Suburban bow deer cull, what I've learned

Ron Kulas

Active Member
Ive been flinging broadhead tipped arrows at animals for 45+ years. Ive loved every minute until now and I have myself to blame. If I told you that killing an 8 pointer with a bow and arrow would leave you with feelings of regret, you might find it an odd statement but that’s where Im at.

The municipality where I live and the neighboring municipality have a problem with high deer numbers and the related car deer collisions and the deer damage to our suburban greenery/gardens/trees. To address this issue, both municipalities have worked with the Wisconsin DNR to enter into a deer nuisance/ag/cull program to reduce the numbers. Both municipalities have received many nuisance deer tags that allow the killing (with only a bow and arrow or a crossbow) of both does and bucks (with the emphasis on does) but the goal is to reduce all deer numbers.

The city and town provide the tags and willing volunteers need only visit their city or town hall, fill out the required paperwork, take a nuisance tag (that they can only keep for 15 days before it must be turned in for lack of use so another can have the opportunity to use it) and then hunt either their own land, the land of a friend or agreeing neighbor within the municipality nuisance area or use one of several stand sites provided in the city or town.

Any deer killed must be registered under the tagging of the nuisance/cull tag provided or the bowhunter or crosser my opt to use their own archery or crossbow deer hunting tag. Why would a volunteer use their own archery deer or crossbow deer tag? The reason being is that both bucks and does can be killed under the rules of the program BUT the antlers must be turned over to the DNR if the volunteer uses the provided Nuisance/cull tag. If a bowhunter or crosser shoots a big buck and wishes to keep the antlers, they can use their one and only, personal, WI archery or crossbow buck tag.

In week one, I took a doe, in week two I took another doe, in week three, I took an 8 point buck and immediately regretted it. I used the provided tag and the entire head/antlers is submitted to the state for CWD testing and the meat donated but Its possible that buck could have been enjoyed by some bowhunter or crosser looking for their first buck and now that opportunity is lost. I regret that.

At the same time, Im aware that the more likely future for that buck would be laying on the side of the road in front of a smashed car bumper. If I prevented a car accident Im happy but Im not thrilled about taking the opportunity from somebody that may have enjoyed themselves bowhunting or crossbowing so that was the last buck I will kill under this nuisance/cull. This has been a learning experience.


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Interesting dilemma you have there. You followed the program and shouldn't feel bad in my opinion. Alternatively holding off for a monster buck on using the nuisance tag to hunt there and not shooting does would be not following the intent of the program. It could result in the municipality hiring snipers if enough hunters chose that route:all hunting opportunity there would then be lost. That, one should feel bad about.

You harvested what looks to be a good eating size deer with a perfect killing shot and helped meet the objectives of the bow hunter nuisance program---not much to feel bad about there. Congratulations on a good hunt.
 
We have “urban hunts” in the area I live. The purpose of the hunts are to lower deer numbers - be it bucks, does, or fawns - you did just what the programs hopes you will do. Had you passed that buck - who is to say anyone would have killed it - and as you say - someone would have likely hit it with a car. Go kill another one and dont look back.
 
Took suburban deer cull #4 yesterday. A nice big breeder doe. This is the 5th deer this fall with the same woodsman broadhead. Ive already sharpened it and its back in the quiver.

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You seem to shoot a lot of game every year from what you have shared, Do you ever get tired of it or hunting itself?


I've heard it said that if you want to hate something you enjoy to make a job out of it. Guys that become "professional hunters" and make TV Shows have to kill a certain amount of Deer and Big Ones every year to keep their viewers. At what point does it become more of a Job instead of a Thing you enjoy to do? Just curious as I will never get the chance to shoot that many in one year.

I do know that the older I get the less the Killing itself means to me. Don't get me wrong I still get very excited and feel that rush when I take a Game Animal as I did at 12 years old. I just don't have the need to take as many to feel I've had a good year. Maybe that's from the One Buck a Year Upbringing I had in Pa. Back then you could only shoot 1 Buck or 1 Doe if you were lucky enough to draw a Doe Tag.

Most Deer I've ever shot in one year was 5 when I was a young man and had the desire to take 21 Deer by the time I reach 21 years old. Funny part is that the Deer I took when I was 21 actually made the 21st deer I had taken, but I didn't even know it until I stopped to look back and count them up. it has lost it's importance to me somewhere along the way.

Anyway, it was something that crossed my mind and I thought I'd ask ya. No Offense Meant in any way just curious.
 
You seem to shoot a lot of game every year from what you have shared, Do you ever get tired of it or hunting itself?

Nope! Last year the live weight of all the animals I killed with a bow was 4,430 Lbs. This year Im at 2,225 lbs with WI and Ohio buck tags and lots of ag/nuisance tags to fill in WI.

Ive been bowhunting for more than 45 years and its as exciting and satisfying as it was from the beginning. The highest number of deer Ive taken in a single year was 13. Im at 5 so far this season and am looking forward to many more hunts this year. I pass on far more deer than I shoot.
 
This afternoon I hunted another nuisance/ag township cull property where the homeowner has high deer numbers. I Arrived to my pop up blind at 4 pm and took this buck at 5 pm. That makes 5 deer under this nuisance cull so far. (2 bucks and 3 does) and the buck I took in Indiana.

8 yard shot. Lung punch from the ground. A short run, great blood trail. As he ran off (up hill) I could see blood spraying from both sides. 2 holes in the ribs and through the nose and mouth made for an easy blood trail. That makes 6 deer with the same woodsman broadhead.

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The dead sled makes life so much easier. So does the ramp I made. Loading deer alone can be a pain if you dont create some advantages for yourself.

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The back of the traveling deer hauler. A place for everything and everything in its place.

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Love these woodsman heads for buck, clean kills. These suburban deer kills require a lethal head with a pass through, and short blood trails.

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Re-honed and already back in the quiver.

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All the deer are donated to families wanting venison. This cull reduces deer numbers and feeds families.

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The old doe thought Dolly was either a snob or retarded. :) That hunt reminded me of my first archery pronghorn hunt near Gillette, WY. The lady had a fair sized place but we hunted next to a small subdivision where the kids waited on the bus in the mornings and unloaded in the afternoons. They, of course, were noisy but the antelope didn’t mind. I killed mine about 150 yards from the house on a little alfalfa patch.

You’re doing two good deeds there Ron, thinning nuisance deer, and donating the meat. Win, win !
 
Nope! Last year the live weight of all the animals I killed with a bow was 4,430 Lbs. This year Im at 2,225 lbs with WI and Ohio buck tags and lots of ag/nuisance tags to fill in WI.

Ive been bowhunting for more than 45 years and its as exciting and satisfying as it was from the beginning. The highest number of deer Ive taken in a single year was 13. Im at 5 so far this season and am looking forward to many more hunts this year. I pass on far more deer than I shoot.
So what are you hunting besides deer to get that much weight?
 
I hunt all over. I got a thousand pound Vancouver Bull with my bow in Hawaii as well as a couple Polynesian pigs on that trip. Eurasian boar, Red Stag, Russian boar, Water Buffalo, Alligator, Bull elk.
 
Archery suburban cull deer number 8 for me this fall and archery deer number 9 total for this fall ( I took another deer with my bow that was not part of this city/town deer reduction program). This one was a huge doe. That's 9 deer with the same Woodsman broadhead. Shoot, re-sharpen and repeat. My prior record for deer killed with a single re-sharpened broadhead was 7. I see more kills in this heads future. When I dropped the head off for CWD testing (a requirement of this program), I see there were many heads in the freezer at the drop off in Delafield including one very large buck about 17 inches wide and lots of mass. My homemade ramp and the sled is a real back saver.

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I like the sled and ramp ! I have a cover on my F150 with a storage cabinet built in. It has carpet on top so I can’t load a bloody deer in it anyway. My “backsaver” is a hitch-haul. Even an old man can (mostly) get a deer up on that.
 
Back in the 60's and 70's there were lots of Metal Heads that were to be re-sharpened and re-used. I think the Bear Razors were the first I can remember that had a replaceable Razor that slid into the center of the flat sided Head.
I don't know their names but the first ones I used were a 4-sided metal blade(s) that you had to take a sharping stone or file and get the edges as sharp as you could.
 
Another victim of the Woodsman broadhead for the Suburban deer culling program. when I got home there was enough daylight to go after some local suburban deer. This might be the biggest doe Ive taken with a bow in a long time. Look how big she is compared to the sled she is hanging above. This is archery deer number 12 for the year. The woodsman head cut off all the plumbing at the top of the heart. pass through with a 50 yard run and crash.

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Another victim of the Woodsman broadhead for the Suburban deer culling program. when I got home there was enough daylight to go after some local suburban deer. This might be the biggest doe Ive taken with a bow in a long time. Look how big she is compared to the sled she is hanging above. This is archery deer number 12 for the year. The woodsman head cut off all the plumbing at the top of the heart. pass through with a 50 yard run and crash.

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Some nice accurate shooting there.
 
Another municipality nuisance deer as part of the reduction program. This is archery deer number 13 for me for calendar 2019. Another doe. Woodsman broadhead again.
 

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