Weather, low deer numbers trim the hunt Nov. 23, 2009 Early dense fog—plus far lower numbers of whitetails— dampened the northwoods on opening day of Wisconsin’s 2009 nine-day gun deer season,
Eric Borchert, DNR wildlife technician, reported a 11 percent decline in the total number of bucks harvested, with 588 animals registered at the region’s nine stations.
With most of the northwood’s designated as “bucks only,” the antlerless tally fell 87 percent, to 95 deer. Does may only be taken in a few units, mainly south and east of Antigo.
“We had said that the numbers were down and there were no surprises,” Borchert said. “The numbers were not unexpected.”
Borchert called the lower numbers, plus the balmy and foggy weather, a “double whammy” for sportsmen, who would have preferred more seasonable temperatures, a bit of tracking snow, and certainly more deer.
“We got a wide range of comments from the hunters who brought deer in. They recognize that the numbers are down and it is going to be a different sort of season than most people are used to.”
Across the state, wildlife managers at registration stations, especially in former earn-a-buck areas, were reporting a large percentage of older bucks, many with nice antler development. In many areas, deer appeared to still be in rut, or their mating season.
Tom Hauge, director of the DNR Wildlife Management program, was able to watch two bucks sparring for about 10 minutes. At another station, a 7-year old buck was registered with antlers badly damaged from recent sparring.
Borchert said that most of the bucks taken locally where about 18-months-old, which is common, with “average at best” antler development.
DNR Secretary Matt Frank, visiting with hunters registering deer in Montello, Westfield, Wautoma and Portage Saturday morning, said that hunters were in good spirits, including one young girl registering her first buck at Wautoma.
“This is a great Wisconsin tradition, and it's just plain fun visiting with hunters and hearing their stories. Tomorrow, I will be out hunting myself. DNR is committed to maintaining a healthy deer herd so that we can enjoy deer hunting for many generations to come.”
As shooting hours opened Saturday, the DNR reported that 626,404 hunters hit the woods. Of these, 9,592 were 10- and 11-year-olds who were able to participate in this year’s hunt under the new Hunting Youth Mentorship Program. Nearly one-third of all hunters were under the age of 30.
On the DNR’s on-line system, hunting license purchases peaked at 212 per minute at 5:30 p.m. Friday. All told, 82,463 gun deer licenses were issued to anxious hunters who waited until the last minute to purchase. Nearly 270,000 licenses were issued in the eight days preceding the season opener. Deer license and tag sales will continue through the hunting seasons.
Of the hunters hitting the woods Saturday:
—592,287 (95 percent) were residents and 34,117 were nonresidents;
—Over 79,000 were youth hunters under 18 years old, representing 13 percent of the total number of deer hunters;
—More than 54,000 were age 65 or older, and over 191,000 (31 percent) are under 30-years-old;
—8.5 percent were females, including and 20 percent of new 10- and 11-year-old hunters;
Hunters throughout the U.S. and several foreign countries purchased a Wisconsin gun deer license. The highest number of nonresident hunters came from Minnesota (16,413), Illinois (8,568), Michigan (1,078), and Florida (898);
The most deer licenses were sold in Dane County (29,024), with Brown, Washington, Marathon and Waukesha counties following;
More than 170,000 antlerless deer tags have been sold this year.
Wardens wrote citations on opening day for illegal baiting, loaded firearms in vehicles and other violations, but no serious incidents were reported. A hunter in Clark County was cited after he cut down 25 pine trees on county property to improve a “shooting lane.” Another hunter was arrested and booked into jail for carrying a firearm while legally intoxicated.
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