Wisconsin has witnessed a sharp drop in deer harvest throughout the first month of the 2021 season.

Throughout the first month, hunters had registered 25,231 whitetails, 11,235 of which were antlered bucks. That's a huge decrease compared to more than 35,000 deer registered the first month of the 2020 season and slightly fewer than 2019’s count of 26,549.

DNR wildlife officials don't have answers for the lower harvest numbers other than warmer than normal temperatures throughout the first month of deer season and fewer numbers of hunt ers may be hunting this year compared to last year when people had more free time due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

The Central Farmland Region has hands down been the harvest leader with more than 60% (15,672) of the states kill. Clark County ranked toward the top with 1,029 deer harvested, 823 in the farmland portion of the county and 206 in the central forest portion.

The northern forest region showed weak results with a whitetail harvest of 4,267 (2,288 of which were antlered bucks) the first month of the season. Taylor County led the region with a harvest of 518 deer followed by Rusk (433) and Price (414).

The October youth deer hunt yielded a statewide harvest of 5,050 deer, 2,288 of which were bucks.