Game Pole Empty Following Northern Rifle Hunt
It was a tough hunt with no deer tagged after five days in Vilas County. That’s seven years with no deer hung. Yes, it is that hard in Wisconsin’s north country. Prior to over-harvest of does, hard winters, high predation by bears and wolves, and bottoming out of deer numbers, we were a 50 percent success camp every year.
Andrew Kubiak, 10 of New Berlin on deer stand watching the hunt from the Dick Henske camp in Manitowish Waters, Vilas County. Andrew and his dad, John Kubiak, saw five does before turning the hunt to walleyes and northerns.
The 9-day Wisconsin gun hunt is always fun, with family and friends meeting at our cabin outside of Boulder Junction. But our bucks only unit (that part is great) and few deer (that part is not) proved unproductive, despite paying dues by scouting and moving portable tree stands where that scouting dictated, and then spending ample time on stand.
These two bucks were captured at night by trail camera from the Steve Ellis Camp in Iron County.
The camp consisted of brothers Jim Ellis and John Ellis, and blood brother Larry Calvi. A third brother, Steve Ellis, hosted his group of 10 hunters or so to the north in Iron County. As of this Sunday writing on November 30, they also have not tagged a deer. Mike Foss tell us today that Bayfield County harvest was also down again, with for example, one registration station that had entered 125 hunters in a big buck contest, registering only seven animals.
I saw the most deer at our camp, with four sighted. After approximately 30 hours on stands before leaving for home Wednesday morning, my encounters included a lone doe, a doe and fawn, and a lone doe. With similar hours on stands, my partners saw 0 deer, a doe with two fawns, and two does. We’ll do more real reporting on this soon, but feeding deer statewide has to stop. Managing areas locally for a certain number of deer per square mile is good, if the deer were not conditioned to eat at cabin feeders, and then stay in those areas. You have to see them, in the daylight, in the wild, to tag them.
We are linking here to success stories and photos offered by OWO contributing writer Jim Olsson hunting in Shawano County and more southern regions with gun and bow.
OWO Contributing writer and video expert with a 9-point Iowa County bow kill, and his dumplings Lydia 8, and Cortney, 5.
Jim Olsson with his 9-point Shawano County buck taken with a rifle with 11 days of tagging his 9-point Iowa buck with bow and arrow.
Although we did venture deep into the forest, deep snow also did play a huge role this year in keeping hunters from moving into the field. Hunters stayed closer to roads, a good move since most deer were already venturing there too. Deer were also found mostly in dense pines. When I did hunt more traditional open forest with buck brush, the lone deer encountered stayed on my tracks to my stand for 200 yards. Deer don’t want to work any harder than they have to, to conserve energy.
My brother-in-law, John Kubiak, hopes to row troll for muskies during the deer season and catches lots of big fish. This year, with ice-over complete with the exception of Trout Lake and maybe one or two other larger waters, after introducing his son Andrew to deer hunting, they turned to ice fishing. John and Andrew, along with daughter Lauren and Carter and Julia Cullaz, reported 25 pike and five walleyes caught. John Kubiak Photos below.
Lauren Kubiak takes a walleye.
Cousins Julia Cullaz and Lauren Kubiak show a northern pike just who’s in charge on the ice of Vilas County.
One of 25 pike taken on the Manitowish Chain falls to cousins Andrew Kubiak and Carter Cullaz.
It’s that time. Hardwater fishing is calling.
Thanks for connecting with On Wisconsin Outdoors. Shoot straight.
Dick Ellis