Preliminary deer hunt totals for opening weekend of Wisconsin gun deer hunt

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announced Tuesday, November 26, 2024, preliminary deer harvest and license sale totals for the opening weekend of the 2024 gun deer season.

Preliminary figures indicate the number of deer hunters in Wisconsin slightly increased compared to 2023 with all deer hunting licenses reaching just over 778,000. An increase of about a half percent over this time last year. Of those, 541,258 were for gun privileges only.

In total, hunters registered 89,203 deer statewide during the opening weekend of the 2024 gun deer hunt, compared to 90,831 registered for the same period in 2023. This is a 1.8% decrease from a year ago and 4.7% below the 5-year average. Of those deer, 49,038 were antlered deer which is a 4.3% decrease from opening weekend last year. The DNR said there were no reported firearm-involved hunting incidents in Wisconsin during the opening weekend.

The gun deer hunting season last through December 1st.