Big Woods Not As Bad as People Say

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ihookem
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Re: Big Woods Not As Bad as People Say

Unread postby ihookem » Fri Dec 17, 2021 1:39 pm

I just have some questions, and the answers might even be insulting. The truth is, I have not seen a buck in the gun season up in Price & Sawyer co. sinse 2009. I cant crack this nut up there. The only thing is there is a camp with about 6 to 8 hunters there about 1/4 mi. from me. They start baiting opening day of bow season. By the end of bow season they have several bucks already. Opening day, they always seem to get a buck. I hesitate to say it, sounds like I ma making excuses, but that has to be the problem. Some have also been caught poaching in 2012 also . Makes me wonder if I sould just leave the area and go about 10 miles away and try to see if it seems any better. It is no doubt the wolves too however.


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1STRANGEWILDERNESS
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Re: Big Woods Not As Bad as People Say

Unread postby 1STRANGEWILDERNESS » Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:50 am

ihookem wrote:I just have some questions, and the answers might even be insulting. The truth is, I have not seen a buck in the gun season up in Price & Sawyer co. sinse 2009. I cant crack this nut up there. The only thing is there is a camp with about 6 to 8 hunters there about 1/4 mi. from me. They start baiting opening day of bow season. By the end of bow season they have several bucks already. Opening day, they always seem to get a buck. I hesitate to say it, sounds like I ma making excuses, but that has to be the problem. Some have also been caught poaching in 2012 also . Makes me wonder if I sould just leave the area and go about 10 miles away and try to see if it seems any better. It is no doubt the wolves too however.



Most places I hunt people put out bait by the tractor scoop.


If you always see bucks hanging, you know they are around. My guess would be they have created the destination for that area. Alot of the remaining woods is a dead zone. I find the heavily baited areas may hold deer nearby but the bigger bucks and a lot of deer in general really are most likely bedding 700 + yds away and hitting that destination zone at night. If they are running bait they are putting a lot of pressure in that area and kicking deer off piles at dusk and dawn a lot. Look for some sort of transition that runs into that area. I bet you’ll find a lot of sign leading in and out.

I’m sure it varies with terrain but in my experience these guys will have a major gravitational pull on the area. Drawing deer from up to 1 mile away. In springtime If they are on private, walk the perimeter and backtrack the trails heading in and out. If they are on public go right to the spots and back track it all. I would also run some cameras during season on the trails leading into their area. Place them up high where people will be less likely to notice them.

Backtracking these type of areas I have picked up on some very subtle terrain features the deer use. Things that didn’t really pop out on a map.
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dan
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Re: Big Woods Not As Bad as People Say

Unread postby dan » Tue Dec 21, 2021 4:11 am

Im sure hunting big deer has been impacted in Northern Wisconsin, but, with that said, its human nature for guys to justify their lack of success with a story about how nad they have it... For example, I had heard over and over how bad the hunting was in mid-Michigan and when I got there and hunted I was quite impressed with how great the hunting was... Another thing they do is talk about how great someone else or some area has it over them.. Like, saying the reason so and so is doing better than me is cause they live in iowa, or wisconson, and I live in this crappy area... Its physiology 101...
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Re: Big Woods Not As Bad as People Say

Unread postby Findian » Tue Dec 21, 2021 10:12 am

ihookem wrote:I just have some questions, and the answers might even be insulting. The truth is, I have not seen a buck in the gun season up in Price & Sawyer co. sinse 2009. I cant crack this nut up there. The only thing is there is a camp with about 6 to 8 hunters there about 1/4 mi. from me. They start baiting opening day of bow season. By the end of bow season they have several bucks already. Opening day, they always seem to get a buck. I hesitate to say it, sounds like I ma making excuses, but that has to be the problem. Some have also been caught poaching in 2012 also . Makes me wonder if I sould just leave the area and go about 10 miles away and try to see if it seems any better. It is no doubt the wolves too however.



Honestly why haven’t you moved yet. I just took a 100 mile loop today in bayfeild co. Found an area just full of deer tracks crossing the rd. Went in and kick up two does right off the bat. Found lots of buck sign. I told myself I will be checking this area out come next fall before the average joe gets out in the woods.
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Re: Big Woods Not As Bad as People Say

Unread postby BCD » Thu Dec 23, 2021 4:12 am

We hunt Washburn, Burnett, Barron, and a little bit of Douglas. I would say overall the hunting is really poor. We have hunted these areas for about 40 years and it is still hard to see ANY deer many times. That said, we work very hard at it and are consistently successful in filling the freezers but not necessarily with big bucks (although we get one now and then). You can walk a lot of days and a lot of miles and find nothing worth hunting but there are pockets of deer activity. My challenge is being efficient in finding those pockets as they are extremely difficult to find. So difficult that some hunters around us are quitting as they don't feel it's even worth trying anymore.
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Re: Big Woods Not As Bad as People Say

Unread postby Bay-fieldBowhunter » Thu Dec 23, 2021 4:24 am

Findian wrote:
ihookem wrote:I just have some questions, and the answers might even be insulting. The truth is, I have not seen a buck in the gun season up in Price & Sawyer co. sinse 2009. I cant crack this nut up there. The only thing is there is a camp with about 6 to 8 hunters there about 1/4 mi. from me. They start baiting opening day of bow season. By the end of bow season they have several bucks already. Opening day, they always seem to get a buck. I hesitate to say it, sounds like I ma making excuses, but that has to be the problem. Some have also been caught poaching in 2012 also . Makes me wonder if I sould just leave the area and go about 10 miles away and try to see if it seems any better. It is no doubt the wolves too however.



Honestly why haven’t you moved yet. I just took a 100 mile loop today in bayfeild co. Found an area just full of deer tracks crossing the rd. Went in and kick up two does right off the bat. Found lots of buck sign. I told myself I will be checking this area out come next fall before the average joe gets out in the woods.


Couldn’t agree more don’t be afraid to move around there a lot of people up here in the north have their set spots and areas they treat public land like it’s private but you would be surprised some of the spots you can find by just crossing water or going to a spot that doesn’t have a logging road through it
ihookem
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Re: Big Woods Not As Bad as People Say

Unread postby ihookem » Mon Dec 27, 2021 2:12 pm

The truth is, I have had my land and cabin there for 33 yrs. It was a joy hunting there and there was fair deer hunting there. We dont go far, only about a mile radius of our cabin . After about 10 yrs. , thinking and hoping it will get better , it has not. That is why I stuck around. There is nothing like walking out your cabin door and not have to jump in your truck 5 , 10 miles ore further. That has been my deer camp for 33 yrs. It is hard to just walk away. As for making excuses, I am not making any. I hunt SE Wis. too, and I see deer about 50% of the hunts from late October up until gun season. I get a deer about every other year about 5 miles from my house. I am , I guess am wondering if this is normal for the northwest part of the state on public land with NO farms anywhere except one, that is 3 miles away. I will be 59 yrs old next May and am going to be looking around a lot more, It will likely be Bayfield co. Wis. , Delta co. Michigan and likely NE Missouri . All will be public land scouts to find other places to hunt. As for the west Price co . Wis. and the Flambeau River State Forest, I can walk for several miles before even finding a buck rub . I only know of 2 buck rubs from this year . It took me 4 miles to find them too. I didnt even find a fresh scrape in the dirt this year . My son saw 2 does and I saw one cross the river during gun season. That is 3 deer ( likely the one I saw was one that he saw, so , likely 2 different deer seen. We did not hunt much up north again, cause back home we almost always see more deer , even on high pressured public land. I'm not complaining , I have the money to buy a very nice chunk of land anywhere, but I wont spend that kind of money for a few deer however. We will see what happens. Might go to the cabin next weekend . They are logging 66 ac. across the river and would like to see what kind of sign there is when it's being logged.
ihookem
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Re: Big Woods Not As Bad as People Say

Unread postby ihookem » Mon Feb 21, 2022 8:11 am

How is the snowcover up there this year??


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