MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A beloved Wisconsin tradition begins anew this weekend as hunters take to the woods for the start of the state’s nine-day gun deer season.

The season opened at dawn today and closes on the evening of Sunday, Dec. 1.

Hunters are looking to rebound after a tepid 2023 season that saw a total harvest of about 174,000 deer, down about 17% from 2022 after an above-average harvest in 2021.

The decline was steepest in northern Wisconsin, which saw a 27% decrease in antlerless harvest and a 14% decrease in antlered harvest, the sharpest drop in both categories among the state’s four management zones.

Florence County’s buck harvest of 734 during the 2023 gun season was down 29.4% from 2022 but was just 8.2% off the five-year average.

As of Tuesday, during the 2024 archery season in Florence County, there were 84 bucks taken and 47 antlerless deer. The crossbow harvest numbers in the county were much higher — 235 antlered and 102 antlerless.

Wisconsin’s gun season harvest declined in 2023 even though the number of hunters in the woods remained relatively unchanged from 2022. Hunters purchased 434,817 licenses that would have allowed them to kill a deer with a firearm in 2023, down only about 0.8% from 2022.

Department of Natural Resources officials have blamed the decline on a harsh winter that may have depleted deer populations in the north. Hunters maintain that wolves have dramatically thinned the northern herd.

DNR officials have warned the outlook for this gun season doesn’t look promising. The season falls on the latest dates possible. The rut has ended, which means deer won’t be moving much during the daytime.

The forecast for today is mostly cloudy with a high near 40 degrees.