Shooting incidents stay on average, with no fatalities in 2013
This year a total of eight shooting related incidents were reported, which is below the 10-year average, which is nine.
Four of the hunting related incidents can be directly attributed to unsafe muzzle control.
"Always Point Your Muzzle in a Safe Direction is one of the four firearm safety rules taught in our hunter safety education courses," said Conservation Warden Jon King, hunter education administrator.
The remaining four incidents involved violating firearm safety rule number three: Be certain of your target and what is beyond.
Of the gun deer hunting incidents, 38 percent involved deer drives and shooting at running deer.
"It is difficult enough to successfully shoot a running deer, let alone pay attention to everything in front of and behind that deer while it is running as you are shooting," said King. "As a group, plan these deer drives very carefully and remind everyone that no deer is worth hurting someone or taking someone's life."
More than 30,000 students complete the hunter's safety program every year, thanks to the work of more than 4,200 volunteer hunter education instructors. Before the hunter education course started, hunter fatalities during the season commonly ran into double digits.
"As always, we want to remind hunters participating in the remaining seasons to remember and follow the four rules of firearm safety or TAB-K," said King. "Treat any firearm as if it is loaded; always point the muzzle in a safe direction; be certain of your target and what's beyond; and keep your finger outside the trigger guard until ready to shoot."
As in the rest of the state, Green County hunters were hampered by some very cold weather opening weekend, Nov. 23, which the DNR says reduced the early part of the harvest.
"I believe it did play a large factor," said Ryan Caputo, DNR Resource Conservationist assigned to Green County. "I didn't see (hunters) after 10 a.m. (Saturday), but it picked up later in the afternoon."
Caputo said the weather probably didn't keep the deer bedded down; he saw "quite a few deer," about 60, in Green County during his work and hunting.
Green County hunters bagged about 29 percent fewer deer compared to last year, and Rock County was down 32 percent. The decreases place the two counties back near their 2010 numbers and rank them in the bottom five counties that saw huge percentage decreases.
Lafayette County was down 14 percent.
The three counties saw stellar increases - up 23 to 35 percent - last year, which had them ranked in the top ten for increased percentages of deer harvested.
The preliminary numbers show Green County hunters took a total of 1,400 deer this season, 540 bucks and 865 antlerless. The harvest last year totaled 1,990, with 760 bucks and 1,230 antlerless.
Lafayette County hunters hung on to their antlerless count, 1,570 compared to 1,590 last year, but lost the bucks. Only 830 bucks came out of Lafayette County, compared to 1,200 last year.
Rock County hunters, likewise, lost out of antler trophies, capturing 350 bucks compared to 590 last year. About 615 antlerless deer came into registration stations, compared to 830 last year.
Iowa and Dane counties were also among those who lost out on the capture. Dane was down 18 percent total, again mostly in bucks, which were down 28 percent, compared to 2012. Iowa County fared little better, down 15 percent in total deer, with bucks 22 percent down.
The entire state saw total captures decrease about 7 percent, or 17,000 fewer than in 2012. The loss was nearly all bucks; antlerless deer stayed stable, down just 100 from last year. The preliminary tally showed hunters harvested 97,765 bucks and 128,817 antlerless deer. This compared to 2012 call-in registration figures of 114,822 bucks and 128,917 antlerless, for a 15 percent decrease in the buck kill.
Northern and Southern districts recorded decreases in both bucks and antlerless kills.
In the northeast, antlerless kills increased 11 percent, while bucks decreased 8 percent, compared to last year. Brown, Fond du Lac and Manitowoc counties saw the largest total increases: 23, 22 and 22 percent respectively. They also had buck kill increases.
The West Central District had a 1 percent increase in antlerless and 13 percent drop in bucks.
Milwaukee, considered to be in the southern district with Rock, Green and Lafayette, had both the greatest and least percentage differences in the state, registering 67 percent fewer buck kills and 150 percent more antlerless kills compared to last year.
The DNR is reporting cold temperatures opening weekend reflected early, low numbers, but by the second half of the week, hunters found much more favorable conditions and put it to good use.
"Feedback from our deer hunter wildlife survey shows that, not surprisingly, hunters themselves felt the weather during the first half of the season ranked the poorest they've seen in the five years that we've done this survey," said Kevin Wallenfang, DNR big game ecologist, who spent most of the week hunting and working in Vilas County. "It was downright brutal out there early in the week."
Preliminary harvest numbers during the opening weekend throughout the state showed a total decrease of about 18 percent.
This year, the traditions of the nine-day were shared with a large cohort of new hunters.
Of the 633,600 gun deer license buyers, Wisconsin welcomed nearly 27,000 new resident hunters to the field, based on the number of people who took advantage of discounted licenses for first-time hunters.
This year females represented 33 percent of resident adult First Time Gun Deer license buyers and 33 percent of resident First Time Junior Gun Deer license buyers. The number of female hunters aged 10 to 30 increased by 10 percent this year and overall, females made up 10 percent of all deer license sales, going into opening weekend.
The nine-day harvest numbers likely will increase when all registration tags are officially counted, Wallenfang said.
According to Wallenfang, DNR anticipated lower numbers in the north, and hunter feedback confirmed it. He added that antlerless permit numbers across the north are at the lowest levels seen since the 1990s and a reduced antlerless harvest was expected this year.
The neighboring states of Michigan and Minnesota saw similar conditions both during their hunts and last winter, and both have reported a comparatively lower deer harvest this fall.
Caputo reminds hunters to get their turkey and bear hunting applications in before Dec. 10.