Hunters hope for a better year as gun deer season begins Saturday

Hunters are hoping for a better chance to bag a deer when they head to the woods for Wisconsin’s nine-day gun deer season. It starts Saturday and runs through Dec. 1.

Duane Harpster, 77, of Boulder Junction, said he’s hit the woods for opening day for 65 years.

“I don’t believe that I’ve missed an opening day since I turned 12,” Harpster said. “I accompanied my dad before that … It was a tradition in our family. I just have always loved it.”

Harpster said he’s expecting to see a few more deer when he goes to hunt in the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest this weekend. He said the record warm winter likely improved survival for fawns, noting he didn’t have any luck last year.

Arby Humphrey, who hunts just outside Superior, said last year was pretty slow. He blamed predators and the preceding harsh winter, saying it was tough on the northern deer herd.

“We’ve been seeing some bucks around and does, and I think the season is going to be a little bit better than last year,” Humphrey said.

Last year, hunters killed around 175,000 deer statewide — down about 17 percent from 2022. For hunters in northern Wisconsin, the season was even worse, with around 30 percent fewer deer harvested last season.

As of Friday morning, hunters had purchased 302,988 gun licenses out of 661,333 licenses sold so far this year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Around 100,000 licenses are typically sold on the day before opening weekend, according to State Deer Program Specialist Jeff Pritzl.

Late start likely to work against deer hunters

While a record warm winter likely bolstered the deer herd, Pritzl said the harvest is unlikely to be much different from last year because of the late start to the season.

“That usually equates to less natural deer movement on the landscape during daylight hours because that’s just a factor of how far removed we are from the rut,” Pritzl said, adding that usually leads to a decline in the harvest.

Even so, Pritzl said the weather could benefit hunters with light winds, cooler conditions and the potential for snow in northern Wisconsin at the beginning of next week. But the ground is expected to be bare for most deer hunters statewide.

“If we do get some snow on the ground after the weekend and it stays cool enough, that should help the hunting experience up north over the course of the rest of the week,” Pritzl said.

Last year, the state sold around 553,000 gun deer licenses by the season’s end — down from almost 555,000 licenses sold at the same time in 2022. Pritzl said the state is on track to have roughly 550,000 deer hunters out this season.

Trends show fewer hunters heading to the woods

License sales for all deer hunting seasons were down about 1.6 percent last year from the prior year. Sales have been declining over time as baby boomers are aging out of hunting and fewer young people take their place. Pritzl said the state has lost about 100,000 deer hunters in the past two decades.

As the season gets underway, Pritzl urged hunters and others to stay safe and visible.

“Hunters are required to wear blaze orange or fluorescent pink clothing, but we know people are recreating later into the fall for hiking and biking and other non-hunting reasons,” he said. “It’s just good to make yourself visible by wearing bright-colored clothing if you are going to be out.”

Three hunters sustained injuries during last year’s gun deer season, including an Adams County woman who was shot while walking her dog after a hunter confused the animal for a deer.  For the calendar year, the DNR recorded 11 hunting incidents and no fatalities in 2023.

The agency is also urging hunters to test deer for chronic wasting disease with goals to sample around 19,200 deer for the deadly deer disease this year. Hunters can submit deer for sampling anytime at self-service kiosks and dispose of deer carcasses at designated dumpsters or landfills.

Deer hunting contributes around $2.2 billion to the state’s economy. Heading into the fall, Pritzl estimated the state had just shy of 2 million deer, projecting hunters will remove between 300,000 to 350,000 deer across all hunting seasons.

While the population seems high, he noted deer aren’t evenly distributed on the landscape. Hunters in areas of northern Wisconsin have seen fewer deer in recent years compared to southern farmland areas of the state.

“I think the declining deer population adds to the declining hunter population,” Humphrey said. “If you go out year after year and you don’t see deer, you’re not likely to come back.”

Humphrey, who typically hunts with his brother-in-law, said he hopes for a successful season and a couple nice bucks. Harpster said his goal is to get a deer and enjoy a lot of venison dinners this winter.

“It’ll be what it’ll be,” Harpster said. “Whether I get one or not, I’ll be happy that I was able to go.”