After the polls, the real numbers are beginning to roll in based on deer registered during the season. Seasons ongoing and shorter hunts ending will be posted as they close. The figures from the 9-day gun-deer season will be adjusted when necessary. Keep checking the DNR website for all the seasons; new entries will appear weekly, usually on Tuesdays.

The number of licensed hunters during 2023 was a bright spot, even though the number dipped 0.61 % from the same cut-off point last year.

The deer registered during opening weekend totaled 92,050, down 16% from the same period in 2022. Antlerless registration was down 19.5%, while antler deer registered fell 13% statewide.

Not all regions followed the state average. The Central Farmland management zone fell 16.6 % and the Central Forest dipped 16.5%. The Northern Forest management unit fell 27% and the Southern Farmland dropped 6.1 %.

Those percents will likely change as hunters register animals killed during the last seven days of the 9-day season.

Compared to the 5-year average, overall 2023 registrations were off 10.8%.

Deer hunting, as with most things ecologically and sociologically, changes between boom and bust as dozens of factors push and pull the numbers. In 2023, some of those factors included no sighting and safety snow covering the ground, the failure of the end of the breeding season to match and influence deer movement some years, comfortable hunting conditions, which sometimes means hunters stay out longer but also remain stationary and don’t move deer. More factors entered, too.

Some factors result from events as far back as deep snow and severe winter weather in 2022-2023, negatively impacting carryover and recruitment, particularly in the far north.

While the last seven days of the season sometimes account for 50% of the registration during the entire nine days is likely to vary, too.

Hunters commented to Don Martin at Martin’s in Monroe, saying they saw no deer or few deer and yet Don’s been shown numerous photos of some very nice (aren’t all deer nice?) deer, particularly from the archery season.

Hunters, and others, should not continue to insult a hunter who chooses to take a small buck or antlerless deer. A trophy is in the hunter’s mind.

Kate Mosley, at Kate’s Bait near Gov. Dodge State Park, says her business was not as busy as usual, but there has been a run on sampling since the opener.

“Seems money may be short with some hunters opting for English mounts rather than a head and shoulder mount, and many more hunters are declaring a meat season, too,” Kate said.

Looking ahead, Kate is well stocked for the next season; ice fishing.

Doug Williams at DW Sports Center in Portage sees many hunters sitting and not driving or even walking to move tired deer after the breeding season.

Warden Jane Voskullen, in Lafayette County, described the season more on the slower side in and around Yellowstone Lake.

There was a special interest in mobile deer camps Wayne Smith, in Lafayette County, suggested when he counted camps. 

“Thirteen sites (campers and trailers) in the campground, some having as many as five hunters. But I didn’t see many deer on vehicles this opening weekend,” he said.

The young hunters in Wayne’s group shot three antlerless deer, which pleased the group, who divide the meat among the entire group.

Wayne has kept very busy trapping nuisance beavers lately, even catching two black beavers, which are more common in Northern Wisconsin.

Evergreens are on the minds of decorators using Christmas trees, pine boughs, and seed cones. Pines and balsams hold their needles much better and longer than spruces and others. Small birch logs and red-osier dogwood twigs are bright red now.

An Iowa County hunter commented that “who needs snow to pull a deer sled when we have such a strong crop of oak leaves.” These leaves are as slippery under foot, too, so watch out for slippery walking hillsides.

Bird and squirrel feeding will get a leftovers boost during the holiday seasons with bird carcasses for suet eaters, including squirrels, and deer fat for the same purpose. I wonder if these animals take fruit cakes, too.

Think about nominating a hunter for the annual DNR Ethical Hunter Award. Check with any field warden or call me at this number for more specifics.

— Jerry Davis is an Argyle native and a freelance writer who lives in Barneveld. He can be reached at sivadjam@mhtc.net or at 608-924-1112.