2023 deer hunting season update

BY TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) released preliminary license sales, harvest registration, and hunting incident numbers on Nov. 28, 2023. Updated numbers are now available, as well.

Preliminary license sales data

A report generated on Sunday, Nov. 26, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. after the conclusion of the nine-day gun deer hunt showed 434,817 licenses were sold for gun privileges only, while sales of total gun, bow, crossbow, sports, and conservation patron licenses was 788,697. As of that date, total deer license sales were down 0.8% compared to 2022.
Hunters from all 50 states and 27 countries purchased a Wisconsin hunting license for 2023, 66% of which were purchased online with the other 34% purchased at in-person DNR license sale locations.

Preliminary harvest totals

As of that same time, preliminary figures released showed hunters registered 173,942 deer during the 2023 gun deer season, including 85,390 antlered and 88,552 antlerless deer. When compared to 2022 numbers, the antlered deer harvest was down 14.7% and the antlerless deer harvest down 20.3%, for a total firearm deer harvest down 17.6% statewide.
Based on the preliminary Nov. 26 numbers, the DNR reported the counties with the most deer harvested/registered per square mile in each zone were:

Updated harvest totals

Subsequent updates, through Dec. 5, have slightly increased harvest totals and slightly decreased the change percentages, but the total harvest was still down 17.2% from 2022 to 2023. New numbers released indicate 85,773 antlered and 89,123 antlerless deer were harvested during the gun deer season, for a total of 174,896. Those numbers reflect a 14.3% decrease in antlered deer harvested, a 19.8% decrease in antlerless deer harvested, and the total harvest decrease of 17.2%.
For comparison, in 2022, 211,202 total deer were harvested.
2023 total harvest numbers for the nine-day gun deer hunt are also down 10.6% from the average number of deer harvested over the last five years (from 2018-2022). An average of 195,643 deer were harvested per year during the gun deer season for the 2018-2022 period, as compared to this year’s 174,896 harvest total.
A comparison of this year’s gun deer season harvest numbers are compared to that five-year average, by deer management zone, in the table below.

2023 Gun Deer Season harvest totals

NOTE: For those hunting nearby, Lincoln County is part of the Northern Forest Zone, and Marathon County is part of the Central Farmland Zone.

Lincoln and Marathon County total harvest numbers

Since the opening of the bow and crossbow seasons, through Dec. 5 and including the nine-day gun season [Nov. 18-26] and most of the statewide muzzleloader season [Nov. 27-Dec. 6], hunters have registered 272,838 statewide so far this year.
The total deer harvest for Lincoln County as of the early morning of Dec. 5, from all deer hunts combined (not just the nine-day gun deer season) was 1,655 antlered deer plus 977 antlerless deer, for a total 2,632 deer harvested. For the entire Northern Forest Zone, the combined total was 26,966 antlered deer registered plus 15,072 antlerless deer registered, for a total harvest of 42,038.
In Marathon County as of Dec. 5, the combined total from all hunts was 4,840 antlered deer plus 4,589 antlerless deer, for a total 9,429 deer harvested. For the entire Central Farmland Zone, the combined total included 77,316 antlered deer registered plus 78,065 antlerless deer registered, for a total harvest of 155,381.
Harvest numbers from the statewide antlerless-only four-day hunt (Dec. 7-Dec. 10) are not yet included in these totals.
Updated harvest numbers, which are updated periodically, are available at the DNR website: dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/WildlifeHabitat/harvest/deerharvest.

First harvest certificates available

Hunters of all ages who harvested their first deer this year are invited and encouraged to highlight the occasion with a first harvest certificate available from the DNR at: apps.dnr.wi.gov/harvestcertificate/Home/Index/DEER.

Firearm-involved hunting incidents reported

As of early Monday morning, Nov. 27, the DNR reported three firearm-involved hunting incidents that occurred during the 2023 gun deer season. The following incident details were provided via a DNR press release:

• Forest County, Argonne Township: On Nov. 18, 2023, in the morning hours, a 53-year-old male suffered a self-inflicted gunshot to the foot. The victim was walking to his tree stand on public property and adjusted his rifle sling when he accidentally pulled the trigger. The victim was transported to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
• Adams County, Big Flatts Township: On Nov. 19, 2023, in the morning hours, a 62-year-old male shot once at a dog, which he believed was an antlerless deer, on private property. A 47-year-old female victim was walking that dog and was shot in her thigh. The victim was taken to the hospital via MedFlight for her injuries.
• Taylor County, Rib Lake Township: On Nov. 24, 2023, near midday, a 30-year-old male was the victim of a gunshot to his upper thigh. During the end of a deer drive, a 35-year-old male shooter shot at a deer, striking the victim. The victim received medical treatment at a hospital.
  The DNR reported there were eight firearm-involved hunting incidents during last year’s gun deer season, four of which were self-inflicted gunshots.
  

On average, there were 5.9 firearm-related incidents per year over the course of the last 10 gun deer seasons (2014-2023). There were no fatalities in 6 of those 10 years, the DNR reports.

Some hunts continue

The bow and crossbow season continues through Jan. 7, 2024, and there will be an antlerless-only holiday hunt in select farmland zone counties from Dec. 24-Jan. 1, 2024. Selected metro sub-units and counties have an extended archery season, but that extended season is not applicable to Lincoln or Marathon Counties.