General Hunting Discussion

State of hunting and fishing

12/8/15 @ 10:36 PM

INITIAL POST

MightyHunter

User since 3/25/06

I've been thinking about this for a while just not sure how i wanted to word it so this may not come out right but when it comes to the state of hunting and fishing in Wisconsin, is Wisconsin going to be okay or are we in trouble. Now I'm talking all sorts of hunting from deer to bear to waterfowl to upland game. As a sportman myself I feel that right now there is a massive difference in opinions between all of us as how things are at the this point in time. Now don't get me wrong there is always differences in opinions and there always will be but I feel like this is a critical period in time. Now for the second part of this whole question is this...are populations of game and fish slowly decreasing or is there a chance that animals are slowly adjusting and getting smarter. I fish bass tournaments and I feel as if fish are getting smarter because they are so pressured. Is the same happening in hunting? Sorry if this sounds crazy but I feel like things are changing and I wanted to see if anybody else thinks so.

POST YOUR COMMENTS

Displaying 31 to 45 of 584 posts

9/14/17 @ 9:59 AM

madforlabs

User since 12/20/12

Very well said Great Outdoors!

Regretfully, the whole" horn porn" rant is perpetuated by the awful portrayals on outdoor television which in no way accurately reflect the land management efforts benefitting ALL wildlife put forth by landowners wishing to harvest mature animals.

Jealousy and envy fuel many of the spiteful comments seen in these threads. Right, PLHunter?

9/14/17 @ 9:23 AM

GreatOutdoors2001

User since 7/5/01

I agree, horn hunting is a big issue. We got saddled with Earn A Buck because too many guys just wanted to shoot bucks only. They seem to think that shooting a 115# 4 pointer is better than shooting a 115# doe, leading to population number and structure issues. I don't know why there are are people who fight against a possible 1 buck limit because they feel they "need" to shoot 2 bucks every year. I don't know why there are people who fight against getting rid of group bagging, because they "need" to keep shooting bucks after their tags are already filled. I don't know why the people who shoot the most bucks feel that those who wait years between filling buck tags and leave a ton of bucks alive on the landscape are a severe threat to hunting. I don't know why people are so focused on "shooting their buck" that they can't let a little one walk so that a kid could get thier first buck, or perhaps an older hunter could get their last buck before they hang it up. I think its sad that the guys who put nothing into the land or the resource and try to fill every tag think that the guys who spend a ton of time and money on habitat work while being conservative with harvests and an eye towards the future are a threat to hunting.

Yep, you are right. Horn hunters are a major problem.

2/2/16 @ 11:22 AM

John.Rennpferd

User since 6/3/10

On the subject of private property opened to public use because of crp, fml, etc... involvement. I have yet to get told by a land owner who is enrolled in any project that i cant hunt their land. As a matter of fact I was challenged on this last year, and I was told of a property owner who would absolutely refuse me access; I called him, and asked permission and not only did he say yes, but he offered to give me a tour of his property so I would know the lay of the land and where he sees the most deer. Absolutely great experience so far. Just my two cents on that.

2/2/16 @ 9:31 AM

WalleyePatrol2

User since 2/17/09

FNB- yes if that is what is happening then I agree with you they are probably taking a toll on deer that live well outside their 12,000 acres, please quit calling them farmers, they aren't farmers and I think you lumping the Ag folks in with the timber industry isn't fair.......true they may cultivate a forest but they aren't farmers. You are twisting fact and words to get out whatever your agenda is, and rarely provide facts, your last two posts I think I the most factual things I have read on this entire thread, finally we are getting some information as to what the real issue is. QDMAGUY- yes Pine county isn't truly northern MN, but it is about as far north as WI reaches on the MN/WI border, I am east of Bruno and no deer numbers are not great, sure we had some higher numbers in the early 2000's and probably averaged 5-6 deer there for a few years, but after the tough winters of 2012-2014 they took their toll, we have no agriculture fields within 9-11 miles of our place and I'm talking where they actually grow some corn or beans, its all south of us by quite a long ways, and trust me we have more bears on tape the past two years then deer......some wolves as well just not as often, so hunting is tough and as always there will be pockets of more deer in good areas or areas without wolves/bears or high density of hunters.

2/1/16 @ 11:27 PM

John.Rennpferd

User since 6/3/10

Are you sure? The DNR sure has a mixed message. Sometimes things say as long as you bone out your meat you're fine; other times you see reference to the CDC's not to eat meat from deer that test positive for it. Do we know how things like that affect hunting recruitment?

2/1/16 @ 11:02 PM

no-luck

User since 12/14/12

I personally have never heard it brought up or discussed as a reason.

2/1/16 @ 10:21 PM

John.Rennpferd

User since 6/3/10

How much is concern over CWD affecting deer hunter recruitment?

2/1/16 @ 9:53 PM

amaranthlost

User since 5/31/10

$3182 in claims for deer damage in 2014 for Florence, $1272 for bear damage. http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/documents/reports/damabate2.pdf

2/1/16 @ 9:36 PM

qdmaguy

User since 6/14/10

"I also own 120 acres in northern MN, Pine County to be exact with my brother." How far from Cloverdale? Nice area, but its a few hours south from northern MN. Eastern Pine County has historically had some pretty high deer numbers compared to just an hour NW.

2/1/16 @ 9:03 PM

WalleyePatrol2

User since 2/17/09

That's my point, iHookem......just because they have the tags doesn't mean they fill everyone. I guess my point is mostly directed back at FNB I understand that hunting in Northern WI for deer right now isn't good, but sitting on Lake-Link and spouting vomit and lies doesn't do any good. I am lucky enough to hunt private land in SW Wisconsin, however I also own 120 acres in northern MN, Pine County to be exact with my brother. We have had many deerless years there and more often than not maybe one buck. We have done every management option available to deer, adding foodplots, timber harvests, wildlife openings and letting deer go. It has greatly improved our hunting, I hunted 3 days straight there and saw three deer, a doe, a fawn, and one heck of nice buck that gave me the slip. So was it a slow year.....yep it sure was but at the end of the day I got to hunt with my brother, dad and some good friends. I have terrible neighbors that think they own the rest of the state land that is adjacent to us......4-wheeler trails, illegal corn piles, etc, etc the list goes on and on. I guess my point is hunting is what you make of it, I feel bad for you FNB that your days are filled with complaining about lack of deer and game in your area, yet all you do is let your fingers do the talking instead of actually try to improve your "40 acres" as others have suggested.

2/1/16 @ 7:55 PM

ihookem

User since 11/29/01

150 deer tags ( Not harvest) is 8 deer per Sq. mi. for that 12,000 ac. area. A lot of deer per SQ. MI. . But, 12,000 ac. os only 4% of the woods in Florence co. Not a whole lot . It would not be hard to go a few miles away and not be affected. Is this a one year deal or have the been doing this for many years. One year won't do a whole lot. And, , how many does were harvested. We all know number of tags do not equate to deer harvested.

2/1/16 @ 7:23 PM

ihookem

User since 11/29/01

A few does are shot here and there by me. How many are REALLY shot by you? What is the farmers name, his address, how many acres on his farm and how many deer did he really shoot? Is there a web sight on the net that shows what farmers got how many tags??

2/1/16 @ 5:47 PM

ere

User since 2/22/07

Things that make you go,hmmmm.

2/1/16 @ 4:52 PM

WalleyePatrol2

User since 2/17/09

http://dnr.wi.gov/news/releases/article/?id=3718 FNB- is this who you are worried about shooting all the deer in Florence County? 150 tags across 12,000 acres........is that 8 deer or so per square mile? You toss a lot of misinformation around and never back it up....I can't even find any farms listed on the Wisconsin Cooperative Deer Damage Abatement and Claims Program Participant List for 2016 for Florence County.....https://dnrx.wisconsin.gov/wdacp/public/enrollment/2016/deer

1/31/16 @ 1:10 PM

ihookem

User since 11/29/01

Iron county has almost no reservation land. However, Ashland and Vilas does. Out of about 800 Sq. Miles of woods In Iron co. there were only a few hundred bucks shot. If I'm not mistaken, 165 bucks in 800 sq. Mi. That is one buck every 5 sq. Miles. FNB, you have it made. You have it way better than I do and for you to say ," I have shot many many bucks on my land" tells me you have little to complain about. Only other thing I can think of is someone near by is poaching. Don't dismiss this, it is rampant in some areas of Price co. and was in my area till I tipped the DNR warden ( Thanks, Jason Behr , old Price co. warden.) It is sad to find what hunters will do to " Get "their " buck" .

Displaying 31 to 45 of 584 posts

General Hunting Discussion

State of hunting and fishing

MightyHunter

madforlabs

GreatOutdoors2001

John.Rennpferd

WalleyePatrol2

John.Rennpferd

no-luck

John.Rennpferd

amaranthlost

qdmaguy

WalleyePatrol2

ihookem

ihookem

ere

WalleyePatrol2

ihookem

TRENDING DISCUSSIONS

Quest Series Trolling Motors

APEX Series Sonar

MORE RESOURCES

ACCOUNT

SUPPORT

MENU

MORE TO EXPLORE