Hunters don't need the Department of Natural Resources to tell them registration numbers are down for this season.

But the final numbers from the Gun Deer Hunting Season fell significantly compared to last year. Many hunters say it's because there may not have been as many deer to hunt as previously thought.

The DNR harvested 8,000 deer in Marathon County, down from more than 10,000 last season.

The wildlife biologist says the main reason for the decrease was because of the weather. "We had a very cold winter morning so there were probably less hunters out even though we had better conditions later in the week, and of course the cold weather may have also played a factor in people registering deer," said Courtney Schaefer, DNR Wildlife Biologist.

Marathon and Portage Counties were down the most, which was more than 25 percent.