Field Notes March 2026

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Welcome to another Field Notes newsletter! In this edition, based on feedback from our 2025 survey about your interest in deer behavior, we take a closer look at how deer habitat preferences shift with the seasons in some surprising ways. We also do a deep dive into changing deer hunter demographics and their potential consequences. And we give a shout-out to a National Deer Association article, about our research on buck rut movement, which went viral for all the right reasons. Looking ahead, we’re planning to devote an entire future Field Notes to predator-prey dynamics and the concepts wildlife biologists use to understand these often-complex relationships. We know it’s a topic of extreme interest for our survey respondents, so look for it in the coming months!

New Research: The Demographic Details Behind Deer Hunter Declines

Hunter participation has seen a national decline in recent decades, including in Wisconsin, due to a number of factors. In 2023, DNR research scientists began a multiyear project to examine changes in the number of Wisconsin deer hunters, make future projections and determine potential consequences for deer management in the state.

A Detailed Look At Seasonal Changes In Habitat Preference 

Recent research from our team has identified seasonal shifts in deer habitat preference for forest, agricultural land or pasture. Deer in the study even showed a preference for particular zones within different habitats depending on the season.

NDA Article Highlighting Our Research Hits The Target

At a time when there can be a lot of disinformation and hearsay out there, we give a special shout-out to a terrific, substantive piece written that was the National Deer Association's fifth most-read article in 2025.

New Research: The Demographic Details Behind Deer Hunter Declines

It’s no secret that hunter participation has seen a national decline in recent decades. In fact, on a per-capita basis, hunter participation in the United States has been trending downward since the mid-1970s. This decline can be attributed to several factors, including:

• Urbanization: As more people move away from rural areas, they often lose both access to hunting lands and a connection to the activity itself.
• Generational Shifts: Baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, were more likely to hunt than generations before and after them but are now aging out of the often physically demanding activity. At the same time, there has also been a drop in youth participation, which exacerbates the decline.
• Life and family constraints: According to a 2019 DNR survey of deer hunters who chose not to participate in the hunt that year, one of the most cited reasons was “life and family.” Individual survey responses included not being able to take time off during the hunt or being too busy with other commitments.
• Alternative leisure choices: With less exposure to hunting, people become more likely to pick up other hobbies, which reinforces the decline.

These factors are not exhaustive, but they illustrate that the shifts in hunter participation are both structural and perceptual. Structural shifts are tangible: Fewer people live in rural areas with easy access to hunting lands, for example. Perceptual shifts are more qualitative, or based on opinion and preference. They might include, for instance, people who move to cities and no longer feel connected to hunting traditions choosing to spend their time doing something else.

Management Needs

Born out of a desire to understand more fully how these trends are playing out in Wisconsin, in 2023, DNR scientists began the Deer Hunter Demographics and Deer Harvest Study. The project’s goals are to examine changes in the number of Wisconsin deer hunters, make future projections and determine potential consequences for deer management in the state.

An earlier study, published in 2012, also examined past participation and projected future trends. That research looked exclusively at male gun hunter trends but left out the increasing numbers of archers and female gun hunters. It was also based on outdated population growth projections. Fresh research was needed.

In 2025, the current study’s initial results were published in The Wildlife Society Bulletin as “The decline of deer hunting: Demographic analysis and future projections of Wisconsin deer hunters.” Let’s take a look at the trends and projections covered in the paper.

Current Hunter Trends In Wisconsin

While Wisconsin did not begin to track individual hunters and their participation until 2005, records show the state was facing declines before that. Our peak gun license sales, for around 700,000 gun hunters, were in 1990. Annual sales then stayed roughly at that level until 2001. Contemporary firearm license sales are now as low as they were in the mid-1970s. The steep increase in crossbow license sales in 2013 occurred when they became legal for all hunters

The new study focuses on records tracking individual hunter participation, 2005-2022. Note that “Licenses sold” does not represent the number of individual hunters because hunters can purchase multiple types of deer licenses. During this period, the number of male deer hunters ages 12-80 fell from 567,721 to 472,873, a 17% drop. Over that same period, the number of female deer hunters ages 12-80 grew 29%, from 51,634 to 66,661. Overall, over the 18-year span, there was a loss of around 80,000 hunters, or a 13% decline in total number of deer hunters.

Some—but certainly not all—of that decline can be explained by waves of baby boomers turning 65, an age that previous studies have shown coincides with a sharp decline in hunter participation. While hunter participation has declined across age groups, the “boomer effect” appears pronounced for two reasons: At more than 70 million members, the baby boomer generation is larger than generations before and after it; individual boomers are also more likely to hunt than members of other generations.

Future Projections

Examining current participation and demographic trends among Wisconsin’s deer hunters has allowed the research team to make participation projections for the next 15 years. Scientists have a good understanding of how participation rates have historically changed and are currently changing, but one of the biggest uncertainties lies with children who have not yet reached hunting age. As those children get older, it is not known whether they will participate at rates similar to their predecessors, or if the youth participation rate will continue to decline. To account for the uncertainty, the scientists considered multiple possible-future scenarios.

Of the four different projections created for male hunters of all ages, all forecast additional declines of 27-40% by 2040. For female hunters of all ages, however, four alternative projections forecast a 5-44% increase by 2040.

What Does This Mean?

Because Wisconsin deer hunters are overwhelmingly male, even significant increases in female hunter numbers will not be enough to stop an overall decline, and falling participation rates have already presented natural resource managers with challenges.

Recreational hunting has long served as the main way to manage the deer population. Too few hunters can lead to too many deer, which increases the risk of vehicle collisions and agricultural and forest damage. An overabundance of the species also increases the risk of disease transmission within and between deer populations. At the same time, a smaller number of hunters means less revenue from license fees and excise taxes on firearms and ammunition, which are major sources of conservation funding.

There are some encouraging signs bucking the overall decline, however. In 2024, deer hunter participation increased slightly from the year before; while 2025 numbers are not yet final, early data suggests the total number of hunters will be similar to that of 2024.

Archers have also gone against the overall declining trend. During the years covered by the study, 2005-2022, archery hunting increased overall. Due to the additional training and practice associated with this specialization, the scientists believe archery hunters are more likely to stick with the activity than their gun-only counterparts.

The DNR is also offering programs to encourage both beginners and former hunters to participate: the First Time Buyer Initiative allows residents to purchase their first annual license for only $5 and extends the discount to Wisconsinites who have not purchased a license for at least 10 years. The DNR also offers Learn to Hunt programs and other opportunities to encourage people to take up or return to the sport.

What’s Next?

Authors of the 2025 paper are continuing the broader study through this year. Because rates of decline are not the same statewide, the team’s next step will be to explore more localized hunter participation rates. By understanding hunting trends within each of Wisconsin’s deer management units, the scientists will be able to provide a more refined picture of deer hunting today and what it’s likely to look like in the years to come. – Caitlyn Nalley, former DNR research and field communications specialist

A Detailed Look At Seasonal Changes In Habitat Preference

In the October 2025 Field Notes, we shared some of the ways seasonal variations in activity patterns affect the risk of chronic wasting disease (CWD) transmission as discussed in a recent paper our team published. The paper, “White-tailed deer habitat use and implications for chronic wasting disease transmission,” offers a trove of additional information about deer behavior, a topic that Field Notes subscribers indicated is of particular interest in our 2025 reader survey. So, let’s return to it now to dig a little deeper into another aspect of the research.

To recap, lead author and University of Wisconsin-Madison wildlife disease ecologist Marie Gilbertson and colleagues at UW-Madison and the DNR used movement data from nearly 600 white-tailed deer outfitted with GPS collars during the SW Project. Their focus was to tease out whether there were times of year when CWD transmission was more likely, which could inform management strategies.

In addition to deer range size, movement and social interactions changing with the seasons, the team identified shifts in the preferred habitats of forest, agricultural land and grassland or pasture. Agricultural land was subdivided into corn, hay or soybean crops.

With that caveat, let’s look at some of the more significant seasonal trends for habitat preference that were identified in the paper.

Fawning Season

Deer in the study generally preferred forests year-round but particularly so during the fawning season of late spring and early summer. During this period, deer were least likely to spend time in any of the agricultural land (corn, hay or soybean) or grasslands and pastures.

At this early stage of the Wisconsin growing season, both croplands and grass/pasture habitats offer little cover for fawns from predators, while the woods generally provide both good food and cover in southwest Wisconsin this time of year.

Post-Fawning Season

From early July through mid-October, deer had increased preference for the same agricultural land they avoided during fawning season. As natural vegetation matures in summer, agricultural crops like soybeans and alfalfa have relatively higher nutritional value. Also, as crop plants grow, agricultural land offers more cover, especially for fawns, which could make it more attractive.

According to trends identified in the study, soybeans in particular stood out as being used more frequently during this time. Deer also tended to increase their time in open grass and pasture beginning in early July. This likely reflected changes in nutritional value associated with cycles of mowing and regrowth, which can make grasses and hays more nutritious.

While these more open areas saw more deer activity during the post-fawning season, the animals preferred to be relatively close to forest edges rather than completely exposed.

Breeding Season

During the breeding season, defined in the paper as mid-October to mid-December, deer change their behavior and movement significantly more than at other times of the year. Finding a mate appears to take precedence over habitat: While deer still preferred forested habitat in general, their preference for other habitat types was more neutral than in other seasons.

Even during Wisconsin’s nine-day rifle hunting season in late November, when hunting activity in the study area is at its annual peak, there were no measurable changes in habitat preference.

Non-Breeding Season

From mid-December until the end of April, the leanest time of year for Wisconsin wildlife in general, deer changed their behavior in relation to forest edges in two notable ways.

First, deer spent more time in agricultural land during this period than in other seasons, particularly in cornfields. They were also more willing to venture out into these open areas further beyond the forest edge. This is likely due to the limited availability of forage.

Second, when deer spent time in forests, they chose to be deeper within the forest, further from the edges, than at other times of year. This is likely because they were seeking protection from wind and snow. The forest environment also offers more suitable bedding sites.

How Habitat Preference May Affect CWD Transmission Risk

The study results suggested that deer change their preferred habitat over the course of most of the year based on where they find the right balance of available food and protection from predators or weather. The exception is the two-month period, Oct. 14-Dec. 14, when breeding takes precedence and no clear pattern of habitat preference emerges.

Understanding seasonal habitat preference and how it may affect CWD transmission is important for making informed management decisions.

In general, deer showed a preference for forest habitat year-round, and one might conclude that the majority of disease transmission events take place in that environment, where deer spend most of their time. It’s more useful, however, to think about hotspots: Places deer may not visit often, but where conditions are right for transmission. Individual deer are typically more spread out in a forest habitat, with generally low density and relatively low transmission risk. Especially during non-breeding season, however, deer may congregate briefly in the middle of a cornfield, an event of short duration but of high density and high risk for transmission.

NDA Article Highlighting Our Research Hits The Target

At a time when there can be a lot of disinformation and hearsay out there, we want to give a special shout-out to a terrific, substantive piece written by Lindsay Thomas Jr. of the National Deer Association. It was the NDA’s fifth most-read article in 2025.

Published in November, “New Study Investigates Peak Rut Buck Movement” took a deep dive into our team’s recent paper on male white-tailed deer movement and addressed some common misconceptions around the topic.

As Thomas wrote: “What’s more enlightening than to learn your hunting strategy is based on false assumptions?”

The research summarized in the article followed 188 bucks collared as part of the larger Southwest Wisconsin CWD, Deer and Predator study. Lead author Matt Hunsaker of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and other members of our team focused on the bucks’ movements Oct. 15-Dec. 1 for four years in a row. Using GPS, the collars recorded each animal’s location once an hour, allowing the team to build a picture of both travel speed and range over the six weeks.

The study found that movement rate and range size peaked for bucks of all ages Nov. 4-8 in each of the four years. This makes sense, as it falls in the middle of the observed height of the rut in Wisconsin, from the last week of October through mid-November. Although deer are crepuscular, or active mostly at dawn and dusk, bucks were also more likely to be out and about in the middle of the day during this period.

Interesting age-related differences in activity emerged during the research. Bucks that were 2.5 years old moved more overall than those that were older or younger. Meanwhile, 3.5-year-old bucks varied more in their movement than other age groups, sometimes covering a lot of ground and sometimes staying put—likely when they were guarding a particular doe in estrus from any rivals.

The original paper, “The Breeding Season and Movement Ecology of Male White-Tailed Deer in Southwest Wisconsin,” published in July in Ecology and Evolution, is also available online if you’re interested in an even deeper dive.