Wisconsin’s opening day to gun-deer hunt, a lot lower than last year

La Crosse County hunt even lower than rest of state

Maybe it was the windy opener. Maybe the changes to electronic registration.

Whatever the reason, a lot less deer were registered in many Wisconsin counties on opening day this weekend compared to last year’s gun deer season.

The DNR says opening day numbers statewide were 10 percent lower Saturday.

In La Crosse County, the total deer numbers reported were one-third lower than last year’s opener.

In-field registration may have been part of the issue, but this is also the first season that hunters printed out their own deer tags and licenses. 

Some had worried about potential confusion due to those changes.