Minnesota and Wisconsin often are rivals -- from their Favre and Favre-less pro football teams to the annual Gophers-Badgers battles.
But when it comes to deer and deer hunting, there's no contest: Wisconsin is No. 1. It has more deer, more trophy deer, more deer hunters and roughly twice the deer harvest as Minnesota. Cheese Land hunters have averaged nearly 500,000 deer in the past five years, while hunters in the Land of 10,000 Lakes have averaged 254,000.
This from a state that's about one-third smaller than Minnesota. What gives? There's no reason for Minnesotans to feel inferior: Wildlife officials in both states say key differences in geography and landscape habitat fuels Wisconsin's deer dominance.
"Their deer habitat far exceeds ours," said Lou Cornicelli, Minnesota DNR big game program leader. "The southern half of Wisconsin -- their core deer habitat -- is better than anything I've ever seen in my life."
Keith Warnke, Wisconsin DNR big game ecologist, agrees.
"You have agriculture interspersed with woodlands; the habitat is absolutely outstanding when it comes to food, water and cover," he said. "The deer populations there have tremendous productivity potential. It's probably some of the most productive deer habitat in the country."
Vast regions of Minnesota, by comparison, are flat and intensively farmed. "And the farthest northern point of Wisconsin is even with Duluth," said Dennis Simon, Minnesota DNR wildlife section chief. "We have one-third of the state farther north than that."
The northern third of Minnesota produces deer, but productivity there is relatively low and its whitetails are susceptible to severe winter weather. "Wisconsin has higher reproductive rates and lower nonhunter mortality rates," Simon said.
