I am mentoring a young man (15) and could use some help. I lost the land I hunted due to owners demise, and am looking for a place to take this young man for the gun youth hunt in 2022. I am only interested in getting him the opportunity to harvest a deer, not for my benefit. Please pm me and I would be happy to talk to you about it!
Thank You!
I get that up North it is hard to have any crops. I was more less talking about my area near Eau Claire. There are some decent tracks of public land that are pretty much swamp. I totally get the fact that they hold deer and big deer, but not really manageable for a youth hunter to access islands and such where they are walking in a mile or better through water up to their arm pits. Unfortunately in Wisconsin it's truly become a rich man's sport. Land prices are ridiculous, recreational land taxes are crazy and quite honestly most of our lives are probably too busy to manage something anyways. For what it costs these days to buy 100 acres of land South of Bloomer, WI, you can go hunt with an outfitter 1 week a year for about 100 years. Quite honestly the turn deer hunting has taken over the last 20 years has just flat out turned a lot of people off. Everyone is secretly hunting the big buck that 10 different people have pictures of and if you are lucky enough to get it, you more than likely cheated in some way. Neighbors hating each other, not letting neighbors go after wounded deer, I've heard of people putting out soap on fence lines to change deer travel, stands and trail cameras getting stolen I mean I could go on and on. Heck, when I started gun hunting in 1989 if there was a big buck in the area and no one got him opening weekend all the neighbors would team up to make some drives and try to get a crack at him. A lot of people complain about the registration stations going away. I agree, I thought it was great to go see all of the deer coming in when I was a kid. Then I started to realize that there are always those fun suckers that sit there and undress every deer that comes in. "Why did you shoot that little thing?" "That would have been a nice one next year." It's really not the most friendly environment to bring up a new hunter. It's tough, there are way more distractions for young hunters now and that is why there is so much importance for success. If they aren't seeing deer, they aren't going to want to be out there. I understand this is pretty much an empty rant as things are just going to keep progressing the way it's going. I have been a die hard hunter for 30 years and have a lot of really nice animals to show for it, but to be honest it has been really tough to get excited about deer hunting the last few years for me. I'd much rather take trips with the dogs to go pheasant hunting, a lot more excitement and way better camaraderie.
The northwoods is hard to have crops planted with all the woods. Those other states have more area for that type of thing. I do see some crops in central WI though where there are actual fields as part of the public properties. That does help, but it also draws more people because there isn't enough of it to go around. Still usually works though, just have to get away from it enough since it will be scented up by all the others walking around doing the same thing.
I wouldn't call the Youth Hunt unrealistic. The reason I say that is more and more of the harvest is shifting to occur prior to rifle season. People like the options, the extra time, the mild weather, the rut, etc. That's likely going to continue. In my eyes, my real hunting is all before rifle season. The only people who don't really like that are the guys who only rifle hunt. They will have a big problem with it because people are getting deer before they even get out in the woods. Even so though, the Youth Hunt is less than 2% of the overall harvest. There are bigger fish to fry....
I believe that is probably correct Winchester. I also agree with the post of either kids will love it or not really give two sh--s about it. I agree with the habitat decreasing and the lack of land to access as well. Also, public land in Wisconsin is not really catered to hunting as it is in other states like Iowa where they plant tons of crops. Virtually every piece of public land in Iowa has beans, corn, milo, turnips or hay. Sometimes one chunk will have 2,3 or even 4 food sources on it. Most public land in Wisconsin is either swamp or big woods. Where I hunt in the Northern part of the state it's pretty much big woods with a swamp every half mile. We have roughly 5000 acres of forest land available to us. Years ago we did very well targeting clear cuts and other natural browse that deer prefer. Now in recent years there are more deer in our area than ever, but with the big crop boom local farmers have tilled and begun to plant row crops in fields that were always just wild grass when I was growing up. These crops have virtually caused the entire deer heard to relocate from the big public woods to the private crop farms. You can literally make a 2 mile loop before dark and see 150 deer and a half mile away on the public it's hard to find deer tracks. I also don't mind the youth hunt. When I was younger and bowhunting really hard I did not like it. Now, I have a 12 year old daughter who really enjoys deer hunting. She's able to bow hunt with me all year, but when it comes to rifle season I hunt with family in a group of 14 guys living in a shack for 10 days. It's traditional deer camp where women have never been welcomed. So, the youth hunt is her only chance to hunt with a gun for deer.
According to the 1980 US Census, the resident US population was 226,545,805, the 2020 US resident population was 331,449,281.
So while the resident population is increasing, the hunter population is decreasing (see attached graph).
The reason it is harder to find locations to hunt is a loss of habitat and loss of accessible property. Landowners do not grant permission to hunt as freely as they have in the past.
The youth hunt provides a great opportunity for young hunters to get out and hunt and reduce competitive pressure.
If you want to get the kid excited take him shed hunting now, it's a great way to scout new to you areas and determine if it's worth going back in the fall. If you walk far enough and follow the tracks you will either get lucky and find a shed, or get really lucky and find a matched set, or jump a big group of live ones, or even find a nice dead head. All of these things will get the kid pumped for the next 8 months. Teach him to learn to love and appreciate the hunt as much as the kill. Good luck, shoot straight.
Winchester 30, If there was a shortage of hunters and we needed to recruit more the mentor wouldn't have a problem finding a place to hunt. Young people are either going to hunt or they are not. Giving them an unrealistic view of what deer gun season is like is not helping them. My brother took his son hunting on our property during the regular gun season and shot a nice little 7 point. Was not excited about it at all and never went again. He only went the first time to please my brother.
My second oldest grandson never was interested in hunting even though his older brother and my son live and breathe it. This year, at 15 years old, just before season he told my son that he wanted to go hunting. He sat with me and shot a nice 1.5 year 8 point opening day and loved it. This way he got to go hunting with me, his dad, his brother, his uncles and cousins and got to share the after hunt festivities with us. How does that not make sense?
Most of those that dislike the youth hunt usually own or have access to some private property for hunting and don’t have to worry about fighting the crowds for a place to hunt. The youth hunt offers a new hunter the opportunity to experience a peaceful hunt and from there can decide for themselves if they enjoy hunting or not. They then can continue to hunt and explore what opportunities there are from land ownership to public property to leases or seeking permission to access property to hunt. It is intended to be a learning, foot in the door, opportunity.
“I'm afraid that there are a lot of landowners, myself included, that do not care for the youth hunt. Mostly for the reasons stated earlier and because a lot feel that the youth of today are made to feel special and that they deserve special treatment. My son did not take his boys on the youth hunt. They went on opening day with the rest of us and it was a much better experience in my opinion. Being out there with their family.”
Really? Don’t care for the youth hunt? Much better experience being out there with family?
I take my son out on the youth hunt, is that not being with family? What you say doesn’t make sense.
One of the biggest issues facing the future of hunting is recruiting new hunters. The youth hunt is an excellent opportunity to do this.
The focus is on the youth, the hunt, gun safety and eliminates the worry of an adult trying to fill a tag and not having to deal with (many) other hunters on public land. I know farmers who only will allow hunting (outside of family) to only youth hunters, good for them!
Public land would be a good option. That time of year, most bow hunters aren’t really ramped up yet so you’d probably have very little competition if any at all. Or MFL lands would be an excellent choice. A little known fact, when the MFL law was updated a few years back, landowners now have to provide access even to landlocked parcels how they would typically access it or via a clearly marked DNR approved route across non-open parcels, or from other public lands or roads. I.E. they can’t make the access a death March through the swamp when there’s an easement for instance.
I hunt a lot of public areas and my son shot his first couple deer off them during youth hunts. My advise would be scout ahead of time like was already mentioned, but also check the type of public land. People like to use it as a blanket statement and if they get a deer its some sort of validation of being difficult I guess. Truth is though, there is a wide range of public land and each one has slightly different rules. If you want to use a treestand for instance, some allow it all season long, some you must remove daily, some need names, etc. This will all vary based on if the public land is Federal, state, county, MFL, etc. There is no one rule that fits all.
The youth hunt isn't usually bad in terms of people either. Some archery guys avoid it (plus its beginning of Oct, not the rut yet). It won't be anything like the 9 day season. I always thought of it as archery hunting with a rifle.
When we first went, I didn't focus on getting a buck. I thought about where the highest chance was for us to see any deer. My son was going to shoot the first deer he saw, so I just wanted us to have the highest chance of seeing anything, even if it was just a doe.
Finding private land is tough these days, not like years ago. Deer make people very weird and possessive now. Tends to be the crux of every deer related discussion when you get down to the root of it.
This link should get you the state map of MFL Open lands. https://dnrmaps.wi.gov/opfl/
I know some of the Wisconsin whitetail groups have where youths submit letters about themselves to the group and they select youths from the letters to go on hunts. Seems like a good system. Makes the youth invest a little time into why hunting may be of interest to them.
There is plenty of opportunities on state and federal land. Just need to do a little scouting which is part of the process. I know everybody wants them to harvest a deer to keep interest but if hunting public is going to be the future maybe start with boots on the ground asap.
Good luck.
There are two types of MFL contracts. One is open to hunting which is most often used by paper companies or landowners that have landlocked parcels or parcels of little hunting value. The other the land owner can put up to 80 acres in for a reduced tax break and the land can be closed to hunting.
You will have better luck finding a place to hunt if you take him during an antlerless only season. I'm afraid that there are a lot of landowners, myself included, that do not care for the youth hunt. Mostly for the reasons stated earlier and because a lot feel that the youth of today are made to feel special and that they deserve special treatment. My son did not take his boys on the youth hunt. They went on opening day with the rest of us and it was a much better experience in my opinion. Being out there with their family.
MFL open lands is another option. I believe the DNR website would have a list. This land is privately owned but open to the public because of tax breaks. The people that own this land I am sure don't advertise but must let you recreate on their land. Finding a chunk of that would be much better than public. Who knows might even get to know the owner and get invited back.
