2008 Gun Hunting Season: Who Were the Hunters?

2008 Gun Hunting Season: Who Were the Hunters?

Source: WI DNR

Of the 642,419 hunters this gun deer season: 94.3% were Wisconsin residents, 73,400 or 11.4% were youth (under the age of 18); 53,617 or 8.4% were Senior Citizens (65 years of age and older).

The number of female hunters continues to increase, representing 8.2% of the total number of deer hunters. A total of 52,497 females purchased a patron, sports or gun deer license (number includes residents and nonresidents) which is up from the 51,287 in 2007. Over 48% of the female hunters are under the age of 30 years.

2008 Gun Hunting Related Shooting Incidents

2008 Hunting Related Shooting Incidents

On the statewide historical scale, the 2008 Nine-Day Gun Deer Season was the third safest on
record. Our hearts go out to the families who suffered tragic loss of a family member or suffered
injury during the season. Our goal is to eliminate all injury and loss of life while hunting. We
conduct thorough investigations to learn what happened in these incidents so we can work to
prevent such incidents in the future.

There were a total of nine incidents, of which one was fatal (Outagamie County). Shooting at moving deer during deer drives contributed to 56% (5) of all of the incidents during the season, including the fatality. Self inflicted injuries were involved in 44% (4) this season. This was the third time in history that we’ve had a gun deer season with less than 10 incidents. The first season was in 2004 with only 5 incidents reported. Below is a graph depicting the incidents for the gun deer season since 1984, which clearly shows hunting is safe and getting safer.

Source: Wisconsin DNR 2008 Deer Hunting Season Report
View Entire Report at http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/wildlife/hunt/deer/summary.pdf

Chronic Wasting Disease in Wisconsin

Chronic Wasting Disease in Wisconsin
WI DNR Site

View the reference maps for a look at the distribution of CWD in Wisconsin.

Beginning September 1st, 2009, Wisconsin will restrict the movement of whole deer carcass from within the CWD-Management Zone into the rest of the state as well as into Wisconsin from other states and provinces. Please visit the CWD zone hunting regulations page for details.

View the test results page to look at summaries of the deer tested and results from this deer season.

Contact Information

For answers to questions relating to CWD in Wisconsin, email Wildlife Health.
Questions for Wildlife Management

Earn-A-Buck Gone for Good?

The very unpopular program called "earn-a-buck" has gone one step further toward being eliminated completely.

On Wednesday wildlife officials in Wisconsin decided to indefinitely suspended the state's earn-a-buck program outside chronic wasting disease areas.

According to the Northland Newscenter "The Natural Resources Board initially approved a one-year moratorium Wednesday, but then board member Jane Wiley introduced a resolution to go further.

She says hunters are so upset over the program it would be onlya matter of time until state lawmakers stepped in and began managing deer hunting with legislation.

She says the board needs to send the Legislature a strong message that it is serious about halting the program."