DNR: Hunters bagged 243,739 deer in 2012 gun hunt

PENSAUKEE - In the freezer at Melotte's Meats in Pensaukee, milk crates are stacked nearly to the ceiling with portioned venison. Some are labeled for jerky, others bratwurst.

At the front of the store another stack sits. This is of receipts for customers to pick up their processed venison, as some still walk in the door to drop venison off.

And if you use the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources preliminary gun deer hunt harvest numbers, you might understand why.

The Department of Natural Resources says preliminary counts from the 2012 gun deer season say 243,739 deer were taken and 633,460 hunters were out in the woods.

• Click here for a breakdown of the harvest by DNR region and county

Hunters bagged 114,822 bucks and 128,917 antlerless deer in 2012. Compare those numbers to 102,837 bucks and 123,423 antlerless deer taken a year ago – a 12 percent and 4 percent increase, respectively.
    
In Northeast Wisconsin, numbers were up 8.9 percent. The biggest increases were seen in Brown, Kewaunee and Manitowoc counties. Oconto was up by 13 percent. Totals were down in only three counties: Green Lake, Marinette and Winnebago.

Jerry Melotte, who’s been butchering meat for roughly 25 years, says he's had to process about 80 deer a day since last Monday to keep up with the roughly 400-500 total deer brought in.

"I cut them on Thanksgiving too!" said Melotte laughing.

And he says numbers are up – between 10 and 15 percent from the last two years.

"I see an upswing in the numbers," said Melotte while taking a break from cleaning up the shop. “Most guys have seen more deer than they have in a long - in the past few years."

But for Scott Stewart, one of Melotte’s customers, this year's season was slim pickings, especially up north.

"I seen the one I shot on Sunday and I saw the spike horn up north and one other one, as far as bucks go,” said Stewart of Oconto. “But I didn't see a whole lot of deer."

"Even on record harvest years, there are going to be locations and hunting groups that didn't have their best year," explained Jeff Pritzl, a warden with the DNR.

Pritzl says the harvest increase can be attributed to a mild winter, older deer and good hunting conditions opening weekend can. As can the warm weather that forced many hunters to register their deer sooner rather than later.

"If you look across the region, this part of the state, we were up almost 20 percent at opening weekend and at the end of the season, were up about 9 percent from last year," said Pritzl. "Most of the comments we've gotten so far have been saw more deer than last year...and that doesn't come as a big surprise."

But deer hunting isn't over yet.

The muzzleloader season started Monday and the bow hunting season continues. There is also a statewide antlerless hunt Dec. 6-9, and a holiday hunt in the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) zones of south central Wisconsin, which starts Dec. 24 and runs until Jan. 6, 2013.

• Click here to see this year's Buck Tales

Pritzl says the final harvest totals for all of the hunting seasons will be complete in January.