When Department of Natural Resources officials released the final kill figures, Wisconsin's 2005 nine-day regular gun deer season was almost identical to the 2004 hunt. The DNR data shows 324,446 deer were taken during the 2005 firearms hunt, and that is only 14 fewer animals than the previous year. Forty-three percent of the deer killed in 2005 were antlered.

After the DNR tallied all the registration stubs, 2005 ranked as the sixth-best season in Wisconsin history with 467,923 deer taken in all hunting seasons combined -- archery, gun and muzzleloader. Our all-time record kill came in 2000 when 618,275 deer were bagged. The 2000 record also stands as the all-time national state record.

Could we get close to that mark this season? Our deer hunting history says maybe. In 1985, Badger State hunters registered 315,046 deer, almost 153,000 deer fewer than the 2005 harvest. Ten years earlier in 1975, the statewide kill was under 131,000.

SPECIAL REGULATIONS
You would think that the high deer kill figures of recent years would make game managers and hunters happy, but it seems people are not killing enough deer -- especially antlerless deer. With that in mind, and after finding out what hunters want, DNR officials proposed changes for the 2006 season that will increase the antlerless deer kill. Those changes were approved by the state Natural Resources Board in April.

The new season structure is on a trial basis and includes eliminating the October four-day antlerless-only Zone T hunt. That hunt was replaced with a four-day hunt in the second week of December. Zone T's deer management units (DMUs) are now called "Herd-Control Units." Game managers are urging hunters to shoot two antlerless deer for each buck in order to get the herd down to a healthy population level.

Other changes include eliminating the Hunter's Choice permit program. Antlerless tags in DMUs with a regular deer season will be sold over the counter until they are sold out. Earn-A-Buck (EAB) is back in 21 DMUs, and hunters who registered an antlerless deer in those units last year are pre-qualified for a buck permit this season.

EAB is an effective tool to increase the antlerless deer harvest because it requires hunters to kill an antlerless deer in order to earn the privilege to kill a buck. Although effective, EAB is unpopular with hunters, and the DNR dropped it for 2005, preferring the Zone T program.

This year, 21 DMUs (46, 51A, 51B, 54B, 59B, 59C, 59M, 60M, 61, 62A, 62B, 63A, 63B, 64M, 65B, 66, 67A, 67B, 68A, 74A and 80B) are in the EAB program, and this is the first year that hunters will be able to pre-qualify. Hunters who registered an antlerless deer last fall in a unit designated as EAB this year -- 70,000 of them -- received their buck harvest authorization in the mail. Hunters are advised and encouraged to take an antlerless deer in EAB units if they have the chance. For future hunts, the DNR will post EAB-Watch Units so that hunters can take an antlerless deer and earn their buck authorization for the next year.

Zone T units are now called Herd-Control (HC) Units. Carcass tags will be available in unlimited numbers in both HC and EAB units to encourage antlerless deer harvest. A free HC/EAB tag was issued this year with each hunting license, and additional tags are available for $2 each. In the regular season, DMU antlerless tags are $12 each for residents and $20 for non-residents.