A look back on gun deer season
The gun season saw eight hunting incidents with one fatality. There were two more incidents after opening weekend. Over the last 10 seasons the number of incidents averaged 6.4 per season. Six of those 10 years there were no fatalities.
At the end of the gun deer season 436,423 licenses were sold for gun deer hunting only, but when you adjust the license sales figures adding sportsmen’s and conservation patron licenses, the total number of licenses sold for gun deer season were 554,898, down about 1.6% from 2021.
The passion for hunting deer in Wisconsin obviously continues since people from all 50 states and 21 different countries came to Wisconsin to hunt deer. Resident hunters make up the bulk of hunters, but when hunters are traversing here from other countries, Hawaii, and Alaska it would be hard to deny the passion that exist for the hunt.
The DNR reported that the harvest totals went up in all four management zones compared to 2021. Opening weekend almost always accounts for the lion’s share of the harvest; this season it provided a bit over half of the harvest. By the end of the season, hunters bagged 203,295 deer. Combined with the archery harvest, 301,540 deer have been registered since mid-September. The DNR reported that the harvest totals went up in all four management zones compared to 2021. I talked to several hunters that told me they saw a lot of fawns this year compared to seasons in the recent past. They were enthused by the number of deer they saw in this central Wisconsin farmland area. Hunters from certain areas of the public forest in central Wisconsin forest zone told me they still are not seeing the number of deer they would like to see.
One hunter told me that he is pretty sure hunters are shooting antlerless deer on public land and registering them on tags for private land; he also felt that hunters weren’t registering some of those deer.
Another public land hunter told me that he had a buck he could have killed in his sights but couldn’t get a good look at the antlers, and he was holding out for trophy size deer. When he did get a good look at the antlers he wasn’t able to get a shot off. His buddy sighted three different shooter bucks but couldn’t get a shot off at any of them. They intend to hunt those bucks during the muzzleloader season expecting the cold weather from last Saturday to cause those three and a half year old deer to move during daylight. If not, they hope to have a few four and a half year old bucks to hunt next fall.
Hunters tell me about their deer hunting traditions. What I take away from those stories is that the hunt is far more than harvesting deer. The gun hunt to most of the hunters I talk to means time spent with family and friends. The time in the camp cooking, eating good meals together, and playing cards means just as much as the hunt.
A hunter from out of state told me the hunt brings his family back together. He and two other of his six brothers come home from other states with their families to hunt together every year. Their children now come home with their families as well. “How else would the cousins get to know each other?” he said. “This is bigger than Christmas for us, it’s when we get together.”
Another hunter told me he hunts with high school friends during the second weekend, and the kids are old enough to come along now. He talked about how their kids love the group time after a drive, eating sandwiches and telling stories; and he said the grownups love it too.
At our camp, we spend the evening around a campfire telling jokes and reliving hunting stories from seasons past for the young hunters. They, like we did when we were young, enjoy the stories. Their time to make their own stories is upon them.
The number of deer harvested or licenses sold don’t factor into these stories. Those statistics speak to the management of deer - they don’t matter when hunters tell stories. Hunting stories are about the hunting and the hunting camp. It’s truly the best time of the year.
Good luck if you’re hunting the statewide antlerless hunt this weekend and please remember: Safe Hunting is No Accident!
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