Deer harvest in Chippewa and Clark Counties was up significantly in 2020.

In Chippewa County, there were a total of 2,832 deer harvested, compared to 2,402 in 2019, a 17.09 percent increase.

Clark County had 4,677 deer harvested, a 15.9 percent increase over a year ago.

In Chippewa County, there were 1,115 antlered deer harvested and 1,717 antlerless. In Clark County, there were 1,899 antlered deer, and 2,778 antlerless.

Statewide, the Wisconsin DNR reported that the deer harvest was up 15.8 percent this year, with a total of 188,712 deer harvested, of which 85,340 were antlered.

Sales for gun, bow, crossbow, sports and patron licenses reached 820,299. Of that total, 569,203 were for gun privileges, including gun, patron and sports licenses. The year-to-date sales for all deer licenses are up 3.5% from the same time last year.

Female hunters remain the largest growing demographic in 2020, with the number of female hunters reaching nearly 92,312, up 12% from last year. The number of nonresident licenses decreased this year, likely due to COVID-19.

Of the licenses sold, 42% were sold in person through transactions at DNR license agents. The remaining 58% of licenses were purchased online. Deer hunting license and harvest authorization sales will continue throughout the remaining deer hunting seasons.

Final license sales figures will be available in January, at which time DNR staff will perform a thorough analysis and interpretation.

Since archery season opened Sept. 12, hunters have registered 305,171 deer statewide, showing the growing impact of earlier seasons on cumulative harvest.

Deer harvest trends since the beginning of the archery season were above 2019 levels, and this trend continued through the gun deer season. Compared to 2019, the total nine-day gun deer harvest was up 15.8% statewide, with buck harvest up 12.2% and antlerless harvest up 19%. All management zones showed harvest increases from 2019.

Current deer harvest totals have surpassed the total deer harvested in 2019, but harvest trends lag behind 2018, which had the highest total deer harvest since 2013. While many southern farmland zone counties saw double- digit increases in the buck harvest, the harvest was not evenly distributed across the state.

A number of units in the northern forest zone including Ashland, Florence, Forest, Iron, Lincoln, Marinette and Price counties, experienced another year of declining buck harvest during the nine-day gun deer season. However, total buck harvest in those counties appears to be similar compared to 2019 harvest for the same period.

While opening weekend saw mild temperatures throughout the state with some snow in the northwest, DNR staff across the state reported excellent hunting conditions and weather throughout the season except for a day or two of rain and wind midweek.