Wisconsin's nine-day gun deer season opens Saturday, Nov. 21, and runs through Sunday, Nov. 29, the Department of Natural Resources reminded hunters this week. For northwest Wisconsin, the season is one of the biggest outdoor weeks of the year, drawing hunters to county, state and federal forests and to private land enrolled in managed forest programs.
The DNR said a third straight mild winter across much of the state has set the stage for higher deer survival and reproductive rates. Through Oct. 31, year-to-date sales for gun, bow, crossbow, sports and patron licenses reached 458,115, including 132,494 for gun privileges only.
Hunters in the north need to know their unit before they buy antlerless permits. Deer Management Units in the Northern and Central Forest zones were converted last year from county-based units to habitat-based units, and forest zone units are now referred to by number rather than by county name. Boundary changes were also made between the Central Farmland and Northern Forest zones.
Every harvested deer must be registered electronically by 5 p.m. the day after it is recovered, online through Go Wild or GameReg, by phone at 844-426-3734, or in person at a registration station. Hunters need the harvest authorization number tied to each permit.
The DNR is offering free chronic wasting disease testing for deer harvested in Wisconsin, with extra interest in samples from its priority areas. Hunters can use self-service kiosks, cooperating meat processors and taxidermists, submit lymph node samples themselves, or arrange an appointment with DNR staff.
Safety reminders are part of the release as well. Hunters must follow the four TAB-K firearm rules, wear at least 50 percent blaze orange or fluorescent pink above the waist, and be certain of their target, in part because elk can wander outside elk management zones in the fall. Anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 1973, needs hunter education certification to buy a license unless hunting under the mentored hunting law. Hunters can also donate deer through the DNR's Deer Donation Program to help stock food pantries.
