WI opener-earn a buck again?...disgusted

[PASQUINELL]

Well I think I have had it. I have hunted the same 280 acre property for 16 years and EVERY year it has been a earn a buck zone/t-zone. For those not familiar all it means in a nutshell is we have to kill does. We have kept a log of all openers and the past five were bad but never had one like this weekend. Each of the last five years, our harvest has been down along with even not seeing any. This weekend out of six guys, two had "something" around them but it was still dark and onen guy saw a little buck. Although we didnt romp around the woods, there wasnt even a bunch of sign like usual. The DNR keeps stating we have too many deer but I cant understand them. I truly believe that the DNR is being directed by insurance companies because they are not able to recoupe any money when an individual hits one. I hunt in the center of the state which is heavy ag and always been good for us. Any other states using the "earn a buck" and are you seeing the numbers go down?

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

I was up in Columbia County for the opener this weekend, with two "carry-over" EAB stickers I earned last year. I didn't see any deer yesterday, just a ton of rain, but a hen turkey kept me entertained most of the day. Every time I saw her she was running like heck the other way.

This morning I bumped two deer on the way in and had four more within bow range but opted not to shoot. I didn't like the angles or tight shooting lane. On the way out of the woods I bumped two more.

Lots of sign though, and I'm not done with that hen yet. I finally have a fall turkey tag, and I intend to use it...or turn it into a coaster.

[frassettor]

I feel your pain!!! Earned my buck last year....Didnt see a deer all weekend

[Jerry Jeffer]

I hunted earn a buck zone this past weekend. I didn't see deer, but heard some walking in. I also drive through this area on my way to work at night and there are plenty of deer. Can't speak for your area.

[wihill]

I hunt EAB.  Largest deer numbers I've been seeing have been IN TOWN - just last night on the way back from dinner I had to dodge two mature does graising in someone's front lawn.  Last talking with my mother, my hometown was talking about opening a season for registered hunting in the town limits, as they had an average of 20 deer per square mile.  I'm hoping they decide if they want to have a qualifing shoot, becuase I'm going if they do - probably with the wheel bow becuase utmost accuracy matters to me around people's loved ones and homes.

That said, I know a lot of area hunters that absolutely can't stand the EAB philosophy and want to hunt that giant right out of the gate.  Myself I just love to hunt, and a doe is just as significant a trophy to me as one with headgear - so EAB just seems logical to me.  Out hunting this weekend I saw 7 deer total, all does.  One was close enough, but with the rain, cover and distance I didn't feel comfortable with the shot.

Last year I hunted for 8 weekends straight before I even saw a deer - the next week I got my doe.  They call it hunting, not shopping, for a reason.

Keep it in perspective gang, it's only opening morning!

[ChuckC]

jason. where abouts are you hunting in Columbia Cty ?
ChuckC

[PASQUINELL]

Arraflinger, I understand what your saying and it is more than a racker issue for me. I could care less doe, buck whatever. The thing that bothers me is we in our camp are absolutley seeing the deer count affected by repeated years of these seasons. Here is another one, we have a youth hunt on a weekend during the bow season in which a kid can shoot any sex deer in a earn a buck area as long as he is using a gun. If that youth wants to still hunt with his bow, he must adhere to the earn a buck rule and shoot a doe first. Do they know how disheartening that is to a kid. My son has shot two deer with a bow. Last year we sat together and had a buck we called stummpy because of his tail being short walk right under our tree stand. It was a real nice ten point with tall tines. I estimated him at 3-4 years old. My son looked at me and I shook my head no. Yes, we could have shot that buck but that is not what I am about. Stumppy was taken by a rifle on the farm next to ours during the gun season. And you are 100% right when you say it turns some people into violators because it does!

[Shaun]

I hunted last year in a WI in an earn-a-buck zone and had a great time. Several opportunities at bucks and finally missed a doe twice. I liked the lesson in letting bucks walk and the chance to see more deer go by. Don't know about you deer density falling off, our DNR in Iowa does fly over counts for deer per square mile and they seem to do a fine job of balancing the desires of farmers, auto drivers and hunters.

I will be back in central WI in a few weeks and hope I get my doe this time. I like the regulation myself, lesser of several evils and am looking forward to hunting in this zone again.

Good Hunting!

[KSdan]

Why not just have a special few days of rifle season to harvest does.  Earn your buck tag, then get on with it.

[John3]

The heard is unbalanced.. Get those does killed. If we can't get things fixed in Missouri I'm sure we will go to this earn a buck in the near future.
I will buy a gun tag this year just to kill does. Way too many here.

John III

[PASQUINELL]

I could also say that 6 years ago but I am telling you where we hunt the numbers are down. If they do earn a buck in MO, dont let them do it too long

[Whip]

Pasquinell, I don't know your area, but I could take a guess of what you might be seeing.  

What you are probably seeing is the drawback to any special regulations.  They are written to cover a large area, or unit, and herd densities are averages over that entire unit.  Within the unit there will be vast differences in hunting pressure from one property to another.

If the properties around you allow easy hunter access it doesn't take long before the deer are vastly reduced or find a more secure place to live.  In particular, the special agricultural tags that give landowners the ability to kill nearly all the deer on their land lead quickly to low populations not only on that landowners farm, but on surrounding properties as well.

On the other hand, in other parts of your hunting unit there might be a landowners who doesn't allow any hunting on their land.  The deer in those areas flock to the security.  

Averaged together, it is very possible that the deer herd in your unit is overpopulated even though the particular parcel you are trying to hunt has very few deer.

   I personally don't mind the EAB rule, and in my area I think the herd is actually better now than it was before it started.  There are still plenty of deer, and definately better size to some of the bucks.  I've used a trail cam since before the rule went into effect in our area and have seen the proof.

[Paul Mattson]

I hunt public land in Dodge/Jefferson Ctys.  I know when I do go out, I won't have to hard of a time getting a doe.  I do most of my hunting up north in Iron Cty.  I start hunting up there after the bear hunters stop running dogs.  I here the same story of no deer up North also, except it goes like this "There ain't no deer because the Wolves ate'um all".

[spuman]

I used to see a half dozen deer or more every evening from the house - in an EAB unit, but since a lot of the acrerage in the area was put into Canola I see that many in 2 weeks.  280 ac is a good bit to hunt on, but the homerange of a deer is quite a bit larger - might be something to do with changes in habitat over the 16 years - changes in crops - food plots on nearby lands, or bear and coyote territories.

I hunted in a camp for several years in northern WI in an EAB unit - about the same amount of ac, and every year less than half of the hunters would see a deer during the season, in the evening they would all complain about how the DNR numbers were a crock and how the hunting was so much better '20 yrs ago' - well, I started asking about the land and as it turns out, '20 yrs ago' the land was about 5-10 post logging, and at that time was awesome whitetail habitat, but during the time I hunted all those aspen and maple and fir were 20-30 yrs old now - not very good whitetail habitat - meanwhile other areas within 2 mi of the land had been logged more recently and fellas that hunted there had pretty good success.  In the camp I now hunt with, we hunt on public land, we took several deer, a few were bucks, 2 'really nice ones' were missed by one guy - the guy that had never harvested a deer before - he ended up with one of the buck mentioned above - he never did see a doe, and yet another guy in the group, less than 1/2 mile away had 10 walk by him one evening.  Don't what it's like where you hunt, just my experience.

[PASQUINELL]

Thanks for everyones input. I hunt the waupaca/ washara county area and the 280 acre land we hunt has about about 60% woods with the rest crop or field. There is a mixture of corn and beans, hay being rotated every year. I guess I need to sit back and just take it for what it is and enjoy the thing that brings me out every year... being in the woods. As was stated above by spuman I used to see deer in the fields every night and now we dont.

[novahunterpa]

We had a simalar prob in pa, for many year's when i started hunting there were lot's and lot's of deer.  Then they started DR. gary alt's plan Of AR/HR antler restricion/heard reduction This plan has caused a VERY HEATED debate over the year's in our hunting comunity.  some for some against
While each area of a large state varies I think all and all this has worked and there is light at the end of the tunnel.  We now have much fewer deer (exept in some areas like gated comunity's ect) But the deer we have are much healthier much bigger racks.  If an area get's too many deer and the land can not support them you could have much bigger problem down the road.  Im starting to notice much better forest regenaration now then we had before.  Im not sure if this is the same issue you have in your state or not but here in pa this has caused much fighting bettween hunter's, politicans, and the game commision, and continues to do so. but after a few years i think it;s paying off but other do not, good luck in WI with your deer heard and your hunting.

[spuman]

When I first started bowhunting more than a couple decades ago I hunted in Waushara Co. with several guys on land we leased.  We used to laugh about it as while on stand we might, or might not, see any deer, but after we came off of evening stand we would drive around the country block and see just hundreds of pairs of eyes lit up in the harvested cornfields.  I got my first buck there, my brother in-law, at the time, always seemed to arrow a nice buck, despite smoking on-stand, smelling of booze from the night before.  Had 2 Grey Fox come by my ground blind one day, within 5 ft.  Really neat piece of land, I really like that country.

Another thing that might play into it....Ag tags, a friend of mine in Columbia Co. told me of a guy (highschool kid with lots of time on his hands) that had taken 17 deer via Ag tags - before gun season - right around where he lived and he said his deer sightings really dropped, and felt that had a lot to do with it.  I understand the guy was donating most of it to the food pantry.