Early dense fog dampened some areas of the state on the opening day of Wisconsin’s 2009 nine-day gun deer season, but hunters enjoyed balmy weather throughout much of the day that some thought was just a little too good.
In some areas the fog didn’t burn off until mid morning. But the remainder of the day was calm, with temperatures in the 50s. One of the questions hunters were asked this year on the registration stub for the first time was to rate the weather. Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Supervisor Tim Lizotte said some hunters were giving conditions a 10 to 11 on a 10-point scale.
Alan Crossley, DNR wildlife biologist also working the registration station, said “it’s kind of funny. If hunters shot a nice buck, they tended to rate the weather as a '10.'”
Wildlife managers at registration stations, especially in former earn-a-buck areas, were reporting a large percentage of older bucks, many with nice antler development. In many areas, deer appeared to still be in rut, or their mating season, in many areas. Tom Hauge, director of the DNR Wildlife Management program, was able to watch two bucks sparring for about 10 minutes. At another station, a 7-year old buck was registered with antlers badly damaged from recent sparring.
Jeff Pritzl, DNR wildlife expert aging deer in Northeast Region, recounted his favorite story of the morning: “A young boy on his first nine-day hunt shot a nine-point, 185-pound buck. The boy said his father had taught him that if he saw a doe that kept looking back, don’t shoot, because a buck was following her. Sure enough, he saw a doe that kept looking back, he waited and the buck came into view. Though the young hunter landed a good shot, the buck moved away and he and his dad spent the next two hours searching the wetland. The dad found the deer, and called his son, teary with pride.”
DNR Secretary Matt Frank, visiting with hunters registering deer in Montello, Westfield, Wautoma and Portage this morning, noted hunters were in good spirits, including one young girl registering her first buck at Wautoma.
“This is a great Wisconsin tradition, and it's just plain fun visiting with hunters and hearing their stories. Tomorrow, I will be out hunting myself. DNR is committed to maintaining a healthy deer herd so that we can enjoy deer hunting for many generations to come.”
Jim Shurts, Wisconsin Conservation Congress delegate chair from Dane County, registered his deer this morning. He was hunting in Columbia County east of Wyocena and heard more shooting than in the last few years. In one of those rare outdoors experiences, Shurts said a large flock of turkeys roosting near him gobbled loudly every time they heard a shot.
License Sales
As shooting hours opened, 626,404 hunters hit the woods for Wisconsin’s grand tradition of Gun Deer Season. Of these, 9,592 were 10- and 11-year-olds who were able to participate in this year’s hunt under the new Hunting Youth Mentorship Program. Nearly one-third of all hunters were under the age of 30.
DNR’s on-line licensing system – known as ALIS -- didn’t even break a sweat Friday as hunting license purchases peaked at 212 per minute at 5:30 p.m. Friday. All tolled 82,463 gun deer licenses were issued to anxious hunters who waited until the last minute to purchase. Nearly 270,000 licenses were issued in the eight days preceding the season opener. Deer license and tag sales will continue through the hunting seasons.
Of the hunters hitting the woods today:
* 592,287 (95 percent) were residents and 34,117 were nonresidents;
* Over 79,000 youth hunters under 18 years old participated in this year’s hunt, representing 13 percent of the total number of deer hunters;
* More than 54,000 hunters were age 65 or older, and over 191,000 (31 percent) are under 30-years-old;
* Females represent 8.5 percent of the total hunters, and 20 percent of new 10- and 11-year-old hunters;
* Hunters throughout the U.S. and several foreign countries purchased a Wisconsin gun deer license. The highest number of nonresident hunters came from Minnesota (16,413), Illinois (8,568), Michigan (1,078), and Florida (898);
* The most deer licenses were sold in Dane County (29,024), with Brown, Washington, Marathon and Waukesha counties following;
* More than 170,000 antlerless deer tags have been sold this year.
DNR Call Center hears from tree stands; sets record for calls
Operators at DNR’s call center began receiving calls at 7 a.m. Saturday morning from tree stands, deer camps and hunters afield. Questions ranged from, “Can I still buy a license” and “What is my hunter ed. number,” to one hunter saying that as the fog lifted, a bunch of cows appeared and were loose on state land. He wanted DNR let other hunters know so that none got shot by accident.
On Friday, the DNR call center bested its daily record by more than 500, answering 2,591 calls. During the week prior to the opener, customer service staff received 10,140 calls and 588 internet chats. The call center expects to handle over 260,000 calls this year, with approximately one-third of calls received on nights and weekends.
“It’s been really busy in the call center, and we love it. We’ve got a great staff just as excited about this season as the hunters are, and we’re here for you if you have a question,” said Customer Service Director Diane Brookbank.
Call center staff are available to serve customers from 7 a.m. through 10 p.m., seven days a week by calling 1-888-WDNR INFo (1-888-936-7463) or online at [dnr.wi.gov]. Spanish and Hmong service is available.
DNR call center staff manning the poacher hotline were also kept busy Saturday with reports of baiting violations, hunters shooting from the road, and ATV’s on public land. Hunters wishing to report a violation can call 24 hours a day and seven days a week at 1(800)TIP-WDNR [800-847-9367] or cell #367.
Two shooting incidents reported opening day
By late afternoon Saturday, DNR Hunter Safety Administrator Tim Lawhern had been notified of two shooting incidents, both non-fatal.
A male hunter in Grant County was shot just below the buttocks, reportedly when a nearby hunter was unloading his gun. A hunter in Green County received a shotgun wound to the thigh; it was not self-inflicted. No other details were available at time of publishing.
Lawhern notes that every shooting incident can be traced back to hunters failing to follow the four basic firearm rules.
“Every hunter – no matter the level of experience or years in the woods – should have these rules so engrained they are automatic,” Lawhern said. “Review these and review them with your hunting friends. It’s in your best interest and theirs. Make these rules your habits.”
The four rules are:
Treat every firearm as if it is loaded should be a habit.
Always point the muzzle in a safe direction at all times.
Be certain of your target and what is beyond it.
Keep your finger outside the trigger guard until ready to shoot.
Wardens wrote citations on opening day for illegal baiting, loaded firearms in vehicles and other violations, but no serious incidents were reported. A hunter in Clark County was cited after he cut down 25 pine trees on county property to improve a “shooting lane.” Another hunter was arrested and booked into jail for carrying a firearm while legally intoxicated.
Adams County
Plainfield – “It’s been horribly slow today,” says Stacy Knaus, working the deer registration station at the Wagon Wheel. “We’ve had 28 deer come in – four nice bucks but other years at this time we would have registered in the 100s and 200 to 300 total deer opening day.” Knaus says public hunting grounds in the area have been popular sites this year but hunters weren’t seeing many deer there. “I heard there were 118 vehicles parked in one area,” she says. One highlight for Knaus was meeting a boy who had gotten into hunting through the recent inaugural mentored hunt program. “He said his dad was his mentor and his dad looked so proud that his son brought in a deer,” Knaus says. Keith Warnke, DNR big game ecologist, reported that he was on his way to his hunting camp but that he’d heard from the folks already there that things were starting slowly with no deer shot in the morning.
A party of hunters on a parcel of private Adams County property, largely surrounded by timber land that is open to the public, came across a man and his young daughter who was on her first hunt. It turns out they had inadvertently crossed onto the private property. Keith Williams of Beloit, whose uncle owns the property, told the man and his daughter to stay put. He said it was a good day and they had a good location. “I told them now we know where you are so there won’t be any miscommunications about firing lines,” Williams told a DNR communications specialist working opening day. Williams handled that situation really well, said wildlife biologist Jon Robaidek. “That leaves a pretty good impression on a young hunter, on how things can be handled between groups of hunters,” Robaidek said. This act of kindness didn’t put a crimp in William’s hunting, Robaidek said. The four hunters in his party registered three deer opening morning, including an eight-point buck shot by Williams, and were heading back out.
Jackson County
Taylor – “It’s been a very slow day,” says Kristine Krencis, working her fifth year registering deer at the Taylor County Store. “We’ve registered 36 deer so far,” she says. But she was seeing registration pick up later in the afternoon after the morning fog had cleared out. “The deer have been small – the largest is an eight-point buck so far. Most people seem to be sticking to private land.”
Juneau County
Camp Douglas – Ron Kasulke, working at the Eagles Nest Resort, reports a slow opener. “I’ve only registered eight bucks and nine total deer,” Kasulke says mid-afternoon. But he expected registration to pick up before close. “The hunters are sticking with it and staying out. It was hard to see with the fog this morning and some came in for a while but have gone back out and I think we’ll see more deer coming in.” Kasulke, a bow hunter, says he enjoys working the registration station during the gun hunt because of the people he meets. “I just love to talk to hunters and hear them get excited and share their stories. Young girls and boys to older hunters. That’s what it’s all about.”
Monroe County
Sparta – Don Schmitzler, owner of Don and Vi’s Hunting and Fishing, says he was selling a lot of back tags and had registered 63 deer by 2 p.m. including 34 bucks and 29 antlerless. “We just had a real nice buck with a 21.5-inch spread and eight points,” Schmitzler says. Registrations were steadier than past years when Schmitzler says there would be a run on registrations followed by down time. “It’s the warm weather,” Schmitzler says. “Hunters are just bringing the deer in as they get them.”
Wood County - Hunters throughout west central Wisconsin found themselves shrouded in fog. “One guy said he couldn’t see past the end of his gun barrel,” reported wildlife biologist Greg Dahl, who was aging deer. The weather, which most hunters graded as less than desirable on their registrations stubs, did provide a few lucky hunters with a dramatic moment when a large buck deer came out of the fog, seeming to materialize out of thin air. Hunters were also hindered by thick condensation which fell from the trees like a light rain, creating a constant pitter patter of sound that made it difficult to hear deer as well as see them.
Waushara County
Wild Rose – DNR Area Wildlife Leader Tom Nigus taking deer heads for CWD surveillance at Mr. Ed’s Place said deer registrations had been steady. DNR is sampling deer for CWD in the area due to positive deer being found at the Hall Wild Game Farm, located nearby in Almond. Nigus said that though there was fog early, it soon lifted, and hunters reported hearing a lot of shots taken around 8 a.m. “It’s a good temperature for sitting,” he said. Of the 40 bucks registered at Mr. Ed’s by mid-afternoon, most were yearlings, but four had nice racks. One buck aged out at 4-years-old. He expected things to pick up. “It gets busy here after dark – it’s not uncommon to have 30 cars and trucks waiting once the rush starts,” he said.
Wild Rose -- Jerry Apps joined his son, brother and nephews opening day hunting family land in Wild Rose. “Haven’t missed a deer season since I was 12-years-old,” Apps says, “and that goes back to a time when we wore red coats rather than blaze orange. I hunted with my dad back then, and walked miles from farm to farm—no trespassing signs in those days. Not many deer either.” Apps says people sometimes seem surprised that he still hunts. “Yup,” I answer with a smile he says. “And they look at me like I’ve lost a marble or two. My cynical answer is because I still can. But the reasons are more complicated than that. I hunt deer because my family has hunted for generations. My dad still hunted when he was 92. Deer hunting season is when I see my brother, and my three nephews, who all hunt. My son (now 46) has hunted with me since he was 12.” The Apps party had seen a half-dozen deer Saturday morning but none had taken a deer by the time they broke for lunch. Fog hampered their ability to see much of the morning. “It’s one more opportunity to be outdoors, in the quiet of a late November morning when the countryside is saying goodbye to fall and waiting for winter. The smells and sounds of fall are all around when I sit on the edge of a field on the back end of my farm,” Apps says. “Oh, I still enjoy a slice of venison sausage. Nothing better, especially if it’s home grown.”
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