From the 4 groups seeking a real soultion on the EAB alternative committte. This is the same group opposed to an early gun season opener.
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:24:19 -0400 From: Wisconsin Hunting Groups
Subject: Joint Press Release from Wisconsin Hunting Groups
WISCONSIN HUNTERS RIGHTS COALITION WISCONSIN WILDLIFE FEDERATION WISCONSIN QUALITY DEER MANAGEMENT WISCONSIN BOW HUNTERS ASSOCIATION
September 18, 2009 ? Today the Hunters Rights Coalition, the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, Quality Deer Management, and the Wisconsin Bow Hunters sent a statement to the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board laying out their position on the proposed changes to the state?s deer season structure. The statement is reproduced below.
We would like to thank the Board for allowing our organizations the opportunity to participate on the Earn-A-Buck Alternative Committee. The committee worked very hard to meet the charge of finding alternatives that would be effective and acceptable to hunters.
We believe many of the items put forth in the Green Sheet package meet that standard and have the potential to survive the entire process, including Legislative approval.
However, we have grave concern that moving the traditional gun season opener to a week earlier is an overreach that will garner major resistance from the hunting community. This overreach will jeopardize acceptance of the 16-day gun season as well as the other vital components of the package.
Justification for the early opener is based on the anecdotal belief that the early opener occurring during the rut when deer are more active will result in greater antlerless harvest. The facts, based on historical data compiled by the DNR, illustrate exactly the contrary to be true. Decades of data reveal the latest opening date resulted in overall lower buck harvest and an increased antlerless harvest than did the years with the earliest opening date. The only two anomalies were in 2002 when CWD was discovered and in 2008 with the yet unexplained drop in fawn production (Table #1). Incorporating an earlier opener with no validation of increased effectiveness is not worth the potential downsides.
In Wisconsin the gun deer season opener is a sacred tradition. Union contracts, business shutdowns, and vacations schedules have revolved around our traditional opener for half a century. The traditional opener is the only week that hunters can take three days of vacation time to hunt nine days. A potential downside of the week earlier opener is that gun deer hunting participation may decline to just a single weekend, destroying the tradition of a 9-day event.
The biological ramifications of harvesting 60% or more of the herd?s breeding bucks before the rut is complete will result in many does not being bred during their natural breeding period. The results will be later-born fawns, reduced body size, and an overall unhealthier deer herd. States like Michigan and Minnesota have actually had to reduce buck harvest with antler restrictions and other means to address the biological ramifications of their earlier gun seasons.
Finally, it was determined by the SAK Audit Team that anything that alters the male harvest rate reduces the accuracy and precision of deer population estimates. It is clear that a deer gun season during the rut will adversely affect SAK population estimates and is contrary to recommendations of the Audit Team.
We urge the board to approve a rule for hearings that includes an option hunters can vote for rather than against.
Please vote to include a season structure option with a traditional opening day for the 16 day season, followed by a 7-day muzzleloader hunt.
Together with the other provisions of the rule package, this becomes a proposal that will have the support of our groups and, we believe, many hunters and other stakeholders as a viable alternative to Earn-a-Buck.
http://www.thewelchgroup.org/hrc/EAB%20committee%20letter%20to%20NRB%20as%20press%20release%209-18-09.pdf 
