The Wisconsin DNR announced preliminary deer harvest and license sale totals for the opening weekend of the 2024 gun deer season.
Preliminary License Sales Data
Early figures indicate the number of deer hunters in Wisconsin slightly increased compared to 2023. As of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 24, sales for hunting privileges (which include gun, archery, crossbow, conservation patron and sports licenses) reached 778,111. That’s up 0.48 percent from the same time last year. Of those, 541,258 of those were for gun privileges only.
Preliminary Registration Totals And Future Outlook
In total, hunters registered 89,203 deer statewide during the opening weekend of the 2024 gun deer hunt, compared to 90,831 registered for the same period in 2023. This is a 1.8 percent decrease from a year ago and 4.7 percent below the 5-year average.
Hunters registered a total of 49,038 antlered deer on opening weekend, compared to 51,261 in 2023, a 4.3 percent decrease. The antlerless harvest was 40,165, which is up 1.5 percent from last year.
Conditions for the opening weekend this year were mostly cloudy and dry, with some light precipitation in places on Saturday morning. Mornings were cool and quiet. Temperatures rose to near or above 40 each day, which made for comfortable conditions for hunters.
Reports from the field varied widely from good deer activity to little or no daytime deer movement. Some reports of breeding activity were still coming in, but overall, deer sightings and harvest were down as expected, given the late opening date relative to the peak of the breeding season.
Snow fell across parts of the state on Monday and a forecasted drop in temperatures may provide a white backdrop during the second half of the gun season for many hunters. Better deer visibility and tracking snow could mean good conditions for those who try to make the most out of the full nine days.
