer???

Your neighbors are baiting. YOu must find the trails that the deer are using to get there or bait yourself. Deer that are baited go from bedding to the food without browsing or acting like normal deer. They don’t wander they march right thru on a mission to get the corn. If you have a lot of wolves deer become very noctornal and may leave area’s to get away. I’m up in Bayfield Co and that has heavy baiting and wolves. Our deer hunting success keeps going down although at night we see more deer than ever and our property has lots of sign. Every deer we do get has a belly full of corn even if the next hunter are a mile away.

Mwal

Mwal

I have picked up many Deer hunting tips from Scott and Rob and one of them that I have always remembered is “You cant beat corn in the fall”. It sounds like a baiting scandal to me also just by how the deer react. It almost sounds like Bear hunting “Man with the best bait wins”. Thanks for the tips guys.

Unfortunately, I can agree with the corn comments. I am about 15 miles north of Siren in Danbury, WI and we have a HUGE baiting bandwagon going on up there, as well as a TON of wolves.

Not much cornfields by the 1,000’s of acres of county land dispursed between small tracts of private land but the deer get their fare share of corn. From what I have witnessed alot of landowners are baiting the crap out of the deer.

And if I were a betting man i would guess that most landowners are WAY over the allowed amount

Why can’t everyone just put some sweat into their land and plant a small food plot? At least than the deer would get some better nutrition…I did this 4 years ago, but still do am not able to draw deer away from the nearby corn buffets

Chowdski,
How close are you to smittys saloon (aka the old Rockys?)?

Baiting sucs. Plain and simple. It should be outlawed but probably never will in Wi and Mi due to so much money involved. Thankfully Mn never joined that insane bandwagon.

I’m a ways from the old Rocky’s hang out. I’m actually a block awayf from the fishbowl, which is quite convenient

Quote:

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I’m a ways from the old Rocky’s hang out. I’m actually a block awayf from the fishbowl, which is quite convenient

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The Good Ol Fishbowl!

I still frequent that place when we have snow! My uncle is from the area!

We are having trouble bagging deer connsistently on our land in WI. The idea of baiting is interesting. Are we talking about bait or food plots? Food plots to me is not so unethical since you are improving the land for multiple species. Dropping corn out of a feeder as bait is a whole different story in my book.

So what are we referring to here as bait?

Thanks,

Eric

I would assume we are talking about a little of both. I think I am dealing with people that are dropping corn but if I was to put in a food plot it just might help the situation.

SandBurr: I think I’ll suggest that our group do the same. Food plot wise. People can bait if they want to, that is their business.

I worked hard for my deer this year and I have the cuts/bruises to prove it. If I would have just set up by a pile of corn and shot any deer, regardless of size, I would just quit.

I won’t get any satisfaction from that.

Eric