A significant late autumn snowfall that dumped from six inches to nearly a foot of snow in southwest Wiscon- sin the day before Saturday’s deer gun season opener paid dividends for area deer hunt- ers, with the opening week- end harvest up nearly 50 per- cent in Grant and Crawford counties. Opening weekend last year was also plagued by heavy fog in many areas.
Crawford County deer hunters harvested 2,673 deer on opening weekend, com- pared to 1,812 last year—an increase of 47.5 percent.
The increase was nearly identical in Grant County, where hunters harvested 3,227 deer during this sea- son’s opening weekend, up from 2,190 last year—an in- crease of 47.3 percent.
In Richland County, hunt- ers harvested 2,844 deer, compared to 1,912 last year— an increase of 52 percent.
Iowa County’s harvest was up 36.7 percent to 2,011 deer.