Who else remembers anxiously awaiting the new hunting regulations pamphlet? For those of us “older than the internet,” getting the new copy of the hunting regs was something special because it signaled the approach of a new hunting season.

The pamphlet shown here is one I recall fondly, even though I was a few years away from my first deer hunt. I’d scour those pamphlets and typically dream about how many rabbits, squirrels and other small-game critters I’d stalk with my pellet gun that fall. Those were the days before they published separate pamphlets for deer season.

The First Hunting Reg Booklet

Coincidentally, the nation’s first published deer hunting pamphlet also originated from Wisconsin. That occurred in 1888 when the state issued a deer hunting pamphlet on the heels of implementing its first bag limit on white-tailed deer in 1887. Before then, hunters shot as many deer as they wanted, mostly trying to supplement their families’ food supply. Of course, Wisconsin was also one of the few states that actually had deer back then — fewer than 500,000 remained in the country due to increased “market hunting” of the late 1800s. It was called hunting, but in reality, it was a commercial endeavor where men would travel by train to the North Woods in search of a paycheck. Venison was a valuable commodity for big-city restaurants, and deer hides were also a hot commodity. Hence the term “buck” came about for one U.S. dollar, or the value of a deer hide ($33 in 2024).

[Coincidentally, raw hides today are only worth $1 to $7 — if you can find a buyer]

When Wisconsin enacted that first bag limit in 1887, it stated that each hunter was limited to two deer per season. A license cost $1, and 12,000 licenses were sold that year. The state estimated that 2,500 deer were harvested, and the modern deer hunt was born.

In just three years (1900), the state sold a staggering 78,164 deer licenses.

By 1905, salt licks were banned, and by 1915 the state banned the hunting of antlerless deer.

It’s amazing to track the progress we’ve made in the 100+ years that have followed. In the end, however, the white-tailed deer was allowed to rebound to pre-colonial populations despite the addition of 5 million humans to the Wisconsin landscape.