Something happened to the deer in Grant & Crawford counties. I say it's blue tongue as well. This year I went bowhunting 22 times. I hunt on private ground in southwest Grant county. I didn't see a deer in 9 of those trips. In 5 of the 13 other trips I saw 1 deer. That is unacceptable and not what I'm used to at all. I saw 6 bucks total and only 2 of those were over 1.5 years old. They were both I'm guessing 2.5 years old, nothing big. I shot one of them on November 14th, a 9 point. I'm happy with that and lucky to have gotten one.

I gun hunt as well and on Saturday I saw 3 deer total. 2 small bucks I passed on and a doe. On Sunday I saw 5 deer total. 1 small spike and 3 does and a fawn. I passed on the doe, fawn and spike.The other 2 does were on the move. I won't shoot a doe with the low number of deer I'm seeing. I also don't want to shoot a small buck. The only exception on that is if it's late and I don't have a deer yet. I walked my butt off Sunday probably around 3 miles or more. I also went Monday morning for a walk at a couple of spots and didn't see anything.
The deer aren't there period. I don't care what the DNR says. I talked to the neighboring landowner Sunday night and he didn't see much of anything either and agrees the deer aren't there.

This morning at work I talked to a guy who hunts in Crawford on private ground just outside of PDC. Their group got 2 bucks and he saw 1 doe. His sister who lives on the farm they hunt told him a while ago the deer disappeared over the summer and early fall.

The DNR can make up excuses all they want but the weather was nice for opening weekend. Temps were about perfect and no wind. The deer aren't there in the numbers they say. If they have 2 brain cells they should be worried. People that are on the fence about keeping on hunting aren't going to bother buying licenses when they don't see anything to keep them interested. The number of hunters is dropping and this isn't going to help.

Here's another thing I'll bring up. This year I had the deadest rut activity I can remember. I never saw a buck on a hot doe and never heard any hot doe being chased around the woods like I have other years. I saw 2 bucks following 2 different does but they were just following not right on her like she was in heat. Around here it was the rut that never happened. It makes me wonder if the does got bred. Also I take time off work and am in the woods a lot in late October and early November.

Here is a nice comparison of opening weekends 2018 v. 2019: https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/documents/deer_Prelim9day_2018v2019.pdf

Badger23, have you had any trail cameras out? How was the activity on them?

I hunt northern Langlade county, no farmland within 15 miles, mostly hardwoods and hemlock swamps. So not exactly what I would call a habitat with a high carrying capacity for deer. This year we have had around 10 different bucks on camera, as well as a few different dow groups totalling around 8 or 9 antlerless deer. This all over an area around 160 acres at most.

We had 8 guys hunting most or all of the day Saturday and Sunday and I was the only one who saw any deer during legal shooting hours, one of the doe groups with 4 deer. If we didnt have trail cameras out, we would be thinking there are few if any deer around. Fact is it's a late season this year and lots of deer are hunkered down.

I don't get all the DNR bashing that goes on in Wisconsin. I've heard some griping from others about their state's equivalent of the DNR, but the vocal majority of Wisconsinites seem to have a hatred for the DNR and would never admit they ever did anything right. There was a whole thread on here not too long ago that went on for 3 or 4 pages of folks talking about all the regulation changes they would make in Wisconsin, and that's just trapping.

Every time the DNR makes a facebook post, no matter what it's about, there are always people commenting and complaining about one thing or another, whether it's related to the post or not. Almost every one of them is nothing more than an armchair biologist, with nothing more to back up their opinion than anecdotal evidence. "I hunted today and didn't see any deer. There must not be 2 million deer in the state."

I just don't get it. Rant over.

my great aunt hosts deer camp most years , she was having heart issues , but is like a new woman now with her pace maker and new valve.

my great uncle her little brother had to be moved to hospice care about 6 weeks ago. he died last Tuesday.

my son and I had made plans to go with my sons friend's family and some of the other boys from school. untill the young man broke his arm Wednesday before opener so then none of the boys were going.

I haven't not headed up hunting on Friday in 18 years and that was for the anticipated birth of my oldest daughter who was born weeks later , man was Friday hard funnerl a ferw days away and everything I did made me think about my uncle who I have hunted 26 of the last 28 years with.

we made the best of it and went out locally Saturday , it was ok. we saw 2 deer my son had a shot but only through some very thick brush so he passed.

My great uncle's funeral was Monday and after the funeral at the dinner I was talking with some cousins , and my son and I were invited out with a cousin this morning.

well I was ecstatic my son was able to bag a buck at around 7:30 this morning. but my cousin said we should do a little drive he had a 20 acre woods that hadn't been driven this year so he drove it to the little hay field and I picked up a nice buck.

then we loaded the 2 bucks on the mini van for the drive home.

How many counties do you think were really impacted by it? Surely it is devastating in small pockets, but guessing not that many in the big picture?

I can see those other items having a bigger impact. We have lots of crops up here, but I was lucky enough to benefit from some standing beans that the farmer couldn't get to. Deer been pouring into them and the cut corn field, but the bucks have been white. Decided to shoot a doe this afternoon and there was still 8 in the field when I took the ranger out to pick it up.

I don't have any cameras, I've never had one. I'm going off previous years which total 37 previous years hunting the same land (250 acres) and area. Corn and bean fields all around it so plenty of habitat plus creeks running through the property. In my area the corn and beans are out. The other guys that hunt on this land also didn't see anything much and I talked to the one guys dad on Monday and he said his son saw 1 doe on Saturday. He didn't talk to him Sunday night. So it's not just me that didn't see much for deer activity. The neighbor that I talked to Sunday night said the same thing. Something changed here from last year to this year. And I'll take peoples word that are actually out and my time that I spend in the woods in October and November over someone who drives a desk for a living. The fact is my area has far less deer activity. I also stopped one day and talked to the township patrolman in early November that I know and asked him flat out if he's been seeing many deer and he said not many. He's got quite a bit of time driving these roads early morning and he wasn't seeing much either. On my 14 mile drive to and from the land I saw far fewer deer this year than I have in the past as well.

https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/disease.html

Apparently our corner of the state is at the tip of this outbreak. Obviously EHD/blue tongue isn't responsible for the drop in deer kill statewide. All the conditions offered above certainly factored into it. However, one needs to talk to folks who have "boots on the ground" in this area to get a feel for what's happening with the deer herd in southwestern WI. Time will tell. Dead does don't make babies.

Comparisons 2018 vs 2019 statewide county by county.

https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/documents/deer_Prelim9day_2018v2019.pdf

Those are huge percentage drops from last year to this year. That is NOT going to help sell more tags next year at all.

Bowhunting this year I saw very little daytime activity. There are far fewer deer hits on the roads around here this year as compared to last year.

Where I do see deer, I see lots of them, like herds of 6 to 10. Seems they herded up before the rut even started around here and have turned nocturnal.

New this morning reporting that DNR said deer kill was probably down due to. Weather, standing corn crops, and how the Thanksgiving Holiday fell? Not sure about how that last one factors in. They said nothing about lower herd numbers anywhere in state. Only told which county had highest kill.


Mac

Thanksgiving was very late this year, which means that most, if not all, rut activity was over by the time gun season got here.

How many freezers have unreported deer in them? More than a few I'd wager. Not enough to account for a double digit drop in reported numbers, but does make one wonder how that honesty factor is working.

I'm sure that plays in a bit, but 25 to 30 percent pretty much statewide? I think there is something else going on, most likely a number of factors.

Those of us who hunt public lands have a whole different hunting experience than those who own/access private property. A significant drop in deer numbers county wide does not translate into equal numbers on private vs public lands. No solution in sight. It is what it is.

I hunt private land, and saw 0 deer during daylight. The land I hunt is near Mad city, so there a lot of non-huntable acres that the deer can occupy.

Not all private land is loaded with deer. Not all public land is void of deer.

Don't you have 5 days to register your deer? How can they come up with those figures from opening week end.

I'm one them like you hunts public land..Total deer seen for 3 days in woods including the buck I shot Saturday morning was 3.. Saturday I saw and shot the buck no other deer seen rest of the day. Sunday two deer and Monday none. There are 5 of us in the group and it was pretty much the same for all of us..Two guys seen none on Saturday my son who was couple hundred yards to north of me saw just a glimpse of the deer I shot..
Pretty sad in our woods and also very quiet. Even though there were two or 3 other small groups in same piece woods..

Anyone who has never hunted what they now call Central Forest land wouldn't understand it.. Even though I live in what is now the big buck farm land area. I've hunted my whole life in that Jackson, Clark County forest land.. Trust me it has changed a great deal in my 60 some years playing and hunting there.


Mac

Very true.
I saw 20 some deer on opening morning I filled my tag but only 2 of those deer were shootabale. Private land.

Not 5 days. Must be registered by 5pm the day after the harvest.

Stupid rule. Only for the bean counters. If you're in the "way backs" camped or in a cabin and out of cell phone range you just became a violater. Or you waste hunting time Sunday trying to find cell phone reception if you get a deer Saturday.

Well I tried every thing possible but I couldn't get It registered. Until Mon when I had to actually call the DNR and go through the process.