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Deer specialist retires, design contest winner, and deer season

Story of the week: Japanese hiker completes Ice Age Trail

Author

Forrest Koslowski
November 20, 2025

This Week’s Wiscampsin Weekly brought to you by:

Mornin’ to everyone curious about WI deer populations over the years. Check it out if you want a DNR mug. This is the Wiscampsin Weekly, the email that gets you in the know on the Wisconsin outdoors in 5 minutes or less. New reader? Subscribe here.

This week’s weekly:

🫡 DNR deer specialist Jeff Pritzl to retire

🦌 WI gun-deer season has late start this year (Nov 22 - Nov 30)

🖼️ Wisconsin State Park and Forest Vehicle Admission Pass design contest winner

🥾STORY OF THE WEEK: Japanese hiker’s Ice Age Trail completion brings people together all over state

🫡 DNR deer specialist Jeff Pritzl to retire LINK

  • After 34 years with the DNR, deer program specialist Jeff Pritzl is hanging up his state-issued blaze orange in December — timing it so he can still shepherd the 2025 gun season and one last NRB meeting before heading to deer camp with zero meetings on his calendar.

  • Pritzl leaves behind a career rooted in Wisconsin’s woods, from early days as a wildlife biologist in Door-Kewaunee-Manitowoc to taking on the agency’s notorious “hot seat” in 2021, where he helped transform deer management units back to habitat-based boundaries across the northern and central forests.

  • Known for being unusually transparent, collaborative, and willing to “open the box” on thorny deer issues, Pritzl helped guide CDAC reforms, tackled unit redesigns, and pushed for higher farmland harvests — and now plans to stay engaged in conservation, write a bit, and finally stay at deer camp as long as he wants.

🦌 WI gun-deer season has late start this year (Nov 22 - Nov 30) LINK

  • Wisconsin’s gun-deer season kicks off late this year, meaning deer might be moving less — but colder weather and northern snow could give hunters the edge they need. With two mild winters behind us, deer numbers in the Northwoods are looking strong.

  • The DNR rolled out new habitat-based management units and plenty of antlerless tags, hoping hunters help trim a statewide herd pushing 2 million.

  • Participation may be slipping over the decades, losing around 100,000 hunters over the past 20 years, but the nine-day hunt still pumps billions into Wisconsin’s economy and fills food pantries through venison donations. Last season was also the safest season in 40 years with 190,000 deer registered.

🖼️ Wisconsin State Park and Forest Vehicle Admission Pass design contest winner LINK

  • A Delavan-Darien High School grad, Jaelyn Logterman, won the 2026 state park pass design contest with artwork inspired by chasing her adventure-loving dog through Wisconsin’s waters — fitting for a state with 15,000 lakes and 43,000 miles of rivers to splash around in.

  • The long-running contest drew 150+ student submissions, with runners-up from Rice Lake and Princeton and a slate of honorable mentions from across the state — proof that Wisconsin’s next generation is as skilled with pens and paint as they are with paddles and trail shoes.

  • The new pass goes on sale Jan. 1, 2026 and grants 12 months of access to 60+ parks, forests and recreation areas — all funded by pass revenue — while the DNR simultaneously opens submissions for the 2027 contest for any high schooler ready to capture the outdoors on a tiny canvas.

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Love coffee, supporting local businesses, or exploring coffee shops? You gotta check out the 2026 Coffee Passport.

Created by the ‘Scons at Venture Wisconsin, this handy book gives you 50% off your coffee at 191 local Wisconsin coffee shops. Here’s how it works:

  • Visit a participating coffee shop or bakery

  • Present your passport and order your drink

  • Get 50% off your drink (Bonus: Your friend can get 50% off, too!)

🥾STORY OF THE WEEK: Japanese hiker’s Ice Age Trail completion brings people together all over state LINK

This week’s STORY OF THE WEEK is unlocked for everyone thanks to Venture Wisconsin - PLEASE SUPPORT THEM WITH A CLICK!

For 65 days, Masa Saito, a professional hiker from Japan, did what most of us only dream of: he walked all 1,200 miles of Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail. Starting September 10 and finishing last Friday, Masa’s journey became less about the miles and more about connection, kindness, and the quirks of Wisconsin’s backroads.

“Sometimes the tent site and water and lots of high-speed trucks are difficult,” Masa admitted, blending humility with the occasional grimace at the trail’s urban interruptions. But for Wisconsinites, the challenge was an opportunity: to show their state in the friendliest light possible.

From Two Rivers to Plymouth, locals left snacks, bottled water, body warmers, and handwritten notes for the hiker. Amy Hughes of Plymouth reflected on the experience: “It was great to see that Wisconsin really showed up.” Curt Brey of Manitowoc marveled at the simple magic of seeing someone from halfway across the globe on “just a trail in our backyard.”

Masa’s trek drew thousands of online followers who tracked his progress on Facebook, but the real magic was in the personal moments along the way. Early in the morning, first faces on the trail lit him up, small gestures sparking big joy. “Lots of travel angels met this hike. It was a good experience. With Wisconsin people, lots of kindness,” Masa said.

For locals, Masa’s journey was a reminder that trails are more than dirt and rocks—they’re shared spaces that can unite communities. “When he was hiking the Ice Age Trail, he was a hiker just like the rest of us, and it makes you realize that people are the same, no matter where they’re from,” Hughes said.

In a time when headlines often focus on division, Masa’s 65-day trek became a moving statewide affirmation: kindness knows no borders, adventure transcends language, and a trail in your backyard can feel like the center of the world. Wisconsin didn’t just watch; it showed up. And in doing so, it left a mark that will linger long after the footprints fade.

Now send this email to a friend and get out ‘der!

WISCAMPSIN WEEKLY POLL

23% of poll voters got last weeks poll right!

The correct answer for Wisconsin's first-ever closed deer season is C) February 1 - June 30!

Explanation: This early conservation law was designed to protect does during pregnancy and birth. However, it meant that for the other seven months of the year (July through January), hunting was still permitted with absolutely no bag limits!

Before in-person registration became mandatory, hunters simply mailed a postcard to the state to report their harvest. In what year did the DNR first require hunters to physically present their deer for registration?

Give it a gut check.

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