DNR: Nine-day gun season deer kill drops 8% from 2020

MADISON, Wis. (AP/CBS 58) — New state data shows hunters killed almost 8% fewer deer during this year's nine-day gun season than in 2020. The Department of Natural Resources released preliminary numbers Tuesday showing hunters killed 175,667 deer, down from 190,646 last year.

The number of bucks killed declined 1.3% while the antlerless numbers dropped 13%. The northern forest was the only one of the state's four management zones where hunters killed more deer than in 2020, up 9.3%.

Chloe Vetter, a freshman at Concordia University-Wisconsin in Mequon, went against the statewide trend, bagging an 8-point buck on her family's land near the Kettle Moraine State Forest.

"For where we live, we don't see that many deer out during deer hunting season," Vetter explained. "We catch them on camera all the time, but never during the season."

It's been five years since she last harvested a deer. She's happy to have changed her luck this year, and is excited to enjoy the harvest while already setting her sights on next season.

"It makes me feel really good knowing that we're getting that meat straight from the woods," Vetter said. "We know where it came from."

The DNR had sold 564,440 licenses authorizing hunters to kill a deer with a gun during any of the state's 2021 deer seasons as of Sunday.

That's down about 0.8% from last year.