Wisconsin 9 day gun season...
- Thread starter bueller
- Start date
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dipper
Guest
Tomorrow baldie starts getting eliminated. I saw 14 tonight, which was real tempting. They were all in one group.
chummer
5 year old buck +
That reminds me of when I was a kid. To ever see 14 in a group again... I doubt it will ever happen.
tooln
5 year old buck +
SWEET.She got him! 12 point, I knew it was heavy.
Should go 140ish.
I set her up along the thick swamp, hoping to catch him coming from an unpicked bean field. Momma got it done when I couldnt.
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dipper
Guest
The interesting thing is, there is hardly a deer on the piece my ole lady shot the buck on. Two fawns to be exact. The habitat is insanely prime. It's less than .5 mile away, and there's a herd of them. ThAts what makes population dynamics so difficult. In my areA the deer just stack up near ag. If you have a farm where they don't shoot does, it's an explosion of deer.
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MoBuckChaser
Guest
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MoBuckChaser
Guest
Nice buck for your pops Ben!
shawnv
5 year old buck +
How does that compare to what the neighbors are seeing? Are you pulling in the deer off their property. It's awesome that you are seeing the benefit from your work years ago.
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MoBuckChaser
Guest
Yep! One of my leases we have never touched, it has massive amounts of Thermal cover, and the thermal cover provides great hiding places for all the doe's to get some rest from the rut! It is the place to be 10 days a year!:D
Steve Bartylla
5 year old buck +
Just read the entire thread. Thanks for taking me along on your hunts and grats on the deer you've killed!
bueller
Moderator
Been a tough season so far. Didn't get a chance to bow hunt for various reasons. Many, many hours the first 5 days of the gun season in metal ladder stands exposed to all the elements (rain, wind, snow, cold) with ZERO deer sightings. Home for Thanksgiving then back at it Friday. Persistence pays right? I sure hope so. I haven't seen a deer on a stand since last December.
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dipper
Guest
Being in the right spot pays off. Can't kill what isn't there.
bueller
Moderator
True that. Having limited acreage to hunt handicaps us. Tracks in the snow and the trail cameras show that the deer are around, but not until after dark. Opening day pressure is very high by us sending the deer immediately into nocturnal mode. But after Saturday the pressure is down to almost zero so the deer just lay all day with nobody moving them. I think its time for me to get more aggressive rather than sitting and waiting.
Also we generally see a dropoff in deer activity on our property once winter hits, which this year it did before the start of the gun season.
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dipper
Guest
We did a three person still hunt/ push to a second year hunter yesterday. She had a big buck, now a 100"er is big to this person, so I don't know how big it actually was. She didn't get the buck but she got the tree. Haha it's all in good fun.
I think I made the mistake of passing on a upper 120s this morning. I was sitting on a picked corn field. He was chasing a doe wide freaking open, back and forth. It was obvious he wanted that! He ran into the neighbors that shoots anything. I hope they won't be out hunting today.
I think I made the mistake of passing on a upper 120s this morning. I was sitting on a picked corn field. He was chasing a doe wide freaking open, back and forth. It was obvious he wanted that! He ran into the neighbors that shoots anything. I hope they won't be out hunting today.
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Steve Bartylla
5 year old buck +
So, do something to try to make it fun. I'm guessing you aren't having a lot of fun sitting in that ladder anymore (at least I wouldn't be that many days in a row w 0 deer sightings). I know it's like swearing in church to say this in management circles (and I get why), but would stalking the property be fun for you? If so, do it, consequences be damned. Is there any public ground within an hr (your in WI, so the answer is definitely yes)? Spend a day or two still hunting and scouting public ground. Just grab a compass and go. I've uncovered around 25% of the places I bow killed 3.5+ bucks the next year doing just that. With snow on the ground, it give you a great chance to see how/where other hunters are and what the deer do to avoid them. If you have sat 5 days without seeing a deer, odds are you aren't going to kill one making it 8 days. So, do something, nearly anything to break up the monotony and inject some fun into these last days.
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dipper
Guest
I have gotten very aggressive this year. The most aggressive making little drives, than I have since we used to hunt with the gang. The deer are sitting really tight.
I am now convinced all this sanctuary talk is over blown. 3 days, 3 mature buck sightings on the same property. The ticket is the thickest habitat. Every day we intruded into the thicket bedding and scared a mature buck. Every day they kept coming back. sanctuaries are over hyped, the criticial factor is the thickest cover in the area.
We did another push, and I was literally on my hands and knees it was so thick. Low and behold a fresh coyote den right where the deer were living. This snow was a day old and I could smell the coyote in the hole. You tell me how this coyote wouldn't disrupt the "sanctuary"
I am now convinced all this sanctuary talk is over blown. 3 days, 3 mature buck sightings on the same property. The ticket is the thickest habitat. Every day we intruded into the thicket bedding and scared a mature buck. Every day they kept coming back. sanctuaries are over hyped, the criticial factor is the thickest cover in the area.
We did another push, and I was literally on my hands and knees it was so thick. Low and behold a fresh coyote den right where the deer were living. This snow was a day old and I could smell the coyote in the hole. You tell me how this coyote wouldn't disrupt the "sanctuary"
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bueller
Moderator
Dipper, I didn't quote your post but this is in response to yours also. I agree the deer are sitting very tight and a sanctuary at this point is doing nothing but concealing the deer. But with the season quickly coming to a close I'm not trying to protect and conceal the deer, I'm looking to kill one.
A technique that has worked for me in the past is as follows. I quietly and slowly stalk through the thickest and quietest spot on our property. Sometimes a jump a deer, sometimes I don't. Rarely get a shot though. But what does happen is later that afternoon the deer seem to be up and moving before daylight. Here is my theory based on experience, could be completely wrong though. By walking through these "sanctuaries" I either bump deer up and out of their beds, or simply just make them feel uneasy in their hiding spot. I then hunker down within that area. The deer either attempt to return back to their comfort grounds or get up from their spots to relocate due to the disturbance I created walking through. Works best for me walking in around noon or so and sitting until dark. I'm usually in my final spot by 2ish and many times start seeing deer by 230. Mind you the walk in is very slow and quiet as possible. It really doesn't "push" the deer very much, just gets them up and on their feet. It's so thick in there that I have literally watched the deer sneak away 20 yards or so and then stop and remain there without being pushed off the property. This is a ground hunting only type area. Very few trees big enough for a stand. And even if there was you would be looking down at the top of all the scrub oak and jack pine. I can see farther sitting against a tree than I can standing up.
bueller
Moderator
Congrats kabic! As tough of a hunt as it has been a harvest is so much more earned under these conditions than picking one of 30 deer off a field.
