Top 10 Worst Deer Hunting States

[MA VT Flatlander]

http://www.wideopenspaces.com/top-10-worst-deer-hunting-states/

 

[BJE80]

Well that settles it once and for all. Minnesota is in fact a great deer hunting state. This proves it.

 

[bwoods11]

Wisconsin is on the list...that is a joke! I would think most would rank it Wisc--- Top 5

 

[gwm]

Hmmm, WI considered a top ten worst state and MN the #1 whitetail state..................:)

http://www.northamericanwhitetail.com/trophy-bucks/20-best-whitetail-states-for-2015/

 

[bat man]

Loved the article. The lines of reason remind me of conversations with our deer team.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Take Pa.'s numbers with a BIG grain of salt. When we drive back home after the first day or 2 in Pa.'s rifle season, you don't see many deer on cars, trucks, suv's anymore. And while out hunting, if you don't hear more than 5 shots on the first day of rifle season, I'd like to know where all these dead deer are !!! Where I hunt - on a high ridge - you can see and hear for many miles. In the 70's and into the 80's, you could hear anywhere from 20 to 70 shots on the first day of rifle. Now - you're lucky if you hear 8 to 10. And the PGC is selling fewer licenses than in years past. BUT THE HARVEST NUMBERS ARE MAGNIFICENT !!!:rolleyes:

 

[bwoods11]

The author of the article ;Chris grew up fishing the canals and backwater creeks in and around his hometown of Fort Myers, Florida under the tutelage of his great grandmother. He moved to Kentucky in 2004, and shortly thereafter was introduced to bowhunting by a college friend and has never looked back. While he still loves time on the lake or at the range, he spends most of his free time enjoying all the great bowhunting opportunities that Kentucky has to offer. His greatest outdoor success to date has been introducing his wife, Hannah, to the world of archery. Chris and Hannah live in Louisville, KY where they also serve with Youth Ministry International. Follow Chris on Facebook and Twitter for more.

I wonder how he would rate Alberta Canada? :rolleyes:

If he thinks bow hunting is great in Kentucky I wonder what he would think of bow hunting in Iowa, Missouri, SW Wisconsin or even parts of SE Minnesota around Nov 1-10?

 

[MA VT Flatlander]

Massachusetts and Vermont are right in there with Wisconsin. Now I don't feel so bad any more.

 

[wiscwhip]

Well h#ll, with all this new info coming to light, I am going to forgo the WI rifle season and get a MN tag instead. There must be all kinds of uncrowded, low pressure public land over there given the overall amount of state and federal land in MN.

 

[tooln]

If anyone believes that article I have a bridge I'd like to sell them.

 

[kabic]

Here's one simple way to measure top/bottom whitetail states. Latest PY book. Wisconsin has 130 pages of entries, Il. 96 pages.View attachment 7548

MN a respectable 7th place.

 

[foggy]

Here's one simple way to measure top/bottom whitetail states. Latest PY book. Wisconsin has 130 pages of entries, Il. 96 pages.View attachment 7548

I know of a number of bucks taken here in the past few years that could be in that book.........and none of them really care to be included in "the book". Just saying.

 

[bwoods11]

Here's one simple way to measure top/bottom whitetail states. Latest PY book. Wisconsin has 130 pages of entries, Il. 96 pages.View attachment 7548

Maybe someday Iowa will produce enough 125 inch bucks to compete with Illinois and Wisconsin

:rolleyes:

 

[bwoods11]

Wisconsin has triple the entries of the hogeye state. Are You stating iowa has more entries say north of 150 net than Wisconsin? Simple math statistics will prove your claim wrong.

Without digging into this I did see this stat--

Ratio of Pope and Young bucks shot per licensed hunter...

Iowa 1 in 197
Wisconsin 1 in 493
Worst --Michigan 1 in 5166

I think if you compared Iowa to Wisconsin you would find that it is easier to kill a P&Y buck in Iowa--in the good habitat counties--than it is in Wisconsin.

I like Wisconsin and all, but you wouldn't have Outdoor Channel guys like Drury, Winke, Lakosky, the guy from Nock On--who moved from Wisconsin to Iowa-hunting in Iowa unless IA was better for big mature bucks?? They would have moved to Wisconsin.

 

[bwoods11]

Shear numbers trump Ia. Besides, can You get an otc oos tag in Ia. as You fill up@ the KumnGo?

I suppose shear numbers yes, but that doesn't mean it's s better trophy buck state?

 

[bat man]

I would be real curious to see how IA and WI match up per square mile of 'deer habitat'

Awful lot of TV guys who hunt for giant deer own land in southern Iowa-

 

[kabic]

Depends on your definition of trophy I suppose. If you'd like to shoot a 125-150" buck, your odds of doing so are likely better in WI. If you want to shoot a 170"+, then I'd guess your odds would be better in IA.

Average score for each state would be interesting stat to look at.

 

[bwoods11]

I have no way to verify this other than just my opinion, but from my personal experience, Iowa would be hard to beat---with odds you will shoot a 125 inch net or better buck with a bow. Good genetics, multiple nice bucks on almost every farm with good habitat, lots of rutting and chasing, no gun season in November, so one month of very good action. This is in the good habitat areas of NE, SE, SC, SW and Western Iowa, most of the north half of the state is actually not good deer habitat.

 

[bwoods11]

I talked to one of the outdoor channel guys last month. He has 270 acres about 4 miles from my farm in IA. He said about four or five years ago---he had 34 different (approx.) P & Y bucks on trail camera.

Since then he experienced EHD, which I also had on my farm, the numbers are down since then, but coming back pretty strong.

 

[wiscwhip]

No doubt Iowa has fantastic hunting. With the rules they have in place, it likely should be better than it is. Let Iowa open up their hunting to the unlimited sale of over the counter buck tags for about 5 years like WI has always had and then we will see how good the hunting is in IA. The way they limit non-res tags seems more like a highly controlled, outfitted hunt than a free range, open hunting opportunity for the masses. Hunting in IA is akin to hunting behind a state-sized high fence if you don't own land down there. Let them sell 600,000 buck tags each gun season(add in a few hundred thousand archery tags as well) and see where they stand in a few years.