Does anyone know where to find the number of bow, crossbow and gun license sales so far in Wisconsin?
Big Game Hunting
Deer license sales 2018
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Wicasa I get your point but your numbers don't reflect all the other licenses those deer hunters may have also purchased. I did a bit of looking and could not easily find any good numbers to support my opinion. I think deer hunters think they deserve more say than they do. I would like to see a seperate Fish and Game department with its own funding and control like other states.
The deer management strategy will never change unless the majority of hunters can agree with what they want, assuming that plan works with our other resources.
Things never change, everyone wants more deer but will fill every tag they can. Everyone wants to shoot bigger bucks but they fill both buck tags on young bucks each year. Everyone is jealous of the people who are trying to control their own hunting experience, whether it is leasing or private land. "Hoarding deer" "my buck" "what does it score?" All those terms are bullcrap, the majority of people who are leasing or own land are invested in their experience and want to preserve it. They have made choices along the way to allow them to do that.
Turds are present on private and public, greedy hunters are everywhere. If you can't find quality public land to hunt, afford a quality lease, or be disciplined enough to manage your own land, keep hunting the way you are and save your money treat yourself to an out of state hunt as often as you are able. This is the only way in the near future to solve all your personal struggles.
Just my opinion and certainly there are people and circumstances different than what I described.
Madlabs,
I don’t know the percentage off hand, but WI deer hunters are the absolute life blood of our DNR. Not just the hunt/fish portion most of us are familiar with, but everything you can think of. Invasive management, restoration, land management plans, state wildlife areas, etc.
Unfortunately, at least in my opinion, out state agency has let WI deer hunters down. For the cash cow the license fees are for the state, we haven’t been getting the corresponding effort. WI was once looked upon as a model research and wildlife management agency in the US.
Today we base population density, age structure, and harvest goals/limits off of a phone call reporting your harvest,
We have garbage data going in and you can guess what the conclusions from that data are......garbage. People actually call in harvests that didn’t occur so they won’t be faced with mandatory doe harvests. On the flip side, some don’t report so they can have a viable tag for when they need it. How do you make sound management decisions with stuff like that going on?
Chuckar, I don't disagree with your comments. Only wishing to point out that deer hunters "finance" a large portion of the DNR budget above and beyond big game management itself.
Fee increases certainly require accountability for uses of the additional revenue.
I'm highly hopeful that new leadership in the DNR will bring with it better services and performance for sportsmen.
Regarding license fee increases for an improved quality hunt, I think most would go for that.
Issue is history shows fees increase but quality doesn’t always follow. WDNR has saved a ton of $ by doing away with paper tags and going to online/phone registration. I don’t know anyone that thinks those savings have transferred a better managed/ better quality hunt.
Those seeing an improvement are generally managing herds locally and investing in quality habitat projects.
If you want a better quality WI deer hunt, I wouldn’t wait for WDNR to fix it. It will be a long wait.
LB, maybe I missed the “destination” part of the conversation. My position is WI can and does kick out world class bucks like the other Midwest states.
It is not a destination hunt for the reasons mentioned, hunter density, fragmented hunting land, and lack of age structure selection at harvest.
Many hard core guys go to SE MN, NE IA, NE, IL, KS, Mo, or NE for trophy bucks because it is easier than in WI. It is easier due to less hunter pressure, and better age class structure.
I think we are almost agreeing on this topic, but saying WI doesn’t compete in trophy potential as the other states mentioned is simply not true. Also stating Western WI is the place to be is also not true. There is a reason Waupaca Co. is called the poor mans buffalo co. A lot has changed in the past 10-15 years.
When you have a goood number of people now passing 3 1/2s and sometimes 4 year olds, you get world class white tails that stack up with anywhere you care to travel.
Check out some of the maps from QDMA that color code county by county trophies. Those maps have changed dramatically on the past decade. Buffalo co still is exceptional, but not the only game in town by any means.
SLUG, sorry but you are talking out of your hind end. WI is NOT a prime destination to hunt big deer unless you are looking in western and even western is just average to other states. No one goes to shawano co to watch 1 and 2 year olds run around and hope to kill the 2 that are in the 150's on a 2 square mile section. stop dreaming.
Mad, spot on, quality takes time and money. i'm not all about worrying about recruiting more hunters. WI has enough. I say raise fees and hopefully 200k non hunters will drop out. that would be best case for WI deer quality.
Anybody who isn't willing to spend $30 on a deer license vs. $24 is pretty apathetic or at least doesn't prioritize the hunt in any way.
My kids are far from flush with cash but they willingly pay $160 for their NR license to come home and hunt with family on their own land for 2 days. Why? Because its important to them and the expense is justified by the fun and memories that result.
Quality outdoor opportunities cost money, pure and simple. Keep fees low and quality will continue to suffer.
I know raising fees gets people upset, but to me I realize there is inflation and when fees remain the same for years and years, something has to give. Either they go up or you dip into something else. It wouldn't have to be drastic, couple bucks would generate millions when you factor in all the different licenses sold within a year. I wouldn't gripe about paying $5 more, costs more to eat at McDonalds than that (hey there is something that increased with inflation). Heck could be $2 more.
Would be fine to find other sources of revenue though as well. State land access stickers, just like they have for the State parks. Trail fees, even if just $5. Can't ask a politician to promote it because they'll be ridiculed for saying it.
No one said they felt entitled to private land on here. What was meant is that landowners never cared in the past and neighbors would work together while hunting. Guys who hunted it, decent guys anyways, would usually give something in return. People would do drives together etc.
Now what you have are a bunch of stand sitters concerned about antler scores and no one moves the deer. They are all afraid that someone else might get them if they do. I've actually seen bidding wars on leases. Start of a more elitist type trend in some sense, whoever pays the most prevails. Its quite different from 25 years ago. I think the talk about all these big bucks in certain areas just proves where its changed.
I agree we have lots of public land, but that also depends where you live. I hunt mostly public and shoot deer every year, no big deal. But I also have ample land available to hunt. I used to live in an area that did not have this and it was very overcrowded where it was available. Scout all you want, if you have 20 other guys with you it won't matter. Comparing the two is like apples to oranges. This state varies widely depending on where you are.
Gun sales this year are down 9.4% so far. I imagine they will sell a few thousand for Thanksgiving weekend and muzzleloader season but it will surely be down 9% this year. That is huge. Also , Michigan gun sales are down 20% . I also imagine there are enough bow hunters out there that didn't get a buck in bow season and figured why buy another tag? No doubt that has a little to do with less gun sales but not much.
I’ll offer a little different perspective just to show the other side of the coin.
WI is one of the best states to take a trophy whitetail. The western counties get a lot of publicity and a cottage industry of guided hunts and leases has spring up due to the success of taking some giant bucks.
Some of the farmland counties in the central part are kicking out trophies without the publicity. Also, areas not typically considered great deer habitat also have some great deer (metro/burbs and outagaime and fondulac co)
I don’t know anyone that submits for official P&Y or B&C records. Doesn’t mean the trophies aren’t being harvested, just not recorded in official NA big game record books.
Shawano/Waupaca co have legit 180+ inches every year. I know of numerous over 200 (gross green....don’t know what they are after drying period and deductions). These areas have great food sources and decent genetics, but the biggest factor is bucks are seeing their 4th, 5th, or 6th birthday more often than years past. Say what you want about the QDMA movement, but it has increased trophy bucks if that is why you hunt.
Second thing that kind of gets to me is the whole “landowners lock up previously hunted property with a verbal permission” and leasing out property. WI has some great public areas, but it does take more leg work than it used to. I don’t understand why people think they are entitled to private property for free. In the early 90’s I had to inform a long time hunting party on our property that they should start looking for new ground as we were leasing part of the farm to friends and family was growing up and starting to take interest and hunted the other part. Actually had a guy in the group tell me that over the years he alone had harvested 72 deer from the property and never paid a nickel! Almost like I owed him the right to hunt there. I wished him well, and they still speak I’ll of me 25 years later.
WI has great trophy potential, but is probably the most difficult state to be consistently successful of the Midwest states. A friend who hunts the Midwest agrees, due mostly to hunting pressure. In other states, locating the target buck and patterning him is just easier without bumping him. Everyone in WI has a bow or gun.
I do agree, WI NR fees are too low. Our NR trapping license is ridiculously low compared to other states.
Seaguar - you're right. people pay $500 -700 for a bow tag in Iowa and IllAnnoys.
Lake is right on the money too. Wisconsin is the last place to kill a big buck outside of western wi. The commercialization of hunting has killed a lot of free private and decent hunting is hard to come by unless you have a great bank roll. I would never pay 2k to lease a 100 acres and I sure as heck wouldn't go in with 4 guys to do it. Pretty typical of WI. lot's of pressure amounts to low quality hunting.
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