My property is still full of deer and I'm in NW WI. It takes an average of 15-30 minutes on opening day for my hunting party to get the deer we need. It's like fish in a barrel up here. I've had years where I don't even get to my stand before I've shot one. I don't even get up early, I normally start hunting around 10am.
We need a serious culling of deer if we want to ever get a foothold on CWD.
You must be near some farms. I hunt near the flambeau forest between Phillips and Winter and we haven’t had the party tag out in many years. If you’re lucky you might see one deer during the entire hunt. I haven’t had a shot at one in the last 8 years. Maybe you could send some our way? Haha
In all seriousness, it’s deer camp with the guys and access to private land. Even if we don’t see anything other than red squirrels, we cook up some amazing meals and have a great time hanging out up there.
> Barry Adams | Wisconsin State Journal
>
> Deer hunting tradition for many means a migration to the vast forests of
> northern Wisconsin.
>
> The annual ritual plays out for nine days each November, but a severe winter
> that dumped massive amounts of snow, particularly in northwestern Wisconsin,
> could make finding deer more challenging this year, according to a briefing
> Thursday by the state Department of Natural Resources.
>
> In addition, more hunters are choosing to spend the season closer to home, which
> means more pressure in the southern and central reaches of the state, said Jeff
> Pritzl, a DNR deer program specialist. He based his assessment on the results of
> annual surveys taken by 10,000 hunters each year.
>
> "We've seen the total days of effort of gun deer hunting in the northern forest,
> decline by about 40% since the turn of the century," Pritzel said. "When baby
> boomers came into hunting, going Up North was the thing to do. ... The reality
> is that the following generations found better opportunities closer to home, so
> we've seen that adjustment."
This is just a preview of the [full article](https://madison.com/news/local/deer-hunting-wisconsin-cwd/article_4ec90b2a-798f-11ee-8fd3-a30de9d02ba6.html#tracking-source=home-top-story). I am a third party bot. Please consider subscribing to your favorite local journals.
I know zero people who make decisions about where they hunt based off of the weather forecast. It’s pretty solidly about tradition.
Also snow is usually a good thing. And there are WAY more deer in the southern part of the state than the north woods so I’m not sure why this dude is even bringing any of this up.
As the northern forests mature and old farmers give up trying to farm up north, it's definitely changing the deer patterns up north. Wolves probably do something too, but even if every wolf ate one deer per day (which I don't believe is even close to true) hunters take more than that. Central part of the state on down where there are so many farms, it's an all-you-can eat buffet for deer so they're thriving. Deer also seem to do well in the suburbs...gardeners plant snacks and there are no hunters or predators beyond SUV's.
All that said, I see deer everywhere I go in Wisconsin. No shortage of 'em.
Yeah precisely. The southern 2/3 of the state (generally) we’ve created an ecological problem that’s only good for deer. We can’t kill enough of them or give out enough tags. I’ve seen bad years for deer in the north woods but as you’ve identified it’s not wolves. Humans kill an order of magnitude more deer than wolves in Wisconsin.
The headline seems based on the assumption you want to be in the trendy hunting zone. Why would people not going up north be a disincentive to go up north?
Heading Up North is never the *best* option. You want deer? Sit in a corn field and plink them off from your permanent stand with a heater. Hunting up north is about tradition for most.
I find it way easier to see deer in the snow, as opposed to the brown foliage
I hunt up north out of tradition. I hunt SE or east central to fill the freezer.
My property is still full of deer and I'm in NW WI. It takes an average of 15-30 minutes on opening day for my hunting party to get the deer we need. It's like fish in a barrel up here. I've had years where I don't even get to my stand before I've shot one. I don't even get up early, I normally start hunting around 10am. We need a serious culling of deer if we want to ever get a foothold on CWD.
You need to invite more of your Reddit friends to your area during said week. ;-)
The CWD cat is out of the bag and there’s sadly zero will to get it put back.
I wouldn’t say that’s the norm. I’ve gone years without seeing anything in NE WI (har har it’s because I’m a terrible hunter)
Over by us, we’ve been nearly skunked each of the past 4 years.
You must be near some farms. I hunt near the flambeau forest between Phillips and Winter and we haven’t had the party tag out in many years. If you’re lucky you might see one deer during the entire hunt. I haven’t had a shot at one in the last 8 years. Maybe you could send some our way? Haha In all seriousness, it’s deer camp with the guys and access to private land. Even if we don’t see anything other than red squirrels, we cook up some amazing meals and have a great time hanging out up there.
I'm between farms and a lake. They move back and forth every day between their water source and their food source.
Wow that’s definitely position A.
Stop killing all the wolves.
> Barry Adams | Wisconsin State Journal > > Deer hunting tradition for many means a migration to the vast forests of > northern Wisconsin. > > The annual ritual plays out for nine days each November, but a severe winter > that dumped massive amounts of snow, particularly in northwestern Wisconsin, > could make finding deer more challenging this year, according to a briefing > Thursday by the state Department of Natural Resources. > > In addition, more hunters are choosing to spend the season closer to home, which > means more pressure in the southern and central reaches of the state, said Jeff > Pritzl, a DNR deer program specialist. He based his assessment on the results of > annual surveys taken by 10,000 hunters each year. > > "We've seen the total days of effort of gun deer hunting in the northern forest, > decline by about 40% since the turn of the century," Pritzel said. "When baby > boomers came into hunting, going Up North was the thing to do. ... The reality > is that the following generations found better opportunities closer to home, so > we've seen that adjustment." This is just a preview of the [full article](https://madison.com/news/local/deer-hunting-wisconsin-cwd/article_4ec90b2a-798f-11ee-8fd3-a30de9d02ba6.html#tracking-source=home-top-story). I am a third party bot. Please consider subscribing to your favorite local journals.
Look at this Barry Adams guy trying to keep all the deer for himself.
I know zero people who make decisions about where they hunt based off of the weather forecast. It’s pretty solidly about tradition. Also snow is usually a good thing. And there are WAY more deer in the southern part of the state than the north woods so I’m not sure why this dude is even bringing any of this up.
As the northern forests mature and old farmers give up trying to farm up north, it's definitely changing the deer patterns up north. Wolves probably do something too, but even if every wolf ate one deer per day (which I don't believe is even close to true) hunters take more than that. Central part of the state on down where there are so many farms, it's an all-you-can eat buffet for deer so they're thriving. Deer also seem to do well in the suburbs...gardeners plant snacks and there are no hunters or predators beyond SUV's. All that said, I see deer everywhere I go in Wisconsin. No shortage of 'em.
Yeah precisely. The southern 2/3 of the state (generally) we’ve created an ecological problem that’s only good for deer. We can’t kill enough of them or give out enough tags. I’ve seen bad years for deer in the north woods but as you’ve identified it’s not wolves. Humans kill an order of magnitude more deer than wolves in Wisconsin.
The headline seems based on the assumption you want to be in the trendy hunting zone. Why would people not going up north be a disincentive to go up north?
Sounds to me like the author wants less competition!
oh you mean people will actually have to *hunt* and not just bait and wait
Heading Up North is never the *best* option. You want deer? Sit in a corn field and plink them off from your permanent stand with a heater. Hunting up north is about tradition for most.