Steve Heiting

Vilas and Oneida counties in north-central Wisconsin are in lake country with more than 2,400 waterbodies between them. Those lakes attract tourists and the region is busy in summer.
For many years those counties were busy in the fall, too, thanks to some fantastic deer hunting. But as numbers of deer have fallen in northern Wisconsin, the number of hunters has followed suit, which has affected local businesses. Both counties, which have historically produced big bucks, are now among the leaders in the state in percentage of yearling bucks carrying spike antlers.

They say if you want to know where the deer are, ask a logger. After all, the men and women who cut and haul timber for a living are in the woods every day of the year.
If you ask Terry Peters, he’s going to tell you he’s not quite sure where to find deer in northern Wisconsin.
“Last year, after 60 years, was the first year I never saw a nose, an ear, a side, a tine or a rump while I was hunting,” Peters said. “I’m disheartened. I don’t feel good.”
Meanwhile, Henry Schienebeck, executive director of the Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association, said while walking timber sales over the past winter he “hardly saw a track.”

Ashland and Iron counties in extreme northern Wisconsin have historically had some of the lowest deer populations in the entire state. Both counties feature lots of big timber, and heavy snow in what is known as the “snow belt” can be a limiting factor for the herd.
In a region where deer seem to struggle to live, Kevin Schmidt admits to being frustrated as he tries to find deer in Ashland County for his granddaughters to have a successful hunt. Bruce Bacon, a retired DNR wildlife biologist who hunts in Iron County, says the biggest problem for deer in northern Wisconsin “is the recruitment of fawns.

Northern Wisconsin was once considered a deer mecca. Lots of deer, big bucks, and plenty of public land to roam attracted hunters for many years. In recent seasons, however, public land hunters have been seeing and killing fewer deer in northern counties, and the statistics from each county’s citizen deer advisory council (CDAC) bear this out.

If you ask Mike Edwards about how good the deer hunting in Douglas County, Wis., was years ago, he says it was “fantastic.” To the east, in Bayfield County, Jim Johannes says hunting there was “pretty good.”
Neil Messerschmidt, who also hunts in Bayfield County, fondly recalls the day of bowhunting which was “the most excellent deer hunting I could ever imagine,” when he saw 13 different bucks in a single day before killing a 10-pointer. Deer numbers today in those same counties are much less than they used to be.

An avid deer hunter himself, Jeff Pritzl has been the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) deer program specialist for the past three years. To launch this series in which Wisconsin Outdoor News examines the deer situation in 10 northern Wisconsin counties, WON will start with an interview with the guy who sits atop the state’s deer hierarchy.