Hunter Numbers
• 595,926 (94 percent) of hunters this year are residents, and 35,297 are nonresidents. The highest number of nonresidents come from Minnesota (16,631), Illinois (8,910), Michigan (1,102) and Florida (985).
• When 203,571 bow deer licenses are added to deer gun totals, deer hunting participation is at 835,000, a slight increase over 2007.
• Youth hunters aged 12-17 represent 11 percent of the total number of deer hunters and 8.1 percent of the total hunters are female.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
MONROE - Don Martin expected to be busy Saturday.
Martin, owner of Martin's Sports Shop on Monroe's Square, was ready for hunters to bring in their freshly killed deer to be registered.
"We had four of them bring their deer in earlier," he said during a brief lull in the action Saturday morning.
There were times throughout the morning when Martin had to wait for a while before more hunters came into the store to register their deer. It's more common for Martin to wait just a few minutes for the next truck to pull in with a couple of deer in the back.
Some hunters get their first deer and wait out in the woods for their second. Hunters have to shoot a doe in order to shoot a buck, so when they get their doe they wait for the opportunity for a buck. It might take a while before they see a buck and, for some, seeing a buck doesn't mean it's the one they want to shoot.
It's an old tradition for some hunters to wait for that trophy buck, the one with a full rack they can stuff and mount of the wall or show to their friends for bragging rights.
"A lot of guys tag them and stay out," Martin said. "Some bring them in to be registered and then go right back out again."
Saturday's opening day of the nine-day gun hunt season brought out an estimated 600,000 around the state to try their luck at landing a deer. According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) up to 1.7 million deer roamed fields and woods in Wisconsin. The estimated number of deer is about 100,000 less than a year ago when hunters in all seasons killed more than 520,000 deer.
Hunters in Green and Lafayette county were out in the woods and ready for opening day just before sunrise.
Steve Gorton, Monroe, brought two deer to Martin's Sport Shop Saturday. He was happy to have bagged two deer, but said he wished they would have been bigger. One was a doe and the other was a young buck.
Like many other hunters throughout the area, Gorton was able to consider opening day a success.
The DNR said good field conditions were reported statewide both Saturday and Sunday. It said deer registration centers in Dane, Green, Iowa, Sauk and Columbia counties reported excellent conditions with registration numbers in line with previous years.
Dennis Hoesly of Hoesly's Meats in New Glarus says deer registration numbers probably don't reflect the actual numbers of deer taken during opening weekend. That's because the cold temperatures mean the deer won't spoil.
"It's not like recent years where it was so wet and warm that the deer needed to get in here pretty quickly to preserve quality," Hoesly said. "We've seen about six really nice bucks, including a 12-pointer with a drop tine and one really big eight-pointer with two spit drop tines. That particular deer was just a monster, a good 180 pounds or so dressed out. The guy who got that one is a Minnesotan who has been coming to this area to hunt with a friend for 34 years."
Hoesly said hunters also have donated quite a few items to the food pantry program, "which is nice in these times."
Denny Malott at Holverson's Meat Processing in South Wayne said he had registered only 25 deer by mid-afternoon Saturday.
"We've usually registered about 100 by now in past years," Malott said, "but there is a lot of standing corn down here this year and there seems to be more land in the area that just isn't open to hunting as it used to be."
Malott said two first-time hunters registered deer - a 16-year-old who registered a doe and a buck, and a 15-year-old who registered his first deer. "They were both pretty happy, but quiet," Malott said.
At Anton's General Store in New Diggings, Robert Anton said registrations were running about normal and 19 deer had come in by 3:45 p.m. Saturday.
Martin, owner of Martin's Sports Shop on Monroe's Square, was ready for hunters to bring in their freshly killed deer to be registered.
"We had four of them bring their deer in earlier," he said during a brief lull in the action Saturday morning.
There were times throughout the morning when Martin had to wait for a while before more hunters came into the store to register their deer. It's more common for Martin to wait just a few minutes for the next truck to pull in with a couple of deer in the back.
Some hunters get their first deer and wait out in the woods for their second. Hunters have to shoot a doe in order to shoot a buck, so when they get their doe they wait for the opportunity for a buck. It might take a while before they see a buck and, for some, seeing a buck doesn't mean it's the one they want to shoot.
It's an old tradition for some hunters to wait for that trophy buck, the one with a full rack they can stuff and mount of the wall or show to their friends for bragging rights.
"A lot of guys tag them and stay out," Martin said. "Some bring them in to be registered and then go right back out again."
Saturday's opening day of the nine-day gun hunt season brought out an estimated 600,000 around the state to try their luck at landing a deer. According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) up to 1.7 million deer roamed fields and woods in Wisconsin. The estimated number of deer is about 100,000 less than a year ago when hunters in all seasons killed more than 520,000 deer.
Hunters in Green and Lafayette county were out in the woods and ready for opening day just before sunrise.
Steve Gorton, Monroe, brought two deer to Martin's Sport Shop Saturday. He was happy to have bagged two deer, but said he wished they would have been bigger. One was a doe and the other was a young buck.
Like many other hunters throughout the area, Gorton was able to consider opening day a success.
The DNR said good field conditions were reported statewide both Saturday and Sunday. It said deer registration centers in Dane, Green, Iowa, Sauk and Columbia counties reported excellent conditions with registration numbers in line with previous years.
Dennis Hoesly of Hoesly's Meats in New Glarus says deer registration numbers probably don't reflect the actual numbers of deer taken during opening weekend. That's because the cold temperatures mean the deer won't spoil.
"It's not like recent years where it was so wet and warm that the deer needed to get in here pretty quickly to preserve quality," Hoesly said. "We've seen about six really nice bucks, including a 12-pointer with a drop tine and one really big eight-pointer with two spit drop tines. That particular deer was just a monster, a good 180 pounds or so dressed out. The guy who got that one is a Minnesotan who has been coming to this area to hunt with a friend for 34 years."
Hoesly said hunters also have donated quite a few items to the food pantry program, "which is nice in these times."
Denny Malott at Holverson's Meat Processing in South Wayne said he had registered only 25 deer by mid-afternoon Saturday.
"We've usually registered about 100 by now in past years," Malott said, "but there is a lot of standing corn down here this year and there seems to be more land in the area that just isn't open to hunting as it used to be."
Malott said two first-time hunters registered deer - a 16-year-old who registered a doe and a buck, and a 15-year-old who registered his first deer. "They were both pretty happy, but quiet," Malott said.
At Anton's General Store in New Diggings, Robert Anton said registrations were running about normal and 19 deer had come in by 3:45 p.m. Saturday.