Rifle's allowed in Waupaca County 2010?

[rmontez]

we have land right on the waupaca/shawano county line and have not noticed much change since it switched to rifle. The only real difference is we had to spend more money on new rifle's! I didn't read through all 4 pages but I did read one of the posts where someone had mentioned the WI DNR did not know how to manage the deer population or something to that affect and the question I ask is regardless if you hunt with a shot gun or a rifle isn't it up to us as hunters to practice quality deer management and to teach our kids the proper way to harvest mature adult deer?

[bullwinkle]

Montez - I am mostly just south of you but also hunt Shawano County. How do your deer look? We are loaded up with deer on the cameras. I would guess the population has rebounded to the '07/08 levels. The hammering on my plots is unreal. Many does with 3 fawns. The other good sign is we are not seeing many spikes. The concern I have is we only have two shooters on film on my property. Last year we had 4-5 nice bucks already.

With all the 200" bucks that were shot around us last year and the second wet spring in a row, I hoped for another banner year. My guess read right now is great numbers, step back in quality. I may be wrong and just have all the small buck and does???? Are you seeing the same?

[Dan Salmon]

I think you're right Bullwinkle, it's a quantity thing in WI not quality. The state had good genetics, so it still produces trophies in spite of the demand by hunters to "see" many deer instead of "seeing" a couple really nice deer.

[bullwinkle]

It fascinates me how one season is different than the next. I have been doing a woodland make over on one piece for the last 6 seasons. Last year the improvements paid off - I shot the 3 biggest bucks of my life - one with the bow and two with gun. This year the population seems to be back, I am a little worried. The deer are very, very healthy looking but I am not getting pictures of nice ones. Still early. I plan on planting 6 acres of fall plots in a few weeks to hopefully keep some does around as bait for some deer with head gear.

We did aggressive doe harvest for 4 years - I think it paid off in the overall deer size - I see very few spikes and small fork bucks. I am struggling though, the more does you shoot, the disruption to my land affects the deer sightings on the property. I guess in an ideal world I should shoot the does in Dec but they actually are hard to hunt on my property then because they dont winter in the open hardwoods. I guess I am going to have to hope the neighbors drop some.

We all hated earn a buck but it did do a good job of keeping the herds in check. I think I will harvest every doe I see if I am in stands and situations where I can get them out of the woods without going close to my sanctuary.

This year I doubled my sanctuary (about 60% of my property) and added an awesome 1.4 acre in woods food plot between a major bedding area and 1/4 mile from the Ag fields. Since we took out the trees and stumps ourselves, we designed this one in the right place - it is a dream situation. I also tripled my food plot acreage to try to get some food left in the fields. Each of the past 6 seasons, my food plots looked like putting greens in Nov. We will see if these changes pay off

I wish I could do this stuff full time -

[rmontez]

bullwinkle I noticed an increase on deer on our property but haven't put any cameras out yet to start my scouting. Last season we took a couple nice mature bucks and let allot of 2 and 3 year olds walk through. I actually have two areas in shawano co. to hunt, one rifle and 1 shotgun, the shotgun is about 6 acres of woods and 31 acres of field and I have noticed a large increase of deer in the field this year.

[bullwinkle]

I called the DNR to find out what is going on with rifles in Waupaca County. They said it was approved by the county and the DNR board. They hope to make it finalized by the end of the month. The lady felt it would go through but until they make it official it is not law.

I asked her how they plan to communicate this and she said to call the service centers and check at the end of August

I dont understand what is taking so long? Sounds like it is a done deal

[bullwinkle]

Called to check today. The lady was skeptical. Didnt know what is taking the legislature so long. There is a chance this will not happen this year according to her

[Ostermann]

Bullwinkle - I'm not a fan of EAB but I know Waupaca is always in the top 10 if not the top 5 in deer harvest each year. There are a lot of deer in that part of the state. I actually hunt about 2 miles east of the Waupaca/Outagamie county lines. I know 2009 was a "quiet" year for gun season. I think the last day of the season I heard about 10 shots total! 2010, a little bit better shooting. My wife's uncle has a farm about 4 miles away and they shoot nice deer each year and still have a ton of deer. I don't know if allowing rifles is a good thing or bad thing but it will be interesting to see how the harvest will be.

[bullwinkle]

The problem is the localization of deer. On my property in Shawano and Waupaca county we are back to '07/08 levels. I am trying to figure out how to take out the does I need to take without spooking the bucks off my land.

The work we have done the last 10 years is paying off. I personally think the DNR needs to give more control to the local land owners to manage deer. I only have 3 does tags and I easily should take 10-15 does to keep everything in check. I also hate the work with registering deer. It makes it too difficult to take does during certain hunts - dont have the time to spend 30-60 minutes on the road to register a deer and still be able to get it cleaned up so I can go to work the next morning.

I dont know all the answers but I surely hope the deer begin to rebound by you. If not - check out NW Waupaca/SW Shawano county - I credit Tigerton Lumber Company - they jumped into to trophy/quality management and the place has turned into something special. There is a lot of land for sale right now and some very nice parcels. Look between BIg Falls/Tigerton/Iola/Manawa

[Ostermann]

It is a tough time trying to balance deer herd and trying to grow big bucks. Me, I only get to hunt the gun season so I don't have time nor the land to try and manage the herd. I would love to get land in Waupaca but I know prices are pretty high.