2004 Deer Hunting Season License Sales Report

Deer hunting license sales and supporting activity for the 2004 deer season will continue through the extended season. What follows are the highlights of sales data and customer service efforts through November 29, 2004.

History of Gun Deer License Sales 1994-2004

Archery License Sales

Archery license sales were substantially higher in 2004 with a total of 177,159, nearly a complete rebound to the pre-CWD level in 2001.

Overlap of Gun and Archery License Purchases

License sales this year showed a total of 676,259 hunters purchased some type of license to hunt deer (CWD, Patron, Sports, Gun Deer, or Archery). An analysis of data shows that slightly more than one-third of deer hunters had both archery and gun license privileges. The number of hunters who only archery hunt remains consistent with previous years at 3%.

CWD Deer Removal Permits

New this year, CWD Deer Removal Permits were issued via the ALIS system. All landowners and hunters were issued CWD back tags to wear while hunting. 3,820 landowner permits and 3,147 hunter permits were issued between September and December. Of these 6,967 hunters, 93% were residents of Wisconsin.

It should be noted 4,538 or 66% of hunters who obtained a CWD Deer Removal Permit did not purchase any other type of gun deer license.

Licensing Facts

• We continue to provide a high level of customer support to address questions and concerns about hunting regulations and tagging requirements and options. Customer Service staff responded to over 41,580 telephone calls throughout the month of November with 16,687 calls received the week prior to the 9 day deer season opener.
• There was continued interest from the media for up-to-the minute license sales statistics. Sales were monitored and reported on a weekly basis from September through mid-November and on a daily basis during the week just prior to the opening of the season.
• Data was quickly made available covering Wisconsin's deer hunting season. Queries to the ALIS database were launched at midnight on Friday, November 19 and opening day summary data was available for Saturday press information.
• One Zone T/Earn-a-Buck tag was included with every deer hunting license that was sold. In addition, hunters purchased 133,119 bonus tags (as of December 6). Of these, 50,549 were tags valid in any Zone T/Earn-a-Buck unit. An additional 1,995 bonus permits were issued to qualified farmers. Bonus sales will continue through the remaining deer hunting seasons. New this year, all bonus permits were sold over-the counter on a first-come first-served basis.
• Waiting until the last minute to buy a gun license continues to be a tradition for Wisconsin hunters, with twenty-eight percent (28%) of all deer licenses issued in 2004 being sold within the last week before deer season and nine percent (9%) issued the Friday before the season opener.
• An additional 10,268 deer licenses were issued through the regular 9-day gun season.

Who are our deer hunters?

The data that is captured in the ALIS system helps us better understand our customers and their buying patterns and helps leverage our ability to expand and shape future services. Of the 649,955 hunters this gun deer season, 94.5 percent are Wisconsin residents, 75,668 are juveniles (under the age of 18) that represent 11.6% of the hunting population; and 46,281 or 7.1% were Senior Citizens (65 years of age and older).

Age of WI Deer Gun License Purchasers

Female hunters represent 7.4% of the total number of Wisconsin deer hunters; a total of 48,128 compared to 43,016 women in 2003 purchased a patron, sports or gun deer license (number includes residents and nonresidents). A more specific breakdown by gender follows:

Gender of Gun Deer License Purchasers

Nonresident Licensed Deer Hunters

There were 34,114 nonresidents who gun deer hunted in Wisconsin this year (down 3% from last year's total of 35,239). Hunters came from every state in the country. Attached is a breakdown by state identifying where our nonresident hunters reside.

The highest numbers of nonresident purchases came from residents of Minnesota (15,863); Illinois (9,399); Michigan (1,113); Florida (929); Iowa (784); Indiana (612); California (588); and Texas (533).

Conservation Patron Customers

Resident Conservation Patron license sales declined this year to 71,041, a decrease of 10,041 (12%) from 2003. Several factors may have contributed to the reduction in sales:

• price increase from $110 in 2003 to $140 in 2004
• availability of the new resident Junior Conservation Patron License
• ability to hunt in the CWD Eradication Zone without purchasing a license.

Fifty-four (54) non-resident Conservation Patron licenses were sold in 2004, an increase from 38 in 2003.

Over 4.5% of Resident Conservation Patrons and 31% of Non-resident Conservation Patrons purchased their license via the Internet.

Junior Conservation Patron / Junior Sports

New in 2004, resident and nonresident hunters ages 12 through 17 were eligible to purchase combination license types at greatly reduced rates. There were 3,386 residents and 339 nonresidents who took advantage of the new Junior Conservation Patron License at $75. The Junior Sports license was issued to 2,880 residents and 1,290 nonresidents at a rate of $35.

Where Licenses Were Purchased

More than 92% of gun deer licenses were sold at non-DNR locations. The convenience of purchasing a license via the internet proves to be a very popular method of purchasing a deer hunting license. Mills Fleet Farm in Appleton had the second highest sales, continuing as the highest volume over-the-counter retail location for gun deer-related purchases.

The internet was a particularly popular option for non-resident hunters. More than 13% of non-resident license sales for deer hunting were done via the department's online sales site.

Among Wisconsin counties (71 of 72 excluding Menominee), the highest numbers of gun deer licenses were sold in: Dane (29,989); Brown (28,363); Waukesha (23,103); Marathon (22,977); Washington (22,306); Outagamie (21,189); and Milwaukee (19,754). A breakdown of sales by county is below.

Map of Residence of 2004 Gun Deer Hunters in Wisconsin [PDF 89KB]