Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Brittany Peckham, 18, has been hunting for six years but bagged her first deer early opening morning near Blue Mounds. Brittany, a senior at Oregon High School, was in a ground blind with her friend when he said, “Brittany, there’s a deer so close it’s almost touching the blind.” She raised her gun but the gun touched the side of the blind making just enough noise to cause the deer to jump away. Fortunately for her it stopped and that is when she shot her first deer.

Jacob Sattler of Poy Sippi shot this 10 point buck just 30 minutes after the season opened. Jacob is 13 and has previously shot a doe but said this was his first “big one”. He plans to have it mounted. Shot on private land. Jacob said it fell 75 yards from where he shot him. Previously did a mentored hunt but was on his own this time.

Deer to our culture

“I doubt here is any place the deer hunting involves so much ritual as it does in this state,” - Richard Nelson, author of “Heart and Blood: Living with Deer in America”

Nelson, a Madison native, wrote that the depth of emotions and cultural importance surrounding deer hunting are hard to overemphasize. "Hunters are after something that cannot be gained simply by hiking in the woods, looking at animals, or taking pictures of wildlife.It's something deeper and more powerful in the human psyche...something that eludes the grasp of language and might be comprehensible only to those who actually experience the hunt.”

Read more of Nelson’s musings on deer hunting in "Deer to our culture," in Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine, December 1998

Enjoy more opening day stories

• Passing on tradition to new hunters keeping Wisconsin hunting heritage alive
• Grandma's hunting tale, Wisconsin Natural Resources, October, 2012
• A teen hunter's story, Wisconsin Natural Resources, February 2012

Family time, fellowship, food and fun

Enter our photo contest

Share your photos! Starting November 17, 2012, you can enter one photo a day which shows what you like best about Wisconsin's hunting tradition! It can be a photo of friends, family, the great outdoors, or the prize you took home. Just click on the "photo contest" box on the top of our Facebook page to enter! You rack up bonuses when your Facebook friends post their photos and vote! You could win a 3-year subscription to Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine! Contest ends Nov. 28th. Good luck!