2020 gun-deer season set for Nov. 21-29 at Fort McCoy

Photo By Scott Sturkol | A deer is shown on South Post on June 4, 2020, at Fort McCoy, Wis. Deer are one of several species of game animals found on the installation. Wildlife management at Fort McCoy is completed by the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch. (U.S. Army Photo by Scott T. Sturkol, Public Affairs Office, Fort McCoy, Wis.)  

FORT MCCOY, WI, UNITED STATES

11.09.2020

Courtesy Story

Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office           

Wisconsin and Fort McCoy’s 2020 nine-day gun-deer season will be held Nov. 21-29.

There were nearly 1,300 hunters who signed in and took to the woods at Fort McCoy, harvesting more than 300 deer during the post’s 2019 season, said Wildlife Program Manager and Biologist David Beckmann with the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch.

The 2019 harvest was down from the 440 deer harvested during the 2018 gun-deer season.

“The deer harvest goal this year is between 300 and 350 deer so we can continue to effectively manage our deer population,” Beckmann said.

Bonus tags are not available for the season. “The deer population has been within our overwinter population goal for the past few years, and we do not need to use the bonus tags to increase the overall harvest,” Beckmann said.

To participate in the gun-deer hunt at the installation, hunters must apply for a Fort McCoy permit through the Fort McCoy iSportsman site, and then also purchase their permits through iSportsman, Beckmann said. The applications for the gun-deer hunt generally become available in late June every year. A few permits are still available for this year and anyone interested should contact the Permit Sales Office for more information.

Soldiers who have moved to Fort McCoy after mid-October are still eligible for a permit and should contact the Permit Sales Office for more information.

In addition, hunters coming to the installation must also have an annual Wisconsin deer gun license. The Wisconsin licenses are sold through the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) GoWild system at https://gowild.wi.gov or a designated WDNR GoWild agent.

The cost of a Fort McCoy gun-deer permit is $21, and a resident Wisconsin gun-deer license is $24.

For the 2020 gun-deer hunt, Beckmann said the biological-data collection/registration station will again be in operation on South Post in the same location as previous years.

“At the station, we collect important age and health data,” he said. “We’re also taking samples to test for chronic wasting disease as part of a larger information-gathering effort we’re doing with the WDNR.

“Also, due to COVID-19 restrictions, anyone coming through the data collection station will need to wear a mask and must follow social distancing rules,” Beckmann said. Hunters unable to meet the mask and social distancing requirements are not required to bring their deer to the data collection station.

Fort McCoy hunters do not need to register their harvested deer with the WDNR, but they do have to register any harvested deer through the iSportsman check-out process, Beckmann said.

Fort McCoy’s deer population should continue to have many larger bucks available to hunters, as well, Beckmann said. “There are some big bucks out there, and like previous years we anticipate some big deer to be in this year’s harvest as well,” he said.

Hunters also need to remember that Fort McCoy requires all privately owned firearms brought on to the installation be registered through the Directorate of Emergency Services Physical Security. This includes the entirety of the federal land, including the training and housing areas.

Beckmann also reminds hunters to review the Fort McCoy hunting regulations as changes have been made from previous years. More information about the regulations and about deer hunting at Fort McCoy can be found on the iSportsman website at https://ftmccoy.isportsman.net.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”

(The Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch contributed to this article.)

• Date Taken: 11.09.2020
• Date Posted: 11.09.2020 17:57
• Story ID: 382685
• Location: FORT MCCOY, WI, US