Two deer hunters die on Wisconsin's firearms hunt opening day

Meg Jones | Gannett

MILWAUKEE — Two Wisconsin hunters were found dead in their stands in the same county on opening day of the gun-deer season.

Both men died Saturday in Marquette County, about 60 miles north of the state's capital of Madison, one of natural causes and one from a gunshot wound, Coroner Tom Wastart said Sunday.

Three other hunters were reported wounded in firearms incidents.

An estimated 600,000 hunters headed into the woods throughout Wisconsin for opening weekend of the nine-day firearms hunt.

► Friday: 17,000 crossbows recalled after reports say some fired unexpectedly

► Wednesday: Girl who mistakenly shot elk 'bullied' as officials decide her fate

► Nov. 13: Missouri girl, 14, thought she shot deer when she pulled the trigger

Also Saturday, two hunters contacted the Juneau County Sheriff's Department after finding human remains. The unidentified remains were found around 10:30 a.m. CT in woods in Lyndon, the department reported.

In Marquette County, a 62-year-old Shawano County man was found dead in his tree stand on private property in Westfield by a member of his hunting party. The sheriff's department was notified around 6 p.m. and the man was pronounced dead at the scene an hour later.

The hunter died of natural causes, Wastart said. Firefighters from Oxford and Westfield helped retrieve the man from his tree stand 16 feet above ground.

► Nov. 13: Children of any age allowed to hunt in Wisconsin

► Nov. 9: Why world record deer hunter took year before his next kill

Another call of a dead hunter came in to the sheriff's department around the same time, this one in Newton when a man found his 57-year-old son dead in his ground blind, Wastart said. That man was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:52 p.m.

The man died of a gunshot wound, but Wastart declined to give further details. Authorities are not searching for another shooter, he said.

An autopsy was completed Sunday; the results were not released.

► Oct. 30: Pumpkin chase frees deer from jack-o'-lantern

► Oct. 24: Hunter bags 36-point freak-of-nature deer with his crossbow

The names and hometowns of both hunters were not released.

Three other hunters shot and wounded themselves Saturday:

• A 49-year-old man shot himself in the right ankle in the first incident around 5:30 a.m. in Brown County, said Warden Mark Little of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

• A 51-year-old man in Shawano County shot himself in the leg when he bent over and his holstered handgun fired.

• A 49-year-old Crandon, Wis., man was sitting in the cab of his truck when he saw a deer around 9 a.m. in Forest County. When he attempted to move his rifle, it went off, sending a bullet through his legs and the truck’s seat and door.

Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow Meg Jones on Twitter: @MegJonesJS