IRON MOUNTAIN - A look at preliminary deer harvest numbers provided by Wisconsin and Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials confirms what many local hunters had already suspected.
The 2008 count saw a noticeable decrease from a year ago.
Wisconsin DNR reported 276,985 whitetail deer registered during the state's nine-day gun season which ended Sunday, down 20 percent from a year ago.
"The down numbers may mean the population is moving toward goal. That is a good thing, and that hunting is having a positive effect on deer herd management," DNR deer expert Keith Warnke said. "If this is true, as populations get toward goals, lower harvests like this will become the norm."
A regional breakdown suggested that last year's harsh winter dealt an even bigger blow to the deer population in the north. Hunters registered 70,686 in the 18-county northern region of the state, a drop of 30 percent from last season.
The only region in Wisconsin to show an increase was the 11-county south central region, which recorded a three-percent pick-up.
In Michigan, where hunters are not required to register deer with the DNR, the results also seem to be below average.
Doug Wagner, a DNR wildlife biologist, said the Crystal Falls office registered 14 percent fewer deer than a year ago but stopped short of blaming the decrease on fewer deer in the woods.
"I don't know how to interpret this season," he said. "It was different because of the Saturday opener and a late Thanksgiving."
Wagner suspects the timing of the season's start kept some hunters from having a chance to register deer before returning home down state, thereby effecting the count.
"It seemed like most hunters were gone by Monday or Tuesday," he said, adding that there was a noticeable increase of hunters from Wisconsin ahead of that state's later-than-normal opener.
Wagner also mentioned a wide variation in where people were seeing deer, noting the deer movement seemed off this year. He heard from just as many people reporting a lot of sightings as there were those who said they saw nothing.
"It's hard to get a good handle on this season. It was a strange season. It'll be a few weeks before we make our final assessment," he said.
As for the severe winter adversely effecting the herd count, Wagner felt the northern areas of Iron and Dickinson counties and the typical lake-snow belts "may have been impacted" but to what effect is not yet completely known.
Hunters still chasing a buck this year have another opportunity with muzzleloading season.
Wisconsin's muzzleloader season started Monday and continues through Dec. 10. That's followed by a four-day statewide antlerless-only hunt that begins Dec. 11.
Michigan's muzzleloading season started today and runs until Dec. 14.
Ron Deuter's e-mail address is rdeuter@ironmountaindailynews.com.