Wisconsin hunting and fishing laws

Anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 1973, must complete a hunter education course and have a hunter education safety certificate on file to purchase any hunting license in Wisconsin. Hunters are exempt if hunting under the mentorship program or if they completed basic U.S. Armed Forces training.

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Under the mentored program the mentee must have all required hunting approvals for the applicable season and must remain within arm's reach of the mentor. The mentor must have any valid, non-expired Wisconsin hunting approval regardless of the game pursued, may not use any deer harvest authorizations issued to the mentee, and must only serve one mentee at a time.

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Children under 12 may hunt only through the Hunting Mentorship Program or DNR Learn to Hunt events; mentees must stay within arm's reach of a licensed mentor 18 or older and hold all required licenses and tags. Hunters 12 and 13 with hunter education must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 1973, needs hunter education to buy a license unless hunting as a mentee, and hunters under 18 may not hunt with a handgun.

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Applies to: Deer

Whenever and wherever a firearm deer season is open, anyone hunting any game except waterfowl must wear outer clothing above the waist that is at least 50% blaze orange or fluorescent pink, and any hat worn must be at least 50% blaze orange or pink. Archers are not exempt; the only exceptions are waterfowl hunters and legal night hunters (such as raccoon hunters) between 30 minutes after sunset and 30 minutes before sunrise.

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Wisconsin has no Sunday hunting restriction; seasons, including the nine-day gun deer season, run every day of the week.

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Not verified. Shooting hours are set by DNR tables (one for deer, bear, elk, small game and fall turkey; one for migratory birds and spring turkey; one for early teal): find your zone on the shooting-hours zone map and add its minutes to the table's opening and closing times, and it is illegal to shoot at game outside those hours. Coyote, fox, raccoon and unprotected species have no shooting-hour limit except when hunted with a bow or crossbow during the bear and archery deer seasons. The base times could not be read because the DNR tables are hosted on a site that blocked retrieval. Confirm with the official regulations before you hunt.

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Applies to: Deer

Deer baiting and feeding are banned county by county because of CWD or TB, and each new wild or captive positive renews a county's ban; a ban expires only after a set period with no new detections. The DNR's baiting and feeding page and map always show the current banned counties, so check it before you hunt.

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Applies to: Bear

Bear bait may be placed on or after April 15 and through the end of the bear season, up to 10 gallons. It must be fully enclosed in a hollow log, hole in the ground or stump and capped with logs, rocks or other natural materials that keep deer out. Bait may not contain or be held in metal, paper, plastic, glass or processed wood, may not contain animal parts or by-products, and may not be within 50 yards of a public trail, road or campsite or within 100 yards of a road posted 45 mph or more.

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Coyote, fox, raccoon and unprotected species may be hunted at night. A flashlight or firearm-mounted light may be used at the point of kill while hunting these animals on foot, but not to shine them while you have a firearm, bow or crossbow. Shining any wild animal is illegal from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., Sept. 15 through Dec. 31.

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Applies to: Deer

Not verified. Deer must be registered through GameReg by 5 p.m. the day after the carcass is recovered, using your harvest authorization number (in-person stations may also be available). Carcass tag and evidence-of-sex requirements were not confirmed. Confirm with the official regulations before you hunt.

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Not verified. DNR states its hunting rules do not allow hunters to trespass without the landowner's permission, and a hunting dog running on land without permission is treated as at large. The state's trespass statute, posting rules and any dog-retrieval allowance could not be read. Confirm with the official regulations before you hunt.

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