Price / Sawyer County Archery
Wisconsin
I am from Michigan and looking to put together an out of state hunt in Wisconsin. I am hoping to put in the work to turkey hunt, trail cam and early scout an area. I'm hoping to get a little bit of information from anyone who has experience in Price our Sawyer county. I practice QDM and am looking for an opportunity to get off the trail and find some 3.5 / 4.5 year old bucks. I'm not looking for anyone's favorite stand locations, but hoping to understand if the area has some decent opportunities if your willing to work. How is archery pressure? Does the grouse hunting effect the whitetail opportunities?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I doubt you will see much pressure in Sawyer county, especially if you can hunt week days. There are wolf in the county, I know there were at least 3 bear hunting dogs killed by wolf this past summer/fall. So don't expect to see too many deer. They did issue some doe permits this year after several years without any.
There is probably more public land in Sawyer County, but both have plenty of ground that rarely sees people and both have plenty of opportunity to find mature bucks. I will say it often takes a few years to zero in on them however. At least in my experience. Good luck.
Back in the eighties and early nineties we used to bow and rifle hunt the Moose Lake and Venison Creek areas of Sawyer County. (Note: these areas are east of Hayward, out St. Hwy. 77 a few miles.) I would imagine that today there may be wolves in the area, that's a negative factor for sure. That might be the first thing I'd check out before deciding on any particular area in the north country area. Our goal back then was to get onto older age bucks. We did, but it was tough hunting. Deer sightings and resulting shot opportunities were low compared to what we experienced in southern WI. It was challenging and adventurous but after about a decade of it, for a number of reasons, we then returned our major efforts to southern WI. We never encountered another bowhunter in the woods in our areas, but did see a few when we went into to town or to the lodges where we stayed. Even during rifle season the hunting pressure was low and we seldom encountered a hunter outside our group. The preceding is what I experienced thirty years ago. Hunting conditions probably have changed by now, but the only way you will really know is to explore the areas yourself. Good luck. Hunting the "big woods" will be an adventure!
I hunted a number of years ago between Drummond and Grandview. Like Case the hunting was tuff and deer sightings were low. But if you saw a few at least one was a buck. The odd thing though I don’t recall seeing the young bucks they were all respectable. At that time I wasn’t in to be passing up deer and never shot a deer under 120” there.
Always enjoyed hunting there. No one seen other than our group back in where we were. I have a painting in my house that looked very close like what my stand was back in there and takes me back every time I look at it.
I live in Sawyer County and have hunted here and Bayfield County for many years. The herd crashed a few years ago but is now back. Mostly due to two harsh winters, it will happen again but who knows when. The herd has rebounded in spite of wolves, not to the all-time high but still enough deer IF you do adequate preparation. Maps, photos and boot leather along with some trailcams. I saw a lot of 1.5-year-old bucks this year and many does with twin fawns. Archery hunting pressure is light until mid to late October then the bait piles show up and pressure goes way up. Gun pressure is moderate to high on the opener but drops off after that. December archery pressure is nearly non-existent in most areas but more Bobcat and song dog hunters running hounds then too. Hunting the big woods is a different type of hunting experience. IMO much better than any other this State has to offer.
Case, we probably ran into each other by venison creek. Our group used to camp under the sengwin line. It's big country up there, and some big deer. They are hard to find during the gun hunt, bow during the rut would be your best shot.
I had a deer camp in Bayfied County from 76 to 94,,,, it was off the Lake Owen Rd and we hunted Star Lake and Nymphia Lake, 18 mile creek area, west side of the Bibon.....
We just gun hunted it, and we shot a lot of big bucks, and some dandys,,,,, we were young, and we not only had great stand areas, we were all out humping, covering ground, and had no care, where we or the buck ended up.... Lot of bucks coming out at 9pm,,,,,
But back than, it was different, other than natural movement of wolves, their numbers were not there, to be an influence,,,, the forest service was doing and allowed to do, a great job, in managing the forest , no baiting was allowed, roads were not block off, it was nirvana...... but it came to an end
we could not take the atv use, the baiting, etc,,, one day I go to the store in Drummond, the corn bags are being piled up,,,, I knew it was over with,,,,, We also shot a lot of great bucks, south of that town..........
We left that camp, went to Ontario, to stretch our lakes, and thirst for big bodied animals,,,,,, Now I am in the UP, and hunt Florence Co and Forest Co, do not have the wolves, that are to the west......
I hope that area has recovered, its been a long road for the USFS, who is now turning things around,,,,, the wolves are out of control, no sugar coating that
