Outdoors Weekly News Archive

November 23, 2007

Opening of season finds whitetail deer near peak of mating season

DEER OPENER SPECIAL REPORT - Regional Reports from Deer Registration Stations in this week's issue!
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MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Despite cooler temperatures across Wisconsin, nearly 630,000 hunters took to the woods Saturday as the 2007 gun deer season got under way, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.
Hunting conditions were rated good to ideal in the north, with cooler temperatures and some snow on the ground. Temperatures throughout most of the state started out near freezing, warming to the mid-30s in the north and mid-40s in the south, the agency said.
Drizzle and sleet were blamed for low numbers of deer registrations in some areas, including Columbia County.
“I don’t know if the weather is helping. We’ve got flurries and it’s chilly,” said Scott Hoch at the Portage registration center. “We’ve had about 120 deer so far, usually we’re close to 250 to 350. Nothing really big – an eight-pointer if we’re lucky. Everyone’s pretty much happy.”
Wildlife biologists working in a number of Earn-a-Buck units – areas where hunters are required to shoot an antlerless deer before shooting a buck as a population-control measure – reported registering three or more antlerless deer for every buck.
There are an estimated 1.6 to 1.8 million deer in the state, a figure well above population goals this year.
The DNR said 629,752 hunters participated on the first day of the nine-day season. About half of all deer hunters purchased their license in the eight days preceding Saturday’s opening day.