Originally Posted by WI DNR website
1973 – No deer season fatalities.
1978 – Record registered gun kill is 150,845 with 644,594 licenses sold.
1980 – Blaze orange clothing required; first season of Hunter’s Choice permit; new law prohibits shining wild animals from 10pm to 7pm, Sept. 15 – Dec. 31; coyote season closed in northern management units to protect nascent wolf population.
1981 – Record registered deer kill of 166,673 with 629,034 licenses sold.
1982 – Another record registered gun kill of 182,715 with 637,320 licenses sold; three deer season fatalities.
1983 – Harvest continues to rise with another record registered gun kill of 197,600 with 649,972 licenses sold; experimental antlerless deer shunt in six southern management units to relieve crop damage.
1984 – Big jump in registered kill, fourth record harvest in a row of 255,726 with license sales totaling 657,969; handgun deer hunting allowed in shotgun areas; group hunting legalized.
1985 – Fifth consecutive record kill of 274,302 with 670,329 licenses sold; deer season extended in 21 management units; legislature further strengthens road hunting restrictions.
1986 – Gun deer season now nine days statewide; landowner preference program begins for Hunter’s Choice permits.
1987 – First year of bonus antlerless permits; seven fatalities and 46 hunting accidents.
1988 – Handguns permitted statewide.
1989 – Record registered harvest of 310,192 with 662,280 licenses sold; pre-hunt herd estimate of 1.15 million deer; two fatalities and 37 hunting accidents.
1990 – Another record kill of 350,040, including 209,005 antlerless deer; record license sales of 671,890; pre-hunt herd estimate of 1.3 million deer; season extended for seven days in 67 management units.
1991 – Third consecutive year of record harvest, 352,330; hunters allowed to buy more than one antlerless permit; season extended to 72 management units, mostly in the north; first year of separate, seven-day muzzleloader season.
1992 – Though kill fourth highest on record, 288,820, many hunters voice discontent over lack of success and claim DNR raised expectations by pre-hunt harvest prediction of around 370,000; hunters allowed to apply for bonus antlerless permits in more than one unit; Natural Resources Board approves Secretary’s recommendation to keep the gun season at nine days; new metro management units established around La Crosse, Madison and Milwaukee.
1993 – Harvest drops to 217, 584, including 100,977 antlerless deer; pre-hunt herd population at 1 million with many units well below prescribed goals; 34 units, mainly in the north, designated as buck-only units; one fatality, 17 hunting accidents.
1994 – Hunters Choice permit availability jumps to 177,340 from 103,140 in 1993; six northwest management units remain buck only; herd beginning to build-up in southern agricultural range.
1995 – Harvest totals 398,002, a new state record; 32 accidents, one fatal; over 577,000 antlerless permits available with 414,000 plus applicants with 163,000 bonus permits offered to hunters; for the first time hunters can use their bonus or Hunter’s Choice permits in either the gun, bow or muzzleloader seasons.
1996 – ‘Earn a Buck” requirement placed on hunters in 19 deer management units situated in agricultural range where existing deer seasons and permit systems aren’t controlling herd growth; special four-day antlerless only season, state’s first October hunt since 1897, takes place in 19 ‘Earn a Buck’ units, resulting in a kill of 24,954 deer.
1997 – ‘Earn a Buck’ provision scuttled; early Zone T season in seven management units and three state parks results in over 7000 deer killed; the safest gun season even with one fatality and 10 accidents.
1998 – An early October gun season for third year in a row held in one management unit, 67A; harvest of 332,254 is fifth highest; accidents total 19 with two fatalities; most units in all regions of the state estimated to be above prescribed goals due to the mild winter of 1997-98.
1999 – Early antlerless Zone T deer season held in seven mainly east-central management units and one state park; early archery season is extended through Nov. 18 in Zone T units; pre-hunt herd estimate is 1.5 to 1.6 million deer; 33 management units in the central and southern part of the state are designated ‘watch unit’s that are above population goals and may be designated as Zone T units next year if quota numbers aren’t filled; resident deer license costs $20; non-resident license costs $135; record harvest of 402,204 deer.
2000 – Early four-day Zone T antlerless hunts produces kill of 66,417 deer; 97 of the state’s 132 deer management units listed as Zone T; two free antlerless permits given to all hunters buying deer-related licenses; hunters kill a record 528,494 deer during the early antlerless only, nine-day, muzzleloader and late antlerless only gun seasons (additionally archers killed more than 86,000 deer for a total kill of more than 615,000 deer); nine-day gun harvest totals a record 442,581 (170,865 antlered, 271,573 antlerless); 694,957 licensed gun hunters.
2001 – Wisconsin’s pre-hunt population estimated at 1.5 million deer; free antlerless permit given to all hunters buying deer-related licenses; 67 deer management units and nine state parks designated as Zone T; October and December four-day, Zone T antlerless hunts results in kill of 58,107 deer; nine-day gun harvest is the state’s fifth largest, totaling 361,264 (141,942 antlered, 219,260 antlerless); chronic wasting disease (CWD) later identified in three deer harvested in the Dane County Town of Vermont.
2002 – Herd estimate at 1.34 million deer; DNR samples about 41,000 deer during the early Zone T antlerless hunt (Oct. 24-27) and opening weekend (Nov. 23-24) of the nine-day gun season to determine if CWD is present anywhere else in the state besides the Disease Eradication Zone in southwest Wisconsin; expanded hunting opportunities set-up in the CWD Management Zone and a gun deer season slated for Oct. 24 to Jan. 31 in the CWD Eradication Zone; October and November four-day, Zone T antlerless hunts in 25 deer management units produce a harvest of 36,228 deer; hunters register 277,755 deer during the traditional, nine-day season; number of licensed gun hunters drops about 10 percent with much of the decrease attributed to concerns about CWD.
2003 – Fall deer population estimated at 1.4 million; landowners in CWD Disease Eradication Zone (DEZ) can request free permits to harvest deer without a license and receive two buck tags per permit; earn-a-buck (EAB) rules in effect and no bag limits on deer in the CWD management zones; deer hunting license sales up 14 percent over 2002, but down 13 percent when compared to 2001; overall, DNR collects 15,025 samples for disease surveillance with 115 wild deer testing positive for CWD; all but two positives are from the Disease Eradication zones (DEZ) of southwest Wisconsin and Rock County; hunters killed 388,344 deer during the early antlerless only, nine-day gun, muzzleloader and land antlerless only deer seasons.
2004 – Many deer management units (DMU’s) in all regions of the state estimated to be above prescribed management goals with 48 DMU’s designated as Zone T and 26 units as EAB; fall deer population estimated at 1.7 million deer; hunters issued one free antlerless permit for each license type (archery or gun) up to a maximum of two; during all seasons, hunters in the CWD DEZ and much larger Herd Reduction Zone (HRZ) are required to kill an antlerless deer before harvesting a buck; hunters kill 413,794 deer during the early antlerless only, nine-day gun, muzzle loader, late antlerless only and CWD zone deer seasons; eight gun deer hunting accidents documented with two fatalities; all accidents are either self-inflicted or shooter and victim were in the same party; hunters set a new record of venison donations by giving 10,938 deer yielding nearly 500,000 pounds of venison for food pantries to feed needy people across the state.
2005 – Forty-five DMU’s designated as Zone T units with unlimited antlerless permits and expanded gun hunting opportunities; hunters issued free antlerless permits for both archery and gun licenses; permits valid in any Zone T and CWD units; hunters in CWD units could get an unlimited number of antlerless permits at the rate of four per day; hunters harvest 387,310 deer during the early October, regular gun, late December and muzzleloader seasons combined, the eighth highest kill on record; 195,735 deer harvested during the opening weekend (Nov. 19-20) of the nine-day gun season; gun deer sales total 643,676, down one percent from 2004; DNR conducts CWD surveillance survey in the agency’s Northeast Region where 4500 deer are tested and CWD not detected; 14 accidents, including three fatals, during the nine-day season (Nov. 19-27); top five gun deer harvest counties – all located in central Wisconsin – are Marathon (15,871), Clark (13,918), Waupaca (12,260), Shawano (11,748) and Jackson (11,461).
2006 – The 155th deer season; fall herd estimate at 1.6 million deer; term “Herd Control Unit” replaces Zone T designation; Earn-a-Buck (EAB) requirement in place for 21 DMUs, but not in the CWD Zones where it is replaced by either-sex seasons and harvest totals from the early October seasons appear to be lower than in previous years; DNR to conduct CWD surveillance in the agency’s Western Region; gun season runs Nov. 18-26, (Nov. 18 – Dec. 10 in the CWD Zones), late archery Nov. 27 – Jan. 7, 2007, muzzleloader Nov. 27 – Dec. 6 and antlerless only hunt Dec. 7-10, statewide, but hunters must have a unit-specific antlerless deer carcass tag to hunt in units that aren’t EAB or herd control.
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