Gun Kill Figures Are In

[Jimbo]

2011 Gun Kill saw a 3.6 % increase over 2010.
This includes 102,837 bucks and 123,423 anterless.
The statewide increase primarily came from a 6% lift in anterless. The difference in buck kill from this year to last was only +656 bucks.
You can read all about it here:

http://dnr.wi.gov/news/DNRNews_Article_Lookup.asp?id=1983

Let the mudslinging begin!

Jimbo

[Jslotter]

I would hate to say that the numbers are bogus just because I didn't see, or kill any deer during the gun season. But, I talked with about dozen other hunters, and they too did not see or kill any this season, when them and myself usually average three deer per gun season every year.

[umpiremark]

I think there are "pockets" of good deer hunting in WI ... we all know about Buffalo Cty and Waupaca Cty, etc., etc., etc.

But for the most part, the whole state as a "whole entity" is definately not equal when it comes to numbers, sightings, experiences and value. I know "families" and gangs down here in the CWD that out of say, 8-9 hunters took 8 does and 5 bucks. One kid (I say kid, because I'm 55) I know, saw 4 does/fawns opening day and shot 3 of them and shot 2 bucks the next day.

On the other hand, I didn't see one deer in 3 straight days. My brother in law and his brothers hunt way up north and between the five, in four days, no one saw one deer, day or night, dead or alive.

It's easy to get caught up in the numbers, 220k deer, 660k hunters, hmmm ... 1 in 3 hunters get a deer. Like football and baseball, there is no parity in Mudville!!! If you're unlucky (like we are) to hunt in an area that's not abundant with deer all year round or hunt on poor property or public land or whatever - what I mean is outside these "pockets" of high deer kill - you'll experience way outside the 1 in 3 deer kill ratio for a number of successive years.

I don't think hunters realize that when they're complaining about more deer and more numbers, in reality what they really want is even parity across the state in every county, in every woodlot. One in three should be one in three. Not 17 deer out of 8 hunters there while 12 hunters get skunked over there.

Just my thoughts.

[Jslotter]

Is there a chart or something that shows the harvest numbers by county? I would like to see the contrasts and what areas had better harvest numbers. Its something I would like to keep track of every season.

[deojee1414]

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/news/pdf/ ... _table.pdf

Here is a link that shows county break down. I hunt Sawyer county and after 3 straight years of watching the buck kill decline by 15-30% per year, i guess only a 6% decline is progress. As a group we saw about the same number of deer as last year, certainly no increase that would justify unit 13 going from bucks only in 2010 to having 5600 doe tags available this year. Pretty discouraging when you finally see a doe, let it walk and then hear a shot come from that direction 5 minutes later. Happened to me 2x this season.

[umpiremark]

You can also (somewhere on-line) find the total square miles for each county. By taking the deer harvest divided by the square miles, you get a little more accurate picture of how many deer (do both bucks and does and totals) per square mile are harvested in each county. Comparisons on a spreadsheet, then sorted, will show you the highest kill per Sq. Mile counties.

[rosonj07]

Very interesting numbers, I hunt in Waupaca County (family has had land there for 40+ years now) and we are at the top of the list again. You do see tons of deer opening weekend and by tons of deer I am talking 80 or more deer opening day but the county is just littered with gun hunters. The hunting pressure is off the wall. Why I enjoy bowhunting much more with the a lot less hunting pressure. Right now it is to the point where by 10 o'clock opening morning the deer are just running for their lives. You can forget about them going about their natural movement anymore. Just isn't as enjoyable as it use to be gun hunting in this county.

[pgchambers]

I think there are "pockets" of good deer hunting in WI ... we all know about Buffalo Cty and Waupaca Cty, etc., etc., etc.

But for the most part, the whole state as a "whole entity" is definately not equal when it comes to numbers, sightings, experiences and value. I know "families" and gangs down here in the CWD that out of say, 8-9 hunters took 8 does and 5 bucks. One kid (I say kid, because I'm 55) I know, saw 4 does/fawns opening day and shot 3 of them and shot 2 bucks the next day.

On the other hand, I didn't see one deer in 3 straight days. My brother in law and his brothers hunt way up north and between the five, in four days, no one saw one deer, day or night, dead or alive.

It's easy to get caught up in the numbers, 220k deer, 660k hunters, hmmm ... 1 in 3 hunters get a deer. Like football and baseball, there is no parity in Mudville!!! If you're unlucky (like we are) to hunt in an area that's not abundant with deer all year round or hunt on poor property or public land or whatever - what I mean is outside these "pockets" of high deer kill - you'll experience way outside the 1 in 3 deer kill ratio for a number of successive years.

I don't think hunters realize that when they're complaining about more deer and more numbers, in reality what they really want is even parity across the state in every county, in every woodlot. One in three should be one in three. Not 17 deer out of 8 hunters there while 12 hunters get skunked over there.

Just my thoughts.

Great analysis. I would add that for some hunters, deer sightings don't necessarily equate to deer numbers. Pressure is down due to changes in the way people hunt. When nobody is moving those deer around, a lot of them are only going to be moving at night. When you are in the big woods especially, that makes daytime sightings hard to come by. Even in a high density area like mine(Buffalo County), I would say 70% of our pictures are coming at night. I happen to gun hunt next to some guys that still do a lot of deer drives, so I see a lot of deer. They are usually breaking the sound barrier after opening day, but I still see a lot of them.

[Meules37]

I wish they would give the kill numbers by unit rather than county, but county is better than nothing I guess. I'm really surprised at the numbers for Oneida county. I hunt in unit 38 which is the eastern half of oneida county and outside of me taking the one deer I saw (an 8 pointer) the other three guys in my group didn't see a thing hunting Sat, Sun, Mon. A friend of ours who hunts the Nicolet just to the east of us hunted 8 out of the 9 days and didn't see a deer. Then I look at the numbers and bucks were up 11% and after having two years of buck only, there were 3200 doe tags sold and 1900 were taken. These numbers just seem unreal to me considering I can count on my two hands the number of shots we heard on Sunday and Monday. Overall for the northern region bucks were down 12% and does were up 16% (which makes sense since much of it was buck only last year) for a total of 1% increase.

[Jslotter]

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/news/pdf/2011_9_day_table.pdf

Here is a link that shows county break down. I hunt Sawyer county and after 3 straight years of watching the buck kill decline by 15-30% per year, i guess only a 6% decline is progress. As a group we saw about the same number of deer as last year, certainly no increase that would justify unit 13 going from bucks only in 2010 to having 5600 doe tags available this year. Pretty discouraging when you finally see a doe, let it walk and then hear a shot come from that direction 5 minutes later. Happened to me 2x this season.

Thanks for the link. Exactly what Im looking for.