Wisconsin Ag Connection - DNR: Gun Deer Season Off to a Successful & Safe Start

Wisconsin Ag News Headlines

DNR: Gun Deer Season Off to a Successful & Safe Start
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 11/21/2018

The number of deer harvested during the opening weekend of the 2018 gun-deer season was up compared to last year. According to preliminary numbers released by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, hunters bagged 118,670 deer on Saturday and Sunday. That was 13,454 more than the first two days of the 2017 hunt.

The total number of bucks taken over the weekend was also up by just over 5,000 from a year earlier at 65,388.

Wildlife officials say the higher kill numbers are a result of better weather and excellent hunting conditions. Hunters have until 5:00 p.m. on the following day to register a deer.

DNR officials say more than 774,332 hunters had purchased their license and headed into the outdoors for the annual nine-day gun deer hunt in Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, the DNR's Bureau of Law Enforcement reported two hunting incidents during the gun-deer opener. The first was in Columbia County, where a 24-year-old shooter was participating in a deer drive when he shot at a running deer, striking another man from his group in the foot. In the second incident, a 21-year-old man who was not wearing blaze orange was working on his downed deer in Dunn County when he was hit in the arm by a bullet from a 17-year-old shooter who thought the victim was a deer. The injured hunter was transported to an areas hospital and later released.

Other Wisconsin Headlines