White-tailed deer popularity is supreme.  Hunters, viewers, photographers, and naturalists automatically accept this without thought.

This mammal has been a Wisconsin icon since being tied to hunting culture and recreational activities.  The deer, Wisconsin’s state wildlife animal, is found throughout the state due in part to its adaptability to a variety of habitats and extremes.

Hunters are drawn from every state, and some foreign countries, to get a glimpse of this majestic animal in its developing winter coat and patches, streaks and blotches of white. 

All year the animal is celebrated, viewed, photographed, and its venison consumed.

The coat is a color that blends into fall’s surrounding habitat better than at any other season, which makes this insulating blanket hold a viewer’s eyes.  

It might be more the animal’s gestalt of putting together everything including a sleek animal, with ears rotating like radar devices and a white flag as it walks, trots, or gallops away.  Together the whitetail can hold a photographer, hunter, or viewer speechless, even action-less, while the prize waves goodbye with a white tail and the animal blends into the horizon.

During autumn the antlers, rarely on a doe, add immeasurably to the animal’s totality.

The buck’s antlers no doubt draw on some of the 600,000 to come here to see the bucks and dream of Jim Jordan’s 206 5/8, 10-point animal killed in 1914 in Burnett County, Wisconsin.  That deer still tops all typical antler racks measured from Wisconsin but no longer the world because in 1993 when Milo Hanson shot a 14-point whitetail in Biggar, Saskatchewan, Canada, scoring 213 5/8 inches, 7-1/2 inches greater than the Jordan buck shot 79 years earlier.  

When growing, beginning in late April, antlers add to, not subtract from, a deer’s appearance.  A velvet covering makes the diameter twice what it will become then rubbed clean, tearing samplings and tangling with other antlers to help an animal be dominant or send him into another territory to fight another day.

As guessed, antlers become tangled during these fights and one or both animals may perish.  Hunters may go to great length to assist separating the locked antlers when moments earlier this predator was ready to raise a rifle and kill.

Doe, fawn, and buck are the names applied to the members of a herd, but the herd can be different depending on the calendar.  Bachelor bucks are herds in summer.  Loners are does when they separate before birthing a fawn, or twins.  

Cute and a plethora of kind terms apply to the fawn when most births occur in late May.

A Wisconsin deer’s anatomy may surprise many hunters.  The animal has a stomach with four compartments, not four stomachs.  There are 20 teeth on the bottom jaw, 12 above.

Photoperiod and hormones control many of the changes during a deer’s year.

While cuts of meat are similar to beef, the meat is venison,  

Big bucks are not all antlered.  Deer contribute much of the hunting money spent in Wisconsin and are typically the “cash cow” for support of the general hunting.

No other wild land animal has a benefit close to what the whitetail does, much of which is due to a big, brown, beautiful animal that starts its life after birth consuming milk.

Earlier this month, during the two-day youth hunt 7,111 deer were registered including 3,676 bucks and 3,135 antlerless animals.  To date, 23,035 deer have been registered, including those taken by young hunters.

Wild turkey hunters have accounted for 1,227 registrations this fall since the season opened September 14.  Zones 1-5 remain open continuously until January 2, 2025.  Bonus authorizations continue to be available in several zones and can be purchased at any time until the season closes.

A wandering, probably originating from the Jackson County gang, bull elk has been spotted most recently in Lafayette County after first being reported in Richland County and then Iowa County.  This bull is likely looking for cow elk.

A very limited number, 12, tags were issued, eight for the Clam Lake gang and four for the animals in Jackson County.  A split season opened October 12, closing November 10 and then reopening December 12 for those 12 lucky hunters.  No one else change hunt or shoot an elk in Wisconsin.

Ammunition for deer and shotshells is already somewhat scarce in some locations, so plan accordingly, according to Doug Williams, at D W Sports Center in Portage.

Autumn sights and sound continue to appear and develop, so catch those whenever you can. 

Contact Jerry Davis, a freelance writer, at sivadjam@mhtc.net or  608.924.1112.