If my zone is EAB next year I am hunting with my video camera only!

[ReflexHunter]

This season has been a huge disappointment for the area I hunt, and I know many others feel the same way.  During bow and firearms seasons I saw a total of 6 does!  I hunt near Wisconsin Rapids and my family owns four properties that total about 135 acres.  I hunted every weekend of bow season in the morning twice and evening once, for about 2.5 hours per sit.  Now if you ask me I would say that seeing 8 does and only 4 bucks plus a few button bucks is pretty poor!  During the rifle season between 6 people we only shot two deer, a buck and a doe.  I only saw 6 deer, all does.  I stand hunted, drove and still hunted for 5 days, covering all of our property!  During bow season I never had a shot at a doe, and now the area is in Earn A Buck watch.  So,.... I have decided that if my zone is EAB next year I will not shoot any deer, because if there are so few deer and I have to kill 3 deer (A doe and her two fawns of next season) to harvest my buck it is not ethical.  As a sportsman I realize that I would only be doing more damage to an already decimated deer herd!  I don't know who the hell the DNR is kidding but there are not near as many deer as they try to tell us there are. 
Please let me know what you think about these things, I am kind of lost as to what to do to solve the problem on my own.  Thanks. 

[Ugnasty77]

Well ReflexHunter, this is about the 100000000th feed about this topic. Many hunters are saying that they arent seeing the amount of deer that they used to, or that the DNR claims there is. 1.5 million deer, im highly doubting this. I hunt on 100 acers in burlinton and I also did not see many deer this year, i probably had like 20 different sightings, but its was the same 4 deer just at differnt times thru the season, 3 does and a nubber, no big bucks at all excepet the 10 point skull i found. I also am considering not hunting next year if its an EAB. hopefully next duck season in my area will be a good one, haha.

[Gafrage]

A friend of mine said something about the EAB's turning into Herd Control zones next year.  He registered a few deer on Thanksgiving with family members and they were 471, 472, and 473 at a registration station in Shiocton(zone 62b).  Apparently by Thanksgiving last year, this particular registration station had around 1100 registered.  The DNR apparently made a statement, which I haven't been able to locate yet, that they (the DNR) might have over estimated the Deer Herd by 40%.  According to their original estimates, that means that could be nearly 500,000 deer they thought were in the woods, but ended up not being there.  I don't actually know how they do their estimates for the EAB areas, but it is frustrating.  For me it was extremely frustrating this year, as I have mentioned in previous posts. 

I wish there was a way, that all of the hunters could make a stand, perhaps a "hunters union" or whatever, but it's not likely.  Some people like to hunt so much, for different reasons that it is almost impossible to make a stand against the DNR by not hunting.  The amount of money the state of Wisconsin makes off of deer hunting licenses is ridiculous.  Losing over 100,000 licenses, or more, would put a dent in their gun deer sales of an income at least $2,500,000, lets also keep in mind the stores that would lose money on sales for clothing, hand warmers, bullets and whatever else.  That's a lot of money.  I don't think there is a clear cut way to win the fight against them, I wish you luck if you don't hunt next year, but keep in mind, it might be of your best interest to go to DNR meetings when they are talking about topics like this, and be sure to voice your opinion. 

I don't like the EAB any more than you do, and I especially don't like the October gun hunt any more than the next guy as well.  The DNR has roughly 350 days to figure out how they screwed up so badly, and try to fix the problem for next season so they don't lose a lot of revenue in licenses next year.  I know for sure if the DNR speaks near me, I will be at the meeting, to listen to what they have to say, have my detailed list of deer seen, mature bucks, does, fawns and young bucks at my side.  As well as the statistics for the number of doe:buck harvest ratio throughout the past several years, and I will be asking questions myself.  Demanding answers, and taking names.

Good luck, hopefully they don't have EAB in some of the zones they did this year, all you can do though, is harvest does anyway, to make sure you are doing your part in "managing the herd". 

[Ugnasty77]

My grandpa just read an article in, i believe, Outdoor Journal. They article said that the DNR was planning on keeping the EAB till 2012, with an option to go to 2017. I could not believe that.
 
Here is a link to all the units that the DNR is thinking of making an EAB next year, nearly the whole state.
 
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/wildlife/HUNT/DEER/eabwatch.htm 

[gunther89]

Ya the deer sightings are down for sure.  I just wonder if the DNR workers hunt on land that have deer running everywhere and thats where they get the 100 deer per square mile or if they hunt in high fence areas.  WE NEED TO GET WARNKE OUT OF THE DNR.  

[vipermann7]

i feel your pain reflexhunter! and everyone else out there who sits all gun season and doesnt see any deer. i gave up gun hunting a couple seasons ago. sitting all day all gun season and maybe seeing a couple small deer isnt worth the effort. the only shots i get anymore during gun season is when i walk around the tall marsh grass and jump little yearlings or fawns that are bedded there. at that, im lucky to get one or two sightings, and I sure dont need to be shooting a deer for 15 pounds of meat.

i still see OK numbers during bow season, so i bow hunt, but gun season has turned in to a huge waste of time. i didnt gun hunt this year, but both my brothers did, and it was same this year as the last few years. i have no idea how they estimate the deer herd, i wish i did know. and it would be cool if a huge number of people stopped gun hunting to make a point, but im not sure that will happen. not all at once. there will be a trickle effect i think. there are guys out there every year who stop gun hunting, but the numbers are so sparse it will take years to add up for the DNR to notice a drop in sales. it sucks, but what do ya do? you can go to the meetings and voice your opinion to the DNR, but do they listen? hard to say.

[Fish]

Hey Reflex?   Have a stand for me? lol.  I'd be happy to have seen all the deer you saw this year

[pschuh32]

ReflexHunter, I'm interested in your three deer theory.  You think if you shoot a doe in early bow season her fawns are going to die?  Any reason for their deaths?

[Gafrage]

ORIGINAL: pschuh32

ReflexHunter, I'm interested in your three deer theory.  You think if you shoot a doe in early bow season her fawns are going to die?  Any reason for their deaths?

I think he's referring to the fact that she's already pregnant, or would be pregnant eventually.  So the two fawns she would be most likely to be carrying, will die as well.  I'm not exactly sure, but that's how I read his statement.

[Nubs]

I think that not hunting next year will not do much to change anything unless you are able to get a lot of people to go along with you, like 200,000.00 thousand. I do not think that would happen. What we can do though is write the DNR expressing our views about the current situation with WI. deer numbers. If the DNR starts getting thousands of letters and E-mails pilling up with lots of disgruntled hunters I would have to think they might start re-thinking how they have been handling things. I know a lot of guys from work and the fire dept. that are not happy and are planning on sending the DNR a letter telling them that.

Lets face even though hunters are not happy me included, I don't think I could skip out on a hunting season because I am addicted. I could probably not gun hunt but I love bow hunting to much to say out of the woods for a season.