Wisconsin 9 day gun season...

[bueller]

Less than 48 hours away boys! Forecast for central Wisconsin looks reasonably mild for the opener with rain likely on Sunday. Colder temps settle in during the week.

I'm leaning towards sitting on a food plot Saturday morning. Usually I prefer a stand in the timber but with all the recent cold I have a feeling that food will be a major draw this season. Thoughts.....

 

[BJE80]

Bueller,
I would be worried about a morning sit on the plot in case they are in there feeding when you access your stand and blow them out of there. Perhaps you may need to go in during gray light so you can get a visual of deer in the plot or maybe hunt the timber in the morning and then move to the food for the evening.
I personally like hunting travel and escape routes during gun season especially the first two days. I find deer are looking for a place to hide more than filling their belly. Every situation and property is different.
Saturday looks good. Sunday, not so much. I would guess with the Packer game and crappy rainy weather there won't be many people in the woods Sunday afternoon. I would think Sunday morning before the rain hits would be a great time.

 

[bueller]

I usually like the escape routes in the morning, especially opening morning. But last year with the cold weather we had deer in our plots throughout the day during the season, including one plot 100% visible and just yards away from the trailer that was our deer camp.

 

[BJE80]

Saturday is looking like a great day. Mid 30's, light south wind. Hoping I'm done by 2:30 so I can go watch the badgers stomp Iowa. :)

Boy that sure would be nice. I'm just hoping to be done before the rain hits Sunday and I can sit in the warm cabin and watch the Packer game.

 

[kabic]

The Packers are playing the Vikings... there will be plenty of time to sit a few hours after watching the first half (the Packers will be leading 35-3 at that point) .

 

[BJE80]

The Packers are playing the Vikings... there will be plenty of time to sit a few hours after watching the first half (the Packers will be leading 35-3 at that point) .

Yeah but I can't have my beverage of choice if I am going back out again. ;)

 

[bueller]

Yeah but I can't have my beverage of choice if I am going back out again. ;)

Yea nobody does that :rolleyes:

 

[Tree Spud]

Less than 48 hours away boys! Forecast for central Wisconsin looks reasonably mild for the opener with rain likely on Sunday. Colder temps settle in during the week.

I'm leaning towards sitting on a food plot Saturday morning. Usually I prefer a stand in the timber but with all the recent cold I have a feeling that food will be a major draw this season. Thoughts.....

I will be hunting areas where there deer will move after the neighbors bump them. These areas will also be doe bedding so I will be looking for the bucks to be scent checking these areas also.

I will save the food plots til evening.

Is it wrong If I slept in my blaze orange last night?

 

[wiscwhip]

Being that our zone is basically buck only(no one in our party was able to get one of the very limited doe tags), I will be looking to set up in a funnel in a transitional low area, be that a tag alder swamp or creek/river bottom area. I find it pointless to set up in an area that is a "doe factory", when I will not be able to harvest one anyway. I know of one area that houses many does throughout the season, but if it contains any bucks at all, they sneak out at first light on opening day and don't come back for the rest of the season, because they have a nice cozy subdivision to hide in the back of, right across the street.

 

[bat man]

I would be afraid of bumping those deer on the plot to neighbors. We never hunt food, at least destination areas in the mornings.

 

[bueller]

Being that our zone is basically buck only(no one in our party was able to get one of the very limited doe tags), I will be looking to set up in a funnel in a transitional low area, be that a tag alder swamp or creek/river bottom area. I find it pointless to set up in an area that is a "doe factory", when I will not be able to harvest one anyway. I know of one area that houses many does throughout the season, but if it contains any bucks at all, they sneak out at first light on opening day and don't come back for the rest of the season, because they have a nice cozy subdivision to hide in the back of, right across the street.

Another reason I'm leaning towards food in the morning. I have a doe tag and if I fill it Saturday morning I can then focus on bucks for the remainder of my hunt. I'm dying to get out there as I wasn't able to bow hunt at all this year.

 

[wiscwhip]

You bet!

 

[wiscwhip]

I have a good spot for my dad and uncle to go, that isn't far from the rv park where they are staying and had a few bucks that survived last gun season. I just need to find another area for me, my daughter, and the new guy I will be taking. Looking at going in the area around stu's parents old place for right now.

 

[bueller]

Good luck WI guys!

Whip, there's a chunk of county ground that butts right up to the east border of my folks' old place (near the W corner of 9th and 32nd). I haven't hunted down there since '12, but for the few years leading up to that point that county land got less and less pressure. It is NOT easy to get way back in there, but if you did...I can think of a lot worse places to hunt ;) Get on the western edge of that county ground and there are some nice little oak knolls.

That's the trend in that whole area right now. As the deer population declined, so did the amount of hunters. Should be even less this year with the lack of doe tags available. I hope they found a new place to hunt and don't come back when the herd rebounds. Yes, I'm stupid enough to believe that the herd is going to be allowed to rebound in the area ;).

 

[CrazyEd]

Good Luck Fellas. I will be out opening day, hunting an oak ridge in a stand that I haven't been in yet this year. I saw at least 3-4 different mature bucks throughout my limited time out during bow season. Most of those bucks did not present shot opportunity with the bow. It will be a different story with the boom stick! Good Luck, Be safe!

 

[shawnv]

Good luck, I will be hunting right in the bucks bedroom on public land. Something about having to crawl into a spot seems deter the average guy.

 

[wiscwhip]

Good luck WI guys!

Whip, there's a chunk of county ground that butts right up to the east border of my folks' old place (near the W corner of 9th and 32nd). I haven't hunted down there since '12, but for the few years leading up to that point that county land got less and less pressure. It is NOT easy to get way back in there, but if you did...I can think of a lot worse places to hunt ;) Get on the western edge of that county ground and there are some nice little oak knolls.

I have been eyeballing that piece for a while now, and yup it's a long walk back in to that western edge from the road to the east(and the drag is even farther!:eek:). If you wouldn't have sold that place already, I was thinking of asking you to access it through your folk's driveway!;)

 

[wiscwhip]

At the west end of 32nd, there is another piece of ground that used to be owned by WI River Paper....I don't know who owns that now, but it is smaller and easier to access.

Is that the pine plantation that opens up after you get away from the road? If so, I used to grouse hunt in there years ago. I see there is 120 right across 32nd from your parents driveway that is MFL Open as well, know anything about that?

 

[MoBuckChaser]

You won't be getting these 2. Found dead 45 miles south of Ellsworth a couple days ago.

 

[wiscwhip]

That road is 8th Ave. It looks like the stuff N of your old place was recently sold and reenrolled in the program. The 40 that straddles the creek is MFL Closed:mad: or I would be on it like stink. The 2 - 40's to the west of that is Open, and then the 40 nearest the road across from the driveway is Open. It is an upside-down L that is 2 - 40's north and then 3 to the east, with the eastern most being Closed.