DNR pulls the plug on 16-day deer gun hunting season
2010 season will remain nine days statewide After months of debate, thousands of comments from hunters and preliminary 2009 deer harvest figures that were down 29 percent statewide from last year, the Department of Natural Resources pulled the 16-day deer gun hunt recommendation from the Natural Resources Board agenda only days before the NRB was scheduled to vote on the 2010 season framework.
This means the 2010 deer gun hunt will remain nine days.
The NRB's December meeting is today and tomorrow.
In a Dec. 4 letter to NRB chairman Christine Thomas and board members, DNR secretary Matt Frank wrote, "Given the preliminary numbers for the 2009 nine-day hunt that the department released earlier this week, we believe it is appropriate to postpone consideration of alternative herd control measures."
Eagle River business owner Holly Tomlanovich, who last week wrote letters to both DNR big game ecologist Keith Warnke and Sen. Jim Holperin, D-Conover, opposing the 16-day hunt, called the new development "a huge success for hunters, snowmobilers and businesses up north."
The original 16-day hunt proposal called for an earlier start (two Saturdays before Thanksgiving) and was developed as an alternative to the earn-a-buck program. That 16-day proposal was the subject of 11 public hearings statewide, a DNR online survey and a random mailing to Wisconsin hunters. An overwhelming majority opposed a 16-day hunt with an early start.
Earn-a-buck allowed hunters to harvest a buck only after harvesting a doe. Earn-a-buck was successful in reducing overpopulation of deer in certain deer management units, but wasn't implemented in northern Wisconsin.
After public outcry in 2008, earn-a-buck was scrapped statewide.
A special committee was appointed in April to develop a method of herd control that would also please hunters.
Last week, the DNR released the second of the 16-day proposal. In it, the hunt called for opening day to begin on its traditional day, one Saturday prior to Thanksgiving. Muzzleloader season was scheduled for seven days after that, which would have brought the last day of hunting deer with any type of gun in 2010 to Dec. 12.
Northwoods business owners voiced strong opposition to a later season because it would have pushed the snowmobile opener back at least seven days.
Last Thursday, Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, said he wants conservation officials to fire anyone involved with deer management. He also said the DNR's "draconian" herd control policies have devastated Wisconsin's deer population and left too many hunters empty-handed and that he's tired of the DNR's deer experts "jerking" hunters around.
Frank said in his letter, "I would like to give our staff more time to gather all the data from this season's hunt and analyze it. ... We will look carefully at the data to determine where we now stand with respect to the size of the deer population, which varies by region across the state. Preliminary numbers show a decline in buck harvest across the state. Hunters have reported seeing fewer deer on the landscape and in some areas, a significant decline.
"While we believe that a 16-day season remains a viable option for future consideration, removing this item from the board's December agenda makes it likely that there will not be sufficient time to implement it for the 2010 deer hunting season."
DNR spokesperson Bob Manwell had no comment last Friday on the seemingly sudden move by the DNR, and instead deferred to Frank's letter.
Manwell did say there has been no time frame set yet on the 2011 season framework.
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