8/6/2024

N. WISCONSIN - The Wisconsin D.N.R. released their official forecast for the upcoming deer hunting season yesterday. D.N.R. deer program specialist Jeff Pritzl says with this past winter being an especially mild one, it looks like deer sightings will trend upwards.  He says the conditions for fawn production will be much more favorable this year than in 2023, which should lead to herd growth and more deer sightings overall.  A hot button topic after last year’s season was the impact that predators – such as bears and wolves – had on the harvest. Pritzl says the D.N.R. remains powerless to act until wolves are removed from the endangered species list by the federally run U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.  Iron and Ashland Counties will not be issuing any antlerless permits for this season. Pritzl noted that the consistent snowfall in both counties is mainly the reason why.