WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and SportsFirst day of gun-deer hunt a success for some

First day of gun-deer hunt a success for some

MARSHALL (WKOW) -- The 9-day gun-deer hunt is well underway.

It started just before sunrise on Saturday. For many Wisconsinites this is a holiday weekend: something they look forward to each fall. And it's not just about bagging the big one.

Josalyn Longley has been hunting for almost twenty years. When both she and her sister turned 12, they headed out in the woods with their dad - and have gone ever since. She says the waiting.. is worth it.

Longley says, "As soon as you see them start to drive, and you see the orange coming, you get a little shaky and excited: you hope something comes running out."

Justin Sellnow, also hunting with Longley in Marshall, says, "It's like opening a door when you don't know what's behind it... When you're coming around a big thicket or a bush, you don't know what's going to be in there.. you're always anticipating it."

With the warmer weather, hunters are doing more "drives" (Setting out walkers to kick up laying deer) in order to make sure the deer are up and moving.

Sellnow says, "They don't tolerate the warm weather very well, so they'll just lay tight: you need to get out and move them around."

At registration sites across southern Wisconsin, the trophies are evident.

Bill Nolley had to work for this pair: a doe and a buck.

Nolley, of Pleasant Springs, says, "The buck kept on going.. and I had to go through all sorts of briars and brambles, and I ended up following it into a residential area."

Nolley eventually called Dane County to get permission to gather the buck in the residential area. Workers at the True Value in McFarland say they're expecting more deer to be registered later in the day.

Mark Napier, who oversees deer registration at the True Value, says, "Probably see about a 150 deer for us, that's pretty average for opening weekend."

Last year, Wisconsin hunters brought in 350,000 deer. For Josalyn's group, it's as much about the tradition, as it is about the deer.

Longley says, "I think a lot of people just get so busy now with sports and they don't take time to take their kids hunting, so hopefully people will take time to pass this tradition on to their kids because it's fun."

No numbers yet to share on how many deer were registered Saturday statewide.

By the way, Wisconsin's largest deer harvest came in 2000, when hunters killed more than half a million deer.