MADISON, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) -- Hunters harvested about 25 percent less deer in this year's gun deer hunt according to preliminary numbers from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

It's the lowest total of the decade and ends a three-year trend of increased harvest numbers.

The DNR believes the timing of this year's hunt, coupled with harsh weather impacted the harvest.

The preliminary data shows 160,769 deer were harvested during the past week and a half.

That's down from 213,972 in 2018.

It's the lowest harvest of at least the past 15 years. Each year from 2016 to 2018 harvest numbers went up.

 

Last year was the first time since 2013 that hunters got more than 200,000 deer in the state.

The DNR points to several factors that contributed to this year's numbers being so low.

First was simply a calendar function. With the hunt always starting the Saturday before Thanksgiving, this was the latest it could have been.

“We feel that a big part of that was because of the lateness of the season and the rut, the mating activity was pretty much over for the year by then,” said Kevin Wallenfang, Wisconsin DNR big game ecologist.

Wallenfang said later in the rut typically means reduced deer activity in general. The rut typically peaks in the first week or two of November and starts in late October.

Last time the hunt started this late there was about a six percent decrease from the year before from 2012 to 2013. However, in 2013 when the hunt started on Nov. 23 harvest numbers from that gun hunt season were 226,716.

Wallenfang said harsh weather last week slowed hunters down.

“When it's pouring rain like it was a few days or if the snow just prevents you from getting to your spot, there's nothing you can do about it,” he said.

Wallenfang said he spoke with several hunters who couldn't even get to their typical hunting spots because roads weren't plowed out.

A wet year in general hurt hunters. Cornfields around the state are still up as farmers haven't been able to harvest the crop.

“There's still a lot of corn out there for deer to hide in,” Wallenfang said.

Complaints about lack of activity surfaced online, but the DNR said bad luck with the timing of the hunt and the weather is out of their control.

There is still a chance for hunters to get a deer this season overall.

“We don't look at our deer season as just a nine-day gun deer season, it starts in September and goes through January and there's still a lot to go,” Wallenfang said.

Archery and crossbow season runs through Jan. 5 throughout the state and Jan. 31 for metro sub-units.

Muzzleloader season starts on Dec. 2 and runs through Dec. 11.

Following that the four-day antlerless-only hunt runs state-wide starting Dec. 12.

And then there's the holiday hunt running from Dec. 24 to Jan. 1.

While licenses held steady this year from 2018, overall hunter numbers have declined over the past couple of decades across the country and in Wisconsin.

Hunting enthusiasts like Wally Banfi, assistant manager at Wilderness Fish and Game in Sauk City, says they hope they can reverse that by exciting new hunters.

“It's our job to get young people out in the woods and hunting and also maintain older people who have hunted and maybe quit, to get them back again out in the woods,” Banfi said. “Getting and maintaining hunters is of the utmost importance for the future of the sport.”

Wallenfang was also with the overall safety of the hunt. There were four injuries early on that were not fatal. Then the week finished out without any more injuries.