Deer Harvest Down 15 Percent From 2013 Totals

This year’s deer harvest for the nine-day gun season was down 15 percent* compared to last year.

The steepest drop was up north, with harvests in Douglas, Iron, Price, Rusk, Sawyer and Washburn counties all respectively down more than 50 percent from last year.

Clarence Plansky, vice president of Wisconsin Deerhunters, Inc., said the poor harvest is only partly due to the new restrictions on shooting does. Plansky said the hunt was also hurt by snow in the north and the inability of farmers to harvest corn in the south.

“The doe harvest in the northern third of the state is gone,” he said. “They only could shoot bucks. Plus the bad snow depth in northern Wisconsin or all the corn being up in southern Wisconsin played havoc … because the deer stayed in the cornfields and didn’t come out.”

The Department of Natural Resources limited the doe harvest up north in order to rebuild the herd, which has been decimated after two harsh winters.

*Correction: The original version of this story, as well as the story’s original headline, said that the deer harvest for the 2014 gun season was down 25 percent from 2013. That information, which was provided by the Associated Press, was incorrect. The harvest was actually down 15 percent.