Wisconsin has deadliest gun deer season in five years

Hunters saw the most success over the first eight days in Marathon County, where they killed 7,650 deer.

The Wisconsin DNR says 2015 has been Wisconsin’s deadliest gun-deer season in the past five years, with two shooting fatalities already reported.

As of Friday, the harvest numbers have been a little lower than normal, but hunters had this weekend to catch up to last year’s results.

On November 23, a hunter in Waushara County was killed by a stray bullet. The second segment of this year’s season is Thursday through Sunday and the muzzleloader season is December 11-13.

Department of Natural Resources officials said both of those incidents violated the basic rules of gun safety.

Data from the first seven days is showing the total number of deer registered in the state is 175,398.

Final numbers from all deer seasons will be available in January.