SUAMICO, Wis. — At the end of October, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reported the sale of almost 445,000 licenses for gun, bow, crossbow, sports and patron.
Sighting-in a pair of rifles is one of the checklist items for Mike Vander Logt ahead of Wisconsin’s nine-day gun deer hunt.
Vander Logt, who is from Hobart, completed that task Tuesday, at the Brown County Rifle Range in Suamico.
“I come here every year to sight my rifles in,” Vander Logt said. “The first rifle, a .270, was a little stubborn. I had to shoot about six or seven shells. The .30-06, two shells and I was good with that.”
Like many people across Wisconsin, Vander Logt and his family are preparing for the gun deer hunting season that opens Saturday, Nov. 23 and runs through Sunday, Dec. 1.
“Yesterday, me and my buddy were up north at the hunting cabin. We checked our stands,” he said. “On Friday, we’ll go up and all my sons, grandsons, friends and club members will be up there also.”
Valerie Ives is a Brown County park ranger. She and other county staff are spending the week helping hunters get their guns properly sighted.
“We get to see pictures. We get to hear all the stories. We get to hear about all the trips. We hear about the missed shots that they had,” Ives said. “That happens a lot, where they missed out in the field last year and they want to come in this year and get resighted-in. Or they bumped their scope, or they just want to double check it’s actually spot on.”
She sees the family aspect of hunting in Wisconsin first-hand.
“It’s something that is passed down from generation to generation. Especially this year, we’ve seen a lot of kids,” Ives said. “Two weekends ago, for probably two hours straight, all we had was kids and parents.”
Vander Logt has hunted for about six decades. He’s excited to get family — including grandkids — together for the hunt.
“This is very important to me. I’d rather not get a deer. I’d rather have my sons and grandsons get a deer before I even get one,” he said. “I’ve shot enough deer in my life. I just want them to have the experience.”