un-official contest

[Rancid Crabtree]

OK folks. Time to make your best guess. What will the total deer harvest bee for 2007. We have seen the 9 day gun season preliminary numbers but I am looking for the total for all of archery season, gun season, ML season and Dec. T-zone. Ending Jan. 6th. ( I have not considered the Late Late CWD hunts that go until the end of March.) You can give a lump total or if your feeling bold, you can give estimates for the Archery, All gun and ML season separately. I am still working on my estimate. Lets make the deadline for submissions ........... Friday Dec. 7th

[Rancid Crabtree]

497,292. This would make 2007 the new 4th highest ranking season in WI deer hunting history (replacing 1999). I wanted to go with 493,600 which would come in as the new 5th highest ranking season (replacing 2003) but the two guesses are within only 1% of each other. Estimating the archery season gave me trouble. None of this is including the Jan. through March CWD kill as I have no way in hell of guessing what that harvest will look like. My prediction is for deer killed as of the last day of late bow season on Jan. 6th.

[mudbrook]

Here's a quote from a DNR biologist that was in an article in the Mil Examiner, you can read the whole article at  http://www.examiner.com/a-1073216~Wisconsin_Outdoors.html

"The deer population estimate is not the DNR's - it's the hunter's," insists Keith Warnke, the DNR's top deer and bear biologist. "Hunters go out every fall. They keep shooting bucks, and then we make a population estimate out of those bucks. It's very reliable, and hunters are very reliable, too."

He seems to be passing the buck, no pun intended.. It's their formula that's used.
I will just say a 500K... just a guess, math is not my thing. You are very good at it.