With more than 638,000 deer hunting licenses sold, hunters only registered a preliminary total of 195,647 deer during Wisconsin's 2009 nine-day gun deer hunt. 

That compares to a preliminary harvest count in 2008 of 276,895. This includes a buck tally of 86,251 and an antlerless tally of 109,396. These totals do not include bow kills, muzzle loaders, or late hunts.

In some areas deer harvests are down 40%, but it seems to be the general trend that the deer population is way down throughout the state. As a result of the harvest decline last year the DNR has, in response to hunter input, moved 29 units from earn-a-buck to herd control status and 38 units from herd control to regular unit status. The total number of regular units grew from 21 in 2008 to 59 this year. Also in some areas no doe tags were issued in a meek effort to help the population. These efforts didn’t really seem to make a huge difference in the number of deer seen by hunters.

There is some talk about not issuing doe tags in many areas next year, it’s a step in the right direction but it will take a few years for the population recover. Also the DNR recently voted on extending the gun season next year to 16 days instead of the original 9, but it was shot down because of the reduced number of deer sightings. Next year as most people can guess, the hunting most likely won’t be all too spectacular, but there will be even more changes made in an effort to try to increase the deer population so it eventually gets back to a normal level.