Snow storm on Wisconsin gun opener

[Ben Sobieck]

Hello, Wisconsin hunters. I hunted the northwestern part of the state. We got at least six inches of snow the second half of opening day (Saturday). My deer camp thought this would get hooves moving at first. But it actually seemed to shut things down.

Did any of you experience the same thing? I'm anticipating that this coming weekend with the new moon will be hotter.

[KCguy]

We actually seen our first deer today (Monday). Kinda sucks because I was hoping to see lots more since I am mentoring the 15 Year old neighbor young man. His parents do not hunt yet they went out with him last year and only sat in the woods for an hour at most each time they went out. Today was the first day he seen deer while out hunting. We had a nice size doe come within 20 yards, and he let it walk by us because he was holding out for a "huge" buck...lol. He said if she walks by us tomorrow, he is putting his tag on her though.

Personally I was shocked we seen that doe come so close today. Our setup was totally against the odds. I left him choose the spot today and setup type. While he had options to use a ground blind or a elevated shack, he wanted to sit out in the open next to some 3 inch trees on our 5 gallon buckets, plus we were on the very top of a hill, and not much to break up our outlines. That doe came out at about 200 yards away, then made a beeline right towards us, stopped at 20 yards and casually walked around us keeping that 20 yard buffer. We were hunting a standing corn field with about 16 rows cut down on the outside.

On a side note.... next year I might have a bow hunting partner because he has been asking me lots of questions about bow hunting. I think my old bow might even be a good fit for him to start off with.

Matt

[Jslotter]

I hunted an 80 acre private parcel in St. Croix county Saturday. The weather seemed perfect right away at daylight. It just got colder by the hour after 8 AM... Heard only a few gun shots around the area all morning. Then the freezing rain started around 10. It turned to snow in the afternoon, and no one in our group seen a single deer... 18 years of hunting, and Saturday was my third opening day that I did not see anything. The last season I was skunked on opening day was in 2006. Prior to that was 1994.

[Meules37]

4 guys hunting over about 20 acres of land in northern wisconsin (oneida county), and not many others on surrounding parcels and everything was pretty much dead all weekend. We had the same thinking, things would be good Saturday morning, and then once the snow would stop, that Sunday and Monday would be great days. Instead, I shot an 8-pointer Saturday afternoon during the snow, which was the only deer seen all day by the four of us. Then there was one doe seen, on Sunday and that was it. Went out this morning for an hour before we had to take down stands and didn't hear a single shot. Pretty quiet all weekend.

[badgerfan24]

I hunt in Northern Marathon county. Our group of 7 hunters saw a total of 4 deer on Saturday, all doe and all before the weather moved in. My cousin shot his first deer ever - a nice big doe - at about 10 am on Saturday. Lots of shooting around us early Saturday and it faded fast as weather moved in. Sunday was really quiet in the woods. Not many shots were heard. The only deer I saw all weekend was a nice 10 pointer that I was fortunate enough to shoot around 10 am. Our group saw many more deer on Sunday afternoon, but no one shot anything.

It was a very strange opening weekend for our area/group. We usually see a lot of deer opening weekend, but we didn't really see many this year. But that's hunting.

[willypete]

all it got moving by me was 2 bambis which a partner shot shortly after they walked past me....i think it had a negative effect on the rest of the season.

[Jimbo]

Hello, Wisconsin hunters. I hunted the northwestern part of the state. We got at least six inches of snow the second half of opening day (Saturday). My deer camp thought this would get hooves moving at first. But it actually seemed to shut things down.

Did any of you experience the same thing? I'm anticipating that this coming weekend with the new moon will be hotter.

Got them on their feet in Washburn County. Shot this buck Sunday at 1PM.