APPLETON, WI – This season, a lot of people in Northeast Wisconsin want to get more chances to hunt deer.
This year’s shooting and crossbow season has an extra week. Jeffrey Pritzl, a specialist in the DNR’s deer program, says it’s becoming more popular.
Pritzl says, “This year, archery season starts as early as it does every year, and gun season starts as late as it does every year.”
Hunters can kill deer without antlers early in the season, before the deer change their habits and before gun deer season gets busy.
Prichl says that more than half of the deer shooters in Wisconsin now use bows.
Pritzl says that out of the 600,000 people, more than 300,000 are buying either an archery license, a crossbow license, or a patron’s license.”So many deer hunters in Wisconsin want to add more hunting trips and opportunities to their schedules all year long.”
Pritzl went on to say that with a record-warm winter, fawns are having more babies and more deer are being seen.
It’s still early in the season, but now is a great time to catch deer because they are still in the summer feeding pattern. This is especially true in farm areas where deer are eating crops.
Archery shop The Reel Shot in Appleton says that in the second week of October, they start to see a lot more crossbows.
Mike Williams, shooting archery buyer at The Reel Shot, says, “A lot of people who are new to it buy crossbows just to get started. Then I’ll see them a year or two later and they’ll say, ‘Oh, that’s cool, but I want to try with a bow.'” So we set them up.
As a reminder to all hunters, all deer killed must be reported by 5 p.m. the day after they are found. You can sign up for GameReg online, over the phone, or at a registration place that is taking part.
From Saturday to January 5, 2025, you can hunt deer with an arrow or a crossbow in Wisconsin. The 35 counties and metro subunits have longer seasons that end on January 31, 2025.