State, County Deer Harvest Down from 2012

Cold, windy weather on the opening weekend of the 162nd nine-day deer season may explain why the number for bucks is down 15 percent statewide from the 2012 deer season, and down 17 percent in Door County, according to preliminary figures from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Statewide, 97,765 bucks were killed among the 226,582 deer taken in this year’s hunting season, which ended at 5 pm Dec. 1. The state total is down seven percent from the 2012 total of 243,739 deer. In Door County, 1,183 bucks were taken (compared to 1,427 in 2012). The county antlerless total was 1,243, up four percent from 1,194 antlerless deer taken last year. The county deer harvest for 2013 was 2,426, down seven percent from last year’s hunt.

The preliminary nine-day harvest numbers are collected through a call-around survey of more than 600 deer registration stations across Wisconsin and likely will increase when all registration tags are officially counted.

Among the 633,602 gun deer license buyers, 27,000 were new resident hunters, and 33 percent of those were females.

This year eight shooting related incidents were reported, none of which were fatal.

There are additional opportunities to hunt deer after the close of the nine-day season. The muzzleloader season is open through Dec. 11. The late archery season is also underway and continues until Jan. 5, 2014. There is also a statewide antlerless hunt Dec. 12 to Dec. 15, and a holiday hunt in the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) zones of south central Wisconsin, which starts Dec. 24 and runs until Jan. 5, 2014.