Published: April 6, 2016
It’s the public’s time to shine for deer hunt
Feedback session goes through April 17
Daily News
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials are confident for a
good deer population for this season’s bow, crossbow and gun hunts
later this year.
“We’re
seeing recommendations in the north that were down a few years ago,”
said Kevin Wallenfang, DNR deer and elk ecologist. “That’s a good sign
of herd growth.”
The
confidence stems from the recommendations from the County Deer Advisory
Councils throughout the state. And now it’s time to find out what the
hunters think — Monday was the first day of the public feedback period.
The purpose of the public feedback is to collect notes on potential deer tag limits, permit sales and deer harvest caps.
The public feedback period goes through April 17.
After that, the DNR will collect all the surveys and submit them to
each of the CDACs in the state — 72 counties. Then, based on that
information, the CDACs will host public meetings April 18-21 and make
final recommendations. The DNR will put together a package for review
by the Natural Resources Board and decide on the deer hunt regulations.
It’s a process, Wallenfang said, that is not taken lightly and he
encouraged hunters to participate in it so the DNR can collect the most
precise data as it prepares for the upcoming deer seasons in the fall.
“The council values them,” he said.
“The charge is quite specific,” he added about the role of the CDAC.
“The councils are an advisory body for the DNR. We want them to kick off
the quotasetting goals. Those vary across each county.”
The Washington County’s council has suggested a buck plus anterless by permit for one tag.
Last season, 1,181 antlered deer or bucks were harvested, along with
1,452 non-antler deer across the gun, bow and crossbow seasons. That is
the most deer harvested in the county in more than eight years.
Other data released for Washington County include the number of deer
seen per hour went down from 1.25 to 1.2, but deer population has
steadily increased since 2009. In 2015, there were an estimated 8,000
deer in Washington County.
Because of the back-toback mild winters, Wallenfang said he expects deer population to be strong with “higher-than-average fawn production.”
According to CDAC data, most of the northern forest zone wants to
increase deer population, while most of the western, central and
southern counties of the state want to maintain the deer population.
Marinette, Oconto, Door, Buffalo and Milwaukee counties are hoping for
a decrease. Dodge, Winnebago, Sheboygan and Fond du Lac counties want
an increase in deer population.
In Waukesha County, a holiday hunt is suggested where there’d be an additional deer hunt season Dec. 24-Jan. 1.
Waupaca County is recommending a holiday hunt plus antlerless only hunt, which Wallenfang said is “taking a fairly drastic measure to reduce the deer numbers.”
For farmland zone permits, Washington County is recommending one buck
tag plus one antlerless and that’s the case for most of southeastern
and southcentral Wisconsin. In Waupaca and Door counties, the
recommendation is one buck tag plus three antlerless.
The public feedback meeting for Washington County is April 19 at Daniel Boone Conservation League, 4694 Highway 167, Hubertus.
“The councils are having public meetings and they will put aside time
for public comment, gather as much information as they possibly can,”
Wallenfang said. “This is just a way on a bigger scale to provide the
opportunity to get feedback from all over the state.”
Last gun season, the DNR introduced electronic registration.
“It worked beautifully,” Wallenfang said. “We registered almost 310,000 deer. The vast majority or 97 percent on opening weekend had no troubles.”
The troubles that were there were on the hunter’s end, minor data entry problems that were quickly corrected, such as incorrectly punching in numbers.
Wallenfang acknowledged some hunters weren’t fans of the electronic
registration because of the tradition of a hunter going to his or her
favorite registration station to meet up with old friends was
compromised.
But convenience was the key with the new system and it couldn’t have gone better, Wallenfang said.
“We planned it to go great,” he said with a laugh. “It was the first year and it went pretty doggone good.”
To participate in the public feedback survey, visit the DNR’s website — www.dnr.wi.gov — and search keyword “CDAC.”
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