The numbers are in from the nine-day gun deer season, and hunters bounced back from a slower opening day.
Hunters bagged nearly 196,000 deer, and that’s down 0.8 percent from last year.
Kevin Wallenfang is the big game manager for the DNR. He says after weather made it tough on opening day, the daily numbers for the rest of the season were higher than last year.
The totals from opening weekend were down 12 percent.
Wallenfang says over the nine days, hunters registered more than 98,000 bucks. He says that’s up 0.4 percent from a year ago. He says the buck numbers were better in the northern third of the state.
Fewer hunters hit the woods this year. The nearly 589,000 licenses that were sold were nearly two percent less than last year.