2024 deer season outlook has some hunters feeling positive

Even with concerns still looming about the deer numbers in the Northwoods, the extremely mild winter last year have many hunters feeling positive about the opening of archery season.

“I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this should be a positive season for many hunters,” said Ed Choinski, chair of the Oneida County Deer Advisory Council. He said he has seen a fair number of fawns in the woods this year, coming out of the mild winter. Overall, he said, the areas where he has been have shown good deer numbers. 

There are also still a good amount of acorns in the woods this year. After the bumper crop last year, some expected to see a large drop in those numbers. However, while not quite to the extent of last year, there are still plenty of acorns starting to hit the ground, meaning plenty of food in those areas.

Travis Strasburg from Strasburg’s Taxidermy said he had hopes that this year would be better than last, as well. The mild winter has many feeling more positive about spending some time in the woods this fall. Opening weekend temperatures, at the time of this writing, are expected to be seasonably warm, meaning proper processing and cooling of deer will be essential for those lucky enough to bag a deer on opening weekend.

The Department of Natural Resources, in their fall hunting outlook also felt deer herds should have been relatively healthy coming out of the winter months. The 2023-24 winter, they said, was one of the mildest on record. This allowed for good mobility for the deer as well as a decent opportunity to feed properly. 

The winter of 2022-23, as many remember, was particularly hard on deer herds, with deep snow and cold temperatures. These two things worked together to push Winter Severity Indexes fairly high that winter, especially in the north. More severe winters with deep snowpack not only tend to weaken deer and increase mortality just by the nature of the winter, but those conditions also favor predators of deer over the deer themselves. 

Overall, hunters are hopeful. Those who have been out scouting have reported decent to good numbers of deer in many areas. After a dismal year for many last year, hunters are once again excited to get into the woods and chase those big bucks, or to get a chance to fill their freezers for the coming winter. 

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].