05-02-2008, 08:21 PM
Wisconsin hunters registered a preliminary total of 343,644 deer during the regular nine-day gun deer season. DNR officials say that this number will change with bow hunting, muzzleloader, landowner permits, and a statewide antlerless hunt not counted yet. The statewide antlerless hunt opens Thursday, December 6 and runs through December 9th. For comparison, 336,211 deer were registered in 2006 and in 2005; 313,519 deer.
The 2007 deer kill showed 125,060 bucks and 218,584 antlerless deer harvested in Wisconsin. This shows a 6 percent increase in antlerless deer harvest and a 3.5 percent decline in the buck harvest. There were 641,432 gun deer licenses sold to residents and non-residents. "All in all, things came together nicely for this year's hunt. It's too early to evaluate how the kill will impact individual deer management units, until we have final harvest figures for all seasons, but it looks like deer hunters are enjoying this year's hunting and filling their freezers," said DNR deer ecologist, Keith Warnke.
Hunter's late bow season closes on January 6th and landowners in the CWD zones may hunt till March 31st with a CWD landowners permit. Other hunters may hunt through March 31st with the landowner permission.
Hunters may also pre-qualify for a 2008 buck permit with shooting an antlerless deer during the December hunt. The statewide venison donation program continues statewide through January 6th outside the CWD units.
There were six gun deer hunting incidents including three fatalities in 2007. This made the year the second safest nine-day hunt on record. The ten-year average for total number of incidents during the nine-day gun season is 16.4 and the state averages two fatalities a year. The incident rate in Wisconsin is 1.06 incidents per 100,000 hunters. The national average is 5 per 100,000 hunters. Wisconsin has reduced the hunting incident rate by 90 % over the last 40 years
The 2007 deer kill showed 125,060 bucks and 218,584 antlerless deer harvested in Wisconsin. This shows a 6 percent increase in antlerless deer harvest and a 3.5 percent decline in the buck harvest. There were 641,432 gun deer licenses sold to residents and non-residents. "All in all, things came together nicely for this year's hunt. It's too early to evaluate how the kill will impact individual deer management units, until we have final harvest figures for all seasons, but it looks like deer hunters are enjoying this year's hunting and filling their freezers," said DNR deer ecologist, Keith Warnke.
Hunter's late bow season closes on January 6th and landowners in the CWD zones may hunt till March 31st with a CWD landowners permit. Other hunters may hunt through March 31st with the landowner permission.
Hunters may also pre-qualify for a 2008 buck permit with shooting an antlerless deer during the December hunt. The statewide venison donation program continues statewide through January 6th outside the CWD units.
There were six gun deer hunting incidents including three fatalities in 2007. This made the year the second safest nine-day hunt on record. The ten-year average for total number of incidents during the nine-day gun season is 16.4 and the state averages two fatalities a year. The incident rate in Wisconsin is 1.06 incidents per 100,000 hunters. The national average is 5 per 100,000 hunters. Wisconsin has reduced the hunting incident rate by 90 % over the last 40 years