Whitetail deer (File photo: Jackie Johnson)
Hunters killed slightly more deer than last year during the recently ended nine-day gun season.
Department of Natural Resources Big Game Section Chief Bob Nack said hunters registered a preliminary total of almost 205,000 deer – up from a little under 200,000 during the 2014 hunt. It’s in an increase of about 2.6 percent, but still the third lowest harvest total in the state since 1983.
Nack said part of the problem remains the population of deer in the northern Wisconsin herd, which he described as being in “catchup mode.” Several northern counties banned the shootings of antlerless deer in an effort to increase the herd in the state’s most popular hunting region.
More than 612,000 hunters bought deer licenses this year – a six percent increase from last year. Three hunters were shot to death during the season, the first such deaths in three years. The DNR also reported five gun-related injuries to hunters.