It’ll still be summer on the calendar when the bow and crossbow deer hunting seasons begin a half-hour before sunrise Saturday.

Wildlife managers hope hunters target growing populations of whitetails in farm country by targeting more antlerless deer. There are multiple free antlerless tags available when purchasing a license, but hunters need to select the county and land type (public or private) to acquire them.

Wild turkey, squirrel, northern zone cottontail rabbit and Zone A ruffed grouse hunts also open Saturday.
The early Canada goose hunt ends Sept. 15, but is immediately followed by the regular goose hunt. Sept. 9 was the last day for the early teal season, and opening day for those who drew black bear tags and will be hunting baited sites.

More than 140,000 people applied for either a bear hunting license or a preference point. Of the 34,000-plus who applied for a license, 15,245 drew harvest permits. The success rate varies from less than 10% in the southern and central zones to 40% or higher in the northern forest zones.

See all the hunting options available and find a link to rules and regulations at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/Hunt.

Meanwhile, yellow perch and walleyes are still a big draw on the bay, and the first spawn-minded Chinook salmon are starting to stage off the bay and Lake Michigan river mouths. They’ll enter in waves over the next couple weeks, peaking with spawning in early to mid-October.

Shooting sports

Most shooting sports appear in the summer and winter Olympic games — and for good reason. Shooting sports focus on fine motor skills and breath control to influence the precision and accuracy of a shot. Those with cardiovascular stamina, physical stability and mental resilience can develop the muscle memory to repeat precise and accurate shots up to 250 times in a row, from different distances and shooting positions.

Unlike some other sports, stationary shooting sports like archery and clay target shooting can be enjoyed by many different abilities and strengths.

Students participating in shooting sports programs report feeling a higher level of responsibility and confidence, improvements in academic performances and more connected to their peers. These benefits are in direct opposition to the negative effects of exposure to social media at an early age.

Shooting sports also are an activity that participants can continue at all ages. Most importantly, youth shooting sports programs have excellent safety records due to the structured training in safe firearm handling.

If you’re interested in learning more about youth shooting opportunities, check at the local schools and gun clubs.

Hunting’s future

Ben Mulligan, chairman of the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports, recently authored a joint statement from conservation, hunting and shooting sports leaders aimed at educating the public.
In it, he wrote that the future of hunting, trapping and recreational shooting depends both on participation and broad public understanding of the role hunters and shooters play in conservation, wildlife management and outdoor heritage.

“Public support helps protect the social and political acceptance of hunting and shooting sports,” he wrote. “Recruitment, Retention and Reactivation (R3) helps ensure there are still hunters, shooters and conservation participants to carry that heritage forward.”

Hunter participation has declined as a share of the U.S. population over several decades. Many hunter education graduates do not become long-term hunters, and demographic, cultural and recreational trends present serious headwinds. None of that proves R3 is ineffective, but instead Mulligan said it proves that R3 is necessary, challenging and still evolving.

The Council’s work found that hunting license sales in 2023 declined by just 0.3% across 47 reporting states compared with 2022. More than half of those states reported an increase in license sales, and more than 80% saw changes of 5% or less.

Automated clays

The Luxemburg Sportsman’s Club, located about 15 minutes east of Green Bay, has a new fully-automated sporting clays course on its grounds along Hwy. 54.

The club is holding a grand opening event Saturday, Sept. 19. There will be food and drink all day, and a band from 7-11 p.m.

All shooters can buy clays at member prices all day. The first group starts at 8 a.m. last group at 6 p.m., with a new group out every 20 minutes. For more info, check out the club’s Facebook page.