GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A 6.9 increase in harvest numbers and the safest season on record highlight the nine-day gun hunt.
The DNR reported 211,430 deer registered during the nine-day season. That is up from the 197,733 registered in 2017.
Hunters shot 104,388 bucks which is up 5.4 percent, and 107,042 antlerless deer. That’s up 8.4 percent from last year.
Marathon, Shawano and Waupaca County once again led the state.
Marathon County had 7,642. Shawano County had 6,702 and Waupaca County was third with 6,520.
John Hoff, Area Wildlife Supervisor says that is no surprise.
“Those are counties with a lot of deer and a lot of hunters and that is what we kind of expect from those counties.”
Huff says the numbers tell a positive story especially since license sales were down at the start of the season, signifying fewer hunters in the woods.
“That indicates that the folks that are still in the game maybe had a little better chance this year.”
He says while it is not a major concern, he would like to see hunters to their part to encourage others to join them to increase license sales.
“We would like to see that turn around in the future.”
DNR officials say good weather, early season and no Packer game to compete with were all factors.
“I guess the numbers that we see now are really encouraging, but they are by no means the whole story.”
