If you are looking to fill a freezer with venison for the first time this year, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is encouraging you to go back to school. Anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 1973, must complete a hunter education course and have a hunter education safety certificate on file to purchase a hunting license in Wisconsin unless they are hunting under the hunting mentorship program or have successfully completed and can provide proof of basic military training. You can take hunter education courses anywhere in the state, with two coming up locally in Pulaski at the end of September and Fish Creek at the end of October. Since course offerings depend on volunteers, DNR Warden Chris Kratcha urges prospective first-time hunters to keep an eye on the department’s website to ensure they do not miss a course they could possibly attend.

You can click this link to search for available hunter safety courses. The deer hunting season for archery and crossbow opens Sept. 12, with the gun deer hunt for hunters with disabilities taking place Oct. 3-11, the youth deer hunt Oct. 10-11, the traditional gun season Nov. 21-29 and the muzzleloader season Nov. 30-Dec. 9. Kratcha says hunters in Door and Kewaunee counties are also eligible for the antlerless-only holiday hunt Dec. 24-Jan. 1 and the extended archery and crossbow season through Jan. 31, 2027.