GREEN BAY, Wis. (NBC26) -- In a season when less people hunted, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reported over 95,000 deer were harvested during opening gun deer weekend this year.
"Opening day, I think we [harvested] seven or eight deer between the group," Wisconsin deer hunter Ryan Bautch said about his seven-person hunting party.
Before this week, UW-Green Bay student and deer hunter Lawrence Arndt says hunting in Wisconsin wasn't always this successful for his group.
"We haven't really had that luck lately for the past few years since I've started hunting," Arndt said.
Arndt, who co-runs the "Green Bay Outdoor Enthusiasts" Facebook group, says everyone in his hunting party, which included Bautch, harvested a deer this week.
"And all of a sudden, something just clicked and I was just amazed that everyone was able to capitalize on some big deer this year and it really made me happy," Arndt said
His cousin, Bautch, says hunting in Wisconsin this year might have been his best season ever. When he hunted in Minnesota this fall, he did not find the same luck.
"We had a really tough time hunting [and] we didn't see much deer," Bautch said. "We hunted that whole week and shot two doe… we hunted really hard."
But the group that hunted in Buffalo County, Wis., succeeded this week.
"Me and him [Bautch's cousin] both got to shoot nice bucks within five minutes of each other," Bautch said.
