Students chase white-tails

Exponent

Every year, the Saturday before Thanksgiving marks a time-honored tradition in Wisconsin. It’s opening day for the gun deer hunting season. Droves of hunters in blaze orange coats and hats take to the woods and open fields.

Over 640,000 Wisconsin residents purchased licenses this year. This fall, over 340,000 deer were registered in Wisconsin during the nine-day season, almost 10,000 more than in 2006, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ Web site dnr.wi.gov/.

Adam Brann, UW-Platteville alumni, says that he begins preparing for the season much earlier in the year. He plants food plots in May, cuts shooting lanes in July and sights in his gun year round.

“I hunt not because I can or should, or in some sick way to argue with animal rights activists, I do this because hunting is me,” Brann said. “In my neck of the woods [Eau Claire], hunting means family.”

“With the successful harvesting of a deer, our family and friends celebrate with a few quick phone calls telling of our success and a few cold beers to quench the days’ thirst,” Brann said.
“Every deer shot is used; there is no waste.”

Each year, different regulations dictate what a hunter is able to shoot depending on location. Most of the southern part of the state is designated the Chronic Wasting Disease Unit and requires a hunter to register an antlerless deer before being able to tag a buck.

Grant County was in the Herd Control Unit. The Herd Control Unit is designated when deer population is well over goal and increased antlerless harvest is required to bring populations toward goal.

“I’ve been hunting since I was 9 years old,” Eric Hopfensperger, senior building construction management major, said.

Hopfensperger, who hunts in the Stevens Point area, a Herd Control Unit, said hunting is a family tradition.

“We get together with family and friends and tell big deer stories,” Hopfensperger said.

Although the nine-day season is over, individuals wishing to tag a deer will still have a chance to hunt. There is a state wide antlerless deer hunt Dec. 6 to 9.

For more information, contact the Wisconsin DNR at 888-936-7463 or visit their Web site.