DNR predicts below average deer Harvest

With the 2009 gun deer season approaching in Wisconsin, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is already predicting an overall below average deer harvest this year. Delayed corn harvest, below average fawn production, and a drop in doe permits are factors that went into the prediction. In 2008, there was nearly a drop of 70,000 in registered deer from 2007 between bow, gun and tribal seasons. Recently, the deer herd has been in decline largely because of harvests focusing on antlerless deer (herd control and Earn-A-Buck), increased predation from bears and wolves, and below average fawn production. Herd control and Earn-A-Buck were designed to lower the deer population in certain parts of the state to a healthy level. Many hunters will be upset with notion that they'll be seeing less deer this year, but it wasn't unexpected. On a more local note, the La Crosse DNR has reported that there is a surplus of white-tailed deer Hixon forest that are depleting food sources. With somewhere between 80 and 100 deer per square mile, there have been many automobile accidents in the area. The DNR wants to cut that number down to around 10. Big Bucks There have been two monster bucks shot in Wisconsin during this years bow season. Recently, Sean Giles of Milwaukee shot a 25-point buck with his bow on a property in Menomonee Falls. He had been hunting that land for the past seven years. In September, Wayne Schumacher of Fon du Lac shot a 30-point buck near Eldorado in Fon du Lac County.