Ive seen 8 deer so far, all fawns..... Hunting in Marquette County

After today I have the week off. Considering going out looking for a doe, but I swore I'd never do public land around Milwaukee again. If I can find a spot that isn't swimming with people I'll go out mid-week.

Tips, directions, and field reports of hunter density appreciated.

Perfect conditions in Marquette county right no cool temps no wind yet no gunshots either, I've seen 2 does 1 fawn this morning.  All bow season 200 hours in the stand 75 last week alone and trail can pics tell a different story than the DNR.  I hope the neighbors take it easy on the does.

Tichigan is not completely over run. Sporatic shots through the morning around us. So far I'm thinking these deer have an under ground trail system.

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Dodge county reporting in. Saw 2 yearlings, heard a little shooting, Just about out of snacks.

Vilas county - saw a few does yesterday, but its bucks only up here.  Very little shooting - I heard maybe 5-10 shots that were likely to have been hunters.   Slow year so far, that's for sure....

From the thread title, I thought this was going to be about deer hunters who posted no CCW signs on their tree stands.

where abouts in dodge county. i was round fox lake . Got a fawn doe on sat , the wife got a small basket 8 , sis in law got a pretty good size nub buck and my brother inlaw got a good size doe. and today saw 1 buck and 6 doe's to far away that and they disapeared in the wild rice and red willows pretty quick

where abouts in dodge county. i was round fox lake . Got a fawn doe on sat , the wife got a small basket 8 , sis in law got a pretty good size nub buck and my brother inlaw got a good size doe. and today saw 1 buck and 6 doe's to far away that and they disapeared in the wild rice and red willows pretty quick


damnit hit the wrong button

I'm hunting in Vilas too... extreme S.E. corner, in Nicolet (about 10 miles SE of Eagle River). I heard the 1st shot of the day on the opener a little after 9AM!!! That's NEVER happened before in the 20 yrs I've hunted this area. Opening morning usually sounds like July 4th, and usually the shootin starts a few minutes "early". Betcha I didn't hear 15 shots all day. Sunday, I quit at 11:00, and went home to do my snow-plowing before the Packer game. Never heard a single shot fired between 6:00AM & 11:00AM. Went back out after game and sat til 4:45.... no shots. Heard one shot this morning, but it sounded like a pistol shot (someone likely shot a red squirrel with their carry gun ).

Yeah, about the same over here on Sunday as well.  Quiet year, that's for sure.  I'm back down in Milwaukee for work Monday-Wednesday, then headed back up Wednesday night.  Not sure how long i'll be staying up there.  At least if the weather is a little nicer out (which it seems like it will be) I can get some more work done around the property.

Trempealeau county here.
Saw 6 does and 2 bucks opening day in the AM. Dad shot one of the bucks. Didn't hunt in the afternoon due to freezing rain. Sunday AM I saw 4 does and the buck I shot.

Lincoln county - Hunted both opening day and Sunday.  I saw one little doe and heard a few shots a day.  I was hopeful for this year, since I got my "monster" last season out of there.

A few miles outside of Horicon. Its a small farm that isn't the best deer habitat, but they come thru regularly.

I was in Camp Douglas, tons of deer on the trail cams, step dad seen about 8 different bucks during bow season...

It was a different story this weekend, there are years that we have 3 deer on the ground before 9am.  I didn't see my first deer until 9:30am, it was a 6-8 point buck at about 150 yards, I had nice broadside shot, standing still,and could have shot it but it wasn't big enough for us... I will say that it was tempting considering I didn't see anything and no one else in our group of 5 had shot all morning.

Not much shooting going on either, it's like there was less people in the woods and no one was pushing them... It was 12:30pm until I seen my next deer a doe and dawn.  It only seemed like a medium sized doe, but after some discussion on the radio I decided to take it because we wanted to put some meat in the freezer.  Problem was that I waited too long and ended up having to take a 150 yards shot through some brush, it was the last chance I had at the deer... the dawn was directly behind the doe, I ended up hitting them both with one shot.  I really didn't want the fawn because we don't want to shoot young bucks!  Doe dropped like a bag of potatoes from the neck shot and front shoulder of the fawn was destroyed, it ran off on 3 legs though... took another shot to put the fawn out of it's misery when I got up to it.  Doe ended up being a pretty good size, and the fawn was a doe, so I lucked out with that.

Those were the only deer I saw in 8.5 hours of hunting on Saturday, and 2.5 hours on Sunday.... however I did see a wolf in the woods, though it was a coyote at first, then I got a better look and it was big, that is a first for me.

And because this is an AR15 forum, I was using a 6.8spc AR15 w/ SSA 85g barnes ammo...it's been awesome for the last 3 years.

Was up by Tomahawk for the weekend. Heard lots of shooting opening morning, some of it was pretty close by also. The 40 acres we hunt on isn't the best woods, and there isn't a ton of great deer, but there are deer and we hunt mainly for meat anyways.

My dads stand sits about 20 yards behind mine, he had a spike buck in his sights but had his scope zoomed in too far and was adjusting it when someone on the neighboring property let off a shot that spooked the buck who turned around and walked away before my dad could get a shot. I heard the deer that the neighbors shot come running through the woods to about where the property line is, then stop. A little while later I heard the neighbors coming through the woods in about the same spot, then heard one shout "here it is!". A little bit after that I spotted a big doe moving through on a trail to my left. Caught me off guard, wasn't positioned right in my stand to get a shot off, and as I tried to move she seemed get a little nervous. So I decided to just stay still and let her keep on the trail to where my dad was. She had a different plan though because she moved from that trail off to another one, my dad still saw her but he had a tough shot through brush to that trail. He tried, but missed, doe ran off. We went in for a lunch a little after that and came back out when the snow started to fall.

I was probably sitting in my stand for about 2 hours then, my hands were freezing since I had forgotten to bring my insulated gloves so I finally gave in and set my AR down across the walls of the stand in front of me and shoved my hands into my pockets. I closed my eyes and looked down at my feet as I enjoyed the warmth on my hands for a second, and when I looked up there's a yearling standing right where that big doe was earlier in the day. So I pulled my hands out of my pockets as quickly and quietly as I could, grabbed my rifle, popped open the scope covers, flipped the safety off and put the crosshairs on that deer. He was facing directly towards me munching on some grass, so I was waiting for him to turn to move down the trail, and when he lifted his head and took a half step to his right I let one rip right ahead of his left shoulder, through the heart, and out behind the right shoulder. He jumped up, hit the ground running and ran right in front of my dads stand, my dad took another shot while he was at a full run and the deer piled up right on the tractor trail that leads to our stands. Dads shot missed him too, he ran about 40 yards from where I shot him, lots of blood on the ground. This was my first deer ever.

Dad cleaned him out, said I shot the heart into 2 pieces, found out he was a buck when he cleaned him out. While we were cleaning him out we heard one of our hunting partners shoot, they got another buck yearling.

Sunday morning was dead quiet. No birds making noise, no red squirrels, no chipmunks, no wind, just pure silence. I heard maybe 2 shots that morning, both were a good ways off. Came in and watched the first 3 quarters of the packer game my dad and I then headed back out, except he was going to sit next to the cabin and watch the field, I went back to my stand. Once I was in my stand he walked through the woods to try and kick something up and send it my way. Said he saw about 4 deer that he kicked up but didn't have any shots on, none of them ever came by me though. Probably only heard a half dozen shots or so that afternoon though.

This morning was pretty similar to Sunday. While I was getting my gear on my dad stepped outside to smoke a cigarette and saw 3 deer about 100 yards away on the driveway. Told me to grab my gun and get out there, so I did, and when I came out they spooked and took off. I walked over real slow and quiet to see if I could spot one standing there watching for me, but they were gone. Walked back to the cabin then back out to my stand and sat for awhile. Told dad I would sit until I started to get cold then come back since he wanted to get going around 11 for the 4 hour drive back home. Sat until about 9:30, noticed a little more activity in the woods but there still wasn't much. Only heard a couple of gunshots again, although they were a little closer, so I decided it was time to head back in.

Saw a lot of medium does on the drive home, couple big ones. Only 1 big buck, couldn't count the rack but I'd guess 8pt, couple small spike bucks but that's it.

Seems like it was a little slow for everyone this year from what I've heard, oh well, maybe next year will be better.

Been thinking about "upgrading" one of my 5.56 ARs to something of a more "deer sized" caliber. I personally don't think 5.56 is enough gun. Others do. YMMV. Been thinking of a .450 Bushmaster (on sale at Cabelas). Won some cash last week in the lottery and haven't decided what to spend it on. I figure I got enough guns as it is, but this sounds interesting.

edit to add: I strictly hunt the northwoods, where shots are close.  So I'd prefer a bigger bullet over a long-range flat-shooter. My go-to deer rifle is a .45-70 Marlin 1895G.  In 40 years hunting up here, I've never taken a 100+yd shot. Most are under 50. Closest was a measured 11 feet, with a .45 Colt Blackhawk (stupidest fork-horned deer on the planet... he thought I was another buck. I had just shot the doe he was chasing, was tagging her, and he came back and charged me. I normally don't shoot anything less than 8, but it was self-defense ).

Go to the .458 Socom round that uses the same .458 bullets for your 45-70!
http://www.rockriverarms.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=252&CFID=178601014&CFTOKEN=42327775&jsessionid=f030d76ed5c429264122

I've been hunting unit 36 in Vilas Cty. and haven't seen much. Did see a forkhorn standing on the side of the road by my house opening morning, as I headed out.  Not a lot of shots heard but seemed to be more hunters out today than yesterday.  

What I really object to are all the deer hanging around neighborhoods in Woodruff.  Too many people feeding their 'pets'.

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

well, it works at short range too.  =)  .... but I know what you mean.

Columbia Co. here - Shot a decent 12 pointer 7am saturday morning, and while dragging it out I saw a monster typical 10 point just my luck I left my rifle 20 yards away leaning on a tree while I was dragging it out. The big one walked a half circle around me at 30 yards, it must have known I didn't have my rifle with me it wasn't scared at all.

I went out tonight again and passed on a doe that was with 2 of this years fawns. Those were the only 5 deer I have seen so far kind of a down year for numbers for me.

Dodge County...near Juneau
Got a nice sized doe Saturday 10:30
DNR aged it at 3 yrs

Saw 6 deer that morning.

 

Ammo availability & cost are a factor too. I checked the 5 on-line retailers I deal with most (Sportsmans Guide, CTD, Natchess, Cabelas, Midway USA). All have .450 Bushmaster in stock, only 2 have .458 Socom.... and the Socom costs double the Bushmaster. I reload, but brass and dies are the same situation. Much too late to do anything about this year's hunt. Maybe for next year. I need to do more research on the reloading aspect first.

I saw a couple of deer today crossing a field just outside of Mukwonago. They disappeared into the woods before I got a good look at them, but they were running hard like they had been pushed.