State Roundup: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan stand out as states needing more doe harvest, according to NDA review

Wisconsin deer hunters recently drew the attention of the National Deer Association (NDA) as that group tracks the annual deer harvest in each state and then compares antlerless deer kill to the buck kill as part of the group’s overall analysis of deer harvest.

I doubt NDA’s comment on Wisconsin’s pattern of deer kills is news to DNR deer program specialist Jeff Pritzl or any other DNR wildlife biologist. NDA maintains Wisconsin hunters aren’t shooting enough does when looking at the 2023 antlerless harvest that was down 14% from 2022 and 10% down from the five-year average.

Read NDA’s full report here.

NDA notes that in most of the state outside of the southwestern CWD zones, estimates show the deer population in record territory and climbing.

When NDA did its review, the DNR was still working with preliminary 2024 numbers. At that time, registrations showed the 2024 antlerless kill being up 5% from 2023, but noted the preliminary 2024 buck kill was up 9%, surpassing the antlerless kill for the first time in decades.

Michigan and Minnesota hunters are a little light on antlerless deer numbers, too, according to the NDA.

Michigan hunters dropped from 0.8 to 0.7 antlerless-per-buck since the last NDA report.

“Though Michigan’s antlerless harvest was up 3% in 2023 over the previous season, it was still 13% down from the five-year average and at a 22-year low. Buck harvest remains healthy, but the story is still the same in the Lower Peninsula  – hunters just aren’t shooting enough does, especially considering their fight against CWD,” according to the report.

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Michigan’s doe kill did increase by 18% to 164,000 animals in 2024, according to preliminary numbers. The buck kill stayed about even, taking the ratio back up to 0.8 does per buck, but the biggest increase came from the northern Lower Peninsula more than in the southern Lower Peninsula where NDA says more antlerless deer must be shot.

NDA says the Minnesota antlerless kill has been on a downward slide since 2020, with the 2023 kill down 14% from 2022 and down 18% from the five-year average. Preliminary 2024 numbers show the buck kill jumped 17% from 2023 while the antlerless kill fell again, down 4% more.

That will push Minnesota down to a ratio of 0.7 antlerless deer per buck, according to the NDA.

RELATED STORY FROM OUTDOOR NEWS:

A large buck-doe harvest gap in Minnesota this year

Meanwhile, Iowa holds the top antlerless-to-buck ratio in the Midwest at 1.3 does per buck. This is a tough one to address. I’d like to know how Iowa is hitting that number.

Yes, hunters need to shoot more does in southern Wisconsin, especially in heavy CWD areas. We’ve been looking for that answer for a while. Any suggestions?

MUSIC HAS LONG BEEN one of my favorite pastimes when not hunting or fishing – whether listening, singing, dancing or playing. I don’t play it very well. Nor sing it.

I often have music on in the background while working. For the longest time I listened mostly to KINK FM out of Portland, Ore., or KNDD out of Seattle, Wash. Otherwise I’d roam around the globe on a website called Radio Garden, checking out stations in the Canadian maritime provinces, Iceland, Scotland and other countries.

Recently on Radio Garden I found KMAS in Shelton, Wash. KMAS operates at 103.3 FM or 1030 AM. You can listen live through the website, too.

I don’t think I have run across any station that plays a better mix of music than KMAS. Give this one a listen. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. If you go in through Radio Garden, KMAS is the “dot” just southwest of the Puget Sound and above the Columbia River. Give it a click.