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Wisconsin’s 2025 Gun Deer Harvest Slips Nearly 1% as DNR Releases Preliminary Count

Preliminary DNR figures cite a late start alongside a pre-Thanksgiving snowstorm as key factors.

Overview

  • Hunters registered 182,084 deer during the nine-day season, including 88,068 bucks (down 2.6%) and 96,016 antlerless deer, with 550,611 gun licenses sold.
  • Harvests varied by region, with northern Wisconsin down more than 14% and the central forest region off 35% after boundary changes, while central farmland rose about 7% and southern farmland fell around 8%.
  • The season ran Nov. 22 through Sunday, and officials said the late timing reduced daylight buck movement in many areas.
  • Two hunting incidents were reported, including a fatal, unintentional self-inflicted shooting in Fond du Lac County, as overall incident trends remain low.
  • The DNR reports more than 9,500 CWD samples and about 1,000 positives to date, with no new detections during the nine-day hunt, and muzzleloader and antlerless hunts set to follow in December.