Wisconsin DNR scales back deer harvest number

This year was the first during which hunters across the entire state had to use the system.

“If anything, the department should be increasing the fencing requirement for deer herds and not undermining the increased federal regulation”, George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, said in an email.

State authorities released a spreadsheet Thursday showing preliminary totals for this year’s gun deer season.

Hunters farther south, where snow fell on the eve of the season opener, had much greater success. In Crawford County, the kill was 3,888 deer, up 14.86 percent compared with a year ago.

During the gun-deer hunting season, hunters bagged 94,166 deer with antlers with 107,646 antlerless deer.

The revised numbers still put the harvest ahead of the 2014 gun season total of 199,583 deer.

Marathon County, which has the state’s largest land area, also had the biggest deer harvest with a little more than 8,000.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources says hunting is the most effective management tool for maintaining Ohio’s healthy deer population.