DNR: No buck-only counties for 2019 deer season

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — State wildlife officials’ 2019 deer hunting structure doesn’t include any buck-only counties for the first time in a decade, a sign deer are becoming more abundant, especially in northwestern and southern Wisconsin.

The state Department of Natural Resources plans to present a season structure to its board May 22 that doesn’t impose any buck-only requirements in any county for the first time since 2009.

DNR officials say in a memo to the board no county deer advisory council requested such a designation. The councils are made up of delegates from the Conservation Congress and representatives of stakeholder groups and local government.

The memo says many council members are expressing growing frustration with trying to maintain or decrease the herd in farmland management zones in northwestern, southern and central Wisconsin.