MONROE - The preliminary number of deer harvested in Green and Lafayette counties so far is down over 18 percent compared to the same period in the 2008 hunt, according to the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Monday.
The numbers were down as expected - especially antlerless deer harvest numbers - due to several factors including, lower deer numbers in many areas of the state, fewer herd control units and no earn-a-buck units outside of the chronic wasting disease management zone, according to a statement from the DNR.
In Green County, 747 deer were registered, compared to 914, in 2008, an 18.27 percent drop. Lafayette County experienced a similar percentage decrease, as 1,227 deer were registered, which was fewer than the 1,510 in 2008, an 18.74 percent decrease, the statement said.
"We want to remind folks that these preliminary numbers come from a staff call-around to deer registrations stations (Monday) morning," said Tom Hauge DNR's wildlife management director, in the statement. "The final opening weekend tally will likely be somewhat larger, when all the registration stubs are entered into the data base over the next couple of months."
Statewide, about 100,000 deer were killed, down about 25 percent from 133,800 last year, according to the DNR statement.
The DNR also released the name of a 38-year-old Monticello man injured near Attica in Green County Saturday.
The DNR said Bryan Adams was accidentally shot when he slipped on a log while trying to cross a stream. His shotgun discharged and the projectile struck him in the upper leg.
He was flown by Medflight to UW Hospital in Madison. The DNR had been withholding his name until the family had been notified.
Elsewhere, in Grant County Saturday a hunter was struck in the back of the leg by shrapnel when a hunting companion's gun discharged into the door of a vehicle as he attempted to unload the gun, according to the DNR statement. Also Saturday, in Price County, a hunter suffered a self-inflicted wound in the left hand from a handgun.
On Sunday, a Barron County hunter was wounded in the thigh by a bullet, and in St. Croix County a hunter sustained a self-inflicted gunshot would to the right hand from a rifle.
The numbers were down as expected - especially antlerless deer harvest numbers - due to several factors including, lower deer numbers in many areas of the state, fewer herd control units and no earn-a-buck units outside of the chronic wasting disease management zone, according to a statement from the DNR.
In Green County, 747 deer were registered, compared to 914, in 2008, an 18.27 percent drop. Lafayette County experienced a similar percentage decrease, as 1,227 deer were registered, which was fewer than the 1,510 in 2008, an 18.74 percent decrease, the statement said.
"We want to remind folks that these preliminary numbers come from a staff call-around to deer registrations stations (Monday) morning," said Tom Hauge DNR's wildlife management director, in the statement. "The final opening weekend tally will likely be somewhat larger, when all the registration stubs are entered into the data base over the next couple of months."
Statewide, about 100,000 deer were killed, down about 25 percent from 133,800 last year, according to the DNR statement.
The DNR also released the name of a 38-year-old Monticello man injured near Attica in Green County Saturday.
The DNR said Bryan Adams was accidentally shot when he slipped on a log while trying to cross a stream. His shotgun discharged and the projectile struck him in the upper leg.
He was flown by Medflight to UW Hospital in Madison. The DNR had been withholding his name until the family had been notified.
Elsewhere, in Grant County Saturday a hunter was struck in the back of the leg by shrapnel when a hunting companion's gun discharged into the door of a vehicle as he attempted to unload the gun, according to the DNR statement. Also Saturday, in Price County, a hunter suffered a self-inflicted wound in the left hand from a handgun.
On Sunday, a Barron County hunter was wounded in the thigh by a bullet, and in St. Croix County a hunter sustained a self-inflicted gunshot would to the right hand from a rifle.