WDNR 08 Deer harvest numbers -13%
MADISON -- The Department of Natural Resources today announced the most up to date 2008 deer harvest numbers as well as preliminary proposed changes to the season structure. The preliminary numbers show a total statewide harvest of 451,885 deer in 2008, a decline of 13 percent from 2007. The preliminary numbers also show a significant decrease in the north where 25 percent fewer deer were harvested in 2008.
“The deer harvest in Wisconsin was down in 2008, as it was in neighboring states,” said Keith Warnke, DNR big game specialist. “The 2008 fawn production numbers are now final and give us a better understanding of the harsh winter weather and cool late spring’s impact on last year’s season.
“Based on the data now available, there will be limited if any herd control in northern Wisconsin,” said Warnke. “We are proposing earn-a-buck in some southern units where it is needed to achieve a healthy population goal. During our deer management meetings we will ask hunters in some northeast areas about eliminating the antlerless hunt for units where we are significantly below a healthy population goal.”
DNR is proposing changes for the next season based on data now available. They include:
* Establishing more stations to measure winter severity and more fully analyze weather records.
* Improving information sharing with hunters by providing more preliminary data, with the understanding it is not final and may still change, prior to the 9-day hunt.
* Changing season structure for areas where the population was substantially lower than in previous years by:
o Preliminarily recommending cutting back the number of Herd Control units (the October gun hunt) from 56 to 19, mostly in the northwest.
o Recommending reducing the number of Earn a Buck units from 29 in 2008 to 25 this year (outside of CWD units) in the Green Bay and Eau Claire areas.
o Asking hunters about the elimination of the antlerless hunt in some northeast units that are significantly below a healthy population goal.
“DNR has begun, and will continue, to make changes before the next deer season with hunter input,” said Warnke. “We encourage hunters to attend the deer management meetings over the next few weeks and to fill out the new online deer survey. Hunter input and satisfaction are important to DNR and to successful deer management in Wisconsin.
“The next step is to collect information from hunters at the upcoming deer management meetings, through our statistically significant mail survey and our new online survey,” said Warnke. “The information will be pulled together and used to make final recommendations to the Natural Resources Board in late April.”
While Wisconsin saw a 13 percent total harvest decrease in 2008, Minnesota saw a 19 percent total harvest decrease and Michigan saw around a 20 percent harvest decrease in the Upper Peninsula. Even with the total harvest decrease, Wisconsin still likely had the largest harvest in the region and one of the largest in the nation.
The harvest results vary regionally around the state with the deer population in northeastern Wisconsin generally below goal, near goal in northwestern and central Wisconsin, and remaining well above goal in the farmland areas of the state, although populations there are moving downward.
“We have come much closer to a healthy population goal in many units,” said Warnke. “For the long term health of the deer population and to preserve hunting opportunities for future generations we will manage these units and work to get more units to goals in the future”
Information on the herd status meetings, including a link to dates and times, can be found on the DNR Web site. The new hunter survey can be found on the Wisconsin Deer Management Unit stakeholder website, [www.widmu.org] (exit DNR).
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Adam Collins, (608) 266-2243
PRELIMINARY 2008 TOTAL HARVEST FIGURES
(includes state parks but not tribal harvest)
Central Forest: total kill 31,168 (-12 percent)
Eastern Farmland: total kill 100,132 (-17 percent)
Northern Forest: total kill 91,236 (-25 percent)
Southern Farmland: total kill 131,959 (-3 percent)
Western Farmland: total kill 97, 308 (-6 percent)
Statewide: total kill 451,885 (-13 percent)
