No recap last week because the author was in the woods like I hope most of you were as well. A whole hell of a lot has happened since, so let’s get caught up:
Last Week
With Wisconsin’s 9-day firearms season starting and finishing since the last Tuesday update there have been several additions to the buck pool…too many for me to cover individually in this post. Check the 2021 Results page for more info. The last Tuesday update on November 16 showed 12 bucks in the pool. As of this post we are now up to 24 bucks. The big news is that Mike Weinfurter has claimed the top spot in the five year history of our buck pool with a buck that measured 154 2/8″ based on scoring done by Justin Beck. This beat Jason Everard’s 2017 buck by less than one inch. Everyone involved agreed that Jeff would measure Mike’s buck to confirm the score since they were so close and Jeff also scored Jason’s buck in 2017. We’ll call Mike the new unofficial title holder and await confirmation. One thing is certain: Mike is now firmly in first place in the 2021 Buck Pool bumping Shawn Thomas down to second.
Speaking of Shawn Thomas, I feel like one rule needs clarification at this point. Shawn technically currently holds second and third place in the 2021 pool. His archery buck scored 143 4/8″ and his firearm buck scored 125 4/8″ which is good enough for second and third place so far. However, the rules state that each participant gets one buck in the pool. If you get more than one buck in a year, the best scoring buck will be counted. Knowing that, Shawn’s archery buck sits in second place, leaving his rifle buck ineligible for third place. We do have 19 bucks that have yet to be scored, so Shawn likely won’t finish the season occupying both second and third place, but it’s worth mentioning in case anyone is unclear on the rules. Regardless, congratulations to Shawn on taking two bucks within weeks of each other that score better than any bucks many of us will get in our entire lifetimes. Keep in mind that Justin Beck has taken two quality bucks as well that have yet to be scored and could find himself in a similar situation.
Mitch Dequaine remains in third place for the time being, but with up to 19 more bucks to be scored his grasp on that position is shaky. We’ll keep you updated as scores come in.
Standings Update
- Mike Weinfurter – 154 2/8″
- Shawn Thomas – 143 4/8″
- Mitch Dequaine – 118 1/8″
- Jeff Blohowiak – 110 5/8″
- 19-way tie – TBD
Poll Question
The Week Ahead
It looks like a relatively normal week of weather ahead of us. Deer Cast predicts a bad/poor few days for deer movement this week followed by a good day this Saturday. Muzzleloader season is now open through December 8. Archery and crossbow season continue for several weeks as well and there are some antlerless-only hunts in the future. Just because November is almost over doesn’t mean there isn’t still time to put meat in the freezer.
This Friday’s Raffle
For this week’s raffle three winners will each receive a Bushnell Prime L20 trail cam from Drew Heeter at Access Inc. Look for the announcement of the winners this Friday.
Links
To continue on the topic of remaining deer hunting seasons, here’s a link to deer hunting season dates so you can plan out what’s left of your deer season if you haven’t already.
I’m something of a stat dork and always find myself getting into these numbers every year. Here’s a comparison of the 2021 firearms season to the 2020 season and the 5-year averages. If you want to get further into the numbers here’s a breakdown of the 2021 deer kill by season. You can see totals along with archery, 9-day firearm season, youth hunt, muzzleloader, etc. separated out. It looks like numbers are down significantly this year and I’m no wildlife biologist so I won’t bother to speculate on why that is. However, I’m going to go ahead and blame at least part of the drop in numbers on cell phones. If I had a dollar for all of the deer my son didn’t see because he was playing on his cell phone I’d have enough money for several boxes of dunkers at Kwik Trip. Put your phones down and enjoy the outdoors, people!
Finally, enjoy this tale of a man who attempted to fire an arrow more than a mile and, instead, ended up in the emergency room.
That’s it for this week. We’ll keep posting more deer pics and scores as we get them, so keep an eye on the site. If you have tips, ideas, comments, or general thoughts on any of this, please let me know.
Outside TG 
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