Numbers were down significantly for the opening weekend of deer hunting in Wisconsin. Department of Natural Resources big game ecologist Kevin Wallenfang says 90,281 deer were registered in Wisconsin during the opening weekend of the nine-day season, compared to last year’s of about 110,000.

Conditions varied widely around the state, but were far from ideal across much of central and west Central Wisconsin. “A lot of that country saw rain and fog. Not trying to make excuses, but there are things that influence people’s’ ability to see deer.”

And in the north, where the DNR is trying to rebuild the herd, there were no doe tags issued this year. Nearly 1500 deer were registered by hunters selected to participate in the pilot program for an electronic registration system that will be available to all hunters in 2015. It was a safe weekend – there were no reports of injuries.

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