If you thought things were slow while sitting in your deer stand last week, you are not alone. On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announced that the statewide deer harvest is 16 percent behind last year and 10 percent behind the five-year average. In total, hunters registered 92,050 deer statewide during the opening weekend of the 2023 gun deer hunt, compared to 103,623 reported for the same period in 2022. Locally, 1,241 deer (741 bucks) were harvested in Door County while 933 (509 bucks) were harvested in Kewaunee County. DNR officials blamed the weather conditions for the lack of success, with the increasing temperatures suppressing deer and hunter movement as the day progressed. DNR Deer Specialist Jeff Pritzl also spoke to reporters about how the number of acorns still on the ground could explain the low numbers.

Pritzl added that it is often hard to catch up to previous years’ totals when opening weekend is slow. Over 50 percent of the deer harvest each gun season comes during opening weekend. Over 774,000 licenses were sold for this year’s deer hunting season, less than a percentage point off last year. Only two firearm-involved hunting incidents, one in Forest County and the other in Adams County were reported.