Official Stats Now Available From This Year’s Deer Hunting Season In Wisconsin

Wisconsin's 2025 nine-day gun deer hunt has concluded, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources wasted little time in sharing the preliminary data that it began tracking on day one.

The regular gun deer season ran from November 22 through November 30 and is now followed by the statewide muzzleloader season (December 1 to December 10), the statewide antlerless-only four-day hunt (December 11 to December 14), and then the antlerless-only holiday hunt in select farmland zone counties (December 24 to January 1, 2026).

After the opening weekend of the gun deer season, the DNR had released data on license sales, harvest registrations, and hunting incident numbers, which sadly included a fatality, and now we have the preliminary data for the entire 2025 gun deer hunt season.

Below are details are the details, which were recently released to the public by the DNR.

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Preliminary License Sales Data

According to the DNR, preliminary figures indicate the number of deer hunters in Wisconsin slightly decreased compared to 2024.

As of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, November 30, sales for deer hunting privileges (which include gun, archery, crossbow, conservation patron, and sports licenses) reached 790,044, down 0.12% from the same time last year. Of those, 550,611 were for gun privileges only (which include gun, conservation patron, and sports licenses).

It's worth noting that the sales of deer hunting licenses and harvest authorizations will continue throughout the remaining deer hunting seasons, and the DNR should have final sales figures available to the public in January, after it completes its analysis.

Preliminary Harvest Totals

Preliminary figures show hunters registered 182,084 deer during the 2025 gun deer season, including 86,068 antlered and 96,016 antlerless deer. Compared to 2024, the gun season harvest total is down 0.8% statewide, with the antlered harvest down 2.6% and the antlerless harvest up 0.9%.

Since the opening of the bow and crossbow seasons, Wisconsin hunters have registered 294,757 deer. This harvest is 1.1% ahead of the same time last year.

Where was the best place in the state to get a deer? The DNR says that Marquette County in the Central Farmland Zone led the state with 7.9 deer registered per square mile.

As for the rest of the state:

• Vernon County led the Southern Farmland Zone with 6.5 deer registered per square mile.
• DMU 201 led the Central Forest Zone, registering 3.8 deer per square mile.
• DMU 108 led the Northern Forest Zone with 2.7 deer registered per square mile.

The DNR’s Wisconsin Deer Harvest Summary webpage contains complete information regarding preliminary harvest registration totals, including county-level numbers.

2025 Gun Deer Season Hunting Incidents

As of December 2, the DNR had received the following reports involving firearm-involved hunting incidents during the 2025 gun deer season:

• Fond du Lac County, Oakfield Township: On November 22, in the evening hours, a 24-year-old male deer hunter was a victim of a self-inflicted gunshot to the chest. The victim was found deceased several hours after the close of hunting hours by family on private property. Preliminary investigation reflects the victim was in a tree, gun deer hunting from a saddle stand, when the unintentional discharge of their firearm occurred. Investigation pending.
• Grant County, North Lancaster Township: On November 22, in the afternoon hours, a 57-year-old male was a victim of a gunshot to his buttock while walking to a field to go deer hunting. The victim was transported to the hospital and treated for injury. Investigation pending.

By comparison, during the 2024 nine-day gun deer season, the DNR had reported one firearm-involved hunting incident resulting in injury.

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For the past 10 nine-day gun deer seasons, from 2016 to 2025, the incident trend reflects an average of five hunting incidents per year. Also, Wisconsin has had six fatality-free seasons.

The DNR took this opportunity to remind hunters to always follow the four rules of firearm safety, TAB-K, as it's crucial for safe and successful hunting:

• T - Treat every firearm as if it is loaded.
• A - Always point the muzzle in a safe direction.
• B - Be certain of your target, what’s before it, and what’s beyond it.
• K - Keep your finger outside your trigger guard until you are safe to shoot.

Learn more about safe hunting in Wisconsin and register to take a hunter education course on the DNR’s Hunting Safety webpage.