Wisconsin hunters take nearly 12 percent fewer deer on opening weekend

Hunters killed nearly 14,000 fewer deer during opening weekend of Wisconsin's nine-day gun deer season this year than last.

That's according to preliminary data the state Department of Natural Resources released Tuesday.

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Hunters registered 102,903 deer from Saturday through Sunday compared with 116,615 deer during opening weekend in 2016. That's a decrease of 11.8 percent.

The opening weekend buck kill also was down, from 64,828 last year to 59,142 this year.

DNR officials say rain and high winds in the southern part of the state likely kept harvest numbers down.