WI opening weekend gun deer kill down 27% from last year.

[Dewey]

Seemed like perfect conditions. They always have an excuse for lower deer kills. Sure there was a lot of standing corn but that’s nothing real unusual. How about dramatically fewer deer on the landscape?

https://amp.jsonline.com/amp/4307312002

[greenhorndave]

I was in a group of about 8 that harvested two on opening day. It wasn't as amazing as we hoped... It's just been kind of a funny year for me in terms of seeing a boatload of deer. But it happens.

[Jonny]

We had 6 guys hunting. Saw 5 opening day, 23 the second day. I saw 3 and 16 of them.

Shot a spike, an uncle shot a doe, wounded and lost a doe (same uncle as always) and missed a buck. Another guy missed a nice one. All on Sunday. Very few shots every day. It’s getting worse every year

[kurt]

I thought conditions were kinda poor. Its actually warmed up at least comparatively speaking to how its been this year. Corn standing. Snow mostly gone. About as late in Nov. As it can be and further from rut. So i agree with the article on this one.

Shooting was way down were i went. I seen deer though just not the right one

[Buckbreath]

Conditions were pretty good around here on Saturday and there was plenty of hunters and doe tags as well but very little shooting. Maybe us hunters are just not good at it or we are lazy. I'll wait for the DNR to decide which it is.

[Dewey]

I didn’t hunt on Sunday but took a ride around before dark to check hunting pressure. I was very shocked by how few were actually out especially considering the Packer game wasn’t until Sunday night. Very surprising for opening weekend.

[Jackson Marsh]

5 guys hunting Saturday, everyone could have killed deer. Sunday no deer seen with 4 hunters. Monday (2 hunters) one deer seen.

About normal for where I gun hunt opening weekend. Lots of shooting on Saturday, Sunday had less shooting. Monday very few shots.

[MarshRunner1]

5 of us on Saturday, 3 saw deer - all doe. Sunday a couple guys shot two doe and my cousin watched a few run by him. Monday I saw a doe. Deer movement where I am in Dane sucks right now but I'm not gonna lose my pants and blame the DNR or my neighbors like I've seen countless people doing lately. I ran cameras all summer and fall and know that theres a load of deer around. One will walk by eventually

[Marshbuster89]

Saw 19 opening weekend on fdl and Sheboygan county public. It seems like there’s fewer hunters each year during gun season around here

[Jmitch]

I heard the same story from everyone I talked to mostly. Very few shots and not a ton of deer movement. I only sat Saturday and saw about 20 on private but only 3 or 4 while the sun was up. Deer movement seemed to almost completely stop abruptly at 7 am for me. The shots seemed to mirror that where i was too. Very few shots after the first half hour. Seems like the fewest I've ever heard there that I can remember. This is a very high deer density area with normally a good number of hunters.

[strutnrut716]

Im not sure why but Saturday was very slow, the two of us saw nothing and very few shots heard nearby. On Sunday it was like the man upstairs flipped on the switch...deer everywhere and shots all around. I shot a doe 10 minutes before closing.

I will never figure it all out as to why... That's why they call it hunting and not killing.

Northern Wis.

[MN_DeerHunter]

I hunted Saturday and Sunday morning in Rice Lake (Barron Cty). saw and passed both a small 8 pt and later a doe with her fawn opening morning then nothing the rest of the weekend. Almost every cornfield in the immediate area was still standing. Very little shooting was heard

[Jmitch]

I also wonder if EHD was a bigger deal than first thought. I heard from a buddy in Richland county that they found like 15 or 16 dead deer over 2 properties. Makes a guy wonder how many weren't found

[mag1]

I was up in door county over the weekend, only saw maybe 5-8 people out. Back in the day, you would see orange every where. I haven’t gun hunted since 2002, but it seems like not to many go any more. I remember the days when we had 650K harvested in a season. You could easily count 40+ deer A day in central wis. This year in archery, I’ve only seen 6 for sure bucks, 1 that I think was a small buck, no does.

[Crazinamatese]

This is the first gun season in almost ten years that I got access to private land and my deer sightings went way up. I seen 12 total between Saturday and Sunday and filled a tag. Only heard a few shots that were within a mile. There is no agriculture. Its almost considered big woods. I also want to point out that I haven’t seen a single deer on public land during gun season here in Wisconsin in the last three years. Thats just me but IMO lack of effort plays a huge role too. Very few out there knows what it means to be a mobile hunter.