The white-tail deer has been a prominent resident in Wisconsin and throughout North America for centuries.
The history of deer hunting in Wisconsin is a story of adaptation and tradition, of preserving a treasured natural resource and protecting a time-honored pastime. According to the Milwaukee, Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, deer hunting produces over $1 billion in revenue for the state's economy every year. Preserving this stream of revenue means continually adjusting legislation to protect a healthy deer population. The white-tail deer has been an integral part of Wisconsin life from its earliest inhabitants to deer hunters of today, and the needs of Wisconsin's human inhabitants have always had to forge a balance with the state's deer population.
Native Wisconsin Tribes
Prior to the European contact, Santee Dakota Indians relied heavily on deer hunting in the southern regions of what is now Wisconsin. They migrated with white-tail deer throughout the winter and subsisted on their meat and fur while being ever-vigilant to preserve the deer population. Spear hunting and later bow hunting along with complete animal use helped maintain a balance that was soon jeopardized by the influence of firearms and the fur trade. To compete with early European settlers, tribes such as the Ojibwa and Menominee, that had previously subsisted mainly by fishing, began to hunt deer for subsistence and for the fur trade. The next wave of European settlers would further inhibit the migratory patterns of both the white-tail deer and the native tribes.
Early State Legislation
1851 saw Wisconsin's first closed season for deer hunting. Realizing the potential for over-hunting, early state legislators began to limit the time period for legal hunting to July through January. Indian reservations were not subject to the closed season and were allowed to continue hunting throughout the year. In 1876, hunting with dogs was prohibited. As legislation increased, so to did the need for oversight, forcing the state to employ its first game warden in 1890. Increased agricultural use in the midst of deer migrations led farmers to extinguish deer as pests during this period. Though early hunters sought to harvest deer for both subsistence and for trade, sport hunting was also becoming a popular Wisconsin pastime, and by 1910 the deer population had reached a record low.
Vanishing Resource
In the first half of the 20th century, Wisconsin's legislature aimed to preserve the whitetail deer population in the state through a series of evolving restrictions and continued monitoring. In 1921, hunting younger deer with antlers less than three inches in length was prohibited. Antler length restrictions would be a crucial early biological monitor of deer as a resource and would continually adjust dependent on the rise and fall of the deer population. In 1927, the game commission merged with the conservation commission to form what became the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The same year produced legislation that would close deer hunting in Wisconsin in alternating years for the next decade.
Stabilizing the Deer Population
In 1962, deer population goals were reached for the first time since the commission's oversight began. The Department of Natural Resources continued to monitor migratory patterns and population trends, adjusting restrictions, the length of open seasons, harvesting checkpoints and caps per hunter, and the amount of licenses issued per year. Hunter safety was also becoming a concern, as gun hunters were now required to wear orange beneath their outerwear. By 1980, blaze orange vests became required outerwear for all gun hunters. Bow hunting season now preceded gun hunting season to further inhibit both over-hunting and firearm accidents. During this period, the whitetail deer's other main predator, the timber wolf, reached near extinction due to poaching for agricultural needs. Harvesting regulations would loosen, as would season length in an attempt to prevent overpopulation.
Chronic Wasting Disease and Overpopulation
With the absence of the timber wolf, deer populations thrived to the extent that scarcity of resources became a major issue for whitetail deer survival. Bait hunting with corn or other fruits and vegetables had always been common unrestricted practice, although culturally unpopular with animal rights organizations. In the 1980's, antler-less deer hunting was permitted in certain southern regions of the state to alleviate crop damage. Increased license promotion and incentives saw increased harvesting, but not at a rate that quelled the rise of the deer population.
Though the Department of Natural Resources attempted to increase the harvest year to year, overpopulation continued along with inevitable food scarcity. In 2001, the first cases of Chronic Wasting Disease, a spongiform encephalopathy where sponge-like holes form in the brain, were reported in Wisconsin among harvested deer. The contagious nature of the disease led wildlife officials to attempt to curb the population. All licenses now included antler-less hunting permits and the amount of management units increased statewide to monitor the health of local deer populations. The gun hunting season now began earlier than it had in almost a century.
Stabilization and Conclusions
As cases of Chronic Wasting Disease became almost non-existent, antler-less hunting regulations returned, as did the onset of baiting restrictions and bans in most Wisconsin counties. For the first time in decades, 2009's harvest was predicted to decrease from the previous year. Sport hunting remains a tremendous source of income for Wisconsin, as well as a deeply rooted tradition in many communities. Hunting license promotions include a youth hunting weekend, a disabled hunt event, and a donation program to harvest meat for Wisconsin's hungry. Continued monitoring will aim to protect the health of the whitetail deer population in Wisconsin for generations to come, ensuring that the practice of deer hunting will go on.
Tags: deer population, deer hunting, whitetail deer, white-tail deer, Chronic Wasting, Chronic Wasting Disease, deer hunting