Wisconsin DNR to alter bear hunting model
MADISON — The Department of Natural Resources will issue slightly more bear hunting permits this year in Douglas and parts of six surrounding counties despite an estimated decline in the bear population. The DNR Board on Wednesday, Jan. 23, approved issuing 2,440 bear hunting permits up from 2,135 in Zone D, which includes all of Douglas, Burnett and Washburn counties and parts of Bayfield, Ashland, Barron and Polk counties. DNR staff is using a new model that estimates bear population and the impacts hunting will have on the population in years ahead. “The old model was an accounting function … We’re a lot more confident in the new model,” Scott Walter, a DNR large carnivore specialist told the DNR Board. The new model factors in hunter success rates, harvest registration numbers, property and agricultural damage reports and nuisance complaints. Hunting is one of the key tools the DNR uses to manage the state’s bear population estimated to total 24,000, up from approximately 9,000 in 1989. Balancing the interests of hunters, farmers, property owners and the condition of other resources is an ongoing challenge in setting annual hunting permit levels that also ensures maintaining a healthy bear population in the state, Walter said. Bears’ reproduction rates are slow with sows typically bearing one to three cubs every other year. When overhunted, the population can take years to recover, Walter said. Zone D has more bears than any of the state’s four management zones, but higher harvest quotas in recent years there have resulted in a slight decline in the population, Walter noted. However, the DNR will increase the number of Zone D hunting permits as the DNR believes the the area’s bear population can sustain an estimated 1,300 bears harvested this year. Last year, hunters had 50.5 percent success rate in taking 1,170 bears. Based on the number of permits issued and a slightly lower success rate, based on recent trends, hunters would take 1,300 bears this year, according to DNR estimates. Statewide, hunters last year had a 28 percent success rate as 3,628 bears were harvested and 12,970 permits were issued. This year, permits statewide will decrease to 11,595 and the DNR maintains the bear population can sustain a harvest quota of 3,835.up from last year’s harvest total. The overall decrease in permits is due largely to a 25 percent reduction in Zone A, which includes the southern half of Ashland County and parts of Iron, Sawyer, Rusk, Taylor and all of Price counties. The DNR believed the bear population to be stable in Zone A but the new estimating model it’s now using indicated the population had been in decline for several years, Walter said. The DNR will issue will issue 1,590 permits this year in Zone A compared to 2,130 last year. The DNR considers the status of black bears to be “abundant” across the northern one-third of the state and “common” in the areas across much of the central part of Wisconsin. While the DNR has being selling fewer hunting licenses overall, interest in bear hunting has “skyrocketed” in recent years with 125,000 people applying for licenses or preference points. The current wait time to obtain a license is about eight years, Walter said. There’s an annual drawing for licenses and a system that allows individuals to accumulate preference points increases the odds of getting one. To avoid losing accumulated preference points, individuals need to apply for a license or a preference point at least once every three years. Contact the DNR at 888-936-7463, or contact the DNR Service Center to check on your accumulated preference points. DNR staff will present a new bear management plan in April that will give the DNR Board a 10-year look ahead at the state’s bear population, its health, distribution and impacts of hunting and disease.
Control Coyotes to Improve Deer Hunting – Part 2
Coyotes kill a lot of deer. Studies have shown that up to 74% of the fawns in some areas are eaten by coyotes. Here’s what you can do about it on your hunting area. By Bernie Barringer In the first part of this two part series we looked at the affects of coyotes on deer populations and their effect on hunting. The results are quite shocking as we discovered several studies which show alarming mortality rates of fawns due to coyote depredation. We also learned that coyotes are very mobile and fill in the vacant areas quickly so control must be consistent and as widespread as possible. Coyote control simply means killing as many as possible. Harsh as that may sound, you can’t kill them all, and the remaining coyotes are less susceptible to disease which they might pass on to other animals, so killing some of them is good for the entire ecosystem as a whole. Plus trapping is a good excuse to get outdoors and learn more about the world around us. And good quality coyote pelts are worth going after. They will definitely pay for your gas and equipment at the least. Trapping Coyotes are notoriously difficult to trap if specific precautions are not taken. The coyote has the entire world to roam, and you must make him place his foot into a one-inch circle. Not an easy task, for sure, especially when you consider their amazing ability to smell your presence. Scent free tactics are imperative. Their Achilles heel is their curiosity. They smell fresh urine or scent from another canine and they just have to check it out. Scent post sets and dirthole sets are the two most common trap sets for catching coyotes because they take advantage of this chink in their armor. These sets take advantage of the coyote’s propensity to pee on any unusual object. A scent post set is placed near any outstanding feature that a coyote might see as a place to mark. It might be a corner post, a single corn stalk at the corner of a field, a rock or even a tuft of grass that looks out of place. A trap can be buried near these with dirt sifted over it and some fresh lure. Dirthole sets are simply a small hole with a bit of bait in it with a trap set in front. Lure is also used to call the coyote to the area, and when he puts a foot out to hook the bait out of the hole, you have him. For more specific details on how to make these and other coyote sets, check out YouTube videos on trapping or visit the forums at trapperman.com, where the regulars there are always willing to help out a beginner. Snaring Catching coyotes in snares is one of the most effective ways of controlling them, especially in the winter when their fur is prime and their movements are somewhat predictable. Trails develop in the snow and catching a coyote can be as simple as hanging a snare over the trail. I pile trimmings and bones from deer I have shot along with carcasses from other animals I have trapped to make a bait pile and the coyotes are soon regulars at the bait. Trails develop like the spokes of a wheel and the snow shows me where to hang the snares in the narrow, necked-down areas of these trails. Snares should be about 10 inches in diameter and about 6-10 inches off the ground. They must be mounted so they are rigid about the snare lock so they close quickly and firmly. Most coyotes will be caught around the neck and die quickly and humanely as they tangle on the nearby brush or saplings. Predator calling Getting out and calling coyotes to the gun is a favorite sport among hunters across the nation. It pays to spend some time practicing and learning from instructional books, videos or a mentor before tackling this challenge or you may just educate the coyotes in your area and make them harder to kill. Setting up with the wind in your favor is key to being successful. Most callers start out with a locating call of some sort, like a young coyote howler for example. If you get a response to the howler, start a dying rabbit scream and be ready for some action. They may come in hard and fast or they may sneak in so you have to be ready for anything. Guns such as a .223, .22-250 or .243 are common choices, and some callers use shotguns in thick cover. Calling coyotes is packed with adrenaline and it is effective. But once you call one and don’t shoot it, they wise up quickly, so do it right the first time. Hire a trapper If you do not have the time or the inclination to kill the coyotes on your own, it’s most likely not too hard to find someone to do it for you. There are active trappers across North America and most are willing to come and trap for free during the prime fur season if the pelts are worthwhile. During the off season or in areas with poor fur quality, you are going to have to pay them some gas money or offer a bounty. In most cases, trappers will agree to take coyotes if you also allow them to set raccoon, mink, bobcat, fox or beaver traps as well to make it worth their while. Get to know their needs and you can build a relationship that will benefit everyone involved. Make sure you communicate closely with them about the rules of your property or you may have them coming through to check traps when you are in the treestand. Trapping season is hunting season so make sure you make prior arrangements as to trap checking times. Coyote control is a long term endeavor. You must do it every year and get as
Control Coyotes to Improve Deer Hunting – Part 1
In many areas, coyotes kill a lot of deer, particularly fawns. Just how big is the impact? Some studies show coyote depredation is probably much more damaging than you think. By Bernie Barringer Just about anyone who has hunted for long has seen a coyote enter a field and clear it of deer just by its presence. You may have noticed a deer fleeing through the woods with a coyote hot on its tail. These are all indicators that coyotes have an impact not only on deer populations but on deer hunting itself. But just how bad is it? In this first part of a two-part series I will look at some studies that have been done to illustrate how coyotes affect deer populations, and in part two, I will offer some advice about what you can do about it and how much affect your efforts are likely to have. Coyotes do kill adult deer, and they often kill healthy bucks and does. Coyotes hunt individually and in packs. When they are in packs is when they are the most lethal to adult deer, especially when other environmental conditions, such as deep snow, can be used to their advantage. In fact, a 2013 study of moose mortality in Ontario showed that coyotes were a significant predator on moose, which are four times the size of whitetails. But where coyotes do their most damage is during the fawning season. There is a myth that newborn fawns do not have an odor so predators cannot find them. Bears find them, bobcats find them and wolves find them. But coyotes are far and away the most lethal predator on whitetail fawns. There are many scientific studies to back this up. A study on an island off the coast of Maine determined that 74% of the fawns in one year were eaten by coyotes. A Texas study showed a 72% fawn mortality rate attributed to coyotes. A New Brunswick study showed 47% in one year and in more farming country, the numbers were lower but still significant; Iowa and Illinois studies showed mortality due to coyotes at over 51%. A study in the northern forest area of Minnesota showed that of all the fawn mortality that was recorded, 49% were killed by coyotes and 51% by wolves. Bear kills were not recorded because normally the remains, if there are any, of fawns eaten by bears are not found. So if you have any doubts that coyotes are putting the hurt on the deer population where you hunt, you can put those doubts to rest. Coyotes are killing your deer. In order to see if more fawns could be produced by keeping coyotes away, a large fence was erected at a research facility in Georgia. This 10-year study involved the construction of a fence around a 98-acre area that provided good fawning habitat for whitetails. The fence was four foot tall so coyotes could not get over it and buried in the ground far enough that the coyotes could not dig under it. GPS collars on the deer showed that the does quickly learned to go into this coyote exclusion area to avoid predation and have their fawns. This study showed two predictable results over ten years: Number one, the number of fawns that made it to reproductive age significantly increased. And Number two, hunting success also increased in and near the exclusion area. Not many of us could build a 4-foot high fence around our hunting land, so we must resort to other options. Killing coyotes is the most obvious, and it is effective if done over time and consistently, but there are drawbacks. Coyotes cover a lot of ground. Some of them have huge home ranges, dozens of square miles, and they are opportunists at finding areas with good game populations. You may trap or shoot every single coyote from your hunting property, but you will get your neighbor’s coyotes as they fill in the gaps. One Georgia study revealed some interesting results by removing coyotes on two wildlife management areas, one had a deer density of 55 deer per square mile and the other had a density of 22 deer per square mile. Professional trappers removed 15 coyotes from the larger and nine coyotes from the smaller one. Fawn survival increased at first but then leveled right off. How many coyotes do you need to take and for how long? A South Carolina study provides some insight. Hundreds of coyotes were killed on three separate 8,000-acre areas. Fawn survival went way up at first, but then began to decline over the four-year study. It seems the coyotes were finding the area fertile ground with little competition, and moving in about as fast as the trappers could catch them. This might seem like a hopeless situation, but really it’s not. You can have an impact even on small properties if you control coyotes to the best of your ability and keep them controlled as long as possible. Just stay after them and you will save some fawns, even if you cannot save them all. Get your neighbors involved and it will be even more effective for you. Fur prices on good quality coyote pelts are not bad right now, so the incentive to trap and shoot them during the winter is there, but control must be a year ‘round effort. In part two of this series I will offer some advice on getting started in coyote control through trapping, snaring and predator calling. Killing coyotes is not just good for deer, it’s good fun too and it’s another excuse to spend some time outdoors.
Pope & Young Club Names New World Record Non-Typical Mule Deer
On Wednesday, January 9th, the Pope and Young Club convened a Special Panel of Judges in Regina, Saskatchewan for a potential P&Y World Record non-typical mule deer. Dennis Bennett’s enormous buck has a 5 by 5 typical frame with 15 abnormal points on each side with a gross score of 303 0/8. The buck was shot near the Arm River on October 1st, 2018. Measurers present at the Special Panel were Michael Halirewich, Glen Sellsted, Patrick McKenzie, and Eli Randall. With a final score of 291 1/8″, Dennis’s buck was confirmed as the new P&Y non-typical World Record mule deer. This buck surpasses the previous World Record non-typical mule deer shot by Kenneth Plank in 1987 by 16 and 2/8 inches. “It was a pleasure to be part of the panel recognizing this beautiful non-typical mule deer from Saskatchewan as a New World Record,” stated Eli Randall, Records Director for the Pope and Young Club. “The pictures of this deer do not do it justice. This 291 1/8″ giant will be a must see at our convention in Omaha, Nebraska April 10th – 13th, 2019.” Dennis started early on the morning of October 1st in search of the big non-typical. Dennis got to within 44 yards when the big non-typical was startled by another smaller buck bedded close by. Dennis was not ready for a shot and watched as the bucks bounded away up the hill into some trees. Dennis returned later in the afternoon, giving the buck time to settle down. Soon Dennis spotted him close to where he had left him that morning. The buck was bedded in a small depression in buck brush near the top of the hill. The stalk was close to 300 yards, and the wind had changed which allowed Dennis to follow the fence line along the top of the hill and get within 37 yards. The buck was now standing broadside, Dennis ranged as the deer browsed with his head down. The shot was on a steep angle, and the arrow hit a bit high. The deer dropped in its tracks and rolled down the hill about 50 yards. This incredible animal has been entered into the 31st Recording Period–the biennium representing entries accepted into the P&Y Records Program from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2018. At the close of every biennial recording period, numerical awards and honorable mentions are awarded to the most outstanding bow-harvested animals in each species category that have been entered during this two-year recording period. New world’s records are verified and proclaimed, and awards are presented to these outstanding animals during the Pope and Young Club’s biennial convention and awards banquet. The Pope and Young Club is a non-profit North American bowhunting and wildlife conservation organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of our bowhunting heritage and values and the welfare of wildlife and habitat. The Club also maintains the universally recognized repository for the records and statistics on North American big game animals harvested with a bow and arrow.
My 7 favorite new products introduced at the 2019 ATA show
By Bernie Barringer Scent free dryer sheets This one comes from the “Why hasn’t anyone done that before?” department. Well the reason no one has introduced a scent free dryer sheet before is because the nature of dryer sheets makes it difficult to do so, but Wildlife Research Center recently got the chemistry right and now we have a dryer sheet to throw in with our hunting clothing that removes static without making them smell like the perfume counter at the mall. Here’s a video about it and two more new products. www.wildlife.com Hunter safety systems Ultra-Lite harness HSS has several levels of safety harnesses from the popular pro series with its pockets and straps which help the hunter keep his gear within quick reach to more bare bones models. The Ultra-Lite is designed for the guy who covers long distances and goes deep into public land on foot. Weighing in at a mere 2.9 lbs., the Ultra-Lite is the lightest and most flexible harness on the market. It is the ideal harness for anyone who has to travel a long distance to the treestand or who prefers to feel unencumbered while staying safe. The Ultra-Lite comes standard with ElimiShield Scent Control Technology and is available in Realtree Xtra for a suggested retail price of $99.99. www.hssvest.com A cell phone scouting camera for under $300? Leave it to Covert to come up with a high-quality cell phone camera that retails at $299, by far the best value of any camera of this quality available. The 4G LTE E-1 camera will appeal to a lot of people. They did it without sacrificing photo quality in lens and sensor. The camera lacks some of the features of the higher end cameras such as the ability to change settings from home with a cell phone app. But the quality of photos it takes remains the same as their cameras costing $150 more. It will either text or email you a low-res photo as it takes them, and saves a high-res photo on the SD card. Watch this video about it. www.covertscoutingcameras.com Deer lure from your own urine Time will tell if this product is a serious player in the business of deer lures. What’s better than fresh urine as a deer attractant? It doesn’t get any fresher than when it comes straight from your own bladder. Mix your own urine in a bottle with a doe-in heat lure formula and you have fresh doe in heat deer lure according to the folks at Scent Relief. I’ll just pass this info along and let you decide for yourself. They do not have a website yet. Scent Lok Hundo youth camo and Elite:1 Most of the time children’s hunting clothing has been hand-downs and poor fitting at best. Scent Lok set out to change that with their Hundo series. Its great clothing priced at $100 per piece for jacket, pants and base layers. It has seams that can be removed at the sleeves and pantlegs so the child can grow into it. Keeping kids comfortable in the field is one way to get them hooked on hunting for life and these items of clothing are designed to help. Scent Lok also released a high-end line to compete with the likes of KUIU and Sitka. For the hunter who is not afraid to pay up for high quality clothing, the Elite:1 line is really nice stuff for the hunt of a lifetime. Video here. www.scentlok.com Check out this moveable camera The live feed video camera from Whitetail’r can be put anywhere within Bluetooth range of your phone and you can control the camera from an app on your smartphone. You can move the camera all around to explore different angles right from your phone. It will also take photos. See more on this video More improvements to the Lone Wolf treestand Lone Wolf for many years has been a very popular treestand and sticks system used by DIY public land hunters who walk long distances from the access points and desire to stay mobile. A couple new features have been added including a coating that reduces noise and a new system for anchoring the seat solid. It’s a lot easer to watch than to explain so check out this video.
Find the Killing Tree on Public Land
By Bernie Barringer I’d found this spot the previous year but I didn’t hunt it correctly. The location was a narrow stretch of trees connecting two larger woodlots along the banks of a large river. The area surrounding it was a couple hundred acres of tall native grasses. It’s the kind of spot that jumps off the screen at you when you see it on Google Earth. It’s what I call a classic rut funnel. Despite the fact that it is on Kansas state public hunting land, I was the only one hunting it because of the difficulty in getting more than a mile and a half back into it, and of course, the prospect of getting a buck out of there. If this spot was within a half-mile of the road, I probably wouldn’t be alone in there. My trail camera was regularly getting photos of two nice shooters and a third buck that looked marginal. The third one was a ten-pointer with a kicker that looked to be a 3-year-old with amazing potential. He was often running with a big mature 8-point that had a thick, muscular chest and a wide, dark rack with long tines. That eight was the kind of buck you don’t see often on public land in any state, but this was a big area, far from human activity, so I wasn’t surprised. The afternoon of November 6, the wind was right for this spot. It was nearing dark when I heard the noise of a deer walking through the tall, dry grass to the south. I tossed a loud grunt his way and suddenly he crashed towards me on a dead run, stopping at the base of my tree. I am always amazed at how perfectly they can pinpoint the source of a sound. I didn’t even have time to get my bow off the holder. This buck was clearly the 10-point with the kicker. As he stood at the base of my treestand directly below me, I had a moment to analyze him in person for the first time. He was definitely young; in fact, I decided he may be only two years old. And I had him on camera several times accompanied by the big eight. He began to trot away just as I heard another noise in the dry grass. I grabbed my bow and drew it. Sure enough, the big eight stepped into view at 28 yards. He was what I call a “no-brainer;” he looked downright majestic with his chocolate rack and heavy, bull-like body. I instinctively grunted him to a stop and sent an arrow on its way. I could see the Lumenok pinned to his rib cage as he tore off into the tall grass and then heard him crash about 10 seconds later. The hunt was a result of being in the right place at the right time, with the emphasis strongly on the Right Place. Find The Killing Tree That’s not the only great location I know of. Some of them are only good with certain crop rotations or other annual changes; and some of them are good every year. What makes them great is that the deer will always do what deer have always done with relation to certain terrain features when all other factors are equal. Cameras will help you find these spots to some degree, but to really pinpoint these little hunting gold mines, there’s no substitute for in-person experience; you need to hunt them to really figure them out. We started with a broad approach and worked our way down; from choosing the right state, to choosing the best areas within that state and on to picking the properties where we will hunt. Now that we are on site, we are going to choose our specific hunting location, right down to which tree we are going to use to kill that big buck. In my years of hunting public land in so many states, I have found that the entire process almost always comes down to one or two specific locations. After all the work is done before the trip, and the scouting, trail camera checking, hunting and observation takes place in the first few days of the hunt, it always seems to focus down on one, sometimes two, specific spots where I go all in. Usually there is one place where I decide to push all my chips into the middle and live or die there. Choosing this spot is all about confidence. The Confidence Factor When I first started doing these DIY road trips, I would arrive at a location and I couldn’t wait to get in a tree and start hunting. I often would find an area all tore up with rubs and scrapes and I would put up a stand and start hunting it. That proved to be an ineffective method of hunting. One of the reasons was a lack of confidence in the spot. I’d be sitting in that great looking spot and I would hear bucks fighting just over the ridge from me, or I’d see a buck cruise down the crest of a saddle a hundred yards away, or maybe I’d see a line of does working down a trail out of range and I would wonder what’s over that ridge… is it a spot better than the one I’m in? I would quickly lose confidence in my spot and I would spend time looking for other spots when I should have been hunting. I would invariably end up going back at the end of the hunt to take that first stand down and realize it wasn’t in that good of a spot after all. Before I ever put up the first stand these days, I want to fully know the area. I want to know what is over that ridge. I want to know what’s on that saddle and I want to know where those does were going. Then when I finally