File photo
State wildlife officials hope hunting restrictions this fall in northern Wisconsin will help the deer herd rebound, after a harsher than usual winter likely hurt their numbers.
Most hunters hitting the woods in the northern third of the state this fall will be unable to shoot antlerless deer, after the Natural Resources Board this week signed-off on a bucks-only structure in several areas. DNR big game ecologist Kevin Wallenfang says the policy is a “common sense approach” to helping the population recover.
The restriction will apply to 19 northern Wisconsin counties and four tribal reservation deer management units. Youth hunters, disabled hunters and qualified military personnel will be allowed to harvest a limited number of antlerless deer in buck-only units, as allowed under state law.
While northern parts of the state saw their harshest winter in years, Wallenfang says deer hunters in the southern two-thirds of the state should still see good results. He
says the farmland regions have far more productive deer that were not impacted in the same way as animals living in northern portions of the state.