Wisconsin’s nine-day, gun deer season is just that, and is likely to continue as such with Thanksgiving in its midst, for the foreseeable future.

This is one tradition the 555,000 gun deer hunters are not likely to give up, even though the total gun deer hunters is likely to continue sliding south.

With numbers dwindling, fewer hunters will continue to be urged to do more to manage the herd, recruit new hunters, and in a few cases, clean up their acts.

Some hunters do more but see others doing less.

“In some cases, deer don’t seem to be as precious,” said Wayne Whitemarsh, in Sauk City. “I used to be waiting the entire year in anticipation of getting a deer. Deer had more food value then. I loved the excitement, even though it was tiring working that last week in a sports shop just prior to the season.”

“We still honor the deer and have a couple prayers we say when we take a deer’s life,” Gary Howards, of Oregon, said of the ritual he does with his adult sons.

Last week, Howards killed a buck and contacted his adult son Jason to help load the deer. Jason brought his five-year-old daughter along, who inquisitive about following a blood trail (after the fact), what the heart and liver looked like, and then she led the two adults out of the woods as they pulled the deer on a sled.

Kate Mosley, at Kate’s Bait in Iowa County near Governor Dodge State Park, does more than the average sports shop.

“I host a dumpster for butchered deer, can assist hunters with registration, have a kiosk for leaving a head for testing and, by appointment, will remove the two neck glands for CWD testing.

“There are some hunters who take the antlers and head and toss the rest of the deer in a dumpster,” she said. “They could donate the deer if they don’t want the meat.”

As the number of hunters dwindles, these acts, albeit rare in most cases, stand out more among hunters and non-hunters.

Given the economic impact, the fact most non-hunters are touched by deer hunting during the nine-day season, hunters should expect more coverage and education about the deer season for the non-hunting crowd, too.

For some reason, the lake sturgeon spearing season receives more publicity than the statewide gun deer season in many newspapers.

Hunters could encourage, assist and even expect some positive stories about this touch-all outdoors activity. And they should expect negative coverage when something illegal, unethical, unsafe, or greedy occurs, too.

The DNR offers an annual ethical hunter award with prizes and recognition to several worthy individuals; many times those winners are deer hunters, but not always.

What might these hunters, when in the fields and forests expect this season, which opens Nov. 18? Jeff Pritzl laid out a spread sheet to help measure the pluses and minuses going into the 2023 season.

“This gun season is the earliest the nine-day season can be,” he said. “Next year, because of Leap Year, it will be the latest. With the early season, there could be more overlap with the breeding season.”

Those extremes sometimes push the registration as much as 10-15 percent up or down.

“Archery registration is down 30 percent so far this year in the north. Will we see a similar impact of the extreme winter of 2022-2023 during the gun season?” Pritzl wondered.

“The 2022 season was nearly ideal in terms of weather for hunting and deer movement. It will take a similar good-weather season to match last year’s figures,” he said.

Crop harvest, hunter numbers, and several lesser factors will influence, too.

Erin Larson, DNR CWD deer herd specialist, is encouraging sampling for CWD. The testing is free but the hunter must present the deer or visit a kiosk where the head can be removed in order for it to be sampled. Test results are automatic or self-driven when results are available.

A safe and enjoyable season, according to Mike Weber, DNR hunter education administrator, begins with gun safety, following the TAB-K rules, tree stand safety, blaze orange clothing, and ATV/UTV operations.

“A successful season starts with safety in mind,” Weber said.

Late November is not all deer hunting and all deer hunting is not ignoring other wildlife and plants and people, especially those who help make a hunter’s hunt enjoyable and safe.

Turkey season is still open. Hunters have registered 2,181 birds thus far.

Early deer seasons, some ongoing, have tallied 47,380 deer; 24,553 were antlered.

Enjoy the entire woodland experience and its users, critters and plants.

— 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.