When she took over as the secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources earlier this year, Cathy Stepp had never been out on a deer hunt. The head of the agency sought to overcome that this weekend during the start of the nine-day gun deer hunt, coming away from the experience with a successful first outing.
Stepp says she was just a couple of hours into her day in Iowa County when she shot a doe. She described the experience as “exciting and exhilarating” and says it helped her to understand what so many other hunters enjoy about this time of year.
AUDIO: DNR Sec. Cathy Stepp (:20)
Still, the secretary admits she could not make eye contact with her prey before firing off a shot.
As for her venison, Stepp says she plans to have plenty of jerky, meat sticks, and summer sausage made.
Figures released by the DNR show Stepp was joined by more than 600,000 hunters over the weekend. The agency says an estimated 112,581 deer were registered over the first two days of the season.
Robin Colbert, WIBA