Living
Al Brown | Tracking the Seasons
Happy hunting!
With the first day of the regular November gun deer hunt already in the history books - snowless, balmy and with fewer white-tailed targets to shoot at following two years of low fawn production - I couldn't help but look back at what it used to be like when I was a younger man and bringing home a deer was really something special.
Having shot my first deer at age 16 while using a 12-gauge single-shot shotgun, the memory of bagging that eight-point buck is still as vivid as if it were yesterday.
Since then, there have only been a handful of gun seasons where I went "deer-less."
More often than not, however, I still managed to fill my tag by using a bow and arrows.
With 62 deer hunting seasons behind me, I can't say I've seen it all, but as an outdoor's scribbler since February 1953, I've seen more than I can remember.
As an example of how things have changed for the better on the hunting stage, during the 1951-52 hunting seasons, 16 hunters were killed and 128 were injured.
Of the 144 cases, 61 were caused by people younger than 21. Of these, 11 were fatal.
Children younger than 14 were involved in 11 of the cases, of which three were fatal.
These numbers reflect only hunting accidents, and not "accidents" around the house.
Today, with our mandatory hunter education requirements and the new mentor hunting program, which allows people as young as 10 to hunt and target shoot, provided a mentor is within arms reach of the shooter and there is only one firearm or bow between them, hunting is one of the safest of all sporting activities.
A quick look at the 2008 Hunting Incident Report by Tim Lawhern, hunter education administrator, reveals there were 30 hunting incidents in 2008, well below the 10-year average of 45.
Of that number, 54 percent were self inflicted. Of that total, 87 percent were caused by people older than 18.
With respect to the deer seasons, Wisconsin has been the envy of nearly every other state in the nation for several years, CWD (chronic wasting disease) not withstanding, when it comes to annual harvests.
When I first started hunting, one license covered everything, including deer.
In 1950 Wisconsin had its first any-deer season since 1919.
An all-time high of 167,911 deer were killed, according to estimates at the time.
In 1951 a separate big-game license was required for deer hunters, and in 1952 Wisconsin went back to the one-buck law. This was followed in 1953 by compulsory registration of all deer killed by hunters.
That was then.
Now when we go in to buy our deer hunting licenses, there are so many seasons and regulations to contend with, you almost need a shopping bag just to carry all the licenses, assorted carcass tags and special regulations that govern the sport.
The question before us now as the regular gun deer hunt moves into high gear is, have we, as a state, overmanaged our deer herd beyond what is manageable, or have we, as hunters, been unsuccessful or unwilling to harvest the excess, as defined by our wildlife managers.
That's the million dollar question.
- Hunters and mentors
- Don't know what you've got …
- Survival of the fittest
- If you can't stand the heat …
- Let's talk turkey
- Inclement weather!
- Snowmobiling and driving - not a good mix
- Sun, wind, earth and snow
- Survival of the fittest? Or survival of the doe?
- Don't worry, I've got your 'beak'
- The year that was
- Hey Santa: From crimson red to blaze orange
- Where are all the deer?
- Late freeze extends muskie season
- The smell of failure didn't last long
- Bucks come a running
- Confused in more ways than one
- Confused in more ways than one
- Ready ... Set ... Fire
- Sit back and relax - for now
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