Nick87
Well-known member
Took 3 seconds to look up one small example. Time is better spent hunting for big foot I guess.
Wisconsin Wolf kill reaches 50% of statewide quota after first day of season; DNR to close three zones
- Thread starter cheeser
- Start date
Took 3 seconds to look up one small example. Time is better spent hunting for big foot I guess.
And all of the spendy cars I see in line for food on the news (both flavors) couldn't use some food? Maybe they don't like deer meat. Masks on of course. mtmuley
SAJ-99
Well-known member
Yeah, your right. You never did. That would be step up from just saying “Bullshit” when someone posts info.
Shangobango
Well-known member
Really?
I can get 6 deer tags with all the necessary licenses and permits to hunt with any legal weapon on public ground here for $65 bucks. I have 30,000 contiguous acres of public ground that starts 5 miles to the north of my house and almost 60,000 contiguous acres that starts 5 miles to the south.
Just because you don't know people that can or are unable to yourself doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
It is not as common as it used to be for families around here to get a large portion of their red meat from deer but it is hardly rare.
There are some pretty snarky comments here about others lack of understanding when it comes to this topic that seems to assume that us lowly non-biologist types aren't capable of understanding something as complex as population dynamics. I call bullshit on that.
Have a nice night.
Man, the view from some of your high horses must be fantastic.
I have personally handled hundreds of deer that were donated both directly to needy families and to food banks/shelters. I have seen grown men who have fallen on hard times brought to tears when the tailgate drops and 60 lbs of clean, lean, and free venison gets handed to them. I've seen the gracious look on the faces of food bank volunteers when 200 lbs of meat get dropped off for them to distribute to the community. I've given injured war veterans venison who hadn't been able to hunt since they had their legs taken from them overseas. To imply that there is no one out there that needs the meat or that people who donate venison to others is wrong is completely asinine and quite honest, embarrassing.
I have personally handled hundreds of deer that were donated both directly to needy families and to food banks/shelters. I have seen grown men who have fallen on hard times brought to tears when the tailgate drops and 60 lbs of clean, lean, and free venison gets handed to them. I've seen the gracious look on the faces of food bank volunteers when 200 lbs of meat get dropped off for them to distribute to the community. I've given injured war veterans venison who hadn't been able to hunt since they had their legs taken from them overseas. To imply that there is no one out there that needs the meat or that people who donate venison to others is wrong is completely asinine and quite honest, embarrassing.
Google says they exist... or Google says Wisconsin DNR say they exist.
"According to the Wisconsin DNR, hunters have donated more than 90,000 deer since the program started. Those deer have been processed into more than 3.7 million pounds of ground venison and then distributed into one pound packages for food banks."
Wisconsin food pantries look for deer donations to help feed families in need
APPLETON (WLUK) --For the last two decades, 'Hunt for the Hungry' has been keeping the coolers of Wisconsin food pantries stocked with fresh meat for families. "Hunt for the Hungry is a program where hunters can donate a whole deer to a processor or drop it off here at Paul's Pantry or we'll get...
fox11online.com
get-n-birdy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2016
- Messages
- 198
Uff dah, from Minnesota, a state with a pre-pup wolf population of 2,700, in basically a 1/3rd of the state in the ne corner.
My dad and I bought a 40 acre parcel 15 plus years ago by the Zax-Sim bog birding area. We've worked with the nrcs and dnr to improve sharptail grouse habitat on our property that adjoins tax forfeited land and some state forest land that is an island of habitat for sharptails. As well as working on improving the habitat with chainsaws, a tractor, 5 kids, and friends and family. It's prime wolf country. The first year we owned it, it was special to see a wolf track or 2. Deer numbers and hunter numbers were high in the beginning. Habitat work increased deer use as well as doe/fawn sightings and on trail camera pictures. That was the old film tcams. Wolf numbers increased. Then a bad winter or 3 reduced the deer numbers drastically. One year we only had a single doe with a fawn on the property and only had one other image of a single buck once on the worst year on tcams. That doe kept that fawn alive with wolves on it's heels constantly off trail camera images. My feelings towards wolves in general are one of respect and confusion with how they are worshiped or demonized.
Had a bear hunt ruined by a wolf pack that was so brave it was unpalatable over the course of a week. After seeing bear hair in wolf scat and talking with the local co was eye opening to the frustration wolves cause on many levels. But one thing a co reiterated was, they will eat themselves out of house and home eventually. He absolutely knew from experience what he was talking about from applicable hands on knowledge of what actually happens when their numbers peak past carrying capacity.
Fast forward and after giving up on deer hunting the area, yet continuing working on habitat, the wolf numbers tanked. No more tracks or scat. Tcam captures went down with more and better trail cameras that are left out 24/7/365. Run over 12 tcams just on the 40 acres with external batteries with solar panels and it was normal to get to know each individual wolf in the area and they were regular visitors. Then it was months and there might be a tail here, then 8 months and a pair of wolves I'd never seen before showed up once. Fox numbers exploded, coyotes were more common. Deer numbers climbed with more average winters and better fawning seasons.
Am no expert, nor do we live in wolf country, but after watching from a distance with some experience, habitat draws critters and that brings predators, human and animal varieties. After being acclimated to seeing wolves, seeing a friend hunt and eventually harvest one in the first season, getting to hunt them in the second season and then seeing the wolf population tank, it's been an odd journey. After being over run with them, it was hard to see years with no sign, limited sightings and hearing no howling. When they were there, it was very frustrating dealing with packs trying to come through camp with the family around a camp fire in the dark, they had zero fear of you, that was a very bad thing for them in the long run. Locals became very intolerant of that and I do not blame them, and completely understand the frustration with to many problematic encounters to list. Do not believe in sss, but after the rug was pulled out and they were relisted, that did more damage than good for the species. Can remember a specific time I hadn't seen a wolf, track, scat, tcam image for a long period of time. The road leading into our property was a major sign post for territories and at the peak of their numbers in our immediate area, the 1/4 mile drive in it was not uncommon to see a dozen or more fresh scat piles and it looked like a dog park in the moist soil ne mn is famous for. As I looked and walked the rest of the day by myself, it struck me how in a strangely unpleasant way, I missed those tracks and scat piles. Maybe not the quantity of them, but felt the quality of something was missing. Missed seeing the alpha female we nicknamed saddles and the big alpha male that was the silver surfer because of a wicked cool silver back contrasted by a black outline. Or what happened to their pups or the rest of their pack. Even through all the irritating times dealing with them, they became a part of me and my family. Our history was intertwined. Can remember my grandmas stories, who grew up in far nw mn, who had a brother who climbed a tree to get away from a pack walking home from school in the winter and almost froze to death. Luckily the adults went out and found him in the tree with a pack of wolves at the bottom still. If that would have been my kid, I'd have shot everyone I ever saw after that, especially being farmers and cattlemen. I don’t have that hatred for them, yet am also aware of how they affect things on the ground on some level. If you look up Minnesota wolf hunt, by storm widgeon on hunt talk, I'm the land owner in that story who was a little reluctant to be named. The wolf he shot is sitting on wood I'd cut that fall trying to improve deer, grouse and woodcock habitat. My dad who just turned 87 was an avid pheasant hunter, who grew up in southern mn in the heyday of pheasant populations and he got to see that wolf in person sitting on the wood pile. He's a dog lover to and it was interesting to see one up close and be able to inspect it. My brother and I grew up hunting waterfowl and pheasants with our dad. Knowing the issues with habitat loss that have heavily influenced and inflicted serious damage to both pheasants and waterfowl habitat, he's always talked about habitat loss as being the biggest problem facing hunting more than anything. In good habitat you have critters. In areas with critters you have predators. Critters can and do avoid predators and are very good and adaptable at doing so. Bare none in Northern mn winter is the biggest predator of all on deer, with bad fawning conditions being second. Bad winters equates to fewer deer. A few bad ones in sequence equals less food for predators. The cycle continues in ne mn and wolves have been part of that landscape for longer than any other state in the lower 48. With the highest number of any of those states by far.
My biggest concern in all the wolf conversations I've had over the years is people and their perceptions of other people. Have talked to people on both sides and have at one time or another leaned one way or the other. Before buying property in wolf country had zero desire to hunt them. Own dogs and love them. Have run grouse dogs in wolf country and never had a single encounter. After dealing with wolves to some extent, I did hunt them with a tag in my pocket and would have probably pulled the trigger if given the opportunity. Wouldn't have posted any pics of it on anything online and would have struggled not eating it. It wouldn't be an easy, pump my fist, hoot and hollar type of ordeal. Especially seeing their numbers fall to the numbers they did. But in the same breathe wouldn't grind an axe to death against others who took part in a legal activity. It's a complex, emotional issue, that I see both sides of and am still trying to figure out my own path digesting it all. Wish I could live in a constant box dealing with issues. Have had a strong sour taste in my mouth dealing with wolves a lot of times, yet an empty place in my heart when they are absent. The one thing that troubles me most is how people can have a hatred or undying love for an animal they've never seen or had any applicable experience dealing with other than the zoo that is Yellowstone or folklore stories about how wolves decimate deer herds. Fall somewhere in the middle of a narrative where you either have to be all for extermination or all for unbridled blissful ignorance thinking Yellowstone is the real world of how nature and man should exist in our modern world where there can be no mitigation when those 2 worlds collide, especially from people who live in urban areas suffering from urbanized guilt.
Really sad to see and sucks hunters are so prolifically effective at attacking each other. Reminds me of a wolf licking the trappers knife and drowning in it's own blood. Anti-hunters won't be our demise, we will.
My dad and I bought a 40 acre parcel 15 plus years ago by the Zax-Sim bog birding area. We've worked with the nrcs and dnr to improve sharptail grouse habitat on our property that adjoins tax forfeited land and some state forest land that is an island of habitat for sharptails. As well as working on improving the habitat with chainsaws, a tractor, 5 kids, and friends and family. It's prime wolf country. The first year we owned it, it was special to see a wolf track or 2. Deer numbers and hunter numbers were high in the beginning. Habitat work increased deer use as well as doe/fawn sightings and on trail camera pictures. That was the old film tcams. Wolf numbers increased. Then a bad winter or 3 reduced the deer numbers drastically. One year we only had a single doe with a fawn on the property and only had one other image of a single buck once on the worst year on tcams. That doe kept that fawn alive with wolves on it's heels constantly off trail camera images. My feelings towards wolves in general are one of respect and confusion with how they are worshiped or demonized.
Had a bear hunt ruined by a wolf pack that was so brave it was unpalatable over the course of a week. After seeing bear hair in wolf scat and talking with the local co was eye opening to the frustration wolves cause on many levels. But one thing a co reiterated was, they will eat themselves out of house and home eventually. He absolutely knew from experience what he was talking about from applicable hands on knowledge of what actually happens when their numbers peak past carrying capacity.
Fast forward and after giving up on deer hunting the area, yet continuing working on habitat, the wolf numbers tanked. No more tracks or scat. Tcam captures went down with more and better trail cameras that are left out 24/7/365. Run over 12 tcams just on the 40 acres with external batteries with solar panels and it was normal to get to know each individual wolf in the area and they were regular visitors. Then it was months and there might be a tail here, then 8 months and a pair of wolves I'd never seen before showed up once. Fox numbers exploded, coyotes were more common. Deer numbers climbed with more average winters and better fawning seasons.
Am no expert, nor do we live in wolf country, but after watching from a distance with some experience, habitat draws critters and that brings predators, human and animal varieties. After being acclimated to seeing wolves, seeing a friend hunt and eventually harvest one in the first season, getting to hunt them in the second season and then seeing the wolf population tank, it's been an odd journey. After being over run with them, it was hard to see years with no sign, limited sightings and hearing no howling. When they were there, it was very frustrating dealing with packs trying to come through camp with the family around a camp fire in the dark, they had zero fear of you, that was a very bad thing for them in the long run. Locals became very intolerant of that and I do not blame them, and completely understand the frustration with to many problematic encounters to list. Do not believe in sss, but after the rug was pulled out and they were relisted, that did more damage than good for the species. Can remember a specific time I hadn't seen a wolf, track, scat, tcam image for a long period of time. The road leading into our property was a major sign post for territories and at the peak of their numbers in our immediate area, the 1/4 mile drive in it was not uncommon to see a dozen or more fresh scat piles and it looked like a dog park in the moist soil ne mn is famous for. As I looked and walked the rest of the day by myself, it struck me how in a strangely unpleasant way, I missed those tracks and scat piles. Maybe not the quantity of them, but felt the quality of something was missing. Missed seeing the alpha female we nicknamed saddles and the big alpha male that was the silver surfer because of a wicked cool silver back contrasted by a black outline. Or what happened to their pups or the rest of their pack. Even through all the irritating times dealing with them, they became a part of me and my family. Our history was intertwined. Can remember my grandmas stories, who grew up in far nw mn, who had a brother who climbed a tree to get away from a pack walking home from school in the winter and almost froze to death. Luckily the adults went out and found him in the tree with a pack of wolves at the bottom still. If that would have been my kid, I'd have shot everyone I ever saw after that, especially being farmers and cattlemen. I don’t have that hatred for them, yet am also aware of how they affect things on the ground on some level. If you look up Minnesota wolf hunt, by storm widgeon on hunt talk, I'm the land owner in that story who was a little reluctant to be named. The wolf he shot is sitting on wood I'd cut that fall trying to improve deer, grouse and woodcock habitat. My dad who just turned 87 was an avid pheasant hunter, who grew up in southern mn in the heyday of pheasant populations and he got to see that wolf in person sitting on the wood pile. He's a dog lover to and it was interesting to see one up close and be able to inspect it. My brother and I grew up hunting waterfowl and pheasants with our dad. Knowing the issues with habitat loss that have heavily influenced and inflicted serious damage to both pheasants and waterfowl habitat, he's always talked about habitat loss as being the biggest problem facing hunting more than anything. In good habitat you have critters. In areas with critters you have predators. Critters can and do avoid predators and are very good and adaptable at doing so. Bare none in Northern mn winter is the biggest predator of all on deer, with bad fawning conditions being second. Bad winters equates to fewer deer. A few bad ones in sequence equals less food for predators. The cycle continues in ne mn and wolves have been part of that landscape for longer than any other state in the lower 48. With the highest number of any of those states by far.
My biggest concern in all the wolf conversations I've had over the years is people and their perceptions of other people. Have talked to people on both sides and have at one time or another leaned one way or the other. Before buying property in wolf country had zero desire to hunt them. Own dogs and love them. Have run grouse dogs in wolf country and never had a single encounter. After dealing with wolves to some extent, I did hunt them with a tag in my pocket and would have probably pulled the trigger if given the opportunity. Wouldn't have posted any pics of it on anything online and would have struggled not eating it. It wouldn't be an easy, pump my fist, hoot and hollar type of ordeal. Especially seeing their numbers fall to the numbers they did. But in the same breathe wouldn't grind an axe to death against others who took part in a legal activity. It's a complex, emotional issue, that I see both sides of and am still trying to figure out my own path digesting it all. Wish I could live in a constant box dealing with issues. Have had a strong sour taste in my mouth dealing with wolves a lot of times, yet an empty place in my heart when they are absent. The one thing that troubles me most is how people can have a hatred or undying love for an animal they've never seen or had any applicable experience dealing with other than the zoo that is Yellowstone or folklore stories about how wolves decimate deer herds. Fall somewhere in the middle of a narrative where you either have to be all for extermination or all for unbridled blissful ignorance thinking Yellowstone is the real world of how nature and man should exist in our modern world where there can be no mitigation when those 2 worlds collide, especially from people who live in urban areas suffering from urbanized guilt.
Really sad to see and sucks hunters are so prolifically effective at attacking each other. Reminds me of a wolf licking the trappers knife and drowning in it's own blood. Anti-hunters won't be our demise, we will.
A update to my earlier thoughts on how the wolves were hunted. Nearly 90% used hounds to hunt the wolves. Outdoor news article below. https://www.outdoornews.com/2021/02...=A2VczZPK7iWXXIv2DFPq7b35hO7C/F3J/gQB9Uu3XAY=
I am not surprised at all that most were killed with hounds. You put a 100 groups of hounds men in mid west woods and it's no problem killing a 200 wolves in three days. Especially if those same guys have experience killing coyote with hounds. As long as you can get into the dogs you can kill em.
We have several groups of guys that run coyote almost daily near me and they rack up crazy numbers every year. I wouldn't put much stock using the 200 number killed as barometer of the population.
In any event hopefully the state gets a better handle on the season and quota and continues managing them with hunter participation under the rules, regs and quotas that are establishing
We have several groups of guys that run coyote almost daily near me and they rack up crazy numbers every year. I wouldn't put much stock using the 200 number killed as barometer of the population.
In any event hopefully the state gets a better handle on the season and quota and continues managing them with hunter participation under the rules, regs and quotas that are establishing
I have a family member who has epilepsy. He has to eat a diet high in fat low in carbs. He eats fish and venison daily. My cousin, his dad fishes a lot and gets a few deer a year just for his son. Just because you don't know anyone like that doesn't mean they don't exist
Northwoods Labs
Well-known member
Wisconsin’s Wolf Overharvest was Predictable, Preventable
No one monitoring Wisconsin’s wolf-management melodramas the past 25 years was shocked Feb. 24-25 as the Department of Natural Resources sat impotent while legally licensed hunters finished bringing in 218 wolves, exceeding the quota by 99. Maybe it was bound to happen, given Wisconsin’s...
NEWHunter
Well-known member
Ugh, I thought Durkin retired. Some good information and facts but his angle and opinions are still there.Wisconsin’s Wolf Overharvest was Predictable, Preventable
No one monitoring Wisconsin’s wolf-management melodramas the past 25 years was shocked Feb. 24-25 as the Department of Natural Resources sat impotent while legally licensed hunters finished bringing in 218 wolves, exceeding the quota by 99. Maybe it was bound to happen, given Wisconsin’s...www.patrickdurkinoutdoors.com
Bait and dogs in Wisconsin. Pretty easy with the ridiculous population of wolves.
Northwoods Labs
Well-known member
Which is what exactly, science and facts? I guess those are inconvenient truths for some
NEWHunter
Well-known member
I have no problems with facts - 216 wolves killed is a fact. When he describes things as embarrassing and a mind-numbing setback, he certainly is expressing his opinion and revealing his personal biases. I don’t think it helps hunters at all to make those types of statements.
What part of that statement is untrue?
It is an embarrassing setback especially when your trying to Illustrate that hunting is the best population management tool available to a non hunting public.
NEWHunter
Well-known member
It was two different statements he made. And they are opinions. It doesn’t have to be embarrassing or a setback. I believe the post hunt wolf population is still more than the prehunt population from several years ago. If the harvest did that much damage they’ll adjust the quota down for this fall.
My initial point was I don’t care for some of his opinions. It’s his right to express them and my right to disagree. And if you don’t think Mr Durkin has any biases read his Sunday columns in the press gazette like I did for years.
I disagree. Just my opinion. Blowing past the quota makes both the dept and hunters look like stumbling idiots. Terrible optics and inexcusable in a situation with that much riding on its sucess..
NEWHunter
Well-known member
You disagree that he didn’t express opinions in his article?
Last time I checked that's what an editorial was for.
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