The Big Buck Map

[ncboman]

I knew I had the expandable map link saved and finally found it.

http://www.remington.com/images/mag/2002_0502_01lg.jpg

keep in mind this info is 10yrs old but the dirt is the same. ;)

ncboman

[Bushman]

Knowing WI. like I do, I'd say the artist got a little carried away with his red pen in these parts. Sure we have a lot of deer, but we also have 600,000 gun hunters and hundreds of thousands of bow hunters. To get a deer into the P&Y and B&C class takes time and with that many hunters, a lot of deer don't make it past their first set of antlers particularly in the southern part of the state.

[ncboman]

makes it look like a guy could go up there and just kick em up. :D

ncboman

[dave-t.]

That's no kidding. 31+:eek:

I'm not doing so bad though, living in a >30 county.

I always wonder though, what about those deer not measured or entered. The county I travel to for the gun season isn't listed very high, but I've seen more big deer there than just about anywhere. I'd say there are a lot more folks who don't get their deer measured/entered up there than do get them measured,.

[Bushman]

Good point. It might be that we are just more interested in scores up here. Most guys in the northern part of the state speak fluent deer hunting.

I got to thinking about that map some more. Those are combined P&Y and B&C listings. The difference between a 125" class P&Y and a 170" B&C is a whole bunch. Not that 125" class deer are under every bush, but there are lots more of them than there are 170" class animals. The majority of the people population lives in the southern part of the state where there is also more agriculture. Those deer are easier to get because they are more visible and predictable. I'm willing to bet that lots of those southern WI. deer were P&Y archery kills.

Our DNR did a survey about ten years ago and divided the state into three sections south to north. They said that a trophy buck in their estimation was a buck that had at least 8 points, was 3.5 years of age and older and would dress over 180#. Their estimate was that one deer in 124 deer in the southern section met that criteria. I forget the number in the mid section, but it was like one deer in 60. In the north, land that I love, it was one deer in 12. Where I see the big guys coming out of lately are Door, Shawano, Dane, Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas, Sawyer, Price, Buffalo, LaCrosse, Trempealeau and Crawford counties.

[dave-t.]

The group I hunt with and the extended groups of guys that stop by and show their bucks rarely get one measured, and as far as I know don't register them with any big buck club. The deer quailify for the MO book, and one guy has a 180+", several have 150-160+ bucks, but no record besides the state deer tag being filled. I have 4 myself that qualify for various books, but never entered them. I just wanted to know the score for myself.

One farmer shot a 19pt buck, and when we stopped to see it, he had a saw out, and intentions to hang that rack "in the barn with the rest of 'em". The wall was impressive.:eek:

I will also agree that a 125" buck is nice, but a 170" is a totally different class of nice. It's the difference of a fairly common 3yr old, and an uncommonly big 5yr old.

[ncboman]

The Amish kill some nice bucks that doan go in the books. ;)

ncboman

[dave-t.]

Two years ago an Amish fella was hunting the property adjacent to me, and his whole get-up was just wierd.

Big straw hat with an orange band on it, dark blue overalls, faded blue shirt, plastic orange vest, and a scoped bolt action with a synthetic stock.

I guess I was expecting him to carry a single shot shotgun or something. It struck me as odd.