Wondering what other northern WI Hunters think of the 2015 season

I hunt the Radisson area on public land. Thought we had some well placed stands with some decent sign and a nice covering of snow. I was only able to hunt the first two days of the season because of a family accident but in those two days five of us saw zero deer. I checked in on 9-10 other area deer camps and saw one buck hanging. Talked with other guys that hunt Ladysmith area with results much the same as ours. I know hunting this area has always been but tough but until the last 3-4 years we have always seen deer whether little bucks or does. We have shot three trophies in the last 10 years. Granted I don’t spend as much time here because it is almost a 3 hour drive for me but I know the area and have been successful in the past. Just so frustrated because I believe the DNR created this problem with Wolves, a high bear population and unlimited doe tags for years. We family hunt and that is a huge draw for me but I know our younger kids get frustrated sitting in a tree all day and no deer. Even the amount of shots is very minimal. At what point will the DNR starting treating wolves as eating machines? These wolves in search of game will only continue to move south. I am to the point where it isn’t worth my time. Sorry for the rant, my empty freezer frustrates me.

couldn’t agree more even though I hunt SW Wisconsin. I have friends that hunt those areas and the wolf and bear population is ridiculous. I’m sure your not the only one disgusted with how the DNR run things in our state. But they ask us for our opinions and feelings and where does that go, NO WARE.

jld wrote:

Sorry for the rant, my empty freezer frustrates me.

And I’m sorry to seem unsympathetic, but if hunting is only a means to fill your empty freezer, why don’t you quit hunting, sell your rifle, and buy yourself a half beef every year to fill that freezer? It’d be cheaper and you’d feel less frustrated with all the time you’re wasting.

I’ve sat in many, many deer stands, for many, many days starting at the age of 13 without seeing deer. That’s why they call it “deer hunting” and not “deer shooting”. This isn’t a video game.

Animal populations rise and fall for many reasons and as a sportsman this “blame everything on the DNR” is starting to p!ss me off. Even if the whole thing was in the DNR’s control (which it isn’t) and COULD really be blamed on your DNR (which it can’t), do you think they’re screwing you on purpose? Like they got together at DNR HQ and said, “Hey, let’s totally hose the WI deer hunters by eliminating our deer population.”

News flash for you. The wolf hunting ban was NOT put in place by the WI DNR. The WI DNR can recognize them as anything you want, doesn’t mean squat. It’s the Feds that have banned wolf hunting. Also, the DNR doesn’t control the winter weather. Or the fawn birth rates. Or million other factors.

You lived through a population bubble. The highest population numbers seldom represent the mean or the norm.

If you get nothing out of hunting besides bitterness, frustration, and an empty feeling in your freezer, maybe you’re missing the point.

Grouse

Did you even read his post? Five people saw ZERO deer all weekend. If you can’t see a problem there then you must be blind. The Wisconsin DNR has been ruining our herd for years with unlimited doe tags and there inability to count how many wolves, deer and bear there are in the state. I see you are from Minnesota so you wouldn’t know anything about that. And bashing a guy for wanting to put a little meat in his freezer is even more ridiculous!

I can hunt the rest of my life for what a 1/2 of beef costs. I’m fortunate that I can shoot deer from my back door if I wanted and walk to my stand. But I agree very little shooting this year and not as many deer seen. I was lucky enough to shoot a deer for the freezer late in the season.

Rifle $500
Ammo $300
Orange cloths $100

What more do I need? Most of us just want meat in the freezer, yes there are the people that have every new gizmo imaginable and a $3000 rifle and scope.

My neighbor had a game camera on a bear den 2 springs ago and had pictures of a sow bringing in 5 different fawns. That’s one bear den not to mention the wolves in the area. The DNR was off by 1000% on their bear estimate a few years ago.

Healthy buck killed by wolves.

If you read my entire post it is about family time at our cabin but it is also nice to see a few deer and put a little venison in my freezer. Not looking to feed my family for the whole year. Last year we saw more wolves than deer. Wolves don’t hunt just for food they hunt for sport. That is a fact. They are killing machines. That is how they are programmed. I don’t necessarily blame them that is their DNA but the fact that they have been promoted is a huge problem up north and it eventually it will be a problem in the central part of the state. There already is an active pack in the Black River area and two in the Fort McCoy area which will only spin more packs off of these.

I read your post and yeah I’m from MN where we have guys with the same massive entitlement mentality set by years of hunting in a population bubble that very well will never happen again. We also have guys with the same expectation you have that the DNR will control at a micro level ALL predators, in every area? Even the ones that it’s not within their jurisdiction to even regulate?

Yes, predators are killing machines. It’s what they do, it’s what they’ve always done. Both the predators and the deer (and even the caribou once upon a time) were here loooong before us and they managed without being regulated by the DNR.

So 5 people saw no deer when they hunted a whole 2 days. How many deer should you have been guaranteed to see by your DNR? Not like there’s any other factors in play here, of course.

Seriously, did it ever occur to you guys that the last 20 years was a population bubble the likes of which you may never see again regardless of what your DNR does? Even if the WI DNR could declare a year-round open season on wolves, do you think they’d be eliminated?

Going to be tough sledding for you guys who have your expectations set such that “good” hunting is only possible (and evidently only worth doing) in the peak of the peak of the peak population years and only without wolves. Carry on blaming it all on the DNR.

Grouse

Grouse,

It’s nothing to do with bubble years or entitlement, it’s a know fact that the DNR’s use of earn a buck and unlimited doe tags has taken a toll on the WI deer population. That was under their control and was done to bring down the deer population in WI. You can ask them and they will tell you that they wanted to decrease the deer population.

We’ve had a similar experience the past two deer seasons in an area west of Duluth Mn. I know we’ve had wolves in the area for at least 20 years and there’s always been some bears. We had good deer numbers up to 4 seasons ago. There appeared to be a drop in fawns during the 2013 season which followed the record spring ice out dates but we still saw deer. The severe winter of 2013-2014 resulted in “Whack City” for the 2014 season. I archery hunted that season (10 days or so) and never saw a deer. Trail cameras indicated there were deer in the area but I think the local population was very low. We saw and heard wolves several times during summer and into the fall. I archery hunted in 2015 and upped it to 3 deer seen. Trail cameras again indicated deer in the area. Wolf activity dropped off but are still in the area.

For the northern areas I think the deer have a bit of gauntlet to run any given year. Hunters, Wolves and Winter Kill. For us, 2014 was a perfect storm for all three and it hit the local deer heard really hard. In kind, the DNR went back to a bucks only season for much of the area. 2012 had good numbers so I don’t doubt they can rebound. It may however take a few years.

I respectfully disagree with Grouse. I hunt in southern MN and there are no wolves or bears here. The winters are not a factor. Some habitat has been removed but fortunately it hasn’t been as bad in my area. The population is still as low as I have seen it in thirty years of hunting the same farms.

I believe the DNR played a big part in the population decline. Hunters put trust in the DNR to set anterless bag limits that would not decimate the herd. In my area hunters have started coming into the area in great numbers due to the liberal bag limits to take does “to fill the freezer”. Access is sometimes difficult and in one instance I watched four hunters set up stands on a property line of a 6 acre homestead 200 feet from the owners home. They sat in those stands religiously for the entire bow, gun, and muzzleloader season.

Not pointing fingers at anyone in particular or political party but in my opinion the DNR is being directed to reduce the herd by politicians. I feel the only recourse we as hunters have is to lay off does for a while in most areas unless you are certain the herd can support the harvest. I know in some areas there may be situations where the herd needs to be reduced but from my viewpoint they are fairly limited.

Hunting is much more fun when you see deer even if you don’t shoot them.

I live and hunt in the Wisconsin Northwoods, and I saw plenty of deer. Granted, most of them were on my trail cams at night, but I saw them at least. To be sure, deer numbers aren’t what they were prior to the awful killing winters of 2012/2013 and ’13/’14(that one killed a lot of everything), but they are there, and breeding. I hunted three stands, both public and private and saw deer on all but one. After season I pulled my cameras and confirmed what I already knew from tracks in the snow…deer moving at night in moonlight, browsing on still available green grass and the like. I daresay conditions weren’t optimal for hunting this season, especially if you had limited time like a weekend. I did however have a great time out in some beautiful country and had a great time-even if I didn’t get to broil backstraps.
Yes, wolves kill deer. Several other things do too, including coyotes. I hear and see sign of both on a frequent basis, but I can tell you which one I see and hear more of, by far.

I live in NE SD and our deer population was incredible low about 3 years ago. The GFP got rid of doe tags and limited youth tags. In that short span of years we easily have 3 times as many deer. By no killing a doe that doe becomes possibly 4 deer in the next 3 years…or more if she has twins. Most of our state is cutting back on doe tags and total tags. I would also infer that to be the reason so many large mature bucks were killed this year. The hard winters and fawn survival play a part but if there aren’t does to have fawns the numbers aren’t going to come back up. Just my opinion.

Despite many hours on stand, our Bayfield County camp saw very, very few deer during shooting hours from early archery season, through firearm and muzzleloader, and now into late archery season. 2 bucks harvested, private and public lands.
Very little area shooting heard opening weekend of firearm as well.

I hunt Washburn County in Northern WI. We own 80 acres in the middle of the county forest. I saw more DNR wardens in the woods than I did deer (2). I hunted all or parts of 6 days during the gun season. There was some deer sign in our area. I don’t doubt there are deer around. There are very few hunters in the woods which makes it tough to get them to move. We don’t drive the deer and there isn’t any agriculture in the area. I was very surprised to hear the DNR still gave out over 3000 doe tags in Washburn county this year. Everything I heard before this season indicated they wouldn’t give out doe tags in the Northern Forest Region of WI.

I just talked to a co-worker and he shot a nice buck he’s having mounted on Thursday afternoon. He left it for less than a hour and a half and one hind quarter was eaten already. He thought it was wolfs not coyotes. He’s going to apply for a conceal carry permit for the after dark tracking. It happened west of Merrill Wi.

I only have a basic knowledge of deer hunting, but have heard from others that an ideal makeup of a deer heard is closer to 1:1 buck to doe ratio? I hunted sweet Wisconsin this year for my first time deer hunting and saw a deer every day. Sounds like I might be ruined now!

crawdaddy wrote:

I only have a basic knowledge of deer hunting, but have heard from others that an ideal makeup of a deer heard is closer to 1:1 buck to doe ratio? I hunted sweet Wisconsin this year for my first time deer hunting and saw a deer every day. Sounds like I might be ruined now!

Not saying your’re wrong on the ratio thing but I think that # is closer to a 4:1 or 6:1 ratio (since buck mate with multiple does…). My impression of the deer population in Wisky land: DNR got too aggressive with their permits and couple that with bad winters and that is what has happened. Wolves? Sure they take down deer. Newsflash to the guy who posted the wolves taking down the buck video–Wolves eat deer. I hunt near Emily, Mn. and they have many wolves (and have for 30 years…) yet I see enough deer every year to keep me happy. Again not saying the anti-wolf people are wrong but I just don’t think they decimate the herd like people think. If they did they wouldn’t be around anymore since deer is their main food source. DNR and winters is to blame on low deer #’s. They will comeback but it’ll take a couple years…