Mornin' to the kid who got chased down by a turkey last week. 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:

• The 2023 gun deer season results 🦌 

• Using carp to catch carp 🐟

• Ancient murrelet spotted 🐦

Wisconsin's 2023 Gun Deer Season Results

More hunting news? Oh, deer…

Yes, we know—we’ve been talking about deer, deer hunting, and filling ‘da freezer so much you’d think we work at Fleet Farm (a dream of ours, tbh…).

So we promise: This will be the last hunting Wiscampsin Weekly of 2023.

We got the totals to report from this year’s gun deer season and boy oh boy, were the predictions spot on.

Wisconsin’s 2023 Gun Deer Season

• 173,942 deer were harvested in the gun season (down 17.6% from 2022)

• Hunters from all 50 states and 27 countries purchased a Wisconsin hunting license

• Adams County had 9.7 harvested deer per square mile, the most in the state

Numbers, cont.

Per the DNR, as of midnight on Nov 27th, deer license sales for gun, bow, crossbow, sports and conservation patron licenses reached 788,697.

Of that, 434,817 were for the gun deer season only, which makes sense: it’s considered easier to use a rifle or shotgun than bow or crossbow.

In the gun season, 173,942 deer were tagged, with 85,390 of those antlered and 88,552 antlerless.

Why say antlered and antlerless vs bucks and does? Sometimes a buck won’t have antlers (or they could be nubs), and some doe can actually grow antlers (though it’s considered a 1-in-10,000 chance).

From 2022, the total gun deer harvest was down 17.6%. In the Northern Forest Zone Harvest, they experienced a 20% decrease in harvests from the 5 year average.

Some good news

License sales were down less than 1% from last year, an improvement on the trend of 1.5% annual decrease since the early 2000s. Victory, I guess?

Another area of improvement was the amount of hunting accidents we saw. The DNR reported just three firearm incidents during the gun deer season, beating the decade average of 5.9 per year.

Perhaps the most bizarre was the hunter who mistook a woman’s dog for a deer, and ended up shooting her in the leg.

The two were family friends, so no charges will be pressed. As long as he doesn’t try to eat her…

Alright, the final piece of good news? You can still fill ‘da freezer with your bow, crossbow, or muzzleloader!

Check the remaining seasons here, be safe, and take a buddy with ya.

Now get out ‘der!

Other great Wiscampsin reads…

Good for the Woods and Your Freezer: Wisconsin's Spring Turkey Hunt

Bowhunting Wisconsin

Cougar Sightings On The Rise

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Wiscampsin Weekly Poll

Well folks, we guess 42% of you have tried the cannibal sandwich (looks like we need to bring back the ‘60s wedding hors d'oeuvre of choice):

Nuts and Seeds 🌰 

🐦 Rare bird spotted: Bird enthusiasts certainly had something to squawk about last week when an ancient murrelet was spotted on Chequamegon Bay near Ashland. The bird typically found in the Pacific Ocean has only been seen 7 times in Wisconsin (1882, 1940, 1964, 1967, 1975 and 2007), causing a whole flock of birders to come check it out.

❤️ Looking for love: A 500-700 pound bull elk, named “357” was spotted running down the streets of McFarland over the weekend, presumed to be searching for a mate by experts. A subdominant bull, he started in the Black River Falls area and has been spotted roaming all over the state in search of, well, love.

🐟 Catching Carp: Wildlife agencies are scrambling to try and stop invasive carp from getting into the Great Lakes. Their most recent strategy? Tagging “traitor fish.” Carp are tagged with a transmitter, then tossed back in. When they form schools in the Fall and Spring, commercial fishermen and conservationists can track these “traitor fish” and come remove large amounts of the fish easier.

 Sponsored by our new Wiscampsin Basic Tees!

Still stumped on what to get Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, your neighbor, the Culver’s drive through worker (we can keep going) — for the holidays?

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These head turners are available in 3 colors: Heather Bark, Heather Cream, and Heather Pine. Who da heck is Heather…?

Designed in Milwaukee, made in the USA, and printed in Eau Claire, WI, these shirts are sustainably sourced to keep our natural places as green as possible.

We only ordered a limited batch so place your orders today, lest we run out of your desired size + color!

*As always, 1% of profits will go to the Friends of Wisconsin State Parks.

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Meme of the Week 😂

A review from the trail… We’re thankful for your eyeballs!