Firearms deer season posts

[Ron]

Since this is a bowhunting site, we want to keep the gun hunting stuff to a minimum but nearly all the bowhunters here are also gun deer hunters therefore I have created this area to discuss the gun deer season. Post the reports of your gun deer successes and failures in this thread only. Please leave all other areas of this board to bowhunting and archery related topics.

Thanks
Ron

[Ron]

As for me, this was the first year that just Josh and I made the trip up North alone. Jake came from UWGB to meet us my Parents place. In 3 more years, Josh will also be coming on his own and I will be back to making the trip myself.

Opening morning found me in the ground blind that I set up with my Dad near where I harvested my buck with the bow. I put it up early so my Dad could use it for the last two weeks of the bow season. He saw a few deer and even missed a doe from the blind. He hunted that stand almost every day (sometimes both morning and afternoon) so I figured the spot would be pretty burned out by the time I got there on opening day but I really didn't mind since I was only hoping to get my boys onto some deer anyway.

After I got both boys situated in their ladders, I made the long walk to the blind. I found the floor of the blind pretty well covered with candy wrappers (my Dad loves his tootsie pops) I saw only turkeys by 11:00 am and then my youngest Son called on the radio telling me that he was frozen stiff (it was only 4 degrees) so I walked out and rounded them both up and headed back to the farm for a bit of lunch and the warmth of the wood stove. Josh had seen, 3 does and Jake had seen 2 bucks and a doe. No shots were fired since Jake is only looking for a large racked buck and Josh was not satisfied with anything that presented itself to him either. At least they saw some deer.

After helping my nephew hang the button buck he had shot on the field in front of my Parent's house, eat ate and warmed up a bit and all three of us were back on stand by 1:00 pm. At 3:00, a doe ran by my blind but on the other side of the river putting her about 30 away. She was running like somebody tied a firecracker to her tail and since I am the only one in the river bottom area, I figured a buck might be pushing her and would soon be following her trail.

I unzipped the back window of the pop up and stood up with my upper body outside the blind while my legs were still inside and I only had to wait about 3 minutes before I heard the first grunt. I saw a flash of antler so I shouldered the gun and when he got to a clearing, I gave a soft mouth grunt to stop him. He was perfectly broadside with one front leg raised as he starred at me just 30 steps away. I put the bead on his front shoulder and softly whispered the word "Bang" and then lowered the gun as the small six pointer went back to scent tracking that doe. It was a blast and I consider the season a success. That evening Josh had seen more does and Jake saw nothing. No shots were fired.

Sunday Morning, we were back on stand except Josh and I switched up and I sat in his ladder stand since he thought he would be warmer in the pop up. At 7 am, I had a doe and two fawns walk by me as they waked along the river, I never raised the gun and they were headed towards Josh. He later reported that he saw them and one other un-identified deer. Jake saw nothing. At 10:00 am we moved a ladder stand from where I normally hunted and placed it along the river for future bow and gun hunts. We got back to the farm 12:00 and Jake had to head back to UWGB and Josh and I headed back home. Josh won't be back because of wrestling commitments and Jake has a job interview so his return is still up in the air.

I will head back on Tuesday night for the remainder of the season to assist others in getting a deer and to see if the buck of my choosing will step in front of the old 20 Ga. bolt. The three of us never fired a single round but had a good time getting together with family and friends.

[Ron]

Hunters harvest 22% fewer deer on the opening weekend as compared to last year.

www.dnr.wi.gov/news/BreakingNews_Lookup.asp?id=1041


After a little time with the handy dandy calculator:

Of the 5 areas of the state, the Northern region saw the biggest one year decline in harvest at -34%. These are the counties of Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Florence, Forest, Iron, Langlade, Lincoln, Oneida, Polk, Price, rusk, Sawyer, Taylor, Vilas and Washburn. In that area, Bayfield saw the biggest decline in harvest at 57% and Washburn saw the smallest decrease in harvest at 22%. Every County in that region was down. All of these Counties saw a decline in the harvest of both bucks and does.

The Northeastern region saw a 25% decline in harvest. These are the Counties of Brown, Calumet, Door, Fond du lac, Green Lake, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Marinette, Marquette, Oconto, Outagamie, Shawano, Waupaca, Waushara and Winnebago. In that region, Marinette saw the largest decline in harvest at -34% and the lease decline was in Green Lake at -8%. Every County in that region was down. All of these Counties saw a decline in the harvest of both bucks and does.

The West Central region saw a 18% decline in harvest. These are the Counties of, Adams, Buffalo, Chippewa, Clack, Crawford, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson, Juneau, La Crosse, Marathon, Monroe, Pepin, Pierce, Portage, St. Croix, Trempealeau, Vernon and Wood. In that region, Dunn saw the worst harvest decline not only for the region but the whole State. -72%. 7 of those regions Counties saw a harvest increase with Pepin showing a 65% increase in harvest The counties that showed a harvest increase were Eau Claire +19%, Juneau +22%, La Crosse +47%, Pierce +39%, Portage, +5%, St. Croix +36%. Some of these Counties saw increases in either buck or doe harvest and 5 of them saw an increase in both.

The Southeast region saw a 12% decline in harvest. These are the Counties of Kenosha, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Walworth, Washington and Waukesha. In that region, Washington saw the largest decrease at 28%. 2 of the 7 Counties saw a harvest increase. Of those, Walworth saw the largest increase at 7%. Some of these Counties saw increases in either buck or doe harvest and only Walworth saw an increase in both.

The South Central region saw the smallest harvest decrease at 9%. These are the Counties of Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Grant, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Lafeyette, Richland, Rock and Sauk (basically the Western CWDMZ) Of these 11 counties, all but 2 saw a harvest decrease with Green County seeing the largest decline at -24%. Jefferson and Rock both had a harvest increase of 7 and 8% respectively. Some of these Counties saw increases in either buck or doe harvest and only Jefferson saw an increase in both.

I can only imagine how bad this would have been if the opener was one with poor weather conditions. It is clear that EAB is a strong tool and we will forever see it used as a way to quickly reduce the herd. I am really interested in seeing what the DNR herd estimate will be for next year.

I see it like this, There will be a segment of the hunting population that will drop out after this year out of frustration (they may have been looking for a reason to quit anyway)If the DNR declares that the 2009 pre-hunt population is at (guess) 1.4 million, then more folks will drop out saying that if they did not see a deer in 08 when the herd was at 1.7M then why bother in 09 when it's only at 1.4M. Reducing the herd will also reduce the number of hunters that have grown accustomed to big and easy harvests. This is a reason I think the DNR artificially inflates herd size estimates and has for some time. Either that or they really got the estimate wrong in in 2000 and the herd was at 2.3M.

This may be why we never got a look at the numbers for the Oct. T-zone or the Early bow season (as compared to last year) I believe these numbers will also be down and they didn't want those poor results being a downer prior to the gun opener.

[Ron]

Opening morning found me in the ground blind that I set up with my Dad near where I harvested my buck with the bow. I put it up early so my Dad could use it for the last two weeks of the bow season. He saw a few deer and even missed a doe from the blind. He hunted that stand almost every day (sometimes both morning and afternoon) so I figured the spot would be pretty burned out by the time I got there on opening day but I really didn't mind since I was only hoping to get my boys onto some deer anyway.

After I got both boys situated in their ladders, I made the long walk to the blind. I found the floor of the blind pretty well covered with candy wrappers (my Dad loves his tootsie pops) I saw only turkeys by 11:00 am and then my youngest Son called on the radio telling me that he was frozen stiff (it was only 4 degrees) so I walked out and rounded them both up and headed back to the farm for a bit of lunch and the warmth of the wood stove. Josh had seen, 3 does and Jake had seen 2 bucks and a doe. No shots were fired since Jake is only looking for a large racked buck and Josh was not satisfied with anything that presented itself to him either. At least they saw some deer.

After helping my nephew hang the button buck he had shot on the field in front of my Parent's house, eat ate and warmed up a bit and all three of us were back on stand by 1:00 pm. At 3:00, a doe ran by my blind but on the other side of the river putting her about 30 away. She was running like somebody tied a firecracker to her tail and since I am the only one in the river bottom area, I figured a buck might be pushing her and would soon be following her trail.

I unzipped the back window of the pop up and stood up with my upper body outside the blind while my legs were still inside and I only had to wait about 3 minutes before I heard the first grunt. I saw a flash of antler so I shouldered the gun and when he got to a clearing, I gave a soft mouth grunt to stop him. He was perfectly broadside with one front leg raised as he starred at me just 30 steps away. I put the bead on his front shoulder and softly whispered the word "Bang" and then lowered the gun as the small six pointer went back to scent tracking that doe. It was a blast and I consider the season a success. That evening Josh had seen more does and Jake saw nothing. No shots were fired.

Opening day produced only one buck in our group it was harvested by my 73 year old Father who told a few of us that this might be his last year of hunting. His health is not what it once was since his heart attack and knee replacements. Here is his buck. (my niece had to ham it up for the picture)



Sunday Morning, we were back on stand except Josh and I switched up and I sat in his ladder stand since he thought he would be warmer in the pop up. At 7 am, I had a doe and two fawns walk by me as they waked along the river, I never raised the gun since they were headed towards Josh. He later reported that he saw them and one other un-identified deer. Jake saw nothing. At 10:00 am we moved a ladder stand from where I normally hunted and placed it along the river for future bow and gun hunts. We got back to the farm 12:00 and Jake had to head back to UWGB and Josh and I headed back home. Josh won't be back because of wrestling commitments and Jake has a job interview so his return for later in the week was still up in the air.

I headed back on Tuesday night for the remainder of the season to assist others in getting a deer and to see if the buck of my choosing will step in front of the old 20 Ga. bolt. The three of us never fired a single round opening weekend but had a good time getting together with family and friends.

I hunted Wednesday and Thursday and spent the rest of the week moving stands for next years bow and gun hunt and doing lots of scouting in the swamp and along the river. I moved one ground blind from once side of the swamp to the other side. I build that stand 7 years ago with my Son and in order to move it, I had to cut the roof off and carry it out in sections. I then reassembled it on the bank of the same river I have been bowhunting but in a spot that offers a good ambush for a gun hunter.



Here is the view out the back window. It overlooks a area of the river that the beavers damned up a few years ago.



The high water killed all the surrounding trees but I see that a few Osprey nests have made them home.





While scouting along the river, I came across a few bobcat tracks in the fresh snow.



During the thanksgiving portion of the week, a few deer rolled in from members of our group.

This young lad is 13 and is the Son of my little brother. He got this 18 inch wide 8 pointer with a Muzzle loader at about 75 yards.



Here are a few more.







Here is the meat pole when I left on Sat. Afternoon. A few of bucks had already been cut down and taken to be processed.



All told, we had 6 bucks, 1 nub buck and a few does. I was on a drive and tagged a doe harvested by another shooter so I will have a little more meat in the freezer and an EAB Sticker should our area be an EAB area next year.

[Ron]

Nov 30, 2008 6:46:15 GMT -6 @sneska said:

Nice deer. Are you sure those tracks were bobcat? I see claw marks so I would guess coyote.

You might be right, I thought the claws might have been because of walking on ice. These tracks seemed to be alone as well and yotes move in packs.

[Ron]

That time of year again. Bowhunters that turn gun hunters for a few days, feel free to post your pictures here.

[Ron]

Wow! great buck. Congrats.