After many hits, more misses, and even more stories about the ones that got away the gun deer season  has come to a close.

During the Wisconsin gun deer season, 226,582 white-tailed deer were harvested according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. This amount has dropped 7 percent from last years figure. The opening weekend registrations were 18% lower than in 2012. The bucks taken this year were down 15 percent from the previous year, but the antlerless deer stayed about even.

State officials agree that brutally cold conditions with temperatures dipping into the teens led to a poor harvest, but officials are not worried about the number of deer out in the woods.

Through the first two weeks of the Minnesota firearms season, DNR reported about 128,800

deer taken according to the Minnesota DNR. This number is down 6% from last year’s number after the first two weeks. State officials have decided that the drop in deer taken is apart of less deer taken in the northern part of the state and extremely cold weather with wind gusts over 25 mph.

Caleb Speltz, a Cotter junior and Minnesota hunter, had a successful year on the ridge harvesting nine deer on his farm. With three mature bucks over 140 inches taken and six other does he believes his “deer herd has grown larger and better in quality”. Caleb harvested a 12pointer which scored 187 ¾ inch with a 23 inch spread. “You don’t have to ask me twice if I enjoy anytime in the woods” Caleb said in response when asked how his season went.   The buck in the photo accompanying this article was shot by Caleb.