For a great deal of Wisconsin residents, it is deer season, not Christmas that is the most wonderful time of the year. The leaves have changed, the air is cold and crisp, and the deer are on the move. It is time to pack up the gear and head to deer camp to reconnect with old friends. And while the talk around the campfire might revolve around the one that got away, for many of Wisconsin's deer hunters, a truly successful deer experience ends with meat in the freezer. Last year's season may not go down as a record year, but it was still one of the state's best, and certainly there were many hunters with good stories for the campfire.

During just the nine-day gun deer season, 354,384 whitetails were harvested, up from the 2006 total of 342,176. The total deer harvest including archery and muzzleloading was a whopping 518,573. In fact, in the past 10 years, hunters have registered 4.9 million deer in Wisconsin. That's plenty of deer. And while the argument rages on about herd control and the Earn-a-Buck program, the Department of Natural Resources maintains that there are some 1.6 million to 1.8 million deer in the state -- plenty of animals to help make this year a successful one for hunters.

That being said, we all remember the deep snows of last winter and many were worried about how it would affect the deer population. Keith Warnke, big game biologist with the Wisconsin DNR, said, "Last year's winter had some impact on the availability of food for deer in some areas. For instance, in the northwest region, we had a normal or average winter and the deer numbers should remain steady. In the northeast, there was some impact because the winter snows piled up and stayed. The area most affected was Ashland to Ladysmith and to the east. In the central forest, there was some impact as well. This area had a lot of snow and there is less agriculture to sustain the deer through the winter. In the rest of the state, the winter wasn't severe enough to have much impact. There was a good break in the weather in March and April and most of the deer were concentrated around food sources like agricultural fields."

So, while the winter may have been snowy, there is still a high population of deer in Wisconsin, and 2008 should prove to be another excellent year for hunters. Here are the results of last's year's season.

OUR BEST DEER MANAGEMENT UNITS
Two of the best deer management units are 61 and 59C, which are essentially in the counties of Buffalo, Trempeleau and Jackson. These two DMUs were also the top two for the past several years. DMU Unit 61 had a harvest total of 12,665 during the nine-day gun season; 3,673 were antlered and 8,981 were antlerless. That averages out to 1,407 deer per day or about 118 per hour.

The top producing counties in 2007 were Marathon, Clark and Polk. Marathon continues to lead the list year after year. In 2007, the gun harvest from this county was 13,356 -- 4,449 bucks and 8,893 does.

Other counties in the top 20 included: Waupaca with 10,983; Shawano, 10,713; Jackson, 10,551; Bayfield, 9,489; Marinette, 9,237; Douglas, 8,974; Sauk, 8,856; Trempealeau, 8,633; Columbia, 8,517; Grant, 8,374; Monroe, 8,217; Vernon, 8,262; Rusk, 8,071; Buffalo, 8,066; Barron, 7,976; Burnett, 7,920 and Taylor, 7,908.

NORTHERN FOREST REGION
The total gun harvest of deer in the Northern Forest Region was 95,613. Of that total, 38,447 were antlered and 57,032 were antlerless. The highest DMU in 2006 and 2007 was Unit 15. Hunters bagged 2,177 bucks and 4,366 antlerless deer for a total of 6,550. This is down slightly from the 2006 total of 6,598. Coming in second was Unit 16. Hunters harvested 5,809 deer, about 200 less than the year before. There were 3,944 does taken by gun and 1,857 bucks. Most of the DMUs in the western half of this region are herd control units, while most in the east are regular deer season units.

According to the 2007 Wisconsin Big Game Hunting Summary, produced by the WDNR, "Yearling bucks comprised 58 percent of the total buck harvest in the Northern Forest during 2007 well above the five-year 51 percent average and matched the long-term 58 percent average." This is attributed to the mild winters over the past six years. It will be interesting to watch the harvest data from 2008 to see if last year's winter has any effect.