Natural Resources Board finalizes antlerless quotas, permit numbers
The framework for the 2025 deer hunting season in Wisconsin is set following Natural Resources Board approval on June 25 of recommendations presented by the Department of Natural Resources.
The DNR’s recommendations were heavily based on recommendations from local deer advisory councils (CDACs) statewide. The only major exception was in Grant County, where the DNR recommended continuing the holiday antlerless hunt and an extended January archery hunt, going against the CDAC. However, the Natural Resources Board voted to stick with Grant County’s local recommendation to stop those hunts for this year.
The 2025 season marks a return to habitat-based deer management units in the Northern Forest Region of the state, including Taylor County, rather than county-based units since 2014. That led to a more complicated process to set quotas and permit levels for county-based CDACs who, in many cases, had to work together to agree on numbers for new units that span several counties.
Locally, the final antlerless harvest quotas and permit availability numbers are quite close to what was recommended at Taylor County’s April 23 CDAC meeting in Medford for units 114 and 119. The council did not recommend specific numbers for units 110 and 115.
In Unit 114, which covers central Taylor County, will have total antlerless quota of 850 with 3,300 anterless permits being made available for private land and 250 for public.
In Unit 119, most of which is in Lincoln County but also includes a sizable chunk of eastern Taylor County, the total quota is 1,095 with 4,065 private-land permits and 700 public-land permits available.
In Unit 110, most of which is in Rusk County but also includes the northwestern corner of Taylor County, the total antlerless quota is 1,765 deer with 6,950 private-land tags being offered and 950 public-land tags.
In Unit 115, most of which is in Price County, but includes a section of Taylor County’s northern edge, the total antlerless quota is 1,270 with 4,700 private-land permits and 700 public-land permits being made available.
Land south of Hwy 64 in Taylor County is now part of the DNR’s Central Farmland Zone. The Taylor County’s CDAC’s firstyear recommendations for that zone were approved. They include an antlerless quota of 3,000 deer to be harvested through one free farmland tag per hunting license purchased and an additional 2,000 permits being made available for purchase.
Antlerless harvest authorizations will go on sale starting Monday, Aug. 18. Sales begin at 10 a.m. on that day for the Northern and Central Forest zones. On Tuesday, Aug. 19, sales for the Central Farmland Zone start at 10 a.m. Southern Farmland Zone permits go on sale at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 20. All remaining tags for all zones then go on sale on Thursday, Aug. 21.
Bonus harvest authorizations are $5.00 for any person under age 12, $12 for Wisconsin residents and $20 for nonresidents.
Where available, bonus antlerless harvest authorizations may be purchased at the rate of one harvest authorization, per person, per day until the unit is sold out or the hunting season ends. Although harvest authorizations will not be weapon or season-specific, they will be unit and land-type (public or private) specific.
At purchase, you will be asked to identify the deer management zone and unit and whether you want the harvest authorization valid for public or private lands. In order to hunt antlerless deer on private lands enrolled in the Managed Forest Law and Forest Crop Law lands programs designated as open to public hunting as well as Voluntary Public Access lands, you must have a valid public land antlerless harvest authorization.
