GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – The DNR has released the opening weekend deer registration numbers for this year’s nine-day gun-deer season.
The numbers show statewide, registrations were down more than 13,000 from last year.
The preliminary numbers show 102,903 total registrations Saturday and Sunday, down from the 2016 opening weekend total of 116,615.
DNR Program Manager Jeff Pritzl says a big reason for the drop off is that the trend of more of the harvest coming from the southern half of the state was bucked.
“The further north you were, the better the conditions and the hunter success. The further south you went, the worse the conditions were and the more the harvest dropped off.”
Contrary to some of those southern counties, Pritzl says a handful of local counties saw more kills than expected.
“Manitowoc, Kewaunee, Door counties, kind of a band through there. There we did see the buck kills hold steady and/or increase this year, but the antlerless kill did not, and in some cases declined.”
Pritzl says the antlerless harvest needs to catch up to the buck total as the DNR is hoping to see those counties’ deer populations decrease rather than increase.
Marathon (3,671), Shawano (3,618) and Waupaca (3,529) counties had the highest totals in the state.
“Waupaca and Waushara counties, the opening weekend numbers dropped off quite a bit. Really wouldn’t have expected that given what we saw in Shawano County.”
Click here to view the rest of the opening weekend totals.
Pritzl notes the opening weekend also displayed success with the DNR’s new registration system.
“Almost two-thirds of the hunters now are using our online registration system, as opposed to calling in.”
The season runs through Sunday.
