I wonder where the state line is?

[Jameson]

Then I guess we just have big deer up here, the bucks would be large too if they got to live that long.

They sure would, but if man doesn't kill them in the fall, Ma Nature does a number on them on winters like this one. It is amazing to me that any bucks survive winter when entering it being worn down from the rut. Something the does don't really have effect them.

[SmellEsox]

I know WI and MI have wolves. I highly doubt Illinois has the habitat to support wolves.

[92python]

Ssmith, is there anything you do agree with the DNR on? If they told you it was cold today, would you argue with them too?

As much time as you spend critiquing everything thing they do, every model they use and every decision they make, have you ever considered applying for a job there? Whatever you do for a day job, you're obviously not as passionate about it as you are about how the deer herd is managed...

So cynical.....Cold got you down???

[Lunker]

20ish years ago we had severe winters and the herd dropped. Strict management and mild winters saw the herd and harvest climb to record numbers 10ish years ago. Add in years of over generous limits, a growing wolf herd, and now more severe winters the herd is going to be really suffering and has been. So now hopefully we'll have some mild winters in the future, probably with strict management and hopefully some more wolf control, and it will probably climb again. I'm no DNR apologist but it's not an exact science, and something they are trying to figure out constantly.

I hunt both states. WI has far and away better hunting on average, but the states are not equal as far as habitat, forage availability, wolf population, climate, etc. And most on this side of the border are complaining the last few years as well because of mis-management (over generous limits like MN) and of course weather and wolves. But the latter two are not as extreme as MN.

[smsmith]

I hunt both states. WI has far and away better hunting on average, but the states are not equal as far as habitat, forage availability, wolf population, climate, etc. And most on this side of the border are complaining the last few years as well because of mis-management (over generous limits like MN) and of course weather and wolves. But the latter two are not as extreme as MN.

I'd agree with that statement on an "average" scale. However, there are plenty of areas in WI that have more extreme weather and more wolves than plenty of areas in MN. Would you agree?

If you are comparing the Arrowhead to say...north central WI, then you'd be correct. If you're comparing "true central" MN to the Lake Superior snowbelt in WI...then not so much.

[LABS4ME]

Agreed! I hunt north of Danbury in Dairyland. I'd say the wolves and the weather are on the extreme end in regards to either state! At one point, the land I hunt on was noted by the WI DNR to have the largest wolf pack in the State. It showed over a 3 year span in which most of the deer were killed or run off the property. The wolves eventually left and the herd Has been rebounding. Last fall I heard two differnt packs on neighboring properties at dusk. My guess is they will again be moving in to feast on the rebounding herd...

As far as weather... it has been as cold as any area in MN and the snow is so deep, snowshoes hardly help. The deer stay yarded up in the bigger green swamps and ride it out, but they become easy pickings in there for the wolves. It's tough business being a deer in NW WI.

Good Luck!

Ken

[Lunker]

smsmith,

Absolutely you are right, but yes I was referring to the average. There are some really extreme snow/weather areas in WI, but a much larger portion of MN is "north woods" (i.e. cold, high snow totals, lacking ag food sources, wolf filled).

[laker1]

Most of Wisconsin is not Much farther north than Brainerd,you look at most years of deer winter-kill,they start north of Brainerd,a couple weeks of winter at each end of the seasons is huge as far as survival.

Comparing deer states is so much different with habitat varing so much.