MADISON, Wis. (WFRV) - The 2024 elk hunting season in Wisconsin officially ended on Friday after over two months. According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the season was both a historic and successful one. ‘Citations will be issued’: Sheriff in northern Wisconsin reminds drivers to be patient after one caught on camera passing snow plow 2024 marked the first time that hunters could utilize both the Northern and Central Elk Zones. In previous years, participants could only hunt within the Northern Elk Zone. "It’s exciting hunters have the opportunity to pursue elk in our home state," DNR Wildlife Biologist Christina Kizewski said. "Each year, every hunter experiences something unique and memorable, but especially this year with the first opportunities to hunt elk in the Central Elk Zone." Kizewski added that the population is at a level that allows for a limited hunt, which exhibits the success that Wisconsin had with managing a healthy and growing elk herd. In a pool of over 25,500 applicants, eight people were selected to participate in the hunt. The DNR says it obtained 17,761 applications for the Northern Elk Zone and another 7,750 in the Central Elk Zone. The DNR does random drawings to make it a more evened-out selection process. In regards to the Central Elk Zone, all four hunters successfully harvested a bull elk on day three of the season. Frozen road laws set to begin in northern Wisconsin on Saturday, what that means: Two hunters in the Northern Elk Zone harvested one as well, and Ojibwe Tribal hunters met their declaration of a four-bull harvest. For more information on next year's season and applying to be a part of it, visit the DNR's Elk in Wisconsin page.