For Native Americans and early European settlers, hunting was a necessary means of survival. Today, a wide variety of game animals are hunted mostly for sport, and the whitetail deer is the most popular game animal in Wisconsin. It became the official state wildlife animal in 1957.

Every year about 900,000 residents, nearly one-sixth of the state’s population, hunt deer with bow or gun. The number of licensed hunters in Wisconsin is the third highest nationally and the state often ranks first in the number of whitetails harvested per year.