Zone 80 Reports?

[DanO]

I hunted the controlled hunt for a day and a half in zone 80 near Fergus. I did hear some shooting the morning of the second day but it was less shooting than I recall. For the first time in 15 years I didn't see a deer in my go to spot.

The corn had been taken off next to me so the food source was gone. I'm on the bedding/travel corridor. I'm sure this lowered the deer numbers in my spot.

Just wondered what others felt about the deer numbers in zone 80? It's all anecdotal of course although I noticed there were no extra tags in 80 this year.

[punkrockerpj]

hey dan
I'm living north of fergus. its been a real mess here this year. i was out monday to thursday. monday quite a few shots and tuesday was mayhem. wednesday it picked up again and I had a shot at a doe (missed) and then the group of deer took off onto a neighbour's property and boom boom boom. thursday a buddy missed a doe as well and things all quiet. friday all quiet. all the deer on my property have gone nocturnal but some have survived.

deer numbers are steady but with the crap kicking this week i expect them to be much lower now. Zone 80 is a big area with alot of fields. Corn harvest is a nightmare, 2nd year in a row because of this screwy weather. but we'll deal. I also noticed that bucks have just started to move, so next week might be worth sitting out there.

[SongDog]

80 is so big. I really dont understand why it's that size. There are pockets in this WMU that is polluted with deer but you drive 20 minutes into more flat farm land and the deer are more scarce. They need to split it up more gang I know tagged out shooting bucks only, They hunt some prime spots near Erin/hillsburg and south and I wouldn't even say that's the best part of the WMU.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[DanO]

It is a massive zone for sure. The presence or absence of corn has a major impact on the abundance of deer. It is less of a zoo than 82a though because it's a controlled hunt and shotgun/ML. I find the fact that hunters are working around the general public more in 80 leads to a more subdued hunt.

[S.S RICK]

This years controlled hunt in WMU 80. Our 5 man camp ended up with 3 nice bucks.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DanO]

Well done! Nice photos. That's a happy crew!