Gary Engberg Outdoors

gengberg November 30th, 2009

River Currents

The Nine-Day Deer Gun Season Ends, 2010 Deer Proposals, and a Muskie
Bonus Today, November 29th, the nine-day Wisconsin Deer Gun Season ended in all of Wisconsin. I spent much of the season registering deer in Sauk County at the Wilderness Fish and Game store which is a “hub” for registering your deer, buying hunting supplies, and seeing what’s going on during the deer season for Sauk, Dane, Columbia, and Iowa Counties many rural residents.The deer harvest in Sauk and Dane Counties was slightly below the registration numbers from the 2008 season with Sauk County having about 5% fewer deer harvested and Dane County registering 7% fewer deer. Columbia County had a decrease of 38% in its total deer numbers which included 43% fewer antlerless deer while the Iowa County registration was down 14% overall. The overall harvest numbers for the entire South-Central Region was down 21% in its deer registration. The South-Central Region includes all the above counties plus Dodge, Grant, Green, Jefferson, Lafayette, Richland, and Rock Counties which were down 21% for the entire region. Numbers for the state’s other regions were as follows; the Northern Region was down 16%, the Northeastern Region was down 31%, the West Central Region was down 28%, and the Southeast Region was down 19%. These figures are from opening weekend and will change as all the numbers come in to the DNR.
In talking with deer hunters from Montello, Wisconsin to Lynxville on the Mississippi River, there seemed to be one common thread that kept getting repeated by many of the hunters. The common thread was that hunters were not seeing as many deer as they have in previous hunting seasons. Despite the word from the DNR that deer numbers are still high in many areas, many hunters question these figures. Friends, like Daryl Christenson of Montello, reported to me that he hadn’t gotten a deer despite hunting hard every day. Joe Klinzing of Muscoda has a great farm managed for deer and his neighbors do the same by following the Quality Deer Management guidelines. Today, Joe and his neighbors drove hundreds of acres of woods without even seeing a deer. The Klinzing’s had only harvested only a few deer going into the weekend. Hunters do not believe that there are as many deer in the state as the DNR says there are and I believe that something should be done so that hunters have faith in the information that the Department of Natural Resources puts out. It’s impossible to appease all the hunters and some hunters are never going to be happy with the State, but there needs to be more cooperation if hunters and the DNR are going to co-exist.
Another thing that hunter’s have conveyed to me is that they are not seeing as many young does and yearlings. This could be the result of all the deer that have been harvested the last few years when antlerless deer permits were given away for most areas in an effort to reduce the growing deer herd and the spread of CWD. But, there are still hunters that have shot 6 deer with the numerous antlerless permits that have been available in much of southern Wisconsin. Another program that has lowered deer numbers is the abundant agricultural tags that have been given out to many farmers. I’m sure that many of the tags were warranted, but I know many were also abused. Many hunters have “assumed” that there was an unlimited number of deer in Wisconsin with the constant report of a deer herd well over 1 million deer. Now, many hunters and areas are feeling the results of unabated antlerless hunting. There was no doubt that there were too many deer in the state, but I also believe that some of the herd numbers may have been exaggerated in an effort to bolster hunting.
I don’t have the final numbers from the Gun Deer Season yet, but the numbers from the first week will most likely be higher than the rest of the hunting season. Usually, 60 to 70% of the deer taken in the gun season are harvested during the first weekend. Locally, opening morning had a thick fog until mid morning which hurt harvest numbers since their visibility was almost zero. Plus, there are many areas where the corn was still standing which give deer much more room for hiding and makes shooting much more difficult. In a normal year, 89% of the corn would have been harvested by now. But, only 59% has been picked as of this weekend which has made things more difficult.
The DNR predicted lower deer numbers this year due to lower numbers in areas of the state, fewer herd control units, no earn-a-buck units except in the CWD units, a lower fawn production the last two springs, and two tough winters in a row. But, I don’t think that anyone predicted the numbers and the harvest to be so low. Hunters must also remember that we have had so many different hunts, the Early October Antlerless Hunt, the Youth Hunt, bow hunting, the 9-day Gun Deer Hunt, the muzzleloader hunt, the Antlerless Holiday Hunt, and the re-opening of the bow season. All of these hunts have hunters out in the woods after deer and the continued pressure has forced many deer to become nocturnal and find areas of refuge where they can stay safe without hunter interference. Deer are smart and very adaptable animals and will adapt their routine during the hunting season especially when under constant pressure. I’m not trying to make excuses for anyone; I’m just giving some more reasons why people are not seeing deer.
New Deer Proposals for 2010

The Natural Resources Board will soon meet in Madison in early December to decide what the framework for the 2010 Gun Deer season will be. There were heavily attended public meetings in all parts of the state to gather input from hunters. The DNR had a special committee formed by the Natural Resources Board that that took recommendations from the public for alternatives to the earn-a-buck system. If the Natural Resources Board approves the recommendations of the “special committee” the deer season would be 16 days long as an alternative to the use of the earn-a-buck in areas outside the CWD management zone in the 2010 season. The season would open the Saturday before Thanksgiving holiday. Some of the other proposals for the 2010 Gun Deer Hunt include; extending the archery season through all gun seasons and extending the archery season until the end of January in herd control units, addition of a four-day October antlerless only statewide muzzleloader hunt, a four-day October antlerless only gun hunt in herd control units, a four-day youth hunt that coincides with the October antlerless hunt, a seven-day statewide December muzzleloader hunt, a four-day December antlerless gun hunt, and a ten-day buck plus quota holiday hunt in farmland and central forest deer management units. Go to www.dnr.state.wi.us/news/DNR for all the proposals for the 2010 deer hunting seasons. I hope that hunters like these new proposals, but in my many conversations with hunters most would like to return to the traditional 9-day season and eliminate many of the other hunts. Hunters believe that there are too many hunts and too few deer.
Keith Warnke, the DNR Big Game ecologist, says it is “an understandable reaction to creating additional hunting seasons is a concern that deer herds will be over-harvested. The safeguard against this is the existing quota system. Under this system the harvest of female deer is limited by permit to maintain populations at healthy, sustainable levels.” The proposal also calls for a unit by unit review of the effectiveness of any new season structure. In management units that are 20% over goal and the expected harvest under a third year of any new season structure is unlikely to bring the herd to within 20% of goal, additional harvest measures will be considered. I hope that these new proposals will help bring deer hunters and the DNR together working on the common goal of a healthy deer herd within the guidelines set by biologists and still meet the expectations of the average hunter. Hunting is about much more than harvesting a deer, but hunters want to know the real herd numbers and come closer to what hunting was before CWD and the many “special” hunts. Time will tell, but adding more seasons is not what most of the hunters that I talked to want in Wisconsin.

Muskie Anglers Get a Longer Season
A longer muskie season for anglers was approved this past spring during the spring hearings. The longer season in southern waters south of Highway 10 was initiated and guided through the process by the Capital City Chapter of Muskies, Inc. and Scot Stewart, DNR Fisheries Supervisor for south central Wisconsin.
The reasons for the longer season are many. First, there is zero or limited reproduction in southern waters. The fish are raised by the DNR and stocked in area waters, so there is no impact on spawning fish with a longer season. Second, the catch and release ethic and protective regulations means that 98% of muskies caught will be released and unharmed.
Also, southern Wisconsin lakes are freezing later in the year with Lake Monona now freezing about December 15 and Lake Wingra freezing about November 29. But, in the last 10 years the median freeze over date for Lake Monona has been December 28 and five times the lake has not frozen over till January. Normal weather is predicted for December, so there is a good chance that some of the Madison Chain will be open through the month for hardy, muskie anglers.
The local size minimum on Madison Lakes is 45 inches (1 fish) while most other waters in the southern zone are 34 inches. But, be sure to practice CRP or Catch, Photograph, and Release.
The last few weeks of November have always been the time for trophy muskies to be caught and it will be interesting to see if this continues into December. The largest fish of the year are often caught while the fish “bulk” up for the cold months of winter. There have been 5 documented muskies over 50 inches caught this year on local waters, so it will be interesting to see what the early winter muskie season brings? I know that my boat will still be water ready and I’m sure many others will be out fishing this new bonus season. Dress warm and be safe. Maybe, we’ll be fishing on Christmas morning! You may always contact me and send your photos to www.garyengbergoutdoors.com for website posting.

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