Wisconsin Ag Connection - Hunters Register Over 100,000 Deer During Opening Weekend

Wisconsin Ag News Headlines

Hunters Register Over 100,000 Deer During Opening Weekend
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 11/24/2009

The warm temperatures and heavy fog are being blamed for a slighly lower harvest during the opening weekend of Wisconsin's 158th gun deer hunt. The state's natural resources department has reported that hunters registered a preliminary tally of 100,330 deer over the first two days of the nine-day season. Last year, a preliminary count of 133,828 was tabulated.

The DNR says the buck harvest statewide was 49,583--down from 52,477 in 2008; and the antlerless harvest was 50,478--about 31,000 less than last year.

"We want to remind folks that these preliminary numbers come from a staff call-around to deer registrations stations Monday morning," said the DNR's Wildlife Director Tom Hauge. "The final opening weekend tally will likely be somewhat larger, when all the registration stubs are entered into the data base over the next couple of months."

Meanwhile, the department's license sales office reported 626,404 hunters hit the woods with a license to participate in the 2009 deer season. The number of gun hunting licenses included a new category this year with nearly 9,600 ten-and-eleven year-old hunters who for the first time were able to participate as mentored hunters under a new state program.