Doe Hunting to be Banned in WI Northwood
Whitetail Deer
Naaah, wolves wouldn't have anything to do with declining populations:
"Lawmakers Propose Blanket Ban on Doe Hunting in Wisconsin’s Famed Northwoods After a dismal deer harvest in the Badger State's northern tier, Republican lawmakers want hunters to stop shooting does"
"The ban would go into effect immediately remain in place for four deer seasons"
https://www.fieldandstream.com/conservation/bill-would-ban-doe-hunting-in-northern-wisconsin/
I don't think the wolves will abide by the new law.
Yes, our wolves are dying of starvation. We may need to relocate some to the Madison area.
MN is way more sophisticated! We don't ban it. We just set the number of doe permits so low that you can't get one when you apply. Wolves don't have to apply.
Maybe institute an “Earn a Doe” program…….Shoot 3 wolves, and you get a doe tag the following season.
Awe cmon man, stop blaming those poor sweet puppies.
Haven’t you read how wolves actually Help wildlife and are good for our 21st century ecosystem. I mean I bet the beavers are doing great now right, and the rivers are changes for the better?
Sooner or later the powers that be will catch on that wolves are not funding the DNR it’s the hunters that are.
Yep- they ban doe hunting and deny that wolves have an impact on deer populations. "Last year's very severe winter is the primary determinant of the very low deer population." Never mind that the deer population was terrible BEFORE the severe winter, because of all the damn wolves! Fing DNR is delusional and so much of what they say/do is politically and agenda motivated.
Your wolf problem sounds like NJ bear problem.
Wi Gov and the WI DNR has devastated our deer hunting. From wolf intro, giving out way too many antlerless Tags and t zone hunts (doe only) to the dumbest thing I have heard with our earn a buck seasons several years ago. It's sad that my very first sit my first year bowhunting at 14 years old I had to let the biggest buck I have seen out hunting walk at 10 yds because I didn't earn my buck yet. Up Noth hunting is dead. Towns that once were packed during our gun season only see a handful of hunters. Yet the DNR and Gov won't admit the wolf problem....it's sad
The doe tags are already severely restricted in northern Wisconsin. I'm fortunate to have access to a property up there had has a very strong population of deer, but the doe to buck ratio is likely 25 to 1. Taking out even the limited doe harvest will just allow more to be eaten by predators or perish during harsh winters. It's simply a stunt by a politician.
Is it a wolf problem or a habitat problem? Here in MA we have a lot of mature forest and pine that just don’t support a lot of deer even without predators. I’ve never been to Wisconsin so I’m asking from people that know. If you have prime habitat it would support predation. If that is the case then logging helps.
Spike, Habitat is good. Plenty of forestry going on and plenty of browse. Past surplus of doe tags and then throw on an overpopulation of wolves and it is a perfect storm. Our DNR could care less as long as the tree huggers are happy to have wolves.
Its amazing g that you can look at some Canada outfitters who do wolf hunts and see lots of dead wolfs client shoot and yet they still have wolves? And deer and moose and bear. Lower 48 don’t have wolf hunts and plenty of wolves and when the deer start to disappear it’s hunters who are to blame lol our country is so messed up , no more common sense left .
Wolves definitely will be the biggest offenders… should be shot in spot for breaking the new law
I think t-roy has the best plan!!
UP of mich having same issues with declining deer population. some of it's predators, some of it is loss of habitat. maybe some weather cycles. we have plenty of does on private land in lower michigan. come shoot some.
Wisconsin is also lowering their Bear tags by 10 percent this Fall in the Northern part of state.
There is food up in Northern WI to support deer with the logging going on and other natural foods. There are not enough deer left to have a winter kill. The big problem would be that what are left get picked off easy by the wolves while in there winter yards. MN tried a study on there moose population decline. Not sure of the exact numbers, but I thought the warden I talked to said they collared 12 calves to find mortality rates. The study ended in a week or something because the wolves killed all of them.
The problem with the story of wolves is that the last chapter is titled “Too Late”
That is when the population becomes so small that the rate of reproduction is lower than the rate of mortality, due to predation.
"That is when the population becomes so small that the rate of reproduction is lower than the rate of mortality, due to predation."
Exactly Mule!!! This is what I see in areas with wolves and do not have much or any winter kill in WI.
When does this vote take place?
That’s the whole point of “re-wilding” and protecting apex predators. They want to stop human hunting.
Has nothing to do with sound management or helping prey species.
Wild wild plus 1. At least they want to minimize human hunters.
From talking to people and reading comments on other social media sites there are hunters that will not be happy if this northern wi doe ban passes because they hunt in areas this ban would include and they have decent numbers of deer including doe so they don't feel they should be restricted based on other areas that could have lower populations. I can understand their thoughts.
Personally I hunt in southern wi so this ban doesn't directly affect me other than I do believe it starts down a slippery slope having certain types of hunting banned due to some people's opinions that there's a "shortage" of that species, especially when other hunters that hunt the same basic general areas are not experiencing low numbers and have no complaints.
I think unfortunately this ban will pass, and if it does it will not do a bit of good as any low deer numbers anyone in northern wi might be experiencing would be 100% contributed to the wolf population as others have mentioned, not antler-less tag numbers or too many hunters or severe winters or anything else. The fact that almost no one is doing anything about wolves other than complaining and wolves are allowed to run free killing whatever they want while people watch and hope for help does not help the deer population.
I see that this bill passed the assembly and is off to the Senate. I agree that it probably won't have much impact since the overpopulation of wolves is completely ignored.
The pro wolf crowd repeatedly claims that wolves do not have an impact on deer numbers. At least this legislation may serve as some "proof" that deer numbers are down and hunters are willing to do their part to help solve the problem. Reducing and managing wolf numbers is necessary and long overdue.
The governor veto the bill, "In his veto message, Evers said he objected to the bill circumventing the CDACs, which "have successfully implemented bucks-only hunts in recent years due to concerns over low deer population estimates."
He said he was also vetoing the bill because he objected to "limiting the ability of the Department of Natural Resources and other public and private landowners to respond to local deer population levels. Deer distribution varies across the northern forest zone and effective management requires a variety of solutions to address locally overabundant deer populations. This bill would limit flexibility for landowners to address issues on their properties that may be influenced by unique habitat factors." BC
Yes, our Gov, the smurf!!! Not going to help anything if there are wolves in the area. Anywhere there are wolves in WI, the deer have declined to sad numbers, just what the anti-hunters want. The Good Smurf also vetoed the DNR to put a cap on the wolf population making there numbers unlimited.
There is nothing unexpected here, nothing.
My understanding is that there were many hunters that were contacting their reps letting them know that they did not want this to pass as they hunt in Northern WI and have no problem seeing and harvesting deer and this blanket ban would have prevented them from continuing to harvest doe which they feel the herd can sustain. When I put myself in their shoes I understand and agree with them, I would not want my hunting banned because someone else somewhere else down the road is not seeing and/or harvesting enough deer to make them happy. I do not support the current WI governor but on this one I think he made the right call, and I also believe he heard way more feedback from those hunters against this ban rather than for it.
In Alberta and BC, eliminating WT deer doe seasons would be considered a Pro-wolf management strategy.
Up here, in a effort to save endangered Caribou, enlightened biologists under the influence of "Woke" politicians used hunters to kill all the deer and moose in an attempt to starve the wolves. So you know, it is OK to kill deer and moose to save caribou, but not wolves.
The Wolves, despite what the biologists said would happen, still ate the Caribou.
