Wisconsin's 2024 White-Tailed Deer Hunting Seasons Fit Expectations of Most Wildlife Managers

Tuesday, April 29th, 2025 -- 10:01 AM

(Paul Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) Coming off the mildest winter recorded in state history, the 2024 Wisconsin white-tailed deer hunting seasons fit expectations of most wildlife managers.

According to Paul Smith with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, hunters registered a total of 321,844 deer last year, an 8% increase from 2023, according to preliminary Department of Natural Resources data.

The numbers will likely change as the information is finalized, including accounting for deer taken on damage permits. But DNR staff anticipated a higher kill following the "deer-friendly" winter of 2023-24 and resulting bump in deer survival and recruitment.

The year-over-year deer registrations were higher for three of four regions, northern and central forest and central farmland, during the nine-day gun deer season. And following recent trends the number of bucks (161,512) and antlerless deer (160,322) were about even in the tally.

The notion of shooting many more antlerless deer than bucks, still the goal of many County Deer Advisory Councils, has been unrealistic since the Legislature outlawed the Earn-A-Buck regulation.

The last decade has shown that, despite their best efforts, the CDACs, DNR and hunters don't have a viable tool to reach the antlerless kill quotas set in most farmland deer management units.

Deer taken with crossbows also continued to increase, to 63,138 (39,387 bucks, 23,751 antlerless) in 2024, up from 53,944 (32,949 and 20,995) in 2023.

Since state law changed to allow all hunters regardless of age or physical ability to use crossbows the equipment has proven very popular among Wisconsin deer hunters. But the 2024 deer seasons included some remarkable aspects, too.

First an extraordinary hunting safety achievement must be noted. The nine-day gun deer season was the safest on record, with just one non-fatal shooting incident.

The requirements of hunter education and blaze orange clothing and the trends toward more deer hunting from elevated platforms and fewer deer drives have contributed to a dramatic reduction in hunting-related shooting incidents in Wisconsin.

The state's deer population has hit a new level, too, but in the other direction. According to DNR estimates, the post-hunt deer population was 1.825 million in 2024, highest on record.

Deer numbers have trended higher in general over the last decade as hunting regulations, combined with a decrease in hunters, have failed to curb the population.

The 2024 post-hunt deer population estimate of 1.825 million is up from 1.31 million in 2019 and 1.09 million in 2014. But deer numbers vary across the state.

The bulk of the Wisconsin deer population is found in the central and southern farmland zones, with fewer deer per square mile in the northern and central forests.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.