Deer harvest numbers down 30 percent  
by Sports Editor Matt Frey
The Star News
December 3, 2009 —  A light snow cover desired by most deer hunters came too late to boost local deer registrations for the annual nine-day gun hunt that ended Sunday afternoon.
Like the rest of its Northern Region counterparts, Taylor County finished the season with dramatically lower registration totals when compared to 2008. Overall, deer registration was down 30.6 percent at Taylor County’s seven stations, falling from 5,046 deer last year to 3,501 deer this year. The buck tally was down 17.8 percent from 1,823 to 1,499 and the antlerless tally went from 3,223 deer to 2,002. That’s a decrease of 37.9 percent.
While the weather conditions weren’t perfect from a hunter’s point of view with warmer than average temperatures, a dense fog on opening morning and a lack of snow cover to help hunters see deer until the last day of the season, the main reason for the drop is pretty simple. There weren’t as many deer to harvest.
“The results are pretty reflective of the deer herd that’s out there,” DNR wildlife biologist Mark Schmidt said Tuesday after completing his calls to registration stations in Taylor and Rusk counties.
In the 18-county Northern Region, overall registration totals fell anywhere from just 11.3 percent in Burnett County and 15.9 percent in Polk County to 61.8 percent in Florence County and 59 percent in Vilas County, where antlerless permits were not available in several deer management units. The buck tally actually went up 2.1 percent in Douglas County, but antlerless numbers were down in all counties, mainly due to a lack of available antlerless permits.
These numbers are preliminary. Official harvest totals won’t be determined until all of the registration stubs filled out by successful hunters are reviewed. Then DNR officials can take a unit-by-unit look at the 2009 deer hunt.
“It’s not a big surprise,” Schmidt said of the local numbers. “We tried to get the word out all fall that people were probably going to see fewer deer and harvest fewer deer, and that’s what happened. Do people like it? Probably not. But we are close to goal now in most units, and that’s where we like to be with our figures. I’m sure the hunting public would like to see more deer.”
While there were some good starts at some of Taylor County’s stations, possibly spurred by warm weather that forced hunters to get their deer registered and butchered quickly, most stations saw decreases in bucks and does from 2008, except for bucks that were registered in Jump River and Rib Lake. Skabroud’s Store in Jump River went from 129 bucks last year to 155 this year. The R-Corner BP Store in Rib Lake registered 207 bucks during the season, the same number registered at Last Chance a year ago.
“It was a terrible season for deer movement, there’s no doubt about that,” Schmidt said. “Hunters did their part. They were out there. The ones that spent hours in their stands usually didn’t see much. Hunters usually had to push them or have somebody else push them to get them moving.”
Over the last decade, nine-day registration totals were commonly in the 5,000 to 6,000 range in Taylor County with a peak of 7,004 in 2000. The last comparable year to this one was 1997 when 3,903 deer were registered here (1,614 bucks, 2,289 antlerless). That season came after two straight harsh winters in northern Wisconsin and a sizable reduction in antlerless permits. There were 2,881 deer registered in Taylor County in 1994. That’s the last time it’s been lower than this year’s total of 3,501.
The last decade of high antlerless permit availability finally caught up to the northern herd with a long winter in 2007-08. Fawn recruitment has been lower than average in northern Wisconsin the past two years, and many hunters believe predation of deer has increased here in recent years.
Schmidt said it’s too early to predict what next year’s hunt will look like, especially with a new season framework being proposed to the Natural Resources Board next week that includes a statewide 16-day season. But, with the second straight significant drop in gun season harvests, antlerless permit availability may decrease along with it next fall regardless of how long the season is.

Statewide summary
The statewide survey of registration stations produced a preliminary tally of 195,647 deer for the nine-day November gun deer hunt. This includes a buck tally of 86,251 and an antlerless tally of 109,396.
This number is preliminary and is expected change before a final report is published in late winter. It does not include harvest information from the archery, October antlerless gun deer hunt, muzzleloader, December antlerless deer gun hunt or late archery seasons. The preliminary harvest count in 2008 was 276,895.
“Deer populations are variable throughout the state,” said Keith Warnke, DNR’s big game biologist. “We believe people when they say they did not see deer in their hunting area. We have also received reports from successful camps. As always, local populations make all the difference.
“Wildlife management and especially deer management is a process of continual adjustment. In response to hunter input we adjusted seasons this year to reflect lower populations across the north and central forests and suspended EAB in many areas.”
DNR wildlife officials anticipated the total harvest would be down due to changes in season structure that significantly reduced the antlerless deer harvest, lower fawn production and tough weather conditions for deer and hunters alike. In some northeastern units it was not possible to shoot an antlerless deer and in other northern region units the small supply of bonus antlerless deer tags did not meet demand. Careful adjustment of antlerless tag numbers is an important tool in managing deer numbers.
“There are still days to hunt in 2009 in herd control units where deer are above goal and in CWD units. The muzzleloader hunt is underway and the December antlerless hunt is around the corner,” Warnke said.
In February, DNR biologists will compare unit-level harvest numbers against overwinter population estimates and will adjust the recommended season structure for 2010 to address any significant trends.
“A pillar of Wisconsin deer management is the accurate harvest figures provided by hunters,” said DNR wildlife biologist Jeff Pritzl. “Periods of stable deer populations have always been relatively short-lived in Wisconsin. Mandatory deer registration allows us to respond quickly to changing population levels. We have annually adapted our harvest strategies, and will continue to do so in consideration of what the 2009 harvest tells us about the deer population.”
“This year, in response to hunter input, we moved 29 units from earn-a-buck to herd control status and 38 units from herd control to regular unit status. The total number of regular units grew from 21 in 2008 to 59 this year.” said Warnke. “The result was inevitably less antlerless opportunity and lower antlerless harvest numbers.”
DNR hunter education administrator and conservation warden Tim Lawhern said there were seven hunting incidents during the nine-day gun hunt. A possible eighth incident remains under investigation.
“Our hearts go out to the families whose loved ones suffered injury during the hunting season,” Lawhern said. “Our goal is to eliminate all injury and loss of life while hunting. Every incident is investigated to learn what happened so we can work to prevent such incidents in the future.”
Self-inflicted gunshot injuries accounted for four of this season’s incidents. Deer drives contributed to 25 percent of all incidents. Both categories and all firearm related incidents can be attributed to failure to observe one of the basic rules of firearm safety according to Lawhern.
“This was the fourth safest season ever and the fourth time in history that we’ve had a gun deer season with less than 10 incidents,” said Lawhern, “Nonetheless, our goal is zero incidents.”

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