Clark County Marathon County - BIG RACKS TAXIDERMY

farmland portion dropped 14.2% to 4,418 deer, 1,913 of which were bucks, while the harvest in the forest unit dropped by just over 400 deer, or 26%, to 1,204, 702 of which were bucks.

But, after the mild winter, the council chose to try to maintain a strong balance between hunting opportunities yet being somewhat conservative in the forest area.

In the Northern Forest portion, the antlerless harvest quota was set at 1,300 with 4,100 private-land antlerless permits being offered along with 600 public-land tags. The public-land tags are long gone, but there are plenty of private-land tags still available.

Through Nov. 4 in Chippewa County, just as the rut was hitting its peak, crossbow hunters had registered 142 deer in the zone –– up considerably from the same point in 2023 –– including 96 bucks, and archers had harvested 83 deer, with 55 of them being bucks.

In the farmland, the quota remains at 5,000 this year. The hope is to reach that goal through the issuance of 3,200 private- land bonus antlerless tags, 600 public- land bonus tags and two free farmland tags for each license sold. All of those numbers are the same as last year. Again, plenty of private-land tags are available heading into the nine-day gun season and there are about 460 public-land tags remaining as well. Last year, the first year of two farmland tags per license rather than one, there were 30,094 farmland tags issued but just 1,996 of those tags were filled for just a 6.6% success rate. A drop in the success rate was expected by doubling the number of permits issued. The 2022 success rate on 15,082 tags issued was 12.7%.

Through Nov. 4, archery hunters this fall had registered 351 deer in the farmland zone, including 177 bucks, while crossbow hunters were taking care of some antlerless deer, with 274 of the 605 deer registered falling under that category.

Each license holder can receive up to three metro subunit antlerless tags, showing the need for herd reduction in those areas.

For the second straight year, there will be no holiday hunt in Chippewa County as officials there wanted to avoid potential conflicts between hunters and snowmobilers if there is enough snow for trails to be open in late December.

Clark County

Expectations in Clark County are a little lower than last year as antlerless quota and permit numbers were altered slightly by the County Deer Advisory Council this spring.

Clark County is divided into two deer management zones. Most of the land is in the Central Farmland zone, which is operated by the Clark County Deer Advisory Council under a maintain population objective. Roughly the southern third is in the Central Forest Zone, including the 135,000-acre Clark County Forest. This land is under an increase objective.

This is the second straight season where hunters in Clark County’s farmland zone could obtain up to three farmland zone antlerless authorizations per license purchased. Hopefully this will allow hunters to thin out the herd in the areas of the county that need it. The county is working under an antlerless harvest quota of 6,300 deer in the Central Farmland Zone, down from 8,500 but still above the 5,700 quota of 2022. Additionally, 2,000 bonus antlerless tags were put up for sale this fall for the farmland. Few of those had sold as of early November.

The one area in Clark County where hunting harvest increased last year over 2022 was the antlerless kill on public land in the Central Farmland Zone. That went up 30% over the previous year for an overall 22% increase in the public land deer harvest and was certainly aided by the increase in farmland tags issued.

Between public and private land, 59,451 farmland tags were issued last year and 4,200 were filled for an 7.1% overall success rate. Success rates were better (8.0% to 3.9%) on private land.

The total deer harvest for all seasons in 2023 was down about 300 deer from 2022, nearly 15%.

The Clark County CDAC tweaked the numbers slightly for the Central Forest this year. The antlerless quota this year is 750, down from 800 last year. There were 2,600 private-land and 650 public-land doe tags offered to hunters this year, up from 2,500 on private land and down from 825 on public land. Similar to the farmland, the forest’s overall harvest last year was down 16% from 2022.

Between public and private tags issued last fall, 3,017 were sold and 563 were filled in the Forest Zone for an 18.7% success rate. That rate dropped about 6% from 2022.

Through Nov. 4, according to DNR statistics, hunters had registered 1,093 deer by crossbow and 472 deer by archery in the Farmland Zone of Clark County and an additional 269 deer by crossbow and 113 deer by archery in the Central Forest Zone.

Those figures are ahead of last year’s pace in both zones.

Marathon County

As the state’s largest county, Marathon County typically ranks at the top of the list for overall deer harvest and last year was no different, however, the total kill for all seasons was down noticeably –– as it was for the most of the state –– in 2023.

Following the 16% drop in total registrations, the Marathon County Deer Advisory Council dropped its antlerless quota for this year to 6,000 after five years of a quota of 7,000.

Those seeking antlerless tags still have opportunities to get them for private land in the county, which falls entirely into the DNR’s Central Farmland Zone. Hunters may obtain one farmland authorization per license purchased and 2,500 privateland bonus tags were made available for purchase and about 780 of those were still available in early November. All 300 of the public-land bonus tags quickly sold out.

Marathon County is under a maintain population objective, so strong harvests are sought and needed to keep deer numbers steady, especially after a record mild winter, which was expected to create high fawn production this year.

The county holds a variety of habitat types. It also offers some good chunks of public land with the nine units of the Marathon County Forest, the McMillan Marsh Wildlife Area and the Mead Wildlife Area being the largest public properties. Wishes to split the county into different management zones were again expressed during the spring CDAC meeting, but that idea has been tabled at the DNR level for at least another year.

Last year’s gun hunt registrations totaled 7,091, down from 8,522 the year before. Crossbow and archery harvests were down about 20% from 2022. Of the 10,082 total deer registered in the county during the fall of 2023, 8,758 were reported to be taken from private lands were from public lands, a 5% increase over 2022.

Of the 2,000 private-land bonus tags sold last fall, 429 were filled (21.5%), which compared to 491 the year before. Sixty-five of the 200 public-land tags were filled. Between private and public land, 34,892 farmland tags were issued and 4,047 were filled for an 11.6% success rate.

Through Nov. 4, DNR statistics showed crossbow hunters registering 793 bucks and 548 does, up noticeably from this point last year, while archery hunters had tagged 428 bucks and 328 does, again, a better pace from a year ago.

A mild winter likely allowed for strong fawn production for does across most of Wisconsin this spring and summer.

MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS