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Posted: 11/19/2015 11:19:49 PM EDT
I will be heading up North tomorrow evening and should be in the woods for at least 4 days.







Hopefully, I see something this year unlike last year where I only saw a couple of does from the house. Got one of the last doe tags, so hopefully I get some venison for the year




 
Link Posted: 11/19/2015 11:57:33 PM EDT
[#1]
Good luck!

I have a feeling this will be a productive season.
Link Posted: 11/20/2015 12:42:21 AM EDT
[#2]
After 17 years of holding out for a 'trophy', I plan on shooting an average or smaller buck.
Link Posted: 11/20/2015 12:46:30 AM EDT
[#3]
I'm heading up north in the morning. This will be my first time hunting in WI.
Link Posted: 11/20/2015 3:29:46 AM EDT
[#4]
I'm excited. I'm going up today with my dad and staying till Tuesday.. Should be fun.
Link Posted: 11/20/2015 8:44:35 AM EDT
[#5]
This year, I'm shooting the first thing that walks under the stand.
Link Posted: 11/20/2015 9:02:02 AM EDT
[#6]
I'm excited to have my dad sitting with me opening morning.  He hasn't done more than sit a few hundred feet off the road for many years.  Here's hoping to dragging one out for him.  

Stay safe everyone.
Link Posted: 11/20/2015 9:36:47 AM EDT
[#7]
Not hunting this year.  Just too many other things going on right now.  

Good luck to all.  Hope you can fill your freezer.  

Be safe!

Link Posted: 11/20/2015 9:49:09 AM EDT
[#8]
To those "heading up north". Just a heads up on the new e registration. Certain cell phone carriers do not have service in a good portion of the northwoods.

Sprint & T-Mobile for example do not work whatsoever in the Vilas/Oneida/Forest County areas, and likely not further west nor east. My oldest daughter has Sprint, lives in Green Bay, and when she comes home to Vilas County, her cell phone loses all service a little north of Witternberg (she has an AT&T "go phone" flip phone that she uses just for traveling up north, it works). My other daughter has T-Mobile, lives near Mnpls/St. Paul. She loses service not too far north of Wausau. If you have Verizon or AT&T you're good to go. Any other carrier, you might be out of luck, hit or miss. If you have a smart phone but can't make calls or get "4G", you might find free WI-FI in a town.

So if you shoot a buck but cannot use your cell phone, do NOT try and transport your deer out of the county of kill (or adjacent county) without registering it, using the excuse of you have no cell service, and make sure you find a way to register it before 5pm the day after you mark your tag, and remember that you and your deer are joined at the hip until it's registered... where you go, it goes.  I've heard rumors from reliable sources that the DNR will be specifically watching for this, and first year or not there will be no leniency. Some of the old registration station stations are still available, some are not.
Link Posted: 11/20/2015 10:06:51 AM EDT
[#9]
My daughter, 10, and I will be in the woods in Green County.  I can't wait for the snow and cold...they should be up moving!


This is my first year not buying a gun tag since I was 12 years old.  I want to focus on getting her a deer, and if she does get one, that's plenty of meat for us between that and my archery buck.

If she doesn't get one, I might go out late season for a doe on public land.


Good luck, everyone!!
Link Posted: 11/20/2015 10:35:41 AM EDT
[#10]
Good luck tomorrow gents. I will be hunting in Westfield, located in Marquette County.
Link Posted: 11/20/2015 11:08:56 AM EDT
[#11]
Heading up to the Flambeau River forks tonight with my brother to our dad's place. My dad and his friends have been hunting there for 40+ years. Not overly optimistic harvesting anything but its a good time none the less at the cabin Good luck everyone!
Link Posted: 11/20/2015 3:39:04 PM EDT
[#12]
Going to bed a little early tonight so I can get to my hunting spot three minutes from my house by around 0400.  The recent rain is gonna make navigation of our sooper seekrit trail through the Bog... interesting.

Lesson Learned so far - never scout a bog (well, fen) in the dry season!

Anyone know if unused buck tags can be used for antlerless in the Metro Subunits or post-season antlerless hunt?  I don't think I can hunt Jackson Marsh this year after the end of the normal season because of the anterless tags being in specific counties.
Link Posted: 11/20/2015 4:53:08 PM EDT
[#13]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Going to bed a little early tonight so I can get to my hunting spot three minutes from my house by around 0400.  The recent rain is gonna make navigation of our sooper seekrit trail through the Bog... interesting.

Lesson Learned so far - never scout a bog (well, fen) in the dry season!

Anyone know if unused buck tags can be used for antlerless in the Metro Subunits or post-season antlerless hunt?  I don't think I can hunt Jackson Marsh this year after the end of the normal season because of the anterless tags being in specific counties.
View Quote


Good luck to you.  Hope you get something.

My buddy has been bow hunting the Cedarburg Bog and got nothing.
Link Posted: 11/20/2015 7:06:13 PM EDT
[#14]
I broke with tradition this year, and put out some corn by my stand to attract whatever deer might be left. I normally did not bait, nor shoot does. We usually had snow and enough deer in the nearby national forest to make hunting by "tracking-until-you-catch-up-and-ambush" my preferred method. But the weather has been too warm for good tracking snow, and the wolves have devoured what deer the doe tag hunters didn't shoot. Hoping the corn might attract does, which in turn might attract a buck. Hunting pressure in the area has plummeted along with the deer population.

So I went to check to see if any deer found the corn I put out last weekend. We got 1" snow yesterday... just enough for me to follow the 2 sets of wolf tracks from the road where I parked, down the same trail I walk to my stand location, and they kept going past my ground blind (passed within 15yds). Corn wasn't touched. Looks bleak...again. But we did remove 3 bears from the area, to save some of next spring's fawns, a few months ago.
Link Posted: 11/20/2015 9:19:16 PM EDT
[#15]
I'm going to have a hard time sleeping tonight.
Link Posted: 11/20/2015 10:49:17 PM EDT
[#16]
Filled up with the crossbow in October. I'll be thinking of you out in the cold when I roll over and go back to bed. I know I"ll be "luckier" then you.
Link Posted: 11/21/2015 12:50:05 AM EDT
[#17]
Heard some Wolves howling tonight in Washburn county. Hope I see something that hasn't already been killed by them
Link Posted: 11/21/2015 8:46:58 AM EDT
[#18]
I haven't seen any deer yet. I did kick up a couple on my walk into the stand.
Link Posted: 11/21/2015 9:16:29 AM EDT
[#19]
The fresh snow should really help you guys out.
Link Posted: 11/21/2015 10:02:51 AM EDT
[#20]
Hunting for meat this year. I shot a 6pt.  Saw a total of 5 deer. 3 bucks
Link Posted: 11/21/2015 10:27:19 AM EDT
[#21]
Haven't seen squat, but heard several shots all morning. Got around an inch or so near lyndon station. Feet getting a bit cold though.
Link Posted: 11/21/2015 1:10:15 PM EDT
[#22]
As a side note, people, don't put off buying your license until the day before the opener! Had a line at the license counter ALL DAY.

Goes for scope mounting too. Told a guy it would be about an hour to mount his scope because of others already being done. He couldn't wait that long cause he had to sight it in that day. "I'll go to gander mountain!".

good luck with that!
Link Posted: 11/21/2015 1:42:18 PM EDT
[#23]
I've seen about 6 so far.  Nothing worth shooting.  One guy in my group nailed a nice buck at first light.
Link Posted: 11/21/2015 2:01:51 PM EDT
[#24]
I shot an 8 last weekend in MI, so I'm skipping WI opener. I never see anything here anyway.
Link Posted: 11/21/2015 3:21:52 PM EDT
[#25]

Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


I shot an 8 last weekend in MI, so I'm skipping WI opener. I never see anything here anyway.
View Quote
Story of my day so far
Link Posted: 11/21/2015 7:28:50 PM EDT
[#26]
Too much snow...my daughter was beat after trudging through over a foot of it.

We didn't see anything...she was frozen after about 2 hours...

Had fun though!
Link Posted: 11/21/2015 10:05:46 PM EDT
[#27]
Saw 8 deer today but either they were too far or too small.

Did manage to get this mangy coyote with the Mosin this morning

Link Posted: 11/21/2015 10:21:16 PM EDT
[#28]
Saw 4 doe. 1 buck high tailing it. No ammunition wasted.

Link Posted: 11/21/2015 10:27:04 PM EDT
[#29]
I didn't see shit.  All I want is meat.  Buck only for me though..  :(
Link Posted: 11/22/2015 1:32:12 PM EDT
[#30]
Nothing yet. Think I need to find some place that isn't hit as hard as up here
Link Posted: 11/22/2015 10:03:42 PM EDT
[#31]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Nothing yet. Think I need to find some place that isn't hit as hard as up here
View Quote

If you're hunting public, good luck.  It's hit hard everywhere that I've checked in the southern part of the state.
Link Posted: 11/22/2015 10:18:31 PM EDT
[#32]
Shot a nubbin buck. Only deer I have seen all weekend.
Link Posted: 11/22/2015 11:24:52 PM EDT
[#33]
Most of our group didn't see anything. My brother saw a doe and fawn but we are in a bucks only area in the Flambeau. I think this area has been wiped out of deer or something. A lot of the experienced hunters in our group that always seemed to get something years ago have been mostly coming up dry the last few seasons. I have been only hunting for 10 years here, started when I was 13. I've only shot one in that time but my eyesight sucks so theres that. Seriously considering finding some new areas in Dunn and St. Croix counties to have a better shot at filling the freezer.
Link Posted: 11/23/2015 1:18:27 AM EDT
[#34]
This is just rediculous. It only seems logical to assume that with the wolf tracks I have seen, that they are responsible for this downturn. Something needs to change with this shit
Link Posted: 11/23/2015 6:28:46 AM EDT
[#35]
The DNR won't give a single fuck until revenue starts falling off.
Link Posted: 11/23/2015 7:19:24 AM EDT
[#36]
My grandpa got a nice 8 pointer yesterday. I saw 9 deer total, 1 buck but it was just a fork.

Link Posted: 11/23/2015 10:05:41 AM EDT
[#37]
Hunted in Nicolet in S.E. Vilas county near where Vilas/Oneida/Forest counties meet. Sat in pop-up blind Saturday morning til 11 or so, went home for lunch and let the dog out, then back in the woods by 2pm, sat til dark. Judging by the total lack of gunfire heard, I'd say this will go down as one of the worst opening weekends in this area (bucks only) in years (or maybe ever). It was a good hour on opening morning before I heard the 1st gun shot of the season, coming from miles to my west, out of the national forest. Then 2 more between 7:45 & 8am on private land to the north, then dead silence until I left the woods. That's about 20-30 less shots than normally heard on an opening morning.  

Afternoon hunt was no different... heard a single shot about 3:30pm, then nothing! 6 of us out in the Nicolet, 1 hunted behind the cabin in a heated box stand on his 15 acres... he's 86 and can't take the cold anymore. Only 1 of us in the Nicolet saw a deer in the distance while walking out at about 11. Only 1 other hunter was spotted by anyone, woods were eerily empty, you'd never know it was deer season.

Same story on Sunday, only LESS shooting in the morning (didn't think that possible!).... nobody bothered going back out in the afternoon, we watched Packers. Sunday morning I heard a single gunshot about 8:45 am, then none until I left the woods about noon. It was 4 degrees sunday morning, but with a heater in my blind, it was about 54 inside. Other than being cold, weather was perfect. 1" snow on the ground (from thursday, no new snow up here), sun shining, no wind.

I didn't go out this morning, trying a mid day hunt instead. 3 guys pulling their stands after morning hunt today and heading back south. Bottom line... I spent a day & half of opening weekend in the woods and I heard just enough shots to empty the 5 round magazine on my .450 Bushmaster.

All 6 of us in the Nicolet saw wolf or coyote tracks in the snow. This was an unbelievably dismal opening weekend, that might be why.

edit: the only plus for this season so far is there's been 2 new cell towers go online east of Eagle River in past few years... AT&T a few years ago, Verizon's was up & running just last month. So now everyone in our group has cell service without being 20' up in a tree (we all have Verizon or AT&T as carriers). Still a "dead zone" a few miles to our east.
Link Posted: 11/23/2015 10:58:20 AM EDT
[#38]
I sat Saturday and Sunday near Wausaukee. Saw 0 deer and 2 coyotes. Both were running and never presented a shot. I may sit some public land outside of town this weekend.
Link Posted: 11/23/2015 3:21:52 PM EDT
[#39]
Absolutely nothing up in Vilas county near Boulder Junction for my brother & I.  We heard a few shots Saturday morning (4), but two of them sounded more like shotguns so it may have been our 'neighbor' duck hunting on the river.  

Didn't see any deer whatsoever, and only two sets of tracks in our immediate vicinity.  I've been hunting the same area for 20 years - I  know where their habitual trails are.  Absolutely zero activity along them - no tracks, scrapes, rubs, or browsing for food.  Not a thing.  I did see plenty of wolf tracks along a logging road north of our property - hard to say how many since it was a well worn path but definitely wolves, definitely more than one, and recently.

Sunday AM my brother saw a wolf through the trees running after something - we didn't track it to see where it came from / went to but there are definitely quite a few in the area.  We heard them howling Saturday AM before sunup, not on our property but not far away either.
Link Posted: 11/23/2015 6:11:49 PM EDT
[#40]
Spent 20 hours in the stand thus far. I saw one doe. WTF
Link Posted: 11/23/2015 6:58:20 PM EDT
[#41]
Six guys spread out over 80 acres in Algoma.  

Nobody had a shot at anything.
Link Posted: 11/23/2015 8:52:02 PM EDT
[#42]
I sat all 3 days so far, saw a coyote yesterday and a sow with her two cubs today.  Dunn County, public.
Link Posted: 11/23/2015 10:19:19 PM EDT
[#43]
Link Posted: 11/23/2015 11:50:01 PM EDT
[#44]
The Bog was lousy with orange.  It isn't frozen enough to get inside where the deer are.  A buck chasing a doe right near my spot before shooting light on Sunday is all I've "seen."

Found a lot of beds and a nice rub line in a rather unhunted spot of the Jackson Marsh but not sure if I'll make it back.

Headed out again tomorrow morning - last year I saw a lot more activity after a day break in the heavy pressure.  Several shots heard both days but only one idiot that violated the "don't be a dick" rule and left entrails in the fucking parking lot.  This is why we can't have nice things.

Coyote followed us out on Saturday - miserable weather so we left around 0830.  Some other guys had come in right at first light and made a racket setting up a blind <75 yards from me on the same shooting lane.

Public land sucks, but I am glad there's somewhere to go.

Only things livin' I've seen are a couple river otters, a nice looking barn cat (at least he got something - a mouse or vole), some chickadees (one landed on my silencer - I lol'd), a Piliated and a few Downy woodpeckers, well that's about it.  Everything else was wearing orange.

I shoulda' stayed home and played Fallout 4.
Link Posted: 11/24/2015 6:20:08 AM EDT
[#45]
Had a group of several guys try to drive public land right next to me. Idiots were doing it in the thick trees. No possible way they would be able to shoot at and probably wouldn't even see the deer they would kick up. Normally you would drive deer towards an open area so you could get a shot.
This spot would need 100 guys to drive deer.
Link Posted: 11/24/2015 8:58:13 AM EDT
[#46]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
As a side note, people, don't put off buying your license until the day before the opener! Had a line at the license counter ALL DAY.

Goes for scope mounting too. Told a guy it would be about an hour to mount his scope because of others already being done. He couldn't wait that long cause he had to sight it in that day. "I'll go to gander mountain!".

good luck with that!
View Quote


I remember those procrastinators from my gun store days.  Remember one desperate guy 1 hour til closing on the Friday before with a dead electric lock from his safe in his hand.  All we could really do for him is sell him a new gun...didnt service safes.   The gunsmith working that night also moonlighted as a locksmith.  He made a housecall after store closing to help the guy out.  This was just one of the many stories that makes me avoid electronic safe locks at all costs.
Link Posted: 11/24/2015 9:45:40 AM EDT
[#47]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


I remember those procrastinators from my gun store days.  Remember one desperate guy 1 hour til closing on the Friday before with a dead electric lock from his safe in his hand.  All we could really do for him is sell him a new gun...didnt service safes.   The gunsmith working that night also moonlighted as a locksmith.  He made a housecall after store closing to help the guy out.  This was just one of the many stories that makes me avoid electronic safe locks at all costs.
View Quote View All Quotes
View All Quotes
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Quoted:
As a side note, people, don't put off buying your license until the day before the opener! Had a line at the license counter ALL DAY.

Goes for scope mounting too. Told a guy it would be about an hour to mount his scope because of others already being done. He couldn't wait that long cause he had to sight it in that day. "I'll go to gander mountain!".

good luck with that!


I remember those procrastinators from my gun store days.  Remember one desperate guy 1 hour til closing on the Friday before with a dead electric lock from his safe in his hand.  All we could really do for him is sell him a new gun...didnt service safes.   The gunsmith working that night also moonlighted as a locksmith.  He made a housecall after store closing to help the guy out.  This was just one of the many stories that makes me avoid electronic safe locks at all costs.


LOL. I am a locksmith, and it seems like every Friday before deer season, I get a customer or 3 who came up north to deer hunt... but did not bring along their trigger lock keys.

BTW... This year's lost trigger lock key customer had a real nice Kimber.

Your story reminds me of a customer I had a few years ago. Electronic safe lock on a Cabelas gun safe failed.... the afternoon before the opening of bear season, and the owner had a new bear rifle (Marlin 1895G in .45-70) locked inside. It had to be drilled open, I got the call at 7pm from a friend who was a friend of the safe owner. "Can you help him, please.... now? He waited 10 years for the tag and only has the next 3 days off of work". Safe was open by 8:30pm.  Electronic safe lock was replaced with a Sargent & Greenleaf 6730 manual dial lock.
Link Posted: 11/24/2015 4:05:25 PM EDT
[#48]
Opening numbers are actually up overall this year.

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/hunt/documents/2015deerharvest.pdf
Link Posted: 11/24/2015 5:33:29 PM EDT
[#49]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Saw 8 deer today but either they were too far or too small.

Did manage to get this mangy coyote with the Mosin this morning

http://rs296.pbsrc.com/albums/mm169/kindew/20151121_100258_zpsa0dfsgza.jpeg?w=480&h=480&fit=clip
View Quote



I might be mistaken, but I thought we couldn't shoot coyotes during the gun deer season?
Link Posted: 11/24/2015 11:28:21 PM EDT
[#50]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:



I might be mistaken, but I thought we couldn't shoot coyotes during the gun deer season?
View Quote View All Quotes
View All Quotes
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Quoted:
Saw 8 deer today but either they were too far or too small.

Did manage to get this mangy coyote with the Mosin this morning

http://rs296.pbsrc.com/albums/mm169/kindew/20151121_100258_zpsa0dfsgza.jpeg?w=480&h=480&fit=clip



I might be mistaken, but I thought we couldn't shoot coyotes during the gun deer season?


Used to be the law you couldn't shoot them north of highway 10 (I think) during deer season, but they did away with that starting last year? or this year?

Maybe it's the DNR's way of doing a wink-wink-nudge-nudge for SSS on wolves?
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