Harvest rates increase for 2025 gun deer opener

(HAYWARD, Wis.) — Harvest rates for the opening weekend of the gun deer season have increased compared to last year, according to numbers announced yesterday by the Department of Natural Resources, in a media briefing recapping opening weekend of the 9-day gun deer season.

Deer Program Specialist Jeff Pritzl says that deer harvest rates for opening weekend have slightly increased by 3.9% compared to last year. 

The total number of deer harvested was over 90,000 deer statewide during the weekend opener. That’s a tick higher than the same period last year, when over 87,000 deer were harvested.

“That brings us up to a total harvest this year, going back to the beginning of the archery season of over 200,000 deer, we’re at just over 212,000 deer now, including archery harvest prior to the gun season,” says Pritzl.

There was a 1.4% increase in antlered deer harvest compared to 2024, and a 7% increase in antler-less deer harvested.

Pritzl says that the favorable weather, increased antler-less permits, and the gun deer opener being a day earlier than last year might have contributed to the increased harvest rates. He says the snowfall for this week might set up hunters for a successful second weekend.

“As it relates to deer hunting, we’re looking forward to some snow coming, at least in the northern half of the state. However for the next couple of days it sounds like it’s going to be really windy as well. But, we work through those sorts of things and it could set us up for hopefully a really nice second weekend, with snow cover remaining on parts of the state after the storm goes through. So we’ll be having a conversation about that a week from now, ” says Pritzl.

With the recent changes to the Deer Management Unit maps, the Department of Natural Resources can’t compare deer harvest rates for Northern Forest and Central Forest Zones for the next few years.

But Pritzl says that the patterns seem to be on track with last year, and this week’s snowfall might change the trajectory of harvest rates for the Northern Forest Zone.

The gun deer hunt ends Sunday, November 30.

WHSM is simulcasting the Deer Hunter’s Roundup, which is broadcast each night of the hunt — except Thanksgiving — from the studios of 98Q Country.