Another deer hunt in the books

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David Straw hadn't seen any deer Nov. 24 and decided to take a rest in the woods in his blind the near the Waupaca/Waushara County line. Jeff Straw said his son opened his eyes about an hour later. "This 11-point buck was 40 yards away looking directly at him," he said. "The buck turned and David fired his 7 MM-08. The buck went about 30 yards and dropped. It was a very memorable hunt." Photo Submitted by Jeff Straw

Harvest drops locally, statewide

Two area counties were among the harvest leaders during the recently completed gun deer season.

According to preliminary figures from the state Department of Natural Resources, hunters in Shawano County registered 2,195 bucks and 3,212 antlerless deer during the nine-day season, which began Nov. 23 and wrapped up Dec. 1.

That total of 5,407 deer is the second-highest of Wisconsin’s 72 counties behind Marathon County, where hunters registered 5,696 deer.

Waupaca County was third at 4,944 registered deer, including 2,043 bucks and 2,901 antlerless deer.

The statewide harvest of 160,769 deer – 75,236 bucks and 85,533 antlerless deer – was 24.9% lower than the 2018 harvest, according to the DNR.

Harvests in area counties dropped from 12.1% to 30.7% compared to last year.

Waupaca County’s total was down 24.7%, while Shawano County’s harvest was down 19.9%.

Other area harvest totals include:

• Waushara County: 2,889 (1,235 bucks, 1,654 antlerless), down 21.7%.

• Portage County: 3,607 (1,616 bucks, 1,991 antlerless), down 12.1%.

• Outagamie County: 1,642 (673 bucks, 969 antlerless), down 26.3%.

• Winnebago County: 818 (375 bucks, 443 antlerless), down 30.7%.