All other stories are on hold because it’s the Wisconsin deer gun season and that’s the talk of the state.  So where did Fall go? It seems like just a few weeks ago I was elk hunting in Colorado and just a few days ago I was woodcock hunting in northern Wisconsin. Those outings were actually two months ago and three weeks ago, respectively. Gun season just snuck up on me.

The deer gun season is a tradition like no other but before we talk more about this year, let’s take a look at last year. There were 553,652 deer gun licenses sold in 2024 which was up slightly from 2023. Last year hunters bagged 189,622 deer which was also slightly higher than the previous year. It breaks down to 99,835 does and 89,787 bucks.

The highest number of deer ever harvested during Wisconsin's gun deer season was  528,494 in the year 2000. This was a record year that saw 694,712 licensed gun hunters with an astonishing 76% success rate.

The lowest number of deer harvested during Wisconsin's gun deer season in recent times was 192,111 in 2014. Historical data shows an even lower figure of 33,074 bucks harvested in 1960, though this was for a bucks only season. 

Another interesting statistic: last year was the safest on record. There was only one firearm related injury, and it was non-fatal. That eclipsed the previous record of three in 2023. When we combine numbers and years there were over a million people walking around with guns and there were four incidents. Some cities in our country average more than three gun incidents per day. 

In 1914, by contrast, 24 hunters were killed and 26 injured in shooting incidents. According to DNR records, about 155,000 people bought licenses that year.

So where is the best place to hunt? Frequently leading in the state is Marathon County which is consistently among the top counties for deer harvested during Wisconsin's gun deer season. In the most recent reported years, Marathon County had the highest number of deer registered during the gun season, though other counties like Waupaca, Shawano, Vernon, and Clark had high harvests as well.

So where is the worst place to hunt? Vilas County had low deer harvest rankings for the 2024 season, which could indicate it had one of the lowest amounts. Counties in the Northern Forest Zone, which includes Vilas County, generally have lower deer harvests and have experienced significant declines in recent years due to factors like harsh winters and a combination of predator abundance and a high occurrence of CWD. 

The numbers mentioned give us a great picture on where we have been and where we are headed, but there’s more. If we use a rolling average over the last few years your chances of harvesting a deer are right around 40%. Again, using broad mathematical strokes, if your heart is set on a buck your chances drop down to 20%. 

I think almost everyone who hunts sees deer and if they don’t come home with one it’s because they chose not to shoot. So if you’re really holding out for a buck you have to remember this: When it comes to the deer gun season, it’s more important to be lucky than good.

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