BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Deer Hunt 2023 begins on Saturday, and over the course of the nine-day campaign, about 600,000 hunters are expected to take to the woods and fields in search of that trophy buck.
Officials from the Department of Natural Resources say most hunters follow the rules and go by the book. But there are some who don’t.
From a 536-acre piece of public hunting property in southern Brown County called the Holland Wildlife Area, to the Bayside Road unit of the Green Bay West Shores Wildlife Area, deer hunters are expected to take to the woods for opening day.
“It’s always busy, but during the gun season, that’s when the most people are out,” said DNR Conservation Warden Logan Woods.
Woods works the area. He says he encounters violations every season.
“Hunting without a license. Make sure you buy a license. Make sure you have the correct harvest authorizations for the area you’re hunting. If you are using bait, in the places you can bait, make sure you’re only using the two gallons. You can’t go over that. Making sure that people are wearing their blaze orange when they’re out there. And you’d be surprised how many people will wear their blaze orange coverall, and vest, and jacket, and then wear a brown hat.”
Woods says hunters’ clothing above the waist needs to be at least 50 percent blaze orange or pink, which includes any head-covering. He says hunting citations vary from case to case, and fines range from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
“You do get some people who skirt the rules with that. So we want to hold those people accountable. Make sure everybody gets the opportunity to hunt and everybody gets to hunt fairly.”
Deer managers are watching the situation too. DNR State Deer Program Specialist Jeff Pritzl says poaching and other activities have an impact.
“Whether it’s illegal harvest, or unreported harvest, or in some cases, unrecovered deer. You know, somebody might hit a deer that they can’t find, so we do take collectively that into account. When the season is all over, and we add up all of the harvest, we do add a correction factor of 15%. But that’s not exclusively illegally harvested deer.”
To report any violations, hunters and others are asked to call the DNR tip line at 1-800-847-9367.
“Calling the hotline is the best way to do it. And if you want to remain anonymous, we have that option too,” said Woods.
Hunters who bag a buck or doe are required to register the deer by 5 p.m. the day after the animal is recovered.
