State notes preliminary deer harvest numbers

By Teresa Stowell of the Daily Times and the Associated Press
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 12:34 PM CST

Hunters in Dodge County registered fewer deer this year compared with last year over the opening weekend of Wisconsin's nine day hunt, while Jefferson County reported a slight increase in registered deer. Overall the state saw a decrease in deer totals.

According to preliminary counts, hunters in Dodge County registered a total of 1,673 deer (530 bucks) over the opening weekend this year, compared with 2,051 deer (725 bucks) last year on opening weekend.

In Jefferson County deer totals were up by 83 deer with 1,226 (390 bucks) registered this year, compared to 1,143 deer (324 bucks) registered during the opening weekend last year.

Both counties are in the Earn-A-Buck zone, where hunters must shoot a doe to earn a buck tag. Hunters in Dodge County registerd 183 less anterless deer compared to 2007 when 1,326 were registered. Jefferson County hunters registered more antlerless deer this year with 836, compared to 819 anterlerless deer registered last year.

The nine-day hunt that opened Saturday attracted some 630,000 hunters.

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According to preliminary counts of state totals, hunters registered 133,828 deer following the first two days of shooting, down nearly 38,000 deer, or 22 percent, from a year ago, the DNR said.

Factors in the drop likely included fewer deer in the woods, harsher weather last winter that reduced this year's fawn crop and cold temperatures Saturday morning that could have reduced hunting effort, DNR deer expert Keith Warnke said.

“Anecdotally, it appears like lower deer populations contributed to lower buck kills,” he said. “Hunters are really being effective in pushing deer populations toward goals.”

The DNR estimated up to 1.7 million deer, about 100,000 fewer than a year ago, roamed the fields and woods heading into fall.

The 19-county west-central region registered the most deer from opening weekend - 53,629, including 19,727 bucks and 33,902 antlerless - down nearly 12,000 from 2007.

Five hunters were shot, one of them fatally, during the opening weekend of the state's gun deer season.

A 48-year-old Appleton man, Ronald Verhagen, died after a member of his hunting party shot him in the chest during a deer drive in Outagamie County on Sunday morning, said Tim Lawhern, safety administrator for the Department of Natural Resources.

The wounding of hunters included two who shot themselves in the foot, Lawhern said. One was a 45-year-old man who shot himself inside a vehicle while hunting illegally in Washburn County. The other was a 13-year-old boy in Shawano County who shot himself when he pulled his shotgun up to aim at a deer.

A year ago, one shooting incident occurred on opening weekend with one hunter killed. The only season in history with no shooting fatalities occurred in 1973, Lawhern said.

The first two days of the gun season usually produce half the hunting accidents before participation drops off, Lawhern said.

“We know so much about these over the last 10 to 15 years that it has gotten to the point where I can basically tell who is going to be shot,” Lawhern said. “I can tell you what they are going to be doing. How it happens. The kind of hunting they are doing. I just can't give you the name and address.”

Three of the five incidents last weekend involved deer drives, in which groups of hunters walk forward, pushing deer toward other hunters. Often, a hunter will shoot at running deer, and another hunter ends up in line with the shot, Lawhern said.

More deer drives occur as the season progresses, and they historically cause half the hunt's incidents and injuries, he said.

The Washburn County incident was troubling because the wounded hunter did not have a license and was hunting illegally from the passenger side of a vehicle, Lawhern said. Charges are expected.

In the other deer drive shooting incidents:

-In Shawano County, a 24-year-old man was shot in the shoulder by 51-year-old hunter who fired three shots at a deer who ran between them.

-In Washington County, a 61-year-old hunter was shot in the lower right leg by a 62-year-old hunter who shot at a running deer.

The safest deer hunt on record occurred in 2004, with five shooting accidents and one fatality, the DNR said. It measures safety based on the number of shooting incidents, not the number of fatalities.

But the 2004 hunt was marred by a tragedy in northwestern Wisconsin. Six white hunters were killed by an Asian hunter following an angry, racially charged confrontation over trespassing in a tree stand on private land in Sawyer County.

The St. Paul, Minn., truck driver is serving six life prison sentences after a jury convicted him of six counts of first-degree intentional homicide and three counts of attempted murder.

The most dangerous hunting season in recent times was 1987, when eight hunters died in 53 shooting accidents, Lawhern said, but there's no comparison to some of the deadly hunts in state history. Forty-four hunters were killed and 57 were injured during the 1908 deer season, which included only about 20,000 hunters, he said.

Wisconsin started its hunter education program in 1967, requiring new hunters to take training in gun safety and proper gun handling. Safety also improved once hunters were required to wear blaze orange, making them easier to see.