Posted: 11/21/2025 11:32:59 PM EDT
|
Good luck tomorrow! Be safe- already had a few injuries from tree stands and bows coming througn. |
Everyone near me in Nicolet east of Eagle River must be hunting with crossbows, or some damn good suppressors. I heard 4 shots total between 6:30am & 7:30am opening morning, all at a distance and from different directions.... then not another shot all damn day. I even had hearing aids in & turned up, because no snow makes crunchy leaves covering the ground, so hearing deer coming in heavy cover is just as likely as seeing deer coming. Nothing but some loud squirrels & crows... 
|
|
Heard some shooting yesterday, some this am. This afternoon it's quiet .must be because all the put of towners went home. Filled a tag yesterday, didn't see anything this morning. This afternoon should be better. Saw a lot of doe and 4 bucks yesterday . South East Douglas County |
|
Shot a nice coyote opening morning. Which probably didn't help my chances seeing a deer...but I'm not passing up a yote. Other than that, just slick heads. Haven't seen a buck yet during rifle season. Saw plenty during bow. Heard a LOT more shots this year than last few years opening day though. Sunday was very quiet in comparison. |
|
Its been dead here in the far north west. My deer only apparently want to come in at night. Not much for deer movement and when driving around I dont see much for hunters. Yesterday I drove on trails for 3 hours in the afternoon and only seen 1 truck. Usually I see a lot of people. |
Sometimes I wish we could just hit 'em over the head, rob 'em, and throw their bodies in the creek
| Has been really slow in Northern Marinette County. There is an obvious lack of hunters and shooting. 5 degrees this morning does not help. Have hunted every day in multiple spots but have seen only 4 doe. The snow helped to find a few deer tracks and it also revealed just how bad the wolf problem is. I said all fall the deer herd was down in numbers and the lack of hanging deer or even tailgate deer is proof. The DNR re structured the management units this year an issued more doe tags in our area (125) than I remember in years. The bow hunters were doing good during the rut with a few really nice mature bucks harvested but all in all I think our kill numbers are down. |
I've only hunted the first 3 days. Never saw any deer, heard very little shooting. Very few hunters in the area I hunt in, and I knew them all... is the only good thing about the situation. I had to take Tuesdsay off for doctor appointments for my wife (she fell on ice at work and broke her arm 3 weeks ago, can't drive yet). Then wednesday it rained, then snowed all day, I declined to go out & get wet. Thanksgiving we went to granddaugter's house all day, in Arbor Vitae. All the way there and all the way back home to east of Eagle River, I never saw a single deer, neither a live one nor any dead deer in the back of a truck or hanging anywhere. That is, until I pulled in my driveway and my headlights lit up half dozen bedded down behind my pole barn.  Hunter numbers in Eagle River area are way down. I hardly see anyone with blaze orange on. Not like it used to be. All the guys I hunt with have been out of town since tuesday & wednesday, gone for the holiday weekend. With my recent heart issues, wifey says "you're not going alone". I may go during muzzleloader season when my hunting buddies get back home. 
|
|
Hunting mid state. Seen 1 deer in 5 days. Opening day heard about 20 shots, 10 or so Sunday, about 5 each Mon, Tues and yesterday. Only seen 1 doe, bedded down. Granted my property is probably not that great. Hoping to get something tomorrow. I was bumping deer like crazy 2 weeks ago 
|
|
Originally Posted By dIIshoots: Has been really slow in Northern Marinette County. There is an obvious lack of hunters and shooting. 5 degrees this morning does not help. Have hunted every day in multiple spots but have seen only 4 doe. The snow helped to find a few deer tracks and it also revealed just how bad the wolf problem is. I said all fall the deer herd was down in numbers and the lack of hanging deer or even tailgate deer is proof. The DNR re structured the management units this year an issued more doe tags in our area (125) than I remember in years. The bow hunters were doing good during the rut with a few really nice mature bucks harvested but all in all I think our kill numbers are down. I hunted that area from 1982-1990. Used to be lots of deer around there. A guy I worked with bought 40 acres near Timms Lake, out on Kremlin road east of Pembine. (Kremlin Road is County R). It was surrounded by county forest land. He started up a deer camp with 6 of us, all roofers. He put 2 camping trailers (permanently) on his 40. They were up on blocks, axles off, so they wouldn't get stolen. I brought my own camper trailer, we slept two to a trailer. His uncle owned another 40 nearby that we hunted also. I stopped going after 1990 when I moved to Eagle River. He died back in about 2010, his wife sold the land soon after. AFAIK, I'm the only guy of the 6 from that deer camp still alive & kicking (I was the youngest guy in camp, in my 30s in the 1980s). 1985... I'm on far left with orange hat, that's my trailer to the right. 
|
|
Originally Posted By rfb45colt: I hunted that area from 1982-1990. Used to be lots of deer around there. A guy I worked with bought 40 acres near Timms Lake, out on Kremlin road east of Pembine. (Kremlin Road is County R). It was surrounded by county forest land. He started up a deer camp with 6 of us, all roofers. He put 2 camping trailers (permanently) on his 40. They were up on blocks, axles off, so they wouldn't get stolen. I brought my own camper trailer, we slept two to a trailer. His uncle owned another 40 nearby that we hunted also. I stopped going after 1990 when I moved to Eagle River. He died back in about 2010, his wife sold the land soon after. AFAIK, I'm the only guy of the 6 from that deer camp still alive & kicking (I was the youngest guy in camp, in my 30s in the 1980s). 1985... I'm on far left with orange hat, that's my trailer to the right. http://i.imgur.com/3EzmloSm.jpg Deer camp memories from 1970 still sharp in my mind. Some of those years with the party system, opening day was kinda like a war. My dad and uncle did not know how to deer hunt. The old mans rule was whistle with an empty 06 brass when you get on stand. My stand was on a rock. I lost my whistle lol. There were a few deer shot in our camp which is my house now, but I bailed in 74 to go hunt Washington island with some fellows that did know how to hunt. Life was easier then. Nothing legal to shoot seen today. Snow really reduced visibility and the powerline South of Dunbar had all 3 hunters in the area parked in my favorite spot. Oh well its county land and it happens. |
| For 50+ years, I looked forward to deer season and usually hunted all 9 days at our camp. Those days are long gone as are a lot of the guys from the shack. Since my wife and I started wintering in FL, I have only gone back a few times to hunt with one of my sons. At first I really missed it, but now, the thrill is gone, so to speak. The time spent at the shack (both were off West Lane near to where the Flambeau Lodge north of Tony was (is?) with the gang, was really more fun than actually being out in the woods. After the camps went the way of the dodo bird, it wasn't the same. Once we decide to stay north for the winter, I might try out a crossbow and get out with my boys again during bow season. Some things about getting old kinda suck. |
|
Originally Posted By dIIshoots: My stand was on a rock. LOL... me too. Don't know about yours, but the "rocks" where we were, sometimes exceeded 15-20' high. Boulder or "mini-mountain" was a better word for them. They were about the size of a 2 car garage.  I needed a ladder to get to the top of those I used, there were 3 on the 40 we hunted, and several more close by. Leftovers from melting glaciers I imagine. I made a ladder from an old TV antenna tower we removed off a roof on a re-roof job. It was two 10' sections that went together... cutting one side off from a 3 sided antenna tower made a nice lightweight 20' ladder, that I just left in the woods all year. It was on private property. Might still be out there, who knows? 
|
|
Originally Posted By kapusta: For 50+ years, I looked forward to deer season and usually hunted all 9 days at our camp. Those days are long gone as are a lot of the guys from the shack. Since my wife and I started wintering in FL, I have only gone back a few times to hunt with one of my sons. At first I really missed it, but now, the thrill is gone, so to speak. The time spent at the shack (both were off West Lane near to where the Flambeau Lodge north of Tony was (is?) with the gang, was really more fun than actually being out in the woods. After the camps went the way of the dodo bird, it wasn't the same. Once we decide to stay north for the winter, I might try out a crossbow and get out with my boys again during bow season. Some things about getting old kinda suck. I hear ya on the "thrill is gone" part. I used to hunt all 9 days too, and 4-5 in muzzleloader season too. I couldn't wait for deer season. Never in my life have I ever worked a day during the WI gun deer season. It was all 9 days in the woods, except for 4 years in late 80s, when I'd go home from Pembine on wednesday night. I'd have Thanksgiving dinner with family, then friday morning I was off to Olive Branch in southern Illinois, with a another group of guys, for a 4 day goose hunt. I miss that just as much as deer camp, even though I only went 4 years before I moved north and was now 800 miles away. The lack of deer up here, and all the guys getting old, has severly curtailed our deer hunting. I'm the oldest now still alive at 75. Others left are brothers, ages 69 - 67 - 64. Their dad hunted into his 80s, he just died earlier this year at 95. Then there's 2 of their sons in late 30s/early 40s. They've got familes of their own, jobs that they must be at come monday, so they only get opening weekend to hunt now. Hunting has been so poor in the only area they've hunted since they were old enough to shoot a rifle, they're losing interest too. Smart thing to do would be find a new area to hunt, but it's bad everywhere up north. I've hunted the same area 35 years, 40+ for the brothers... we know every stump, every swamp, deer trail, every food source, bedding area, even a few bear dens... too late for us old farts to try and learn all that in a new area. If there is a better area close by that's public, there's probably guys already hunting on it. We could start a new camp on my daughter's 62 acres in the U.P. and hunt on private, it's only 35 miles away. But that's a $171 non-res deer license and I've hunted it 2022-2023, there's less deer there than here. Sad to see such a great tradition die out...
|
| Yup. I'm just glad we had the times we did. A lot of memories made there. Sometimes I go through the pics from back then and read through our camp log we kept wondering where the time went. The time of the deer camps is pretty much gone but what is there to replace them? I envy those who can still keep it going, but it's getting harder every year. Every time one of the younger guys looses interest, there's a trickle down effect on the upcoming crowd. Oh well, just gotta make the best of the time left and try to give the grandkids as much exposure to things other than cell phones, lousy music and lousy teachers. |
| Wife and I hunted in Door County. Our land is usually productive. This year was very quiet all week until the snow hit yesterday. Didn’t see a buck all week. I shot two doe in the snowstorm yesterday right at the end of shooting hours. Wifey shot a doe on thanksgiving and her first buck this morning. A small one-horner. |
Bro, I stayed in the Marines for 26 years and been to cola warrior like 10 times, I'm all about bad decisions. -HDLS