SHAWANO, WI (WTAQ) – When the Department of Natural Resources released opening weekend harvest numbers for the 9-day gun deer hunt season, Waupaca and Shawano County once again topped the state in overall deer harvested.
Shawano County leading the pack is not unusual to see year after year.
Shawano County DNR Warden Clark Delzer says there are many reasons why Shawano is always near the top.
“We have a high population of deer hunters up here. You drive through anywhere on opening weekend and you see orange in pretty much every parcel.”
Delzer says much of it also has to deal with the fact that many Sportsmen in the county take hunting seriously, and that includes lots of research before the season starts.
“They do their homework. They have their game cams up and they do their scouting, so they know where those deer are and they know where to set up during the weekend.”
Shawano County also has a unique opportunity for hunters who travel into the county.
“We have Navarino State land where we have people coming up to hunt from all over the state to hunt that 15-16 thousand acres there.”
Lastly, Delzer says representatives from the Shawano County DNR take extra time to be out in the community promoting safe and active hunting.
“Game Wardens out in the field are contacting hunters, but at the same time they are out in the community and part of those events that are advocating getting our youth outdoors and safe hunting practices.”
In all, 118,670 deer were registered in the state, 3,800 of them were from Shawano.


