Deer Population Observation

Just an observation. Last Friday I left Green Bay at about 7PM and drove to Ontario to go deer hunting. In the 5 hours I was in Wisconsin we saw 1 deer and 1 bear, the 3.5 hours in Minnesota we saw about 100 deer and in the 3.4 hours in Ontario we saw about 60 deer. Driving home pretty much the same thing except for the dandy 12 point that we saw get hit by a truck 100yds in front of us by Shawano. So tell me again that WI has a lot of deer? Until things change I'm done gun hunting in WI.

No shortage around me, Shawano cty.We killed 9 or so this year (6 people) and counted 33 in the field the other night....sure they are yarding now which explains some of that number. Dnr is also netting them nearby so they have who knows how many tons of corn under the net...that will draw a few to the area also.

What your failing to realize is, it's winter...Most of these 100 deer could have come from 10 or more miles away to get to winter feed.

The past two mild winters and fewer does being shot has the herd back up to speed in the areas I travel (south-central to north-central and east). Of course the most deer are where there's good feed, whether ag or food plots or somebody's illegal feeder, whatever. I've seen groups of 5 to 15 in recent weeks all over the place. Take a look at some ag fields by moonlight sometime, amazing!! The bow and gun seasons were very good despite less than ideal weather when I was able to go. Seemed like it was windy and warm almost every time. Wisconsin hunting rocks despite what the naysayers say. Not trying to knock em but there are a lot of schmoes out there who hunt where they want the deer to be rather than where the deer actually are. Those are the ones who whine to the dnr every year.

I've been grooming snowmobile trails since we got the snow before Xmas, there's no shortage of deer in our portion of western Dane county! I see dozens each night I'm out. I bet I saw over 100 the other night before the last little snow we got. Lots of times they're trotting right down the trail ahead and behind me. Some nice bucks got by this past fall.

i hunted 23 days early archery sat 126hrs. saw 100 deer 23 of them were bucks. shot a doe. gun season sat 9 days for 56hrs. saw 34 deer 4 were bucks. shot a 8 pt nov.24 16in heavy and tall waushara cty. unit 65b

that might explain why the wolves are there as well. ole sarge sounds like your area has some deer around, but there not everywhere like that i spend alot of time in parts of northern wisconsin and the is less deer there by far less.

I dont buy it. Just the other night south of Tomah between Wilton and Tomah I counted over 50 deer feeding on the ridge. Heck, I average a dozen a night in my back yard and we have a wolf population 5 miles down the road on Fort McCoy. Just because you dont see them doesnt mean they are not there. Just sayin.....

Unit 58. 21 guys sitting and driving. 3 bucks...2 spikes, one 9 pt.. All does let go. Hope it helps.

I also hunt unit 55 and this year was jacked up because of the pics on the cams. Well not sure where they went but I was lucky to take one on the opener. Did not see another deer the rest of the week. My son did not see one in the eight days either. I tell myself You know they are there but where do they go. Frustrating for sure.

Opening day, counting all I could hear near and far, I think I maybe heard 10 shots all day. Sunday I heard maybe 5 or 6, not counting the guy I could tell was target shooting (spaced out for 30 minutes). Of course I wasn't hunting farm country. The DNR might actually have that unit correct when they issue 0 doe tags for the past 3 years or so.

Good post MA. Someone mentioned shots fired. 5 years ago I took one son along, Sauk County, he counted 200 shots before 8 am and stopped counting. Last year I counted 125ish shots and stopped counting at 8 am. This year had my 15yo son along and he counted 47 shots by 8 am. This included ALL shots heard even miles away, not just close by. Not a disgruntled hunter just an observation. Number of shots wayyy down. Sorry but there's 1/4 of the deer here we had 20 years ago.

percheye,I've been hunting east of Hatfield for the last 44 years,I've never heard so few shots opening day.One person in our group saw a deer opening day.She also had a wolf within 10 yards of her of her.They're were 9 in our group.I can remember sitting opening day and seeing 40 to 70 deer with no bucks in the bunch.I think the bucks for the most part did'nt make it past 11/2 years old because there were way too many does too service during rut and the bucks would die in the winter because they were in such poor shape from chasing all those does.deer drives we used to chase 20 to 40 deer out,now we're lucky to see a deer.

I asked this question at deer camp. Now this is only relevant for those with 30 or more years of deer hunting wisconsin for the most part. When was the last time you found a wounded or dead deer unrelated to you or your hunting party? 20 years ago we saw 1 or 2 per season. Now that is the total of live deer we see per season compared to 50 to 100 deer per day 20 years ago. Also another observation from years gone by I hunt unit 55 in the days of the party tag 1 doe per 4 hunters they would give out about 1200 doe tags now there are about 1/10 the deer they give out 7000 or more.

I spent this late summer and fall until a week ago on the road for work, often at primetime for wildlife viewing. Green Bay would be the centerpoint for my travels....Going up to Brussels in Door County, down to Manitowoc and Sheboygan, to Appleton, Omro, Greenville, Hortonville, to Shawano/Bonduel country, up to Marinette and all over the GB and Howard/Suamico metro. I can probably count on one hand the number of deer I saw in a few month's span. Honestly, most of which were within the greater GB/Howard metro. Drove home to SE Clark two weekends in November before the gun hunt. Saw a total of ONE deer in those two trips. Granted, this is observations from a truck seat, but you're covering alot of area there. Even during the rutting time when I figured I'd spot a buck out cruising or whatever.....nothing. I had a great deer season. Saw deer, saw bucks, know there were bucks around. Not an unhappy hunter. Just an observation.

Good for you Sidge.If you like to hunt right now and in the future,this is the model you need to follow.Good hunting is not free anymore.Everyone complains about fed,state and county land for the simple reason nobody cares because its FREE.It bothers me that hunters have to kill everything they see on these lands and then complain there is no deer.Good hunting in Wis is not cheap anymore.