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Deer hunt has long history

Jerry Davis For Agri-View
Nov 22, 2025
Nov 22, 2025

1 of 7

In the first year for deer tags, 1917, they have a price tag of 10 cents each.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

Metal deer tags, introduced in 1920, are not collector items.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

Backtags, introduced in 1942, are eliminated in 2015. One hunter made, and wore, his own for six more years.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

After 17 years of weathering, a rifle cartridge is still recognizable.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

Wild bittersweet fruit has a blaze-orange coating of its own; we could give it a name – deer-season fruit.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

Consider if it’s an antlerless deer, a buck with tiny spikes or a legal buck.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

Look for parallel body lines to pick out a deer in heavy timber.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

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Jerry Davis For Agri-View

Memories and traditions from Wisconsin’s nine-day gun-deer season often outlive the hunters, deer camps and habitats where a 12-year-old hunter saw and maybe missed his or her first deer. Most tales of deer are recorded in the minds of those who range from having whitetails in their daily lives 365 days every year to those who are hunters for only an opening day.

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Jerry Davis is a freelance outdoors writer. Contact him at sivadjam@mhtc.net or 608-924-1112 for more information.