3 Reasons You Won't be Harvesting a Deer this Fall

Missouri Department of Conservation statistics on harvest rates
from 2004-2013. The graph on left is archery and right is firearms.
Keep in mind that many of the hunters who did harvest deer, harvested
more than one.

Look at the harvest statistics for the state you hunt.  If there's a 50% success rate, that's pretty good.

Are you above average?  If not, you can dice up the reasons any way you want to, but not harvesting a deer usually comes down to some pretty easy math.  Deal with it, and you will be on the right side of the 50%.

1. You didn't take it seriously enough to spend the time in the field necessary
You can stroll out to the field on opening day of whatever season(s) you hunt and maybe get lucky.  If you own a great piece of property, or you're one of those wealthy folk who buy their deer by paying somebody to come kill their deer on their land, this article is not really for you.

This article is for hard working folks for whom the ethic of fair chase and learning the ways of wild deer are a big part of the deal.  So, if I have not run you off back to your McMansion in the 'burbs, pay attention to what comes next.

Deer are magnificent parts of God's creation, and you need to respect them enough to get out and do some work.  Scout.  Find some land...public is fine.  Learn it like the back of your hand.  Start right after you get done reading.  Tread on it now like you would during deer season when going to your stand.  Learn it so well that if you were dumb enough to do so, you could describe to another hunter how many deer there are, where they travel, and which of them by your standards (and regulations) are harvestable. Develop a plan for how the area will get hunted and have backup plans - especially for public land.

Once the deer season kicks in, plan to hunt every chance you get, and try to make there be as many chances as you possibly can.  You know, those guys you respect as being great deer hunters got that way by spending tons of time in the woods before and during the season.

2. You were not an Expert with your Firearm or Bow
Missed shots.  Bad shots. Wounded animals. Excuses and regrets.  Again,you owe it to the magnificent animals you hunt, to make as clean a kill as you possibly can.

Picking up your bow a week before the season is not good enough. Not even close.

Running out to the range the Thursday before opening day of rifle season should leave you feeling like you should not be going.  It just means "hunting" is an afterthought for you.

Right now you should be getting your gear checked over, or doing it yourself if competent.  You should be spending time right now getting yourself ready to take a shot from every position possible out to a range a little further than you would consider taking that shot.

3. You were physically unable to perform
Not talking about  physical limitation beyond your control here.  There are plenty of ways around about any limitation you might have. I even read a story a while back about a guy who had gone blind and with the help of a buddy, still was hunting.

I am talking about the fact that if you want to consistently harvest deer on public land, you are not going to do so from a fixed tree stand 100 yards off the road. You better be able to pack your climber back a mile, climb a tree, sit in it through cold weather all day, climb down and out of the woods - and be able to do it all again the next morning when you get up at 4 am.

If you are fortunate enough to harvest a deer then, you will be dragging it back that mile plus.  It might be dark.  You might have had to sit tight right at the end of legal shooting hours for a half hour to let it go down... and then had to track the blood trail... and then field dress it...and THEN drag it out.

So get in shape.  See a doctor first so you don't give yourself a heart attack.  Stop eating crappy food.  It is by no means rocket science!

Deer hunting is not rocket science, but people over-complicate it I think because they just don't want to do the work they should do to be successful.  If you do it right and harvest a deer, just like anything else you work hard for, the hunting experience will be ever so much more meaningful to you.

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Michigan ‘Learn to Hunt’ mentor program gives newcomers a boost

There’s an old saw about how you learn new skills – you learn by doing.

That’s the focus of the “Learn to Hunt” program, a partnership led by Michigan State University, with assistance from the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Boone and Crockett Club, Pheasants Forever and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Learn to Hunt is part of the turkey federation’s Recruit, Retain and Reactivate (R3) outreach program and puts would-be hunters in contact with mentors who can guide them through the hunting process.

“(The program) is designed for adults new to hunting,” said Johanna Dart, a social work graduate student at MSU, who assisted in the design of the program for the university’s Fisheries and Wildlife Department.

Learn to Hunt began last fall with a deer-hunting initiative. Recently, 17 adults signed up for a spring session on turkey hunting that culminated in a late May, weekend hunt at the Barry State Game Area in the southwestern Lower Peninsula.

“We wanted to try to offer another species and apply what we learned from the deer program,” Dart said. “We found in our pre-surveys that learning to hunt with an experienced mentor was important. A lot of adults didn’t feel comfortable going out in the woods with a firearm or bow without someone to show them how.”

Dart, 26, said she thinks it’s difficult to learn to hunt via YouTube.

“You can – you can teach yourself anything online – but to have confidence in yourself and grasp some of the concepts, it helps to have someone show you,” she said. “It’s very helpful.”

Dart would know. She’s been interested in hunting for some time, but she found the prospect of approaching someone for more advice somewhat daunting.

“It’s interesting being in my demographic,” she said. “I was adopted by a single mother and no one in our family knew anything about hunting and was never exposed to firearms.”

Dart said it’s “very intimidating” to go out by yourself or to ask someone to take you.

“I took hunter safety with my best friend and I remember going and everyone else was 9,” she said. “I think when adults see that, they think hunting is not for them.”

Dart took part in a hunting outing herself this spring. She teamed up with mentor Steve Sharp – the R3 coordinator with the turkey federation. She successfully killed a turkey.

Sharp, who is a lifelong sportsman and long-time federation employee, said the program is accomplishing exactly what it needs to.

“We had a great time teaching these folks some new tricks,” said Sharp, who has led workshops on safe firearms handling, scouting for turkey and other topics. “I think we’re recruiting some new hunters and that’s our goal.”

A number of the students enrolled in the program killed turkeys this spring, including two at the May weekend event in Barry County.

Steve Vandermey, a 62-year-old first-time hunter, was one of them.

Vandermey and his wife, Ruth, signed up as a team. They shared time with mentor Brian Medendorp the first morning of the weekend hunt.

“My wife and I had been talking about learning to hunt for a couple of years but couldn’t figure out how to get started,” Vandermey said. “I saw a speaker at a sports show, met Steve Sharp and signed up. We needed to learn and this program was made for us.”

Medendorp, who is a heating and cooling contractor from Hastings and a turkey federation officer, took the couple into the woods where he thought some birds might be roosting.

When the trio didn’t meet with any success at dawn, they began walking through the woods, turkey calling.

“We heard a bird gobbling and walked to within 250 yards and sat down and started calling,” Medendorp said. “We got him to come in the rest of the way. He shot it at 27 yards. Perfect.”

The Vandermeys agreed, saying they think they’ll go out turkey hunting again.

“It seemed like it was pretty imposing at first, but now it seems like it’s doable,” Vandermey said. “This program was just what we needed.”

Ruth said, “It was an awesome experience – fun.”

Brooke Burns works at the Gander Mountain sporting goods store in Lansing. She met Mike Vanderguchte, a senior at MSU and an instructor in the Learn to Hunt program, at the store. She signed up for the program when Vanderguchte told her about it.

Burns went out during the first morning of the hunt with her mentor, Wendy Osterbaan, a member of the Thornapple Valley Chapter of the turkey federation. Though they had three birds within shooting range, the turkeys never presented an opportunity.

That evening, the two women went back out.

The pair climbed into a blind and heard a bird gobble at 5:45 p.m. Osterbaan called the turkey. Thirteen minutes later, Burns had killed a 20-pound-plus tom.

“It was pretty exciting,” Burns said. “I think I’m going to have to go again in the fall.”

Sharp said that’s the goal, adding that he was especially inspired by the young adults who attended the program.

“Sometimes we miss the boat by going directly to the kids and not recruiting their parents,” Sharp said. “When these folks start having families, they’ll take their kids out.”

Not all the participants killed birds, but they said they now know what to do.

“Only about 20 percent of turkey hunters harvest a bird,” said DNR upland game bird specialist Al Stewart. “Turkey hunting is more about the outdoor experience. Just like fishing, the best stories are about the ones that got away.”

Stewart said he observed students learn this firsthand.

“They had many thrilling stories to share by the campfire each evening,” Stewart said. “Learn to Hunt participants also learned that they can harvest their own food and provide a Thanksgiving meal for friends and family. I’m very pleased with the results of this program.”

Chris Henderson, a doctoral student at MSU in fisheries and wildlife, said the program was just what he wanted.

“I just never had a pathway into it,” he said. “I wasn’t raised around it. I heard about this program and jumped at it.

Henderson said there are some pretty big barriers to getting started.

“Getting your first firearms, learning where to go, this program takes care of all that,” he said.

Dawn Street, a 47-year-old real estate agent from Clarkston, said she has always been intrigued by turkey hunting. She accompanied her sister to a turkey federation “Women in the Outdoors” event, met some turkey hunters, heard about the program and signed on.

“I always had the equipment to go, but nobody to take me,” Street said. “Now I can go by myself.”

But will she?

“Absolutely,” she said. “Yes, yes, yes.”

Check out a video on the Barry State Game Area Learn to Hunt outing.

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Wisconsin Outdoor Report 5/28/2016

Deer Cove Rockshelter, Governor Dodge State Park, Wisconsin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Northern zone musky season opens Saturday; rains and green-up have lowered fire danger

Recent rains, alternating with strong sunshine across much of the state have powered "green up" and lowered fire danger statewide. Expect more punctuated rain events and possible thunderstorms as we move into and through Memorial Day weekend.

Great weather last weekend brought on canoeists and kayakers on the Bois Brule and Flambeau rivers last weekend. Water levels are dropping on the Lower Wisconsin River and good numbers of sandbars are forming just in time for the holiday weekend.

The unseasonably warm weather turned the panfish and bass spawn into overdrive in central Wisconsin. The northern zone musky season opens thisSaturday, May 28, and fisheries biologists say musky size is on the rise in Wisconsin and that means the potential for a big bite is better than ever.

Anglers were catching walleye on the Menominee River and the walleye bite out of Pensaukee has been good to very good this past week. On Green Bay, water temperatures were in the high 50s to low 60s and anglers were having success with smallmouth bass at Little Sturgeon Bay and Sawyer Harbor.

Wisconsin is currently near peak in fawns being born, and DNR offices are continuing to receive calls about abandoned fawns. Does leave fawns alone for extended periods and fawns natural instinct is to lie down and not move. This is part of their defense and doesn't mean they are abandoned or injured. Their mother is nearby and will return to care for the fawn. If you see a fawn, leave it along and back away slowly.

Trillium's are out in force and other species blooming include wild geraniums, prairie phlox and the state-threatened white lady slipper orchid. Mayapple, wild ginger, columbine and jack-in-the-pulpit are other woodland flowers now in bloom. Both gray and Cope's tree frogs are calling. Both frogs look identical, but unlike the tree frog's melodious, cricket-like song, the Cope's gray tree frog blurts out a raucous "blah" call.

Bird migrations are winding down and breeding activity is ramping up. Even the latest migrants, like dickcissel, common nighthawk, yellow-bellied flycatcher, and cedar waxwings have all arrived. Small numbers of warblers continue to move through, as will some thrushes, flycatchers, and other lagging Neotropical migrants. Ruby-throated hummingbirds, Baltimore orioles, rose-breasted grosbeaks, and many others are building nests, while American robins, red-winged blackbirds, wood ducks, hooded mergansers, and a host of other early migrants are already fledging young. The first sandhill colts and trumpeter swan cygnets have been sighted at the Crex Meadows Wildlife Area.

The UW-Madison Astronomy Department begins its Universe in the Park series this weekend with programs at Governor Dodge State Park on Saturdaynight at Kohler-Andrae State Park Sunday night. There is a presentation on astronomy and then if the sky is clear, a telescope is set up to provide visitors with the opportunity to view whatever astronomical objects are available. The series goes on throughout the summer at different parks around the state.

New deer biologist and mammologist join Indiana DNR

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has a new deer biologist and a new mammologist.

Joe Caudell, the deer biologist, joins the DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife from Murray State University in Kentucky, where he had served as assistant professor of wildlife since 2013. He also has served as an adjunct professor in Purdue University’s Department of Forestry and Natural Resources since 2011.

Taylor Rasmussen, the new mammologist, joins DNR Fish & Wildlife after earning his master’s degree in biological sciences with a focus on small mammal ecology from Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas. He earned his undergraduate degree in biology from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, in 2012.

“The Division of Fish & Wildlife has brought on highly qualified biologists to take on two important roles in the Division,” said Mark Reiter, Division of Fish & Wildlife director. “We are fortunate to be able to select candidates with experience and advanced degrees to help adapt and move our Wildlife Science Program forward.” 

Caudell, who earned his doctorate in wildlife biology from Utah State University in 2001, served as wildlife disease biologist for U.S. Department of Agriculture APHIS Wildlife Services in West Lafayette from 2005 to 2013. He lives on a 20-acre farm between Shoals and Loogootee.

Before working in West Lafayette, Caudell served as urban wildlife biologist for USDA APHIS in Las Vegas and as wildlife damage management specialist for the same organization in Augusta, Maine. He holds a master’s degree from Utah State University in wildlife biology and a bachelor’s degree in wildlife management from the University of Georgia.

“I have been working with deer since I started college,” he said. “And this was a position that I’d always been interested in since moving to Indiana. It’s a natural fit for me—I like working with deer.”

As a person who grew up in the southeastern United States, he said he appreciates the size and quality of Indiana deer.

“The first time I worked a check station here about 14 years ago, I was just amazed at the size of deer that were coming in,” he said. “I think the deer hunters here get a really good experience in terms of having high-quality deer.”

He says his main challenge will be balancing the needs of hunters and people who are experiencing damage from deer, something that he is familiar with as a person who grew up on a farm and has continued to farm.  

Rasmussen, a native of Sioux Falls, Iowa, worked with small mammals throughout his undergraduate and graduate years.

“I like working with animals that are often overlooked, such as the smaller animals and the endangered and threatened animals as well,” he said.

Rasmussen did projects on the Franklin’s ground squirrel while at Morningside and Fort Hays State and is especially interested in continuing to work with that state-endangered species in Indiana, as well as with bats.

Wisconsin Natural Resources Board approves 2016 deer harvest quotas and season structure

The Wisconsin Natural Resources Board approved deer hunting season framework and antlerless deer quotas for 2016 at its May 25 meeting in Madison. Final season framework reflects recommendations from County Deer Advisory Councils.

Ten deer management units will not have an antlerless quota (each within the Northern and Central Forest zones), while the rest of Wisconsin will have a quota of 256,775 antlerless deer (compared to 224,735 in 2015).

A Holiday Hunt will be held in 13 counties and provide for an additional antlerless-only opportunity for firearm hunters from Dec. 24 to Jan.1. In addition, junior license holders in Ashland, Sawyer and Forest counties will not be allowed to harvest antlerless deer – these councils exercised their right to submit this recommendation in an effort to encourage increased herd growth.

As a reminder, bonus antlerless permit sales for the Forest zones begin Monday, Aug.15 at 10 a.m. Central Farmland Zone permits will go on sale Aug. 16, and Southern Farmland Zone bonus permits will be made available Aug. 17.

The department’s deer hunting webpage will be updated within the coming weeks with a number of helpful resources regarding hunting 2016 quotas and season framework. For more information, including an updated carcass tagging FAQ, search keyword “deer.”

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Proposed Iowa Deer Seasons up for Public Comment until June 1st

Iowa’s proposed 2016-17 deer hunting seasons were approved for public comment Thursday by the Natural Resource Commission of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.  The proposal included a status quo county antlerless license quota and maintained the buck only restriction for select counties in northwest Iowa during early muzzleloader season and first shotgun season.

The proposal will be available for public comment through June 1, 2016. Written comments may be directed to the Department of Natural Resources, Dr. Dale Garner, Wildlife Bureau Chief, Wallace State Office Building, 502 E. 9th Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50319-0034; by e-mail at Dale.Garner@dnr.iowa.gov; or by Fax at 515-725-8201. Persons who wish to convey their comments orally may contact Dr. Garner at 515-725-8494 or by visiting the fourth floor of the Wallace State Office Building during regular business hours.

The proposal is available online at www.iowadnr.gov/hunting.

There will be a public hearing on Wednesday, June 1, 2016, at 2 p.m. in the Third Floor Conference Room of the Wallace State Office Building. At the public hearing, persons may present their views either orally or in writing. Participants will be asked to give their names and addresses for the record and to confine their remarks to the subject of the amendments.

Any persons who intend to attend the public hearing and have special requirements, such as those related to hearing or mobility impairments, should contact the Department and request specific accommodations.

DEER SEASONS

Regular Gun 1                                                Dec. 3-7

Regular Gun 2                                            Dec. 10-18

Bow             Oct. 1-Dec. 2 and Dec. 19-Jan. 10, 2017

Early Muzzleloader                                    Oct. 15-23

Muzzleloader                           Dec. 19-Jan. 10, 2017

Youth                                                   Sept. 17-Oct. 2

Disabled Hunter                                 Sept. 17-Oct. 2

Holiday Antlerless-Only                      Dec. 24-Jan. 2

October deer hunt for hunters with disabilities provides invaluable opportunity for hunters and landowners

Wisconsin landowners are reminded of an excellent opportunity to help other hunters enjoy Wisconsin’s outdoors and sponsor a deer hunt for hunters with disabilities. The deadline for sponsor applications is June 1.

Potential sponsors must have at least 60 acres of land available, and are required to allow access for at least three hunters if they are contacted. In 2016, the disabled hunt will be held Oct. 1-9.

A complete list of sponsors will be available on the department’s disabled deer hunt webpage after the June 1 deadline. Sponsors are required to submit a list of participants online or via mail no later than Sept. 1.

To complete an online application and learn more about this hunt, visit dnr.wi.gov and search keywords “disabled deer hunt.” Interested landowners without access to the online application can contact Mary Annala, DNR assistant big game ecologist, at 608-261-7588 or via email at Mary.Annala@Wisconsin.gov.