Opening weekend statistics
With some of the harsher opening weekend weather conditions, fewer hunters harvested 15% more deer then the previous opener. How and why are open for interpretation. The snow cover where I hunted did make the deer stand out. The harsh conditions seemed to keep the deer moving where I hunted. Other hunters told me the same.
One group I know of harvested five bucks on opening morning, filling up on bucks, their best deer season ever. Another group I know harvested 16 deer opening day. All from stands, no drives were made. They harvested more on Sunday. Several hunters from the area shot some very respectable bucks. There were hunters that harvested a once in a lifetime buck. I felt fortunate to actually see one of them pictures just don’t do it justice. Congrats to all!
Of 779,123 deer licenses purchased before opening day, only 421,474 were for gun deer hunting. More licenses will be purchased by hunters that won’t be able to start hunting until later in the week, but generally not a lot. 62% of those licenses were sold online. Both the number of gun hunters and the percentage of hunters purchasing their license online represent significant changes over the last ten years.
The license sales were down by 2% from 2021, but that could be from hunters who normally wait until the day or two before the season to buy their license looking at the weather forecast and deciding it was better to read a book beside a fireplace than sit in a tree stand in the cold and unrelenting wind. It could also be less people buying licenses since they don’t need to display a back tag anymore. Open for interpretation.
The DNR reported that 103,623 deer were registered from the opening weekend’s hunting; up from 90,023 registered for the same period in 2021. Of those deer registered, 56,638 were reported as bucks.
On the drive into work last week I came close to bagging a big buck twice with the truck. My take on that was at least a couple nice bucks were left for the second weekend of hunting.
The preliminary summary of the nine day gun season comes out just a little bit after deadline for this week’s column. That’s OK, it gives us plenty of deer hunting to talk about over the next several weeks. It will all be open for interpretation.
My hopes of an incident free gun deer season were squelched early on opening day. I’m sure many of you dear readers heard by now that on the second day of the season a fatal incident took place involving an eleven year old losing their life. Anytime a child dies in any manner it’s tragic. This was preventable. That’s not open for interpretation. It’s hard to write about it when you don’t even know a single person involved in the hunting party or the family. I can’t imagine the depth of pain, anguish, and other emotions felt by those that did know that young boy, his family, and those that were in the hunting party. I, like I’m sure you do, offer sincere and heartfelt condolences along with thoughts and prayers for everyone involved.
Last year there were six incidents during the gun deer season and 12 for the entire year. With reporting on only two days of this season there has already been six incidents with one fatality. We all know that for everyone involved in these six incidents and their families, this will be their worst hunting season. Most of them will never hunt again. In 1966 the hunting season had over 260 hunting incidents. That’s the year Hunters Ed started. A lot of hard work and we now have far less total incidents than the number of fatalities in 1966. The opener proved that there is still work to be done since the only good hunt is a safe hunt.
The traditional nine day gun season closed Sunday evening at 4:42 pm. The muzzleloader season opened on Monday morning at the start of shooting hours and runs until December 7th if you are still looking for a buck. On Thursday, December 8th the statewide antlerless deer hunt starts. It’s open for all weapons, and closes on December 11th. Archery season remains open until the close of the season, which by us is essentially January 8th.
Good luck if you plan to hunt more, but please remember: Safe Hunting is No Accident!
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