Marketplace Today Blog

By Paul A. Smith
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Hunters registered the fewest deer in 27 years in the Wisconsin gun deer season that ended Sunday, according to preliminary data from the Department of Natural Resources.

The 2009 harvest of 195,647 deer included 86,251 bucks and 109,396 antlerless deer. It represents a 29-percent drop from 2008, when hunters registered a preliminary total of 98,840 bucks and 178,145 antlerless deer.

In addition, seven hunters were injured in shooting incidents this year; an eighth shooting remains under investigation.

DNR managers anticipated a lower harvest this year due to changes in season structure, a reduction in antlerless permits, lower fawn production and a decline in the deer population in the north and northeast.

“Deer populations are variable throughout the state,” said Keith Warnke, the DNR’s big game biologist. “In parts of the north we are below population goals, but in much of the farmland region we are at or above goals.”

The harvest data was remarkably consistent: All 72 counties reported lower deer registrations.

The hunt was marked by mild weather, a lack of snow and more standing corn than usual.

The state sold 638,040 licenses for the season; last year it sold 642,419.

“There’s a lot of dissatisfied hunters,” said Ed Harvey, chairman of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress. “It’s one thing to not get a deer. It’s another thing entirely to not even see a deer.”

The harvest decline was especially pronounced in the north. Year-over-year registrations dropped 62 percent in Florence County, 59 percent in Vilas County and 50 percent in Oneida County.

There also was a 49 percent decline in Dodge County, a 48 percent drop in Calumet County and a 28 percent fall-off in Waukesha County.

You have to go back to 1982, when hunters registered 182,715 deer (97,534 bucks and 85,181 antlerless) to find a lower harvest.

With respect to shooting incidents, the DNR rated the hunt as fourth-safest in history. The hunt also included the sale of 9,907 mentored hunting licenses to 10- and 11-year-olds. None of the young hunters was involved in a shooting incident.

The DNR said some registration slips are still being checked; final harvest numbers should be available later this month.