They are giving out three free doe tags in many counties this year with each license. That means you can shoot up to eight deer between your bow and gun.
Unbelievable.
(Tried to attach the map, but can't do it. Counties include Shawano, Waupaca, Oconto, Green Lake, Marquette, Washington, Ozaukee, Grant, Vernon & Buffalo)
LB- Like you say, public lands in these areas are hit especially hard. I hunt mostly public.
I shoot only what I need...haven't shot a doe in many years.
Part of my issue is just giving the tags away. If guys really need/want the meat, they will pay $3 per extra tag, and bingo- our "always broke" DNR can have some more money and maybe put a few more wardens in the field.
Farnorth - Yes, it was approved by the CDAC. Which means the people actually educated with facts on the topic rather than personal experience and opinions support the decision.
There's actually a 20 page document regarding the decision, rationale and goals of the plan. I'd suggest reading it before formulating irrational opinions.
The NRB only differed from CDAC recommendations in three instances. The rest of them they agreed with.
https://dnr.wi.gov/About/NRB/2018/May/2018-05-2B2%20MODIFIED.pdf
Thump55 - if everyone just shoots what they can eat, there shouldn't be an issue. If your land can handle taking out 8 antlerless, then by all means fill em. We can't, most public can't or shouldn't. It's on the hunters to do the right thing. just because they give the tags, doesn't mean you have to shoot them. If you want to please the DNR, call in unused tags. just saying. Since I'm mr. controversial anyway, I feel I can say that with out surprising anyone.
You know, the DNR is not the one shooting the deer. That is what we have done, not shoot the deer. We are at a point again we need to start to take doe off the property. In this photo, there are 27 deer. I turkey hunting this field in the spring and in the evening you would see at least 20 deer a night.
Even in the "earn a buck" days, we did not go gain busters shooting doe. Shot enough doe to cover what we normally would harvest in bucks - 2-3 mature bucks per year.
Am I the only one who has seen a fairly drastic increase in the deer numbers in the past 3-4 years? This year in particular I feel like I'm seeing deer in every field at any time of the day. Last season we had doe and fawns on our cameras constantly and clocked 11+ bucks which is easily double what we have seen in prior years.
In 2015 there were ~2,000 less deer harvested compared to 2016, yet nearly 14,000 more tags were sold in 2015. In 2017 I believe the tag count was down another 2% yet 2,000 more deer were harvested. See a pattern?
Everything points to an increasing herd population that needs to be managed. I don't necessarily agree with how they decide to manage it, I would much rather see something similar to what Minnesota does and require bucks to be 4x4 to boost the buck population and decrease the doe population but the ratio of shooter bucks to doe in WI is so terrible that this isn't an option or everyone will be shooting doe.
