Deer Season During the Pandemic

Another deer gun season has come and gone in the state of Wisconsin, it has come and gone during the guaranteed soon to be historic year of the Covid-19 pandemic. The 2020 Deer Gun season last from November 21 to November 29, which is now currently coinciding at a time when covid-19 is so far at its peak. For those that do not know, Covid-19 cases in the United States are now at the absolute highest that they have ever been, with over 13 million cases recently being confirmed.

Just in Wisconsin alone, the state is currently seeing 398K cases. Milwaukee County currently leads the state with over 70K cases total and 740 deaths, followed by Waukesha County with around 27K cases and 202 deaths. Hospitals are currently at capacity, and that’s not even to mention what the potential situation could be after the holidays. Despite the heavy restrictions and urgency to abstain from large gatherings, the travel numbers are currently the highest that they have been since March, therefore creating anxiety of a bubble that seems to be ready to pop after the holiday season this year. Deer Hunting, however, is a major tradition in many Wisconsin households. Look in many basement’s, man caves and even a few offices, it is not uncommon to see at least one deer head mounted on a wall, or at least a few photos of hunting trips from years prior.

“Usually we socialize with people we hunt with this year we didn’t do that,” says Ben Pethan, an engineering student at University of Wisconsin-Madison, who hunts every year. “We would have breakfast with them and make plans. We would meet in the morning, make plans, go out for three or four hours, come back make plans for the afternoon, and then come back again.” When asked how this will affect hunting tradition in the long term Pethan gave his thoughts. “I think for a lot of people, especially those who don’t own their own land, they would do a hunt and camp situation. That, as you would expect, involves a large gathering pf people, which of course we can’t do this year, it led to. Lot of people just not coming out this year. I think that this drop off will have an effect. If you stop going for a year that usually means you just stop going. For a lot of beginners who were on the fence, I think this season kept them from committing to it. Stuff like this includes kids and young adults (the age demographics of people who had probably just gotten their hunting license), and also older people who have young kids. This year will most likely lead to a lower turnout for the next few years.”

This also comes at a time when elk are gradually returning to Wisconsin. One widespread across the continental United States and the rest of North America, Elk eventually were driven out of Wisconsin around 1880. Now after several reintroduction efforts elk herds are finally back in Wisconsin, so perhaps the avoidance of hunters could do the elk population some good. Pethan doesn’t think it will make much a difference. “Elk licenses are given out on a lottery basis,” he says. “There’s just so few licenses and so few elk.” If a hunter would want a license, then they would then have to apply for a lottery, and then there are only 20 licenses total, and 10 of those licenses go to the Ojibwe Tribe, and then one license is given to the Rocky mountain Elk Society to be auctioned off.

“I would say that the one big difference is in the turnout,” says Morgen Griffin. “I hunt in Juneau County and there are not nearly as many people there.” When asked if the pandemic has added to or taken away from the experience, he said: “Definitely taken from it. When there is a greater turnout it tends to keep the deer moving.” When asked what he thought the lasting changes of covid would be on Wisconsin’s deer season, he responded: Well, once covid is fully under control, it will be back to normal. Hopefully that is next year. Otherwise, turnout will be less and less the longer that the virus sticks around.

Despite everything, the year-to-date sales for deer licenses are up by 3.5%, according to a Wisconsin DNR report. 42% of sales were sold in person at DNR license agents, 58% were online purchases. Final sales figures, however, will not be available until January.