Wisconsin deer research / Vilas County

Vilas County, Wisconsin Deer Hunting Research

Vilas County is unranked in the provisional Wisconsin FDR Deer Herd Index Provisional.

Vilas County stays unranked on FDR's provisional deer herd index because Wisconsin reports harvest for this northern region by deer management unit, not by county. Without a stable county-level harvest series, the index cannot assign Vilas a fair score or rank the way it does for other Wisconsin counties. This research page keeps the statewide context and notes that the ranking stays withheld until county-level harvest data exists.

Buck Index

79→ out of 100. How this county ranks on the Buck Index against every county we cover. 100 is the top. Land is measured as what a hunter can actually hunt (10 m estimate).

Hunting pressure

Pressure Index 8.5 / 10 (Higher). About 11 deer hunters per square mile of huntable land: 85th percentile of 3,051 rated counties in 48 states, 14th percentile within Wisconsin. How often deer run into people, 0 to 10 on one scale across every rated state; 10 is the most crowded county in the country.

Modeled. Wisconsin does not publish hunter numbers by county, so FDR places this county within Wisconsin from deer harvest per huntable acre (2021 to 2025 seasons) and population density. The model was checked against agency hunter counts in Michigan, Indiana and Missouri, and against agency hunter surveys by hunting unit in 10 more states. It estimates crowding; it is not a hunter count. Wisconsin averages 13.5 deer hunters per square mile of huntable land (National Deer Association Deer Report, 2024 season).

2014 to 2021 and 2023 to 2025 harvest trend

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 Vilas County harvest charts →

Harvest composition

WDNR reports each deer as antlered or antlerless. In 2025, the Vilas County harvest was 1,074 antlered and 706 antlerless deer.

WDNR's antlerless category includes does AND button bucks (male fawns); it is not a doe-only count.

In seasons where the groups do not add up to the Total column, the remainder is not assigned to any group in this dataset.

See full Vilas County composition charts →

Herd & land detail

Methodology

Provisional index. Provisional: WDNR's county harvest dashboard stopped listing this county after 2013 (Northern Forest units); FDR recovered 2014-2021 and 2024 from WDNR's own season reports. 2023 and 2025 are FDR estimates (2023 scaled from WDNR's Nov 26, 2023 county table; 2025 split from WDNR's multi-county unit totals). 2022 county totals were not found. Latest season: 2025 (estimated).. 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, the Buck Index, 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).

Nearby counties