There are two kinds of game-law violators, according to a Shawano game warden: Those who mess up through ignorance and those who do it because they don’t care.
There’s still a chance of avoiding a fine or even civil penalties and equipment forfeitures if Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources game warden Clark Delzer stops you: Simply be honest and fess up, he advises.
Delzer has been a Shawano County game warden for 10 years, splitting duties in the county with warden Mark Schraufnagel. He’s seen plenty of game violations and poaching cases in that decade, but he sees a few things time and again.
“You name it, we’ve seen it,” he said.
Wisconsin is a premier state for deer hunting. About 600,000 people gun hunt for deer each year, while 112,000 use vertical bows and 127,000 use crossbows to chase deer before and after gun season (it is also legal to use bows and crossbows during the gun season).
Wisconsin continues to hold the lead as having the most Pope and Young Club (archery) and Boone and Crockett Club (archery and firearms) trophy deer of any state.
With all those hunters afield, it’s the pursuit of deer that also can bring out the worst in hunter behavior.
Some hunters will go to almost any extreme to take a bragging buck or fill the freezer with venison, and that’s where Delzer and his fellow wardens come in to keep most of us honest – and a few paying the price for violations.
Delzer shared his experiences that are common throughout the state, but seem persistent in Shawano County and the Central Farmland Zone (including Waupaca and Oconto counties).
“You know when someone is cheating,” he said.
Voluntary compliance is the goal, because wardens are stretched pretty thin and can’t be everywhere.
Those blatant violators are most likely to get the law book thrown at them, but those who make an honest mistake and admit it might catch a break, Delzer said.
“I very much so respect that,” he said.
As expected, hunting deer over bait is a frequent violation. Baiting has been illegal in Shawano County for years, and currently is banned in 62 counties, including most counties surrounding Shawano County (the only exception is Brown County). It’s pretty hard to accidentall” hunt over bait.
For complete baiting information, go to https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/hunt/bait.
The purpose of the baiting ban is to slow the spread of CWD, the always-fatal deer disease spread when deer congregate and come in contact with a contaminated deer, Delzer noted. Even if bait is removed from a hunting area, that site is considered baited up to 10 days later (this is similar to federal baiting bans for waterfowl).
Group hunting, a long-standing tradition in Wisconsin, recalls happy memories of Northwoods hunting camps and deer drives. Delzer himself enjoys hunting with family and friends on the family’s farm in the Oconto Falls area, and also is an avid bowhunter.
He and other wardens see many violations related to group hunting, including improperly using someone else’s deer permit or “tag” (now officially known as a harvest authorization, since it is no longer required to tag a deer).
Although group hunting (also known as party hunting) is associated with deer drives, it is legal for one hunter on stand to fill a permit for another hunter on stand, as long as they are within sight or voice contact (cell phones and two-way radios are not considered legal voice contact), Delzer said.
Both hunters must have firearms or airguns (party or group hunting is illegal for bow and crossbow hunters) and be licensed. Hunters generally agree ahead of time whether they will accept and register a deer shot by another person in their party. Those only driving deer are not required to possess firearms or licenses.
Blaze orange clothing has been mandated for all gun deer hunters since 1980 and is credited with a dramatic reduction in hunting accidents. Blaze pink was legalized as another color option a few years ago. Wisconsin allows camo-blaze orange and camo-blaze pink if at least 50% of the material is blaze orange or fluorescent pink. Anyone hunting any game during a firearm deer season (except waterfowl hunters) must wear at least 50% of a blaze color above the waist.
Although this law is well-known, many gun and bowhunters hunters don’t realize they must also wear these visible colors during the two-day youth deer season, Oct. 11-12. This also applies to the statewide antlerless deer season Dec. 11-14.
It would not apply to the disabled deer hunting season prior to the youth hunt (Oct. 4-12), because the disabled hunt is on specific sites and not statewide, Delzer said.
Other firearms seasons include the gun deer hunt Nov. 22-30 and the antlerless-only Holiday Hunt on Dec. 24 through Jan. 1 in counties that approved a Holiday Hunt (Shawano, Portage, Outagamie and Oconto counties have a Holiday Hunt and extended bow season this year, while Waupaca, Langlade, Marathon and Calumet counties do not).
Other common violations Delzer sees include hunting or discharging a firearm within 50 feet of the center of a roadway, having a loaded long gun inside a vehicle, hunting without the proper license or a tag, and failing to register a deer by 5 p.m. the day after the deer was shot. A deer harvested without a license or proper harvest authorization is normally confiscated and given to a food pantry or someone on a list who is willing to process and eat the deer, he noted.
Scofflaws who violate game laws not only face fines and potential civil penalties (the value of the game animal taken), but also potential forfeiture of their weapons, boats and other gear. The price of a deer license or tag seems small when weighed against this financial loss.
For a copy of the 2025-26 hunting regulations, see https://widnr.widen.net/s/xl2s58fsbf/2025-wisconsin-hunting-regulations.
BY THE NUMBERS
These are the most common hunting-related violations statewide in 2024 (number in parentheses occurred during the nine-day gun-deer season):
Illegal baiting: 451 (222)
Hunting with an improper license: 161 (39)
Placing or possessing a loaded long gun inside a vehicle: 113 (88)
Failure to register a harvested animal within required time frame: 106
Hunting from a highway or within 50 feet of a roadway center: (42)
Hunting without the required color clothing during the gun-deer season: (21)
Take or attempt to take game without proper valid harvest authorization tag: (8)
Source: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
