• Snowmobile trails require a 6-inch packed base to open, and riders can find local conditions by calling county-specific hotlines.
• Wisconsin’s preliminary deer harvest totals for the 2025 nine-day gun season show a slight decrease from the previous year.
• The Wisconsin DNR is offering first harvest certificates for hunters who have taken their first deer.
• An upcoming presentation at Woodland Dunes Nature Center will feature a hiker’s experience on the Ice Age Trail.
• Officials are reminding residents to exercise caution on thin ice, advising that no ice is completely safe.

Just because we received some snow, snowmobile trails may not be open.

Trails need to have a 6-inch packed base — so even if you see the groomers being used, that doesn’t mean trails are open.

Before you go, make sure to avoid a trespassing fine. When trails are open, snowmobilers must stay on marked trails, or they are trespassing.

Most trails go through private lands. Although farmers allow trails to go through their land, they don’t want their fields torn up by snowmobilers being off the marked trails.

To find information about Manitowoc County snowmobile trails, call the trail hotline at 920-758-SNOW or 920-758-7669 and then refer to the county trail maps, as they could be open in one area and not in another.

In Sheboygan County, I found the hotline to be disconnected, but you can go to NKMSNOW.com for real-time trail conditions and openings.

In Calumet County, the trail hotline is 920-849-1494.

When calling the Brown County Parks number, they direct you to browncountyparks.org for trail information.

In Kewaunee County, the hotline is 920-388-7199.

You can check statewide conditions on the Travel Wisconsin Snow Report online, too.

Remember, anyone born Jan. 1, 1985, or after must take a snowmobile safety course to operate a snowmobile on any public trail system.

Deer harvest totals revealed

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources celebrated the conclusion of the 2025 nine-day gun deer hunt.

Preliminary license sales, harvest registration and hunting incident numbers are now available.

Preliminary figures indicate the number of deer hunters in Wisconsin slightly decreased compared to 2024.

As of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 30, sales for deer hunting privileges (which include gun, archery, crossbow, conservation patron and sports licenses) reached 790,044, down 0.12% from the same time last year. Of those, 550,611 were for gun privileges only (which include gun, conservation patron and sports licenses).

Deer hunting license and harvest authorization sales will continue throughout the remaining deer hunting seasons. Final license sales figures will be available in January, when DNR staff will perform a thorough analysis and interpretation.

Preliminary figures show hunters registered 182,084 deer during the 2025 gun deer season, including 86,068 antlered and 96,016 antlerless deer.

Compared to 2024, the gun season harvest total is down 0.8% statewide, with the antlered harvest down 2.6% and the antlerless harvest up 0.9%.

Since the opening of the bow and crossbow seasons, Wisconsin hunters have registered 294,757 deer. This harvest is 1.1% ahead of the same time last year.

Marquette County in the Central Farmland Zone led the state with 7.9 deer registered per square mile.

Vernon County led the Southern Farmland Zone with 6.5 deer registered per square mile.

DMU 201 led the Central Forest Zone registering 3.8 deer per square mile.

Finally, DMU 108 led the Northern Forest Zone with 2.7 deer registered per square mile.

The DNR’s Wisconsin Deer Harvest Summary webpage contains more information about preliminary harvest registration totals, including county-level numbers.

The regular gun deer season ran Nov. 22-30 and was followed by the statewide muzzleloader season (Dec. 1-10), the statewide antlerless-only four-day hunt (Dec. 11-14) and the antlerless-only holiday hunt in select farmland zone counties (Dec. 24-Jan. 1, 2026).

DNR offers first harvest certificates

Hunters of all ages who harvested their first deer are encouraged to highlight this significant occasion with a first harvest certificate.

The certificate will be emailed to you so you can print and frame the document.

This certificate is for all ages, but makes a great Christmas gift for the youngsters who filled their first tag.

Woodland Dunes sets presentation on hiking Ice Age Trail

Woodland Dunes Nature Center & Preserve in Two Rivers will present “Dunes’ Digest: Hiking the Ice Age Trail,” a presentation by LuAnn Lonergan, from noon to 1 p.m. Dec. 16.

Admission is a sliding-scale donation of $3-$10 per person. Attendees are encouraged to take their own lunch and Woodland Dunes will provide coffee, tea, water and a sweet treat.

Lonergan is a registered nurse and former nurse educator who resides in Kiel. She recently completed her second segment hike of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail and self-published a book about her adventure, “Oh, Beautiful Blaze: Ice Age Trail Musings.”

Lonergan will share original artwork and nature-inspired haikus, along with some tips and funny stories.

Her autographed book will be available for purchase for $15.

Registration is required by Monday, Dec. 15. To register, email Jess at jessicaj@woodlanddunes.org or call 920-793-4007.

Don’t become a statistic on the ice!

We are getting some thin ice on some of the lakes and rivers — but remember, no ice is safe ice!

Never go out on the ice alone. A friend can help in case you break through.

The DNR has a complete list of ice safety tips on its website — and the best tip is to ask at the local bait shop or fishing club to get up-to-date reporting on conditions.

That’s it for this week, so have fun in the great outdoors.