Deer Media Kit

Fast Facts

White-tail Deer

White-tail Buck

Adult deer can run as fast as 40 miles per hour and swim as fast as 13 miles per hour.
Nine states, including Wisconsin, have claimed the white-tailed deer as their state animal.
White-tailed deer are native to all three American continents and occupy suitable habitat from Alaska all the way to the Amazon River in South America.
Female white-tail deer often begin breeding before they are two years old and typically give birth to one to three fawns per year.
The white-tailed deer fall breeding season - otherwise known as the rut - is the most likely time of year to encounter deer on the road. Dawn and dusk are the deer's most active times of the day.

Deer Hunting in Wisconsin

Wisconsin boasts the largest single season deer harvest ever recorded: 615,293 in the year 2000.
Deer hunting continues to grow. In 1966 517,225 deer hunting licenses were sold and 116,048 deer were harvested. In 2008, license sales were 846,094 total licenses and hunters harvested 453,480 deer.
The 12th edition of the Boone and Crockett Club's Records of North American Big Game lists Wisconsin as the top state in terms of entries of white-tailed deer with trophy antlers with 627 entries.

In the Last Decade

Deer hunting has contributed approximately 1 billion dollars to the state's economy annually.
More than 700,000 deer hunters have participated in deer hunting annually and harvested an average of 482,645 deer.

Video and Photos

Video

Photos

Wisconsin White-tailed Deer and Deer Hunter Images

Soundbites

DNR Chief Conservation Warden, Randy Stark, has recorded a series of 30 to 40 second deer season messages for Wisconsin's deer hunters. Warden Stark reminds hunters of basic firearm safety, how hunters can help feed the hungry, where hunters can get answers to their questions, the importance of the tradition of deer hunting in Wisconsin, the impacts of baiting and feeding deer, Wisconsin's diverse conservation community, Wisconsin's new Mentored Hunting Law, Wisconsin's new restrictions on carcass movement and Bonus Antlerless Permit availability.

Chronic Wasting Disease

What's new in 2009

Background
The season framework for this fall will be essentially the same as 2008 which reflected a blending of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Stakeholder Advisory Group recommendations, feedback from public hearings held in spring of 2008, and the Department's recommendations to manage the disease.
Carcass Movement Restrictions
Beginning September 1, 2009, Wisconsin will restrict the importation of whole cervid carcasses (deer, elk and, moose) into Wisconsin from areas within states or provinces that have CWD. Whole deer carcass movement from the CWD Management Zone to elsewhere in the state will also be restricted. However, hunters will be allowed to move the whole, registered carcasses of deer harvested within the CWD-MZ into a deer management unit adjoining the CWD-MZ.
Surveillance and Testing [PDF]
This fall the DNR will conduct:
- Mandatory sampling within the Southeast, Southwest, and Baraboo monitoring areas
- Solicited, focused sampling on the northwestern periphery of the area where CWD currently occurs, as well as around two deer farms outside of the CWD-MZ where CWD-positive captive deer had been found.
- Voluntary sampling elsewhere within the CWD-MZ
- No regional outstate surveillance
Earn-a-buck [PDF]
The CWD Management Zone will again have earn-a-buck requirements. There are no earn-a-buck requirements outside of the CWD Management Zone.
Season Structure
The CWD Management Zone season structure is very similar to the season structure used elsewhere in the state for units that are over goal. The one season that is unique to the CWD-MZ is the holiday firearm season from December 24 to January 4.

CWD Management Plan
The Wisconsin CWD Management Plan is currently under review by the Natural Resources Board. We hope to have a finalized plan by early 2010.
Landowners permits may be available for the 2009-2010 season
As part of our management plan, we are proposing to reinstitute landowner permits for the CWD Management Zone. They would be similar to those offered in 2007-2008 except they would be available throughout the CWD Management Zone and only be valid from the end of the bow season (January 4 in 2010) through March 31. The final decision on their availability will be made by the Natural Resources Board in December.
CWD Prevalence in 2008
From 2002 to 2007, monitoring of disease prevalence within the CWD-MZ areas that have the highest intensity of CWD had shown little change in prevalence rates although some models suggested it was likely increasing. In 2008, however, estimates of prevalence in the core area of infection in southwest Wisconsin are higher for yearling and adult males and females. This increase was especially evident in adult males where prevalence estimates were just over 15% compared to the 10% of previous years. To determine what this means regarding overall disease progression and the efficacy of our control efforts, we will need several more years of data and further analyses. Nonetheless, this suggests that the same pattern of increasing intensity of disease may be occurring in Wisconsin as has been documented in areas of the western U.S. where CWD has been intensely monitored over many years.

More Resources

Sex Age Kill Population Estimation Review [VIDEO Length 50:16]

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