The 2022 gun deer hunt in Wisconsin kicked off the holiday season with plenty of opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors. While license sales totals were down from 2021, hunters harvested more deer than last year — and the five-year average.
As of Nov. 27, sales for gun, bow, crossbow, sports and patron licenses reached 795,072. Of that total, 436,423 were for gun privileges only and 554,898 were for all gun privileges including gun, sports and patron licenses. The year-to-date sales for all deer licenses are down 1.6 percent from the same time last year.
Deer hunting license and harvest authorization sales will continue throughout the remaining deer hunting seasons.
This year, licenses were sold to hunters in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Additionally, hunters came from 21 different countries to deer hunt in Wisconsin.
Preliminary figures show that hunters registered 203,295 deer during the 2022 gun deer season, including 98,397 antlered and 104,898 antlerless deer. Since archery seasons opened on Sept. 17, hunters have registered 301,540 deer statewide.
At the end of harvest, DNR adds 15 percent to the total to cover non-registered deer or unrecovered deer, says DNR Deer Program Specialist Jeff Pritzl. He reminds hunters that registering deer is mandatory.
Compared to 2021, the total firearm deer harvest was up 14.4 percent statewide, with the antlered harvest up 14.7 percent and antlerless harvest up 14.1 percent.
“We’re also 8 percent above the five-year average for the nine-day gun deer season,” says Pritzl. He attributes the numbers to ideal weather conditions.
Opening weekend saw cold temperatures and snow throughout the state, with ideal conditions except for the strong winds on Saturday, Nov. 19. DNR staff across the state reported good weather throughout the weekdays of the season. Warm weather later in the season melted snow, reducing deer and hunter activity.
All four deer management zones showed harvest increases from 2021 for both antlered and antlerless harvests. The Central Forest Zone (+30.6 percent) saw the most significant increase, with the Northern Forest Zone (+19.3 percent) also seeing a considerable increase. The Central Farmland Zone was up 13.5 percent, while the Southern Farmland Zone was up 10.2 percent.
The Central Farmland Zone in Adams County led the state with over 12 deer registered per square mile. Vernon County led the Southern Farmland Zone with almost seven deer registered per square mile. The Central Forest Zone in Eau Claire County registered 4.8 deer per square mile. Taylor County registered the most per square mile in the Northern Forest Zone at four.
“We still look forward because there are plenty of firearm deer harvest opportunities still on the calendar for the month of December,” Pritzl says. “Based on last year’s harvest, I’m anticipating we’ll probably see another 25,000 deer or so harvested now through the end of the year.”
Leave a Reply