MISS US? Hunters shot more deer than last year during the recently finished Wisconsin gun deer season. (Photo source)

The number of deer harvested during the recently completed gun deer hunt shot past last year’s total as well as the five-year average in the Chippewa Valley.

The figures reflected similar trends statewide, with the number of deer tagged by hunters rising in most counties and regions, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reported this week.

In Chippewa County, for instance, 3,940 deer were registered, a 12.5% increase from 2023 and 7.8% above the five-year average. Registration totals in Dunn County (4,903 deer, up 6.5% from last year) and Eau Claire County (2,304 deer, up 4.6%) were not as dramatic.

Across the three counties, hunters tagged more than 11,000 deer in the nine days leading up to Dec. 1.

Chippewa, Dunn, and Eau Claire counties largely fall in what the DNR defines as the Central Farmland Zone, where the harvest increased 9.2% over 2023. Totals also rose modestly in the Central Forest and Northern Forest zones, while dipping slightly in the Southern Farmland Zone.

Across the entire state, hunters registered 189,622 deer during the nine-day season – 89,787 antlered deer and 99,835 antlerless. Overall, this is 5.2% above the 2023 total and a 1.2% uptick from the five-year average.

Considering the comparatively late start of the nine-day hunt – which put it further from the rut, or mating season, when deer are more mobile – “That’s about really as good as I think we could have expected to have kind of held our harvest, similar to last year, and actually saw some increases in a few places,” Jeff Pritzl, Wisconsin DNR Deer Program Specialist, told reporters.

The statewide gun deer season ran Nov. 23 through Dec. 1. The statewide muzzleloader season is Dec. 2-11, which is followed by an antlerless-only four-day hunt (Dec. 12-15), and an antlerless-only holiday hunt in certain counties (Dec. 24-Jan. 1).

Learn more about the recent gun deer season from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.