The Numbers Increased in the 2024 Deer Harvest

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) celebrates the conclusion of the 2024 nine-day gun deer hunt, which kicked off the holiday season in Wisconsin with opportunities to enjoy the outdoors, harvest food for the table and create memories with family and friends. Preliminary license sales, harvest registration and hunting incident numbers are now available.

Preliminary figures indicate the number of deer hunters in Wisconsin slightly increased compared to 2023. As of 11:59 Sunday night (Dec. 1), sales for deer hunting privileges reached 791,023, up from 788,697 for the same time period last year. Of those, 553,652 were for gun privileges only, up from 553,479 in 2023. Since the opening of the bow and crossbow seasons, Wisconsin hunters have registered 289,361 deer. This harvest is 8.7% ahead of the same time last year. Deer hunting license and harvest authorization sales will continue throughout the remaining deer hunting seasons. Final license sales figures will be available in January, when DNR staff will perform a thorough analysis and interpretation.

Preliminary figures show hunters registered 189,622 deer during the 2024 gun deer season, including 89,787 antlered and 99,835 antlerless deer. Compared to 2023, the gun season harvest total is up 5.2% statewide, with the antlered harvest up 3.6% and the antlerless

harvest up 6.6%.

Adams County in the Central Farmland Zone led the state with 12.4 deer registered per square mile. Vernon County led the Southern Farmland Zone with seven deer registered per square mile. Adams County also led the Central Forest Zone registering 4.2 deer per square mile. Finally, Florence County led the Northern Forest Zone with 2.9 deer registered per square mile.

Elsewhere in the Southern Farmland Zone: Vernon County recorded 5,502 harvested deer; Grant County recorded 4,084; Columbia County registered 3,747 deer; Sauk registered 3,429; Crawford had a total 3,245; Richland County registered 3,120 deer harvested; Iowa County had 1,849; and Lafayette had 1,400 deer harvested. The total deer harvested in the Southern Farmland Zone was 40,847.

The DNR reports only one nonfatal firearm-related hunting incident during the 2024 gun deer season. Friday, November 29, at approximately 4:00, in Wheatland Township in Vernon County, a 14-year-old boy was sitting in an enclosed tower stand with his father, hunting on private property. The victim’s father heard what sounded like a gunshot in the distance. Shortly after, the victim felt pain in his feet and found that he was shot through both the left and right foot. The victim was transported privately to the hospital and received medical treatment for his injuries. The shooter has been identified, and an investigation is pending.