It’s 5 a.m. Saturday morning, and University of Wisconsin senior Hans Martin is already rising out of bed. But he’s not preparing to travel with the UW marching band or getting a head start on game day drunken revelry with the rest of campus. 

This morning was different; it was the start of gun deer hunting season.

Saturday marked the beginning of the nine-day gun deer hunting season in Wisconsin, which has been a long established tradition in the state due to a large deer population relative to other states and a strong following by state residents, UW wildlife ecology professor Timothy Van Deelen said.

“As George Meyer (director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Foundation) once said, there are two religions in Wisconsin: Green Bay Packers football and deer hunting,” Van Deelen said.

According to Van Deelen, approximately one million deer will be in Wisconsin woods this season and around 400,000 of them will be killed.

Van Deelen said hunting deer greatly benefits the state, as deer overpopulation creates many problems for the forests and state agriculture.

“We have a serious problem with deer overpopulation, and hunting is the only effective tool we have to decrease the number of deer. Hunting helps relieve the pressure on forest floor and plants from deer, helps lower the number of car collisions with deer, and lowers the amount of damaged crops,” Van Deelen said. “And it really connects people to the environment.”

This connection to nature is what Martin appreciates most about hunting, and what motivates him to juggle hunting with school and being in the UW marching band.

“My favorite thing about hunting is being a part of nature. It isn’t like taking a walk in a park or bird watching. Every sense is alert and prepared to pick up the faint crunch of an approaching deer or the slight flicker of an ear,” Martin said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald.

Martin said he started hunting at 12-years-old and shot his first deer when he was 14 with a bow, an experience he said only hunters could understand.

“It was a clean shot, and I was finally able to call my dad to have him help me drag out a deer,” Martin said. “I could try to explain the feeling, but I don’t think I can describe it in a way for others to understand. Other hunters will understand.”

Martin also said he knows he only has one opportunity to do well in school, while he will have a lifetime to hunt, which is why he hasn’t made it out as much during his college career. However, he said the chances of him showing up at genetics lecture before Thanksgiving are low.

As for the future of deer hunting in Wisconsin, Van Deelen said he is worried the number of hunters will fall, so hunting will not be as effective.

“I think what we’re going to see is that we’re losing deer hunters. We’re losing that middle aged cohort of deer hunters that recruits future hunters, so there is some worry that this sport will decline in the future,” Van Deelen said.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, five hunters were involved in gunshot related accidents this weekend in Douglass, Marathon, Marquette, Door and Wood counties. The DNR is currently investigating the accidents, DNR spokesperson Tim Lawhern said.