Photo by Mark Werner

The Badger State's 2004 deer hunt was outstanding. In fact, it ranks as Wisconsin's second-best year ever and as the fourth-largest deer kill in national history. Bowhunters registered 103,571 whitetails and firearm hunters tallied up 413,598 deer for a total kill of 517,169.

Unfortunately, the antlered deer kill dropped over 10 percentage points from 2003 levels, possibly due in part to the Earn-A-Buck (EAB) requirement in approximately two dozen deer management units (DMUs). EAB required hunters to take an antlerless deer in order to earn the authority to kill an antlered animal. In 2004, gun and bow buck kills totaled 166,813 deer, or 32 percent of the overall season total. That is a good number of antlered deer, and plenty of those were trophy bucks.

TROPHY TALLY
The Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club (WBBC) maintains the official Wisconsin trophy records. The animals are scored according to the Boone and Crockett Club system. For the 2004 hunt, trophy registrations dropped by over 100 from over 500 in 2003, but that makes sense when you consider the low buck percentage in the total harvest figure compared to previous years. Not all deer hunters are aware of the trophy registration program. If you would like to learn more, contact Steve Ashley, director of records for WBBC, at 3051 110th Ave., Glenwood City, WI 54013, toll-free 1-877-273-6408, or e-mail: sashley@wi-buck-bear.org.

In addition to the Wisconsin-specific WBBC, two national organizations keep trophy records. Hunters who took their trophy animal with a firearm can learn more at www.boone-crockett.org. National bowhunting records are kept by the Pope and Young Club. Log on to www.pope-young.org to find out more. Both national organizations use a universally accepted scoring system, and they set the standards for measuring all types of big game.

BADGERLAND TROPHIES
As of this writing, WBBC registered 400 trophy deer from the 2004 deer seasons. That figure is down from over 500 in 2003. Archers killed 308 deer, or 77 percent of the 2004 trophies. The percentage taken by gun or bowhunters remains relatively constant from year to year.

West-Central Region
As in previous years, our West-Central Region registered the most trophies in 2004. Hunters in this 18-county area took home 139 trophy whitetails, or 35 percent of the Dairy State's total. Gun hunters killed 30 of the trophies and archers 106.

Buffalo County again topped the list with 37 registered trophy-class bucks. Archers killed 29 of those bucks. Since 1990, 510 trophy whitetails from Buffalo County have been registered with WBBC. It continues to lead the state in trophy whitetail production.

Trempealeau County took second place with 16 trophies, of which 11 were bow kills and five gun kills. Third for 2004 in this region was Vernon County where bowhunters took eight trophy bucks and firearm hunters killed four. The remaining counties in the West-Central Region saw three or more trophy bucks registered with WBBC from each county.

Interestingly, the top three counties in this region listed above were responsible for 47 percent of the trophy bucks registered last year from the region. It's not surprising to note that three of the top 20 trophy counties in Wisconsin -- Buffalo, Trempealeau and Dunn -- are located in the West-Central Region. Of course, Buffalo County is Wisconsin's top trophy county, and the nation's best trophy county, according to B&C data covering 1980 to 2001.