Wisconsin's Gun Deer Season Opening Weekend Numbers
Monday, November 24th, 2014 -- 5:15 PM
Excitement was high throughout the state Saturday and Sunday, and 90,281 deer were registered in Wisconsin during the opening weekend of the nine-day deer season. This number is based on preliminary call-in numbers collected from registration stations by Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources staff.Hunters saw a variety of conditions on Saturday, ranging from what many described as "ideal," with snow cover and comfortable temperatures, to fog and rain. Many hunters who headed into the woods Sunday experienced fog and precipitation across a large portion of the state, and many wildlife managers and wardens in the field described Sunday as being very quiet.
Of 90,281 deer registered over the weekend, nearly 1,500 were registered by those who were selected to participate in the pilot program for an electronic registration system that will be available to all hunters in 2015. As expected, the statewide deer kill is down most significantly in the far northern counties.
"As we communicated throughout the past year, many factors influence deer numbers in the north that include severe winters, comparatively more large predators than in years past, land ownership patterns, and habitat issues to name a few," said DNR big game ecologist Kevin Wallenfang. "We are attempting to increase deer numbers in the north, so many counties have a buck-only season framework this year which is intended to allow herd growth."
A breakdown of opening weekend registrations by DNR region and county is available at dnr.wi.gov, keyword "deer."
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