Saukville meat processing shop busy as gun deer hunting season ends

SAUKVILLE -- The nine-day gun deer hunting season has come to an end, and a small shop in Saukville that has been handling deer processing for over 40 years was busy on Sunday, November 25th!

The gun deer hunting season ran from November 17th through November 25th. 

The last day of gun deer hunting season on Sunday brought a flurry of fur to Saukville Meats. Mark Blau said he hopes to see a lot of loaded pickup trucks in his lot, because much of his profit comes from deer hunters.

Blau says the turnout this year has been pretty good, and says he's already matched last year's total of about 500 deer. Blau expects to see more deer come in Monday night.

"They're as good as the deer population. Three years ago it was the worst ever. It's climbing, and it's getting better every year," Blau said.

Brian Haggery brought in a pair of deer on Sunday. For 10 years running, he has come to Blau for his deer processing.

"This is one of those spots where I've lived in Port (Washington), I've lived in Cedarburg and I've even lived in Madison, and brought deer right here," Haggery said.

The business opened in Blau's Milwaukee garage over 40 years ago. He says he counts on loyal hunters, but also on first-timers like Steve and Max Lamaster.

"It was pretty cool -- especially watching him get his. It was pretty exciting to be here as a family and do it, so it was a neat experience and pretty exciting," Steve Lamaster said.

As hunters wrap up the 2012 gun deer hunting season, Blau looks forward to wrapping up a lot of orders.

"Once this is over, I'm good for another 50 weeks -- it's that much stress," Blau said.

The DNR expects to have final numbers from the gun deer hunting season on Monday. This year, over 614,000 licenses were sold -- about 10,000 more than last year.