Your Guide To The 2024 Gun Deer Season
Good luck in the upcoming 2024 gun deer season.
It’s almost here! We hope you’re excited and have your boots, blaze orange and binoculars ready. Below are some resources and reminders to help with any last-minute preparations.
Purchasing Your License
Proof of your license is required while you’re out hunting. If you don’t have a license yet, head over to Go Wild and purchase one before hunting.
Remember Regulations
Before you go into the field this year, be sure you’re familiar with this year’s shooting hours, season dates and other hunting regulations.
| Registration Is Required
Harvest registration is due by 5 p.m. the day after recovery. There are three ways to register your deer:
- Use GameReg! It’s quick and easy online.
- Alternatively, you can call 1-844-426-3734.
- Register in-person at a deer registration station.
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| Hunting Helps Slow The Spread Of CWD
Hunting helps slow the spread of CWD by managing deer populations and decreasing the likelihood of disease transmission.
Consider submitting a sample of your harvest for testing, especially if you hunt in one of our priority areas. These are locations with newer detections of CWD. Additional samples will help us better understand disease levels and distributions in these areas.
Remember to properly dispose of your deer carcass waste this season. There are several disposal resources available, including deer carcass disposal dumpsters, landfills and transfer stations.
You can find the most convenient CWD sampling or disposal location for you using our CWD Sample and Disposal Locations map.
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| Make Safety Your Top Target
Remember the four basic rules of firearm safety, TAB-K:
T = Treat every firearm as if it is loaded.
A = Always point the muzzle in a safe direction.
B = Be certain of your target, what’s before and what’s beyond it.
K = Keep your finger outside the trigger guard until you are ready to shoot.
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| Fill The Freezer
Bonus antlerless authorizations remain available in many counties and are a great way to stock up on venison.
These authorizations are first-come, first-served and cost $12 each for residents, $20 each for nonresidents and $5 for youth hunters under age 12.
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| Take Someone Hunting This Year
If you know someone who wants to hunt but wasn’t able to attend a hunter education class before the season, the Mentored Hunting Law allows them to participate through the purchase of a mentored-only hunting license.
This means someone can hunt and harvest a deer without taking hunter education as long as they always remain within arm’s reach of an adult licensed hunter. |
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Make A Difference With Your Deer
You have a chance to give back during the hunting season by doing what you love. Donate any Wisconsin harvested deer to the Deer Donation Program and help stock food pantry shelves in your community. |
| Community Science Opportunity
Contribute to wildlife management in Wisconsin by reporting deer sightings to the Deer Hunter Wildlife Survey. The data from survey submissions helps provide a better understanding of the relative abundance and distribution of deer around Wisconsin.
It is important hunters record all deer hunting efforts, even if no deer are seen.
Photo Credit: Wisconsin DNR |
Find more helpful tips and information on our Hunter Resources webpage. |
