Courtesy Photo | Pete Hodges with the Fort McCoy, Wis., Resource Management Office is pictured with a...... read more read more
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Wisconsin’s and Fort McCoy’s 2024 nine-day gun-deer season will be held Nov. 23 to Dec. 1.
Going into the 2023 Fort McCoy gun-deer season, the minimum harvest goal was set at 500-550 deer, said Wildlife Program Manager and Biologist Kevin Luepke with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch. And at the end, 426 deer were harvested.
“Overall, I think the season went great,” Luepke said in 2023. “It was a slower start than most hunters, including myself, wanted to see with the warmer temperatures and breezy conditions on opening weekend. In total, the nine-day gun-deer season harvest was 426 deer, an 8 percent decrease from the previous year’s harvest of 464, but an 18 percent increase from the five-year average of 360 deer.”
Entering the 2024 gun-deer season at Fort McCoy, Luepke said the deer herd was looking plentiful.
“It was good during the summer with doe-fawn ratios exceeding levels over the past five years,” Luepke said. “The mild winter and abundant acorn crop last fall really lent itself to deer herd growth.”
Luepke said for fall 2024, little to no acorn production on the installation was noted by wildlife and forestry staff.
“Deer will have to seek out alternative food sources this fall and winter, so deer may not be in the oak ridges that folks may have historically had success in,” Luepke said. “The lack of acorn production this year may also cause the herd to go into winter with less fat reserves that are needed for the winter.”
Hunters at Fort McCoy also saw a change in authorizations with their permits.
“This year, we changed the harvest authorizations that were received with the purchase of a gun-deer permit,” Luepke said. “All gun-deer hunters will receive an either-sex harvest authorization instead of issuing a hunter’s choice approval to those who were selected through a lottery drawing. Bonus antlerless harvest authorizations were also available through a lottery drawing instead of a first-come, first-serve offering as in the past.”
For the 2024 gun-deer hunt, Luepke said the deer data collection point will again be in operation on South Post in the same location just off Highway 21 as previous years. Hunters are required to bring their harvested deer through the deer data collection point. Biological data will be collected, CWD sampling offered, and a dumpster will be available to discard any carcasses. Collected CWD samples will be sent to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and he encourages all successful hunters to have their deer tested.
“That biological data we collect at the station is important to evaluate the herd health and calculate the installation deer population,” Luepke said. “We will also collect lymph nodes for chronic wasting disease testing.”
Luepke also noted findings of diseases affecting deer in 2024.
“We have some diseases that showed up in October that we don’t quite have a handle on the extent of the herd it is actually affecting,” Luepke said. “Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) was found on the installation in early-October. Currently, one deer has tested positive for EHD, but eight other dead deer are also being attributed to EHD. Above EHD being found on the installation, an archery hunter also had a buck test positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in late-October. That deer was harvested in training area B-5 and is the first CWD positive test result that has been harvested from Fort McCoy.” (More information on EHD and CWD can be found on the Fort McCoy iSportsman site at https://mccoy.isportsman.net and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources website at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov.
“We are asking hunters to report any dead deer they may come across to the wildlife staff that will be working the deer data collection point over the gun-deer season,” Luepke said. “Also, the wildlife staff will be asking successful hunters to submit CWD samples at the deer data collection point. Every sample that is taken, allows wildlife staff to monitor the extent that CWD has spread onto the installation and help guide management decisions.
“Also, any CWD positive deer results that do come back, that hunter will be eligible for a replacement harvest authorization the following year and will be awarded a gun-deer permit the following year prior to the lottery drawing,” Luepke said. “To be eligible for the replacement harvest authorization, samples must be submitted through Fort McCoy by either lymph node extractions at the deer data collection point or the self-serve kiosk that is also available near the deer data collection point. Replacement harvest authorizations that are issued next year still require the hunter to purchase the gun-deer permit for next year’s season, the replacement harvest authorization is NOT a replacement gun-deer permit.”
For information on local CWD sampling kiosks, deer carcass dumpsters, and deer donation locations, visit the Monroe County Land Conservation website at https://www.co.monroe.wi.us/departments/land-conservation.
To participate in the gun-deer hunt at the installation, hunters must apply for a Fort McCoy gun-deer permit through the Fort McCoy iSportsman site, https://ftmccoy.isportsman.net, and then also purchase their permits through iSportsman if selected, Luepke said. Applications for the gun-deer hunt generally become available in late June every year and the application period has closed for this year. There are still a limited number of permits available on a first-come first-serve basis, and anyone interested should contact the Permit Sales Office for more information at 608-388-3337.
In addition, hunters coming to the installation must also have an annual Wisconsin gun-deer license. The Wisconsin licenses are sold through the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) GoWild system at https://gowild.wi.gov or a designated WDNR GoWild agent.
The cost of a Fort McCoy gun-deer permit is $21, and a Wisconsin gun-deer license for an adult resident is $24. Wisconsin offers some reduced pricing for gun-deer or combination permits based on categories such as first-time permit purchasers, for minors, for Purple Heart recipients, etc. See the Go Wild system for additional details.
Fort McCoy hunters do not need to register their harvested deer with the WDNR, but they do have to register any harvested deer through the iSportsman check-out process, Luepke said.
Fort McCoy’s deer population should continue to have many larger bucks available to hunters, as well, Luepke said.
“There’s always some big bucks at Fort McCoy,” Luepke said. “And you could be one of those lucky hunters that are able to harvest one.”
Hunters also need to remember that Fort McCoy requires all privately owned firearms brought on to the installation be registered through the Directorate of Emergency Services Physical Security. This includes the entirety of the federal land, including the training and housing areas.
Luepke also reminds hunters to review the Fort McCoy hunting regulations as changes have been made from previous years. More information about the regulations and about deer hunting at Fort McCoy can be found on the iSportsman website at https://ftmccoy.isportsman.net.
“And as far as deer hunting safety, remember what you have learned in hunter safety,” Luepke said. “Treat every firearm as if it’s loaded. Always keep your firearm pointed in a safe direction. Be sure of your target and what’s in front of and beyond. Keep your finger out of the trigger guard until you’re ready to fire. And just be safe and ethical.”
And for more about Wisconsin deer hunting regulations and safety, go to https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/hunt/regulations.
Learn more about deer hunting at Fort McCoy by visiting the installation iSportsman page at https://ftmccoy.isportsman.net.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
(The Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office and the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch prepared this article.)
| Date Taken: | 11.06.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.06.2024 11:12 |
| Story ID: | 484750 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 159 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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