A couple of quirks in the report from the recently concluded Wisconsin 9-day gun deer hunt.
Wisconsin hunters shot their second lowest number of deer since 1982, and the state sold its fewest gun licenses since 1976. The D-N-R said almost 196-thousand deer were registered for the nine day gun season. That's the lowest since 2014, when 192-thousand were shot.
During this week's report to the Natural Resources Board meeting, DNR Chief Warden Todd Schaller said while overall numbers were down, one niche group of hunters is showing an increase: hunters involved in the food sustainability movement...
".....we have noticed there is a growing group of young adults who are interested an sustainable, healthy food as a motivated factor for getting into hunting. We developed a program called 'Hunt For Sustainability", and outreach efforts around this niche and we're seeing some success...."
And Schaller says there were some young hunters involved this year, as a law changed to allow children to hunt under the age of 10....
"....the 1,814 Mentored licenses sold under the age of 10. 56 percent were ages nine, one year younger than the previous law allowed. The remaining 44 percent were under nine. Some harvest data, there were 104 deer registered by individuals under seven years of age, and the youngest deer registered was four years of age...."
More than 588-thousand gun deer licenses were sold, ten-thousand fewer than last year -- just the second time in 41 years that fewer than 600-thousand licensed hunters were in the woods. The buck harvest rose by one-percent in Wisconsin this year, but the antlerless total fell by two-percent, and the Northwoods was the only region to report an increase with a jump of 28-percent from last year due to milder winters and a now ended ban on doe hunting that was credited for increasing the deer herd.
