MADISON (NBC 26) — The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) today released preliminary license sales and harvest totals from the opening weekend of the 2025 gun deer season, showing stable participation and a modest increase in registered deer compared to last year.

License Sales Hold Steady

As of 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 23, sales for all deer hunting privileges — including gun, archery, crossbow, conservation patron and sports licenses — totaled 777,843, a nearly identical figure to 2024 (down just 0.03%).

Of those, 538,865 were gun-only privileges.

Final sales totals will be released in January, when DNR staff will complete a full analysis of the data.

Opening-Weekend Deer Harvest Up Nearly 4%

Hunters registered 90,671 deer statewide during the opening weekend, up fro

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