Deer license sales down, harvest up this year

The gun deer season came to a close this past weekend. The preliminary numbers from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources indicate deer license sales were slightly down this year, but deer harvest totals made a sizable jump. As of Sunday night, sales for gun, bow, crossbow, sports and patron licenses were less than 800,000 a 1.6% decrease from the same time last year. The total firearm deer harvest is up 14.4% and the antlered harvest is up 14.7% from the same time a year ago.