SHAWANO COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The countdown is underway for Deer Hunt 2019. Opening Day is on Saturday, and over the course of the nine-day gun season, an estimated 580,000 hunters will take to the field.
So what does the deer population look like?
Experts say in many areas, the health of the herd is good.
In a Shawano County farm field, whitetail deer are on the move, and many hunters say the sight can get their hearts pumping.
“If you’re a deer hunter, you get the itch this time of year. You will start seeing more deer on the landscape, out on the chopped fields eating. You could drive around in the neighborhood and see 20-30-40 deer on some fields,” said Duane Beyer, Shawano.
DNR Wildlife Supervisor Jeff Pritzl tells FOX 11….
“Deer numbers overall are pretty robust this year. We continue to have high deer densities in the farmland counties.”
Pritzl says five relatively mild winters mean, in many areas, there is plenty of deer on the landscape.
“Fawn numbers are as good as ever if not a little higher than average this year. The high moisture that we’ve had this year means lush vegetation which means the does have no problem finding food.”
Pritzl says the trend continues in the Northwoods, leading to more hunting opportunities. In 2014, the Northern Forest bucks-only zone covered 17 counties. Heading into Deer Hunt 2019, that number has shrunk to zero.
“It means two things. One is that we’re getting comfortable with that deer productivity in some of those forested areas is going in the right direction. And it’s also an acknowledgment that even just having a few antlerless tags available for those hunting parties in the north is acceptable, and it’s good. And it adds to the hunt.”
Pritzl says it’s been a wet and rainy year, and those conditions will have an impact in the fall.
“If there’s green growth, that’s going to be attractive to the deer in those landscapes where it’s available. So that’s something to key on.”
And there’s more. The way the calendar works, the date for opening day rotates each year. And in 2019, November 23rd is the latest the nine-day gun hunt can begin.
“The late opener that we’re going to have this year, gets us further past the peak of the rut, which is the peak of deer activity on the landscape. We generally see about the influence of a negative 10 percent on buck harvest during the gun season, when we have this transition from the earliest opener, to the late opener,” he said.
But Pritzl says there is a flip side.
“The later opener can is a better chance that we have colder conditions and snow on the ground. So it can be offset by better deer sight ability if we get that white background that everybody’s hoping for on opening weekend.”
No matter what the weather brings, many hunters say they will be ready on Saturday.
“When the colors start changing, and the temperatures start dropping, and most people just want to go to the woods in a tree, or in the woods with a shotgun over their shoulder,” said Beyer.
In most of the area, the season starts on Saturday at sunrise.
