Big Oaks area 2, worth the trip?

[64corvair]

My buddy and I are hunting Big Oaks area 2, Nov. 3rd gun hunt. With the rut kicking in we thought it would be worthwhile to hunt, maybe calling could lure a nice buck into gun range.
There have been a lot of negative posts regarding deer sightings being low. My question is: would it be worth our vacation day, motel gas etc..,to go ahead with this hunt.

Please give us the low-down to help us in our decision process.

[oggie]

It is always worth the trip to go there. You never know what will come along you area is on the north end a lot of open hardwoods and ridges to travel.

[cambygsp]

I was also drawn for the November 3rd gun hunt, we aint going!

November 3rd is on a Monday so I would have to miss work and my son would have to miss school, we went to the bowhunt down there two weekends ago and was disappointed due to all the hoops you have to jump thru to hunt there.

We were in area 12 on the north end and the 45 minute drive each way once you get thru the gate is absurd!

[West28]

Go for it! You never know when that bonus buck is going to walk by. A doe in the freezer is always nice too! There is plenty of deer in there!

[ukwil]

I would argue that the number of deer in BO has dropped the last few years. Just look at the harvest numbers. When you go from almost 900 deer harvested to the mid 400's thats telling you something. Granted its all in the area you hunt too. Had 2 cousins that went down for all the bow hunts and was told by them that its the worst they've ever seen and they've been hunting it since the Army was running the hunts out of Old Timbers.

[elmo]

son and I are going to be there on the 2nd and the 3rd, but we live in Madison and don't have a big gas bill or a hotel to pay for. The north and south seem to have bigger deer than the central. The deer numbers do seem to be down, but is it because of less deer or more edjucated deer?