WI Opening Weekend Numbers

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5 year old buck +
Gun Deer Hunting Season Sees Large Opening Weekend
DNR Says 30,000 More Deer Registered Than Last Year
Monday, November 23, 2015, 6:35pm
By Rich Kremer
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Hunters registered nearly 30,000 more deer during the opening weekend of the nine-day gun deer season than last year.
Department of Natural Resources big game ecologist Kevin Wallenfang said around 118,000 deer have been registered from opening weekend, with that number expected to rise as hunters continued to register kills up to a Monday evening deadline.
Wallenfang said a mild winter last year was good for whitetails. Also, he said more northern counties are selling tags for antlerless deer.

"There’s more opportunity out there. The deer numbers are up. We had a great opening weekend weather, so it appears folks stayed in the woods longer," Wallenfang said.

This is the first year deer hunters must register their deer either by phone or online. Wallenfang said that despite heavy traffic, the system is working well. Law enforcement are investigating three hunting incidents including a fatality in Columbia County.
 
I'm sure a rise in opening weekend numbers has nothing to do with this being the first year you have to register your deer before 5pm on the day after the harvest :rolleyes:
 
Exactly this ^^^! These numbers have absolutely nothing to do with an increase in the kill, at least not this year. The final total is all that will matter this go-around. Moving forward it could be a good measure of how things are going.
 
Exactly this ^^^! These numbers have absolutely nothing to do with an increase in the kill, at least not this year.

X2...
 
Little increase in my county from last year's opening weekend but it's still a ways off from even being at 2012 levels.

My trail camera survey on my small home farm is falling inline with harvest numbers for my area.

2011 I suspect it would be higher than 22 but I didn't purchase the property until early November.
2012 different bucks: 22
*major winter kill from snow and predators
2013 different bucks: 6
2014 different bucks: 9
2015 different bucks: 13
 
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