Wisconsin deer research / Marathon County

Marathon County, Wisconsin — Deer Hunting Research

Provisional FDR Deer Herd Index 66.3 Provisional — ranked #4 of 61 ranked Wisconsin counties. Built from Wisconsin DNR county registrations, 1960–2025 plus public-land access.

B - Strong
66.3 / 100
Provisional FDR Index
#4 of 61
Ranked-county rank
9
Trophy records
12,041
2025 deer harvest

What drives the Marathon County index

Provisional components, each scored 0–100 against the ranked Wisconsincounties. Provisional — trophy and roadway components are pending.

Herd quality · 33%87
Population · 21%65
Trophy history · 18%76
Momentum · 14%38
Deer-vehicle crash rate · 14%37

Trophy record

Trophy record-book production for Wisconsin is a later input to the FDR Index — cross-book deduplicated record-book data has not been ingested for this state yet. Trophy figures show as coming rather than a fabricated zero.

1960–2025 harvest trend

SeasonTotal harvest
202512,041
202411,715
202310,082
202211,999
202110,767
202011,607
20199,950
201811,778
201711,599
201612,152
201512,224
201412,269
201314,223
201214,152
201114,468
201012,153
20099,278
200814,502
200718,273
200619,907
200519,455
200418,522
200316,620
200211,981
200117,824
200020,814
199918,104
199813,232
199712,378
199615,135
199514,444
199412,876
19938,437
199211,003
199112,560
199014,688
198913,166
198810,983
198710,383
19868,317
19859,722
19848,810
19837,533
19826,595
19816,922
19804,785
19793,484
19785,895
19774,536
19764,273
19754,960
19744,110
19732,826
19722,365
19711,975
19702,284
19693,064
19683,745
19673,695
19662,952
19652,028
19641,473
1963777
1962574
1961606
1960669

Harvest totals from Wisconsin DNR county registrations, 1960–2025. WDNR reports totals by county and season; archery / firearm splits are not broken out in this dataset.

See full Marathon County harvest charts →

Harvest composition

WDNR reports each deer as antlered or antlerless. In 2025, Marathon County ran 6,260 antlered and 5,781 antlerless deer.

SeasonAntleredAntlerlessTotal
20256,2605,78112,041
20245,9005,81511,715
20234,9415,14110,082
20225,7716,22811,999
20215,4535,31410,767
20205,3536,25411,607
20194,7295,2219,950
20185,5496,22911,778
20175,5796,02011,599
20165,4536,69912,152
20155,2916,93312,224
20144,9647,30512,269
20135,6348,58914,223
20125,8068,34614,152
20115,6458,82314,468
20106,1276,02612,153
20094,7354,5439,278
20084,9869,51614,502

WDNR's antlerless category includes does AND button bucks (male fawns) — it is not a doe-only count. Table shows the most recent 18 seasons; the full 1960–2025 series (66 years) drives the chart.

See full Marathon County composition charts →

Herd & land detail

MetricValue
Latest season (2025)12,041 deer
Harvest per sq mi7.79
Antlered harvest6,260
Antlerless harvest5,781
County land (sq mi)1545.20

Methodology

Provisional index. Provisional index — herd, harvest, trophy (single record book), and roadway (exposure-normalized deer-vehicle crash rate) components; habitat/age-structure partial where the state does not publish them.. FULLY DRAWN RESEARCH — Wisconsin DNR (WDNR) PROVISIONAL COUNTY DEER INDEX

Informational only. Built from public-record Wisconsin DNR (WDNR) county harvest data, US Census TIGER county land area, a single trophy record book (one of three), and exposure-normalized deer-vehicle crash rates where published. Provisional index — some components partial or pending. Not a prediction or guarantee. Verify with the Wisconsin DNR (WDNR).

See Marathon County on the map

Parcels with owner & acreage, public hunting land, leaf-off imagery, and this research — together on one hunting map.

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Nearby counties

Lincoln · 45.2Portage · 56.1Wood · 30.8Langlade · 32.9Taylor · 27.5Clark · 30.3Waupaca · 59.8Adams · 75.2
← #3 Waukesha County#5 Ozaukee County →

Frequently asked questions

Is Marathon County, Wisconsin good for deer hunting?

Marathon County scores 66.3 of 100 on the provisional FDR Deer Herd Index (B - Strong), ranked #4 of 61 ranked Wisconsin counties. The provisional index is built from WDNR public harvest records; some components are partial or pending, as noted in the methodology.

How many deer were harvested in Marathon County last season?

WDNR records show 12,041 deer harvested in Marathon County, Wisconsin in 2025, the most recent reported season.