Wis. DNR to present deer hunt report

MADISON, Wis. — State wildlife officials are set to give a preliminary report on the 2011 gun deer season to the Natural Resources Board.

The Department of Natural Resources gives the board a report on trends that emerged from the gun season every year. The agency is scheduled to deliver this year’s findings at a board meeting Tuesday afternoon in Madison.

Early indications are this season’s hunt was slightly more successful than last year. Preliminary harvest data shows hunters killed 226,260 deer over the nine-day hunt last month, up from 221,534 last year.

Hunters say they had a more enjoyable time in the woods this year after Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill outlawing earn-a-buck, the DNR’s contentious herd control program that requires hunters kill an antlerless deer before taking a buck.