Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management It's that time of year again....

You can say that again. We hunted public land in Northern Wi. this year. The first day I sat in the chair, basically from sunup to sundown (I did get out to tag the doe) and counted 9 other hunters. Sunday was from 8:00 a.m. until sundown. Monday I sat in the truck because I forgot my rifle leaning against the garage at the house.

Day one my buddy heard a bullet whizzing by, no sonic "crack", so my guess is that the firing point was a LONG ways away. I had another hunter sit down not 80 yds from me, stay for about 15 minutes and mosey on. Another group of 2 walked right under my buddy's tree stand, acting like he wasn't there.

It felt good for the 3 of us to take 2 deer out of the area while the others only had track soup to eat.

Heading up to PA this morning for the opener of firearms season for deer there tomorrow... 800,000+ hunters all clad in orange invading the woods. At one time it was over 1 million hunters but deer numbers are down causing some to lose interest and many hunters are aging and the sport is slowly dying. But my dad, two of my good friends and I will be sitting in treestands tomorrow morning, waiting for the big one to come by. It is the greatest of all hunting traditions in my family. The opener of PA's firearms season. No better way to spend time in God's Country!

At one time it was over 1 million hunters but deer numbers are down causing some to lose interest and many hunters are aging and the sport is slowly dying.

Several factors at work here. One is the aging boomer pop. and also the dwindling amount of public land to hunt on. I am sure there are other inputs.

Wasn't the Deer Hunter set in Pa.?

Well, they are down in our WV county and the VA county adjacent to my land. But, the numbers are only down because all of my friends and neighbors, who went out, got plenty of deer. We are still seeing large numbers of them every morning and evening. Every one we butchered this season has been extremely healthy and fat. The two Virginia counties next to me (Frederick and Clarke) are excellent places to take deer. Frederick and Clarke Among State's Top Spots for Hunting

And, in the county where Travis (CJBS) I both work, it is crazy with deer. I think I read somewhere that the deer per square mile in Fairfax County VA is the highest in the nation. There is a large park/land tract near where I work where Centreville has a recorded population of over 400 deer per square mile.

In my 40 years in this region, I don't think I've ever seen larger populations. I'm not sure why the statistics keep showing that the numbers are down.

Good luck CJ! Stay safe.

I wonder if he wears his Kevlar vest under his jacket!

I've found two sets of entrails from field dressed animals so far. Neither of the two guys who have permission to hunt on me have done so yet, so evidently someone was here who wasn't supposed to be.

That's not to say that the animal wasn't shot elsewhere, and managed to jump the fence on to my property before going down. And, I would much rather that someone trail a wounded animal, and collect it, rather than it go to waste. So I am not upset, but it does make me wonder.

I haven't got up enough nerve yet, to walk the fenceline and check for damage. Just too risky.

This year in Wi. my buddy heard a bullet whiz by him on opening day. No supersonic crack. We were in pretty dense woods, and he didn't hear the gunshot, so I wonder just how far away the shooter was, and how far the bullet was from him.

I'm amazed that the bullet could travel much over 200 Yds in the woods that we were in.

He wears hunter orange bibs, jacket and hat; it's not like he isn't visible in the woods - sort of like a glowing pumpkin!

Maybe this would help.

But I doubt it seeing the people that were out there.

I read an article recently where a Marine sniper referred to 1200 yrds as the point where a round slows enough for the report to catch and pass the bullet. I would assume this figure differs for every caliber, load, etc. and that it goes subsonic well before that. I'd guess 800 yrds for a minimum but you could be talking miles if somebody shot at something on the top of a ridge or hill. That's why you aren't supposed to do that.

Kinda glad that I hunt mostly in shotgun-only country.

I ask that all be very careful. My brother and several cousins live just a few miles from the deer-season massacre that happened near Minong, WI in 2006.

All of the victims worked for Link Brothers (like in Jack Link Snacks). These were family friends. They didn't work in that exact part of the family business that makes the meat snacks, but it is still an extremely small business, and a very close community. Everybody knows everybody else, and everybody's cousin or in-law comes to all the local gatherings.

Please be careful. There are a lot crazies out there -- and a lot of crazies who don't understand the rules.

If you haven't been to one, multi-casket funerals are very difficult.

Ken, we were up there hunting when it happened, and were less than 10 miles away from where it happened. We were shocked when we heard about it that night and the following days.

2 weeks ago one of my friends was a guide for a whitetail outfitter 30 miles north of where I live. He went to pick up his client from the hunting blind at dark and when he touched the blind door to open the zipper the client shot him through the blind. Client thought he was being attacked by something. The bullet went through his hand and went into his stomach. The guide heard the client reload the rifle for a second shot but the quide had fallen backwards and scrambled a few yards to get away. On the way out the 72yr old client got the quadrunner and sleigh stuck and the guide had to push him out by hand after being shot with a .300 at point blank. He was airlifted 120miles to a major hospital.

Lost his thumb but he is recovering in hospital and doing good.

So the client thought a bear could unzip the blind eh? What an idiot! I think if you're more afraid of the animals then they are of you, one has no business even hunting.


I may have told this before but just in case I didn't here goes:

At the Maine fishing and hunting camp my dad and I fished at several years ago the owner said he had a group from NYC every year to hunt deer. He said they were loaded and had all the latest guns and a really nice 4 WD etc. But they were afraid of the dark in the woods! Said one night they stayed too late and had to drive back to the camp in the dark. The driver panicked on the way back and bottomed out the vehicle doing some damage.

Jeeze I'd feel as secure as a baby in crib in the woods at night up there and did. It's NYC at night that would spook me!

Jeez! Well, thank God your friend is gonna be alright.

That guy has no business hunting. He couldn't hear the ATV coming to pick him up?

I hope your friend pulls thru without any lasting complications.

Hunting on public ground in Wi. this year my other buddy had a deer run between him and another hunter. (they were walking towards one another on the same trail) When they got close, the other hunter asked my buddy why he didn't shoot? That's what is scarey out there - some people have no common sense and don't realize that once the trigger is pulled, there's no calling the bullet back.

We just had our first gun injury in the local area this week. One hunter couldn't tell the other hunter wasn't a deer and shot him in the leg. Even making the whole stupid thing worse, the guy who got shot wasn't wearing any blaze orange. I know that's utterly stupid, but probably no more stupid than shooting at something you can't positively identify! Lots of idiots out there for sure.

Well, I survived the first week of PA's firearms season. I didn't get a buck but my dad and good friend both got bucks on opening day. Hunting pressure was way down it seemed. Seems each year I hear less and less shooting and see less and less hunters. I remember in the early 90's the state game land parking lot next to our land would have 30+ vehicles in it opening day. Opening day this year it had 6. In 6 days of hunting where I pretty much hunted every legal hour. I saw a whopping total of 9 deer. Hunting these days in that area is very different than it was 15 years ago. In some ways for the good, in others ways not so good. Seems there is just enough pressure to make the deer go nocturnal, but not enough pressure to get them up and moving. I think next we've decided to stop relying on natural deer movement or other hunters to see deer and put on some drives ourselves.