Bowsite.com

History of Wisconsin Deer hunting

I stumbled across this unofficial history by year, interesting stuff. Starts out with this sad year.

1900 – Twelve hunters killed by firearms.

Here is another one that goes back farther.

1914 season. 155000 license sold. 24 killed 25 injured. Buckshot was legal.

Jeff - interesting links regarding WI deer hunting. Thanks for posting them.

A point of clarification however,... in the second link there's a photo of Roy Case with Wisconsin's first b & a deer and the reader gets the impression the photo and deer date from 1934. Actually, that deer was taken 12-6-30, four years prior to the first actual WI b & a season. Roy was then hunting under a special permit from the WI Cons. Dept . and the deer was taken in Vilas County.

Two more obscure facts about this photo,...the photo was taken in Washington Park within the city limits of Racine, Roy's hometown. He had tried having photos taken in Vilas County but it was so cold the camera would not function properly. When they got the deer back to Racine he contacted a newspaper friend who then took the historic photo.

Then secondly, most people looking at the photo never see the arrow in the deer. Look closely along the upper line of the deer's left front leg and you can see the front section of the arrow shaft with the broadhead protruding from the chest of the deer. Roy had hit the deer from behind and the arrow passed thru the stomach and heart to exit the front chest. Of course, it was restaged for the photo. The taxidermy mount of this deer, the bow, and the arrow he killed it with are on display at the WI Bowhuting Museum in Clintonville at the WBH headquarters.

Interesting deer hunting and bowhunting history facts. Wi season in 1934 was nation's first b & a only season, All others, in every state, followed after that of WI.

The bow Roy Case used to take that 1930 deer was a 54#, 61", Osage Orange longbow of his own making. The arrow used had a Port Orford Cedar shaft with a lemonwood footing and was fletched with three turkey feathers. The arrow was tipped with a Kiska broadhead, the first of many designs he manufactured and marketed. The Kiska was a barbed two-blade broadhead that was approximately 7/8" wide after sharpening. The arrow entered the deer low in the abdomen and traveled forward without encountering bone or cartilage.

I have taken close up photos of the bow & the arrow Case used, wish I was able to show them here. I did an article for "Traditional Bowhunter Magazine" a year or so ago (Apr/May 2016, p. 68) on the Roy Case bows. There's a photo there (with the article) of an inscription on the bow, it reads, "This bow killed the first Wis. b & a deer -Dec 6,1930. RIC." This is in his own hand.

CrusaderDad- Can you imagine showing up at Park HS to do a photo shoot with your deer today like Roy Case did? They'd lock the place down!

"Two more obscure facts about this photo,...the photo was taken in Washington Park within the city limits of Racine, Roy's hometown. "

Case maybe you know how many picture's were originally made of the famous photo . Forty some year's ago had an oldtimer at Whiffen's gave me the photo . Told me it was an original one . Just curious .

Swampy -

I do not know how many copies of the "Case" photo were made. I do know it has appeared in newspapers, archery magazines, sporting magazines, sporting journals, WCD and DNR publications, conservation periodicals & bulletins, and probably scores of other printed matters. It is also on the front cover of my book,...I had to get special permission to use it.

I do not doubt the photo you have is an original,...forty years ago there were not many copies of it around (in contrast to today) and those few that did exist probably came from Roy Case himself (he was still living and in Racine forty years ago - passed away in August of 1986). I was fortunate to have received a photo directly from Roy in the 70s, still have it. Roy's son, Kaleb, told me something just a couple years ago I did not know,...apparently there were a couple different versions of this photo, and the one we all commonly see is, of course, the best. I do know who has the original negative for the photo but am unsure of the whereabouts of the negs for the other versions or of the actual photos themselves. So Swampy, I'd bet you do have an original. Cool! Value it, not many around.

Incidently, if anyone on this forum would like a copy of the photo, they are available from a non-profit group. I don't think I'm supposed to advertise them here on this open forum, but if someone would care to PM me I believe it would be okay to pass along the info privately (at least I hope so anyway). (Now that I think about it, is this okay? Anybody know?)

Interesting info casekiska. Thanks for sharing. Speaking for myself, each of my 37 years of deer hunting has also been part of history. New rules every year, and I don't think it's ever affected my love of bow hunting. These are the good times for me, and I'm really looking forward to another year....as well as many more!

Thanks for sharing Jeff.

I bought a photo of Roy Case from the Wisconsin Bowhunters Association several years ago. It is an awesome piece and quite an attention getter. I'm pretty sure they still have some available.

casekiska's book, "The History of Wisconsin Bownhunting" is a must read. You will find information in it that you can't find anywhere else. Great job on the book Bill! BC

BC - Thank-you for the kind words, and I am pleased you enjoyed the book. WI does have a rich bowhunting legacy we all here should be proud of. We are the only state that can say we had the first bowhunting season! Oooo-Rah!

Back in 1962 I met Ottis Bersing, a division biologist, who wrote the book a "History of Wisconsin Deer". He was one of the 3 people who was responsible for the first bow season. I met him at a youth conservation camp at Drumond Wisc. where I worked that summer. I was just new to archery and he gave me an autographed copy that I still have. He encourage me with a few old archery magazines, and we talked often. Archery and bowhunting has been my life ever since.

Register here to reply to this topic