Deer Hunting

Wisconsin Hunting and Trapping Forecast

September 5, 2016 by Charlie 4 Comments

Wisconsin DNR’s annual Wisconsin Hunting and Trapping Forecast is published and available.

The downloadable PDF is here:

2016 Wisconsin Hunting and Trapping Forecast

Download Wisconsin 2016 Hunting & Trapping Forecast

Some of the highlights inside include

Find a place to hunt in Wisconsin

Pocket Ranger App has been downloaded 210,000 times for Apple and Android phones.

Places to hunt

Deer registration locations

Rules and regulations

License and permit information

Safety communication tool

Advanced GPS mapping features

Trophy Case, join a community of anglers and hunters

News and alert feature.

Public Access Lands (PAL) Atlas

Finding Open Lands – A mapping tool shows the approximate location of all MFL–Open and FCL lands in Wisconsin – here, you’ll find landowner info, acreage, and enrollment information.

Voluntary Public Access VPA and Habitat Incentive Programs HIP

Provides financial incentives to private landowners who open their property to public hunting, fishing, trapping and wildlife observation and improve wildlife habitat.

FFlight the Fields and Forest Lands Interactive Gamebird Hunting Tool

Features available within the program will help hunters locate DNR public parking areas, overlay township descriptions, and provide access to maps and aerial photos of prospective hunting areas.

Deer District Forecasts

West Central
Northern
Northeast
Southern

Migratory Game Birds

Ducks
2016 Changes
Canada Geese
Mourning Doves
Woodcock

Upland Game

Wild Turkey
Pheasant
Ruffed Grouse
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Bobwhite Quail
Rabbits & Hares
Gray & Fox Squirrels

Furbearers

Raccoon
Coyotes
Gray and Red Fox
Beaver
River Otter, Muskrat, and Mink
Fisher
Bobcat

Black Bear Forecast

Northeast District
Northern District
West Central District

The folks at WDNR did an excellent job producing a thorough overview of the upcoming 2016 fall hunting and trapping seasons. I highly recommend you download this document; there is lots of useful information. You will not be disappointed. Good hunting.

Velvet Trophy Shows His Stuff

August 1, 2016 by Charlie Leave a Comment

Due to Vic’s training, he will not chase deer.

On Sunday, Vic and I were out for a woodland stroll during the lunch hour. Of course, our ultimate goal is to locate turkeys and check on the local flock dynamics. There are so many deer across the landscape these days that most of the time they just blend into the background, but then on occasion, a few standout.

You never know what you’ll see on a summertime stroll in a Wisconsin Woodland.

This smallish velvet buck was eating small burning nettles, as Vic and I approached he lifted his head and walked over to get a better look at us. Fortunately, I had my camera and was able to get out and turned on.

Deer, including trophy class bucks, are not afraid of dogs.

As the deer approached, Vic sat near my left leg, so I was able to snap this picture of a beautiful public land buck. After spending the better part of a half a century pursuing trophies like this, I marvel at how at home they are around dogs. I wrote about deer and dogs here. I know what some readers are thinking, “Oh, well, that’s just a summertime buck.” Wrong, this happens in the fall while wild turkey hunting, pheasant, grouse, or woodcock hunting. At that time of year, a shotgun is in my hands, and the camera is in a waterproof, cushioned pocket so getting a picture like this is more challenging. Interestingly the deer will tolerate my dog even if he growls or barks at them, but they will not stand around when I start digging in my pockets.

My passion these days, fall turkey hunting, so now the question I ponder; Should I go out this season and take him or should I give the GPS coordinates to some other deserving hunter?

Deer can’t be reliably saved for future years because there are too many hazards in the wild that most likely will take their lives. In Wisconsin, a buck deer like this has about a 50% CWD infection rate. There is a 50/50 chance that any buck you encounter will look like this next year.

Patrick Durkin wrote an excellent piece on CWD in WI. His article should be mandatory reading for all hunters.

Somewhere along the line this fall I’ll meet a deerhunter who’d like a crack at a nice buck and I’ll give them the coordinates. Perhaps, they’ll tip me off as to where all those turkeys I’ve been seeing went.

How to Ask for Hunting Permission

July 5, 2016 by Charlie 7 Comments

Photo sent with a letter requesting permission to hunt.

Oh no, the hunting seasons are closed now what is a hunter to do?

Fish
Hike
Excercise
Practice Shooting
Get permission to hunt

All the above are good wholesome & entertaining. Personally, I put #5 up to number one. Even though I own land, I still continue securing permission to hunt on other parcels, sometimes I trade with another willing landowner. Occasionally, some high-quality ambitious hunters contact me for permission to access my land. The initial contact varies from phone calls to stopping by the house. Nine times out of 10 the unannounced house visit is the least likely to catch me home or with time to visit. Those call first to arrange a visit generally get a more favorable response. With the exception of turkey season, someone is hunting my property during all hunting seasons; bear, deer, squirrels, fox, coyotes and trappers. But I digress, that is not the point of this post.

A party of hunters sent me the above picture of those who would like to hunt my land along with a well thought out letter to “sell” me on the idea. Excerpt from the body of the letter.

Hello my name is Steve, my son, grandson and a family friend are looking for a place to hunt. We are looking forsome quality deer hunting land, we practice quality deer management. But we are not just trophy hunters we love to ear venison and will harvest does if allowed.

We understand the need to keep the deer population at a reasonable level, to reduce crop damage an over browsing. We are very safe and ethical hunters who are looking to pass on those values to the next generation. We always abide by state and federal regulations. Safety is a major concern for us, we all wear safety belts. We have liability insurance to protect you from any lawsuits, etc. We understand that your land is valuable and very important to you and your family, we will treat the land with the utmost respect, by not cutting down trees, erecting permanent stands, driving in fields causing ruts, leaving litter or any other debris. In a nutshesll we leave the property as we found it or better.

They continue by offering the possibility of a modest lease payment to offset taxes and being flexible to hunt around the time slots of my family members or friends who may be currently hunting, in closing, I am invited to call them. In my nutshell, this is a very straightforward persuasive approach, and it’s the first I’ve ever received an introductory letter of this type. The letter gives the impression of some top notch hunters, and I would have granted them permission to hunt this year had there been an opening. Their contact information will be kept, and they’ll be contacted for a time to hunt.

Hunting Request Letter

Deer Can Hear Your Muscles Move?

June 26, 2016 by Charlie 3 Comments

Have you ever had a whitetail deer standing real close looking the other way while the wind is blowing from the deer towards you? This deer appears to be totally unaware of the danger near him. The draw is silent yet, suddenly for no apparent reason other than some dang sixth sense he tenses and bolts away out of range only to stiff leg around for a few minutes before fading off out of sight.

During my half-century of hunting a scenario like this has happened on more than one occasion. I’ve sadly shaken my head in defeat while racking my brain trying to figure out went wrong at the moment of truth. And not just deer, other animals such as turkeys, elk, coyotes, fox, cats and bears at times have appeared to have that sixth sense warning of danger at the very last moment. I have always thought something unnoticed went wrong, some movement, noise or scent and then redoubled my efforts to avoid making whatever mistake it was. However, in March another possibility was unveiled to me.

Early this year the upper left side of my body seized into pain shooting down my left arm causing my hand to go numb to the point where a needle pushed through it did not produce any feeling or pain. Needless to say, this is always a good reason to seek medical attention. Thankfully a heart attack and stroke were ruled out. The doctors suspected nerve damage and referred me to the neurology department.

An MRI showed nerve damage at the base of my neck, so the Doctor ordered an EMG (electromyography) and this was when things got interesting as they relate to hunting.

This EMG graph represents the noise made by contracting human muscles.

During the EMG I discovered when my muscles are moving and tensing they make noise, a lot of noise, the electrical static coming out of the EMG speakers was astounding. As soon as I heard that racket all those deer described earlier came to mind, and I remembered they came to attention just when my muscles were tensing for the draw or lifting the gun. I immediately asked the doctor if any research has been done to determine if animals can hear all those sounds. He was taken aback by that question; apparently, it had never occurred to anyone to consider the possibility. Of course, my next request was when the test is complete could we experiment with different muscle moves. He agreed.

I learned that if I quickly bunched up my bow pulling muscles, the noise went off the chart and when I ever so slowly tensed those same muscles for a draw the sound produced was much more moderate, almost a flat-line. We spent an additional 40 minutes as I experimented with different combinations of internal muscle movement while the doctor measured the sound levels and strength application. We discovered I could apply the same pressure with and without noise. Hmm…

Fewer deer escape me these days than did at the beginning of my hunting career. Buck fever does not have much effect on me anymore, and I’m smoother during the seconds of shot preparation and shooting. Perhaps there is no sixth sense, rather just a case of a very finely tuned sensory ability on the part of the prey.

Here’s a video of a basic EMG test. Mine was much more extensive, as in a lot more needles were inserted into me but the principles were fairly close to the same as shown here.

CWD Infects Bucks Twice the Rate of Does

March 7, 2015 by Charlie Leave a Comment

CWD-infected buck. Courtesy Green Bay Press Gazette

The rate of CWD infection continues to increase in Wisconsin’s deer herd. Whitetail bucks 2.5 years old and up have a higher rate of infection according to the most recent sampling.

Statewide in 2014 5,400 deer were sampled for CWD. 324 deer were found CWD positive mostly in Wisconsin’s southern endemic area this is a 6% infection rate.

The infected deer by age and sex-

25% – adult male white-tailed deer (2.5+ years-old)
8% – yearling males
10% – adult female deer
7% – yearling females

Since the beginning of sampling in 2002 CWD infection have continued to increase mainly among bucks 2.5 years and older. The best hypothesis regarding the spread of CWD is that it is spread via body fluids containing the prion. Many researchers believe this is due to the natural behavior of the adult buck.

Creating and maintaining scrapes,
Licking branches to leave a scent that is then licked by other bucks and some does.
Adult bucks wander a wider geographic area which risks spreading CWD to new areas.

So far, research indicates the best thing to do to contain or at least slow CWD’s progress is reduce the herd density while removing as many 2.5-year-old bucks as possible. The problem with implementing this strategy is hunter opposition. During the last couple of decades, hunters have come to believe they should let small bucks pass in order to grow them up for bigger antlers, referred to as Quality Deer Management (QDM). When CWD was first discovered in Wisconsin, the DNR set in motion a deer extermination policy in the believe they could eliminate all CWD-infected deer in what has become known as the CWD Zone. During this failed effort a system known as Earn a Buck (EAB) was instituted. However, according to the documented infection rates an Earn a Doe (EAD) should have implemented instead. Assuming the infection rates by age and sex above it makes more sense to push down the buck population. A lower population of bucks may keep bucks in the area. When bucks become crowded in an area, some move-out or are pushed out by dominate bucks. Causing a certain number of bucks, some which could be infected to move on and infect new areas.

According to Tami Ryan, DNR wildlife health section chief.

“Long-term monitoring of disease patterns is crucial in understanding the dynamics of this CWD, and it’s also important to make sure we keep the public informed, prevalence continues to increase within the department’s long-term monitoring area in Southwest Wisconsin, and remains higher in males than females and higher in adults than yearlings.”

“The department is very grateful for the cooperation that hunters and landowners have provided over 13 years of sampling, they are helping monitor the health of Wisconsin’s deer herds and providing information that is of interest to many.”

WDNR statements regarding CWD monitoring.

Monitoring efforts also included ongoing surveillance within a 10-mile radius of the each new positive found in 2012 in Juneau, Adams and Portage counties in central Wisconsin. Four additional positives were found in 2013 in Adams and Portage counties, while two additional positives were discovered in Adams County in 2014.

Surveillance was also conducted surrounding a CWD-positive captive deer farm in Marathon County, with no wild CWD deer detected.

Following the 2012 discovery of a CWD-positive adult doe near Shell Lake, 2014 marked the third year of surveillance efforts in Washburn County in Northwest Wisconsin. Following recommendations from a local community action team, local landowners and hunters helped the department sample more than 1,900 deer in the area over the last three years. No new positives have been detected. Based on three years of sampling, all information has indicated CWD is not widespread in the Washburn area, and occurs at a very low prevalence rate.

CWD-infected Doe.
Courtesy WDNR

Real Traditional Bow Shooting

February 18, 2015 by Charlie 1 Comment

Centuries ago master archers were able to perform incredible feats of archery. These skills have long been forgotten probably due to the invention of gun powder. Danish archer Lars Anderson has studied and practiced these long forgotten archery skills. If you have smallest interest in archery this is a must see video.

While watching take notice of smooth speed of shooting while moving with No Quiver – Lars holds all arrows in one hand while shooting. He is right handed but shoots the arrow from the right side of the bow rather than the left.

Perhaps your interest in real traditional archery has be been peaked. For more reading visit The Archery Library Book List to begin your own journey of archery discovery.

About this library

Old archery books still contain a lot of useful information. They are hard to find and often very expensive. This site is dedicated to preserving them by creating an online repository for the benefit of all archers and as a record of passed times of archery.

The library started when the maintainer thought it could be interesting to put some books from his collection online of which the copyright had expired.

The Library is a non-profit site. The proceedings from advertisement go towards purchase of new books and hosting costs.

Wisconsin Electronic Deer Registration

September 2, 2014 by Charlie 3 Comments

During Wisconsin’s 2014 deer seasons some hunters have been selected to test the new electronic deer registration system. These hunters can voluntarily use the pilot program to register their deer via internet or phone call in. They also have the option to continue in person registration.

Selected hunters may receive a survey about the electronic registration experience. The DNR will use the survey results along with the data from the 2014 registrations to fine tune the system so that it will be ready for all hunters starting in 2015.

Charlie elk is proud to have been selected for this test and looks forward to registering all his 2014 deer using the electronic registration. In person deer registration has always been extremely inconvenient; time/gas consuming and in some warm weather late night recovery situations just plain hard work. There are no direct roads to the registration stations where charlie hunts.

How did charlie get selected?

Not sure. charlie does kill more deer than the average hunter each fall. However charlie has no inside knowledge whether or not that was a factor. charlie never wins any drawing. Even if his name were to be placed in a hat 99 times with only 1 other entrant, that other would be drawn first. This was proven years ago at a MNDNR Advanced Hunter Rendezvous when 100 instructors names were drawn to determine the order of selecting from 100 paintings donated as instructor rewards. Guess what. charlie was picked number 100. They are all nice paintings and charlie’s hangs in a place of prominence just so charlie is always reminded he must work for everything he gets.

Perhaps a new day is starting with charlie’s luck and that world record big bugger better look out.

May your season provide a mindful of great hunting memories and check back for updates on e-registration.

Wisconsin 2014 Anterless Deer Carcass Tag Availability

August 19, 2014 by Charlie Leave a Comment

Wisconsin bonus deer tags must be purchased before they are sold out. This is new starting with 2014 deer seasons. The first days are zone specific then they will all go on over the counter sale with a limit of one per hunter per day until they are sold out. Many hunters are unaware of this change and those who decide to buy their license and tags at the last minute may be out of luck. Especially those who hunt on public land due to low number of tags available. Due to hunter requests WDNR set the public land bonus antlerless tags at a low level in an effort to increase the deer herd on public lands.

You can check the status of bonus deer permits sales here – Antlerless Deer Carcass Tag Availability

Monday, August 18 at 10 a.m. – Northern and central forest zones
Tuesday, August 19 at 10 a.m. – Central farmland zone
Wednesday, August 20 at 10 a.m. – Southern farmland zone
Starting August 21 at 10 a.m. – All zones can be purchased

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Bonus Tag Information Video

2014 Wisconsin Deer Assessment

July 1, 2014 by Charlie Leave a Comment

What will the fall of 2014 deer harvest be like after a record-breaking harsh winter? This is the question on the minds of most of Wisconsin’s 600,000 deer hunters.

of the car-killed deer assessments conducted by Department of Natural Resources wildlife officials. This finding is in line with field observations from DNR wildlife biologists throughout the state and reports from the public.

This spring, 522 deer were sampled statewide during a period when fat reserves were at their lowest point of the year. Local wildlife biologists inspected and gathered data from deer that were killed in vehicular collisions to evaluate pregnancy rate and fat stores at various points within the deer carcass, including the rump, around the heart and kidneys and in the bone marrow.

Dan Storm, a DNR research ecologist-

“Last January, we heard a lot of concerns about the potential winter impacts on the deer herd. From our radio-collared deer studies, we’ve learned a lot about how winter impacts our northern deer, but we didn’t have similar projects in the southern half of the state. Our research and wildlife staff quickly put a plan in place to look at car-killed deer. This was a very inexpensive and informative way for us to monitor winter impacts on deer throughout the state.”

Fat stores are a key indicator of nutritional condition as deer rely on these reserves, accumulated during summer and fall, to survive winter. Fatter does are able to provide better care to their newborns, which increases survival and is important to herd growth rates – fawn survival is closely linked to doe nutritional condition.

According to the WDNR findings:

In the southern portion of the state, 40 percent of adult deer sampled had rump fat, while rump fat was present in only 14 percent of adult deer sampled in the north. A greater proportion of deer in the north had little or no organ fat, as opposed to deer in the south. Similarly, bone marrow condition was better in the south than the north, and adults were more likely to have fatty marrow than juveniles in both the north and south.

Regardless of where in the state deer in the study were collected, the evaluations revealed that nearly all adult does were pregnant.

“Pregnancy rates among adult does were greater than 90 percent across the state, even in the northern forest, We wouldn’t expect the severe winter to impact this year’s pregnancy rates, because the deer became pregnant before winter began.”

While adult pregnancy rates did not differ between regions of the state, pregnancy rates of juvenile deer approaching their first birthday and the average number of fawns being carried were found to be quite different from north to south and between major habitat types throughout the state.

Dan Storm-

“The rate of adults carrying twins exceeded 60 percent in both the central and southern farmland zones, while the rate of single fawns for these zones was approximately 9 percent. In contrast, fewer does in the northern forest zone were pregnant with twins and many were carrying a single fawn.”

Juvenile does (under one year old) exhibited much lower pregnancy rates than adult does. Less than 10 percent of juveniles in the northern forest and nearly 20 percent in the central farmland zone were pregnant. Differences in litter size between the farmland and forest zones likely reflected differences in habitat productivity and the late spring experienced in 2013 in the Northern Forest Zone. A late spring limits the food supply available to deer, which in turn limits the amount of resources deer can use to create offspring.

Turkey Dogs Don’t Ruin Deer Hunting Areas

June 26, 2014 by Charlie 1 Comment

The short answer is no.

Turkey-doggers and their dogs don’t usually interfere with bowhunters or ruin their deer hunting. Turkey dogging is a late morning mid-day activity, and the vast majority of bowhunters have already left the field by the time we start; although deer hunters should stay on their stands if they see or hear turkey doggers in the area. Deer have a tendency to bed down during full daylight hours, and as long as the deer don’t move, a stand hunter has little chance of seeing them. When mobile hunters such as turkey doggers, other small game or upland hunters enter an area, the deer will get up and move around. Deer are territorial; they do not leave their home range unless there is a lot of disturbance. If the deer leave, it is a short time before they will return, just like rabbits who circle the beagles and return to where they started. I see more trophy bucks within easy bow range when Vic is with me than I do sitting on my butt during “prime time.” Turkey dogs and other hunting dogs are trained not to chase deer. The dog may occasionally bluff a deer to get it away from the bird hunting area, but they rarely chase the deer for long distances.

Some bowhunters get upset about anyone else doing anything else in the woods perhaps it’s they start to feel ownership of a spot after placing their stand. Or more likely it’s because–
The scent control salespeople and inexperienced outdoor writers have convinced many deer hunters that leaving any scent in the woods will destroy the quality of the hunting area and all the deer will “blowout”. So they think if anyone walks around without a has-mat suit on the area is contaminated making it impossible for them to kill a deer let alone a trophy.
Oh well, what can I say about these guys? Except you need to get off your stand and out more. Come on think about it- If deer boogied out of all the areas with human, canine or a scent they don’t recognize, there would be no area holding any deer. Some scent is everywhere.

Turkey hunters are arguably the most considerate, sharing and easy to get along with hunters of them all. That goes double for turkey doggers. If you are sitting on your stand, a turkey dogger comes by, wave, so they know you’re there, and they’ll move out. Then stay alert, it’s likely a deer, possibly a trophy will be by soon.

Good hunting.