WI deer season was down how about your areas

[Doe Master]

I really don`t know what is happening for everyone from all over is saying the numbers are down. Now this is only speculation but maybe the breeding last year was a little off and the weather did not make it conducive for the first rut .So they got breed during the second rut but with the heavy snow later in the winter was hard on the deer.
What it really boils down to is for such a smart creature ,we don`t know squat .

[Bobber54]

I bow hunt the NE part of state. We have Earn a Buck, crop damage, herd control, plus $2 bonus tags and two bonus doe tags with license. It makes for tough hunting. I saw a lot of young bucks, but the doe's are unbelievably wary after the first T zone hunt. The doe's ended up going nocturnal and so did the rut. I prefer shooting mature bucks, so I'm still holding my tag. I did tag a doe for Earn a buck
I rifle hunting the central zone area's. It has herd control. The doe's would move during the day better, but I saw small bucks only. I didn't tag one, because I have a doe in the freezer.

[wabi]

There's no question about the deer herd being way down.

The wife and I can't eat more than two deer, which is what I got with my Thumbhole Vixen this year.

I haven't hunted with a gun in many years mostly because my freezer's full by the end of archery season.

I really had to work to get an arrow into a deer this season... normally I don't.

Very similar to what I'm seeing here in Ohio, but the ODNR shows a 70% increase in deer harvested on opening day of gun season this year. I can't find the gun season totals, though. Opening day last year was really hampered by horrible weather (hard rain & flooding) and this year was better weather (breezy, light rain and/or snow), so I'm guessing a lot of the reason the first day total is higher is that a lot more hunters were out. The numbers I did find show that roughly 14,000 more deer were killed opening day (33,000/19,000).
Season totals through opening day show an increase of of 11,000 deer (95,000/84,000), which tells me archery & special early muzzleloader season (only 3 small areas) are down 3,000 deer.
Yesterday I had to go for my annual continuing education classes for my plumbing license. I drove over 200 miles and saw very little wildlife (including raod kill) on the drive. Only one road killed deer in over 100 miles (104 miles each way) through prime territory on mostly 4 lane (divided, but not interstate) highways where traffic is travelling at fairly high speeds is very unusual this time of year. Also makes an already boring drive even more boring.

[hunter7558]

I think #'s in Ontario are down too, I think last winter was worse than what the MNR thought, HUNTMAN and I hunt a property where we would see deer every time we sat last year, this year we havent seen a deer there since about november 20th. I know the gun hunt people blamed the warm weather here but I dont think that has anything to do with it, I heard about groups that got 0 deer, and groups that tagged out, but there were more 0's than tag outs. I think that they should give out less tags next year, just my opion.

[DuckHunt]

I think things are down in my area as well, but for different reasons. I think hunter numbers were down. I heard very few shots compared to prior seasons. There were also some corn fields near my hunting area that I think were seriously hampering my chances this season. The movement patterns all changed and my small square was no longer in the primary travel route.

I had a good year anyway, but had to hunt much harder for it. I took an 8pt with my Exomax on October 7th. I did not get another shot opportunity until I took another 8pt on November 3rd with my muzzleloader. I went hunting at least a dozen times during that stretch and many of those trips I saw nothing. It was tough.

I didn't think of it that way, but they added earn a buck here this year as well. I did my part by sticking three doe, but wonder if that may have added to my lack of deer seen later in the season.

DuckHunt

[Fishn-Hunter]

I think #'s in Ontario are down too, I think last winter was worse than what the MNR thought, HUNTMAN and I hunt a property where we would see deer every time we sat last year, this year we havent seen a deer there since about november 20th. I know the gun hunt people blamed the warm weather here but I dont think that has anything to do with it, I heard about groups that got 0 deer, and groups that tagged out, but there were more 0's than tag outs. I think that they should give out less tags next year, just my opion.

I agree, I usually see lots of deer as I spend gobs of time scouting and sitting in observation stands on 4 diff properties I have permission to hunt as well as putting out trail cams and I can count all the deer I have seen since September on 2 hands and very few pics on trail cams. Bucks seem to be the most scarce. I have talked to a pretty reliable source that contacted a CO and biologist and they both agree numbers are way down from there aerial surveys ranging from 20% to as much as 50% decline in numbers depending on area from the previous years survey and they also noted seeing hundreds of dead deer on the lakes. To me that is a huge population drop in one year, disturbing really. So why they did not distribute tags accordingly I don't know, maybe the official tally was too late after the regs where printed, but I am sure we will see the effects next year. Success rates of the gun seasons from what I heard from talking to other hunters were way down, gangs of 5-12 hunters were getting 0-1 or 2 deer, did not hear of any gang taging out this year in this area and from gangs hunting to the north. Our group of 9 got 1 deer and only seen a couple others durring the 2 week November gun season in WMU 63A. The numbers of deer and deer sign seen seem to be way down also so it is not just a case of guys missing deer this year. So not sure if it has to do with the severity of last winter or predation or combination or other. I know that harsh winters are hardest on breeding bucks but can also have its toll on reproduction as does bodies will abort pregnancy if malnourished. So any feedback I have heard is not good on this years deer season from gun and bowhunters and I believe this is a cause for concern as maybe there is some other reason for the decline in numbers beside the severity of last winter, as we have had bad winters before and not seen population declines like this over one year. Just my thoughts though. Good topic, anyone else getting same info from CO's or Biologist?
Fishn-Hunter

[Cossack]

Same here, wolves and all. We hiring the same jokers? Actually, part of the cause was almost no corn had been harvested due to wet weater shortly before.

[crazyfarmer]

deer numbers are probably going to be down here also for the main reaosn that no one wants to shoot doe anymore. They would rather shoot a spike over a doe if both are standing in front of them. But from what ive seen, hunters are letting doe run by waiting for a buck. Thats fine sometimes, but you have to kill doe to keep things in balance

[frisky]

I don't believe there are as many deer as they say. About the middle of November, I believe they went nocturnal . I say this because, I see fresh tracks in the snow, the next morning. some are in MY tracks from the night before.

[TB]

Definity gone nocturnal tons of tracks from over night but sit, dawn and dusk never saw a deer from first week in Nov. Trail cams have them travelling between 12:30 and 4:00am. They are there but not before midnight.

[taureau noir]

Last year in Quebec , the harvest was 74,000 +deers.Due to DNR wrong counting and the lot of snow,this year we harvested only 47,000+deers.Which is close to 40%+.
Taureau noir

[Doe Master]

My trail timer is having hits from 1900 to 0600 .

[michiganman]

worst bow season we had in years.year before we shot 12 bucks during archery season.this year two little weed heads.right now we have snow piling up,and deer are real thin.no acorn crop this year by us,and no farm field to feed on.just a bad year that could get worse if weather stays bad

[vixenmaster]

yes i believe there are factors causing the low numbers every where. last year i saw 38 deer and almost all were before 9:30 am. this year i have seen 12 deer and only 3 were earlier than 9:30 am. they seem to be moving from 9 am til 2 pm here and at nite.

[michiganman]

we had camera on big scrape that here every year.during two week period during bowsaeson,not one deer hit that scrape during daylight hr,16 recording from 1am till 5.30 am.we leave flash off,the bucks never return if there flashed,thats been over a 5 year period doing it tooJIM