MADISON, WI (WTAQ) - Wisconsin’s popular gun deer hunting season begins a week from Saturday – and officials urge hunters to be extra careful about the targets they aim for.

DNR big game ecologist Kevin Wallenfang says elk and moose getting more common in the far north – and both species are legally protected.

The elk population continues to grow, especially in Ashland, Bayfield, Price, and Sawyer counties – and moose have come into Wisconsin from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Minnesota.

Wallenfang says deer hunters should concentrate on identifying both their targets, and what lies behind them.