Another year, another range of stories
Baraboo — After two days of the 2016 Wisconsin gun deer season, the oak hung heavy with the fruits of the hunt.
Eight deer swung from the tree’s lower limbs. All the animals were antlerless, in keeping with a rule invoked by the camp I hunted at this year outside Baraboo.
Eight her hunter's and I enjoyed multiple deer sight- ings and gleaned the ample harvest over opening weekend.
When viewed from almost any perspective, it was a scene of plenty.
And those are just the basic statistics.
When the many other facets of the experience are added — camaraderie, wildlife sightings, camp meals — even most non-hunters can understand why gun deer season is a favorite time of year for me and thousands of other Wisconsinites.
But my Sauk County hunt was just that, mine. There’s a story for each of the 598,867 licensed hunters.
On Tuesday the Department of Natural Resources reported hunters had killed 196,785 deer for the nine-day gun season. The northern region reported a 21% increase over last year, but all other regions were down.
The statewide deer harvest was slightly below last year and the lowest in 34 years, according to DNR data.
Sales of gun deer licenses were down, too, and slipped to a 40-year low.
The trend toward lower participation has been predicted for decades and observed since 1990 in Wisconsin, when license sales peaked at 699,277.
Two positives for the 2016 season were a low number of shooting incidents (five nonfatal) and evidence of the northern deer herd rebounding after two mild winters and several years of “buck only” rules in many counties.
With more than 30 Wisconsin deer seasons under my belt, I know there is one constant: Some hunters will have the time of their lives, others will be so disappointed they pledge to make it their last.
This week as I spoke to hunters who participated in various places, it didn’t take long for another now-familiar theme to emerge: Wisconsin deer hunting is a tale of at least two states.
While deer are relatively abundant in the southern and other agricultural regions of Wisconsin, they are comparatively low in number in the forested areas.
And if you’re fortunate enough to hunt private land, even in the north, your odds of seeing deer are higher.
Russ Schroeder of Park Falls had six hunters in his camp this year. For Schroeder, 74, it was his 43rd consecutive year of hunting public tracts in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.
His party hunted from stands, still hunted and did deer drives. They saw a couple of deer, but no shots were fired.
“The DNR is right, we’ve got more deer,” Schroeder said. “I’m seeing deer tracks this year and I haven’t for the last couple years.”
Still, the 2016 season was the “sixth or eighth” straight without his group killing a deer, Schroeder said.
That doesn’t mean they didn’t have fun.
“We always do,” Schroeder said. “It’s one of our favorite gatherings of the year.”
Schroeder’s 2016 Wisconsin hunting experiences help shed light on the state’s regional differences in deer populations.
Earlier this fall he bow hunted in Buffalo County and passed on five bucks that were within 30 yards and saw many antlerless deer.
During the gun season in Price County, he didn’t see a deer.
“The DNR has a tough job,” Schroeder said. “The habitat will only support so many, but hunters want more than a million across the state. You can’t have both.”
Other hunters aren’t as understanding.
Greg Thiele of Necedah lives and hunts on 40 acres adjacent to land owned by Juneau County. He did not shoot a deer again this year, and none of his seven neighbors did, either.
“For years people bragged about hunting in Necedah because there were deer everywhere,” Thiele said. “No longer. Gone.”
Thiele said the DNR issued too many antlerless permits for too long. And now the lower population is hurting license sales.
“Young children going out with dad and grandpa hunting and not seeing anything for a few years has now come full circle,” Thiele said. “These young people that are now 15 and 16 but no longer want to hunt because they sit and see nothing.”
Thiele would like a return of a wolf hunting season in Wisconsin (currently blocked by a federal court decision) to help reduce predation on deer.
To the south in Richland County, brothers Lloyd and Mike Purnell continued their tradition and hosted a large group for the season on property they own near Richland Center.
About a dozen hunters killed 10 deer, including one dandy buck taken by Jim Smukowski of Oconomowoc.
Their experience on private land in the deer-rich southern farmland region has become expected.
But skilled, experienced hunters on public land also found success in the southern half of the state.
Hunting in the Kettle Moraine State Forest-Northern Unit, Addison Lee and his group tagged four antlerless deer over the season.
Lee has spent dozens of hours scouting and bow-hunting in the area, an investment that has paid off annually during the gun season.
And although thousands of hunters didn’t bring a deer home, each season brings many stories of first-time hunters who filled a tag.
Here’s one: Parker Wilson of Cameron turned 10 on Nov. 17, two days before the start of the gun deer season. As such, he was eligible to hunt under the state’s mentored hunting law.
Sitting with his father on opening day near Waumandee in Buffalo County, Parker spotted a big buck.
His first shot at a deer was a good one, indeed, and he was soon filling out a registration form. The 10-pointer will be hard to top, but Parker is likely to have many years to try.
As a state resident concerned about the future of hunting and convinced of its benefits to Wisconsin’s ecology, culture and economy, I hope he — and the other 598,000 licensed hunters — is in the ranks again next year.