County sees another decrease in opening weekend deer harvest

Like most across the state, Trempealeau County deer hunters saw slightly less success than they did last year and considerably less than in past years.

According to data released by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Trempealeau County hunters registered 1,852 deer during opening weekend — Nov. 23 and 24. That is a slight decrease from the 2023 total of 1,905 — but last year was also considered a down year. Over the past five years, county hunters have harvested an average of 2,045 deer during opening weekend. In 2022, county hunters harvested 2,463 deer on opening weekend. 

This season, county hunters harvested 866 antlered deer and 986 antlerless. From 2019 to 2023, they averaged 943 bucks and 1,102 does during opening weekend. 

But county hunters were hardly alone. The DNR reported a decrease of 1.8 percent statewide and a 4.7 percent drop from the five-year average. Statewide hunters registered a total of 49,038 antlered deer on opening weekend, compared to 51,261 in 2023, a 4.3 percent decrease. The antlerless harvest was 40,165, which is up 1.5 percent from last year.

Conditions for opening weekend this year were mostly cloudy and dry, with some light precipitation in places on Saturday morning. Mornings were cool and quiet. Temperatures rose to near or above 40 each day, which made for comfortable conditions for hunters.

A release sent by the DNR said reports from the field varied widely from good deer activity to little or no daytime deer movement. Some reports of breeding activity were still coming in, but overall, deer sightings and harvest were down as expected, given the late opening date relative to the peak of the breeding season.

Preliminary figures indicate the number of deer hunters in Wisconsin slightly increased compared to 2023. As of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 24, sales for deer hunting privileges (which include gun, archery, crossbow, conservation patron and sports licenses) reached 778,111, up 0.48 percent from the same time last year. Of those, 541,258 were for gun privileges only.

Final license sales figures will be available in January, at which time DNR staff will perform a thorough analysis and interpretation.

The good news, the DNR reported, is there were no firearm-involved hunting incidents reported during opening weekend. 

The 2024 nine-day gun-deer season concluded on Sunday, but total figures were not available as of press time.