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Hunters harvested a preliminary total of 226,260 deer during the 2011 nine-day gun deer season, based on calls to around 600-plus deer registration stations across Wisconsin. That total is up 3.6 percent from 2010. At the same time, hunters posted the third all around safest season on record, with no fatalities for the second year in a row and only the third time on record. The nine-day harvest numbers are preliminary do not include harvest from the archery seasonor other special hunts.
There are still days to hunt in 2011. The muzzleloader hunt is already underway through Dec. 7 for hunters holding unused gun buck and antlerless deer tags. The archery season remains open through Jan. 8. There is also a statewide antlerless deer hunt Dec. 8-11, but is only open in regular units to hunters with valid antlerless deer tags for the unit in which they are hunting. Regular unit antlerless tags are still available for many units at $12 each. In herd control units, hunters can purchase as many $2 antlerless tags as they wish. There is also a Holiday Hunt in the CWD zones in south central Wisconsin that starts Dec. 24 and lasts until Jan. 8.
Now that the nine-day gun deer season has wrapped up, the last of the 2011 pheasant stocking on public hunting grounds will take place, giving late season bird hunters an opportunity to rustle up some pheasants for the next few weeks when hunting pressure is traditionally low.
The southern and Mississippi River duck zones remain open through Dec. 4 and there continued to be reports this week of northern diver ducks moving through the state. As most water bodies are just beginning to have a thin skim of ice around the edges in the morning, waterfowl generally remain scattered and have not concentrated as much on large bodies of open water as they do in most years.
Some smaller ponds and lakes in the north have begun to freeze over and skim ice is forming along the shores of larger lakes, even down through southern Wisconsin, but it has been breaking up throughout the day. With the closing of the musky season Nov. 30, fishing pressure has really dropped off in the Northwoods, though there have still been reports of some walleye anglers out. Some anglers have also been fishing channels off the Winnebago system for panfish, with some nice crappies reported along with some smaller bluegills.
An inch to nearly 3 inches of snow fell across northern Wisconsin Wednesday night to Thursday morning, but there continues to not be enough snow in most locations yet for skiing or snowmobiling. Most snowmobile clubs are reporting that trails have been cleared and will be ready when sufficient snow arrives. Similarly, most state park and forests report crews have been very active in the last week clearing ski trails so they will be ready to be groomed.
As northern lakes start to freeze up, trumpeter swans have begun congregating along the Mississippi River. And reports continue to come in from across the state of snowy owls showing up at many locations, with biologists estimating there could be hundreds of snowy owls in Wisconsin at this time.
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