Hunters should check Earn-a-Buck authorization online
MADISON – Deer hunters hunting in any of 57 Deer Management Units in Wisconsin this fall will be required to “earn” a sticker authorizing them to shoot a buck by first shooting an antlerless deer – unless they prequalified for the sticker by registering an antlerless deer from one of those units last year.
Earn-a-Buck (EAB) requirements are in place in all 22 chronic wasting disease (CWD), deer management units (DMUs) and in 31 non-CWD units and four state park units.
There are two ways hunters could be pre-qualified for EAB this year, depending upon the designation of the DMU from which they registered an antlerless deer last year.
First, a hunter who registered an antlerless deer shot in an EAB unit last year should have received a purple 2007 EAB authorization sticker upon registering the deer. Hunters who did not use that sticker last fall may use it this fall.
Second, hunters who registered an antlerless deer from a unit that did not have EAB requirements last fall but that is EAB this fall (including CWD units), will be mailed one buck authorization sticker for every antlerless deer they registered. Stickers will be valid in any EAB unit and will be mailed out in August.
DMUs that will be EAB in 2007 that were not in 2006 include: 22A, 23, 24, 27, 47, 54C, 57B, 64, 64A, 68B, 77C, 77D, 80A, 80C, 81 and all CWD DMUs (units or portions of DMUs 54B, 70, 70A, 70B, 70C, 70D, 70E, 70F, 70G, 71, 73B, 73E, 75A, 75B, 75C, 75D, 76, 76A, 76M, 77A, 77B, 77C which are located in the CWD eradication and herd reduction zones). Hunters will receive one buck authorization sticker for each antlerless deer they registered in a unit that is EAB this fall.
Deer hunters who believe they have pre-qualified for a buck authorization sticker in one of these units can check their status over the Internet.
Hunters will need to have their Department of Natural Resources customer identification number handy when they go online to the deer hunting page of the DNR Web site. Click on the link for “EAB Pre-qualification Status” and follow the instructions to check on your authorization.
The on-line check allows hunters to determine if their information is in the database to receive a buck sticker for the 2007 Earn-A-Buck (EAB) season.
“You should be included in this database if you registered an antlerless deer in 2006 in any Deer Management Unit which was not EAB 2006 and is EAB in 2007,” says Keith Warnke, DNR deer and bear ecologist.
Hunters who believe they have pre-qualified by registering an antlerless deer in 2006 in units that were not EAB in 2006 and are EAB in 2007 but do not find a buck authorization associated with their customer identification number should contact DNR via email directly from the Web page. Press the ‘enter my info’ button and enter everything you can remember about the deer you killed.
Hunters are encouraged to make sure the address DNR has associated with their customer identification number is correct. This address is where the buck authorizations will be mailed.
People who don’t have access to the Internet either at home or at a local library or through a friend, can contact their local DNR service center who will look up the information. People may also contact the DNR Call Center toll free at 1-800-282-0367.
If a hunter received a buck sticker last year, that information will not be in the on-line database. Units that were EAB last year and again this fall include: 46, 54B, 59B, 59C, 59M, 60M, 61, 61A, 62A, 62B, 63A, 63B, 64M, 65B, 66, 67A, 67B, 68A, 74A, and 80B.
“The sticker you received last fall is the sticker you need to have this hunting season,” says Warnke. Hunters who used all their buck stickers last fall or did not kill any antlerless deer in these units last fall will need to register an antlerless deer in an EAB unit this year to get a buck sticker. The stickers issued last fall will not be re-issued or replaced.
“Hunters were advised last fall to keep track of the purple buck stickers they earned. The same is true of stickers that will be mailed in August – close to the start of bow hunting. We need hunters to be careful to keep stickers safe. We can’t replace lost ones,” Warnke said.
Hunters registered more than half a million deer last year, including more than 65,000 antlerless deer, for which a sticker will be mailed to hunters.
“We know the error rate is much lower this year, but there are still errors in the pre-qualification database,” Warnke said. “If you don’t want to be scrambling for a sticker the week before the opener, please check and take action now.”
Wildlife officials stress that one of the simplest and easiest safeguards for avoiding data entry inaccuracies is for hunters to be very careful in filling out their registration stubs.
EAB pre-qualification will be in place again for 2007 in all DMUs that are EAB this year and in EAB watch units which will be identified later this summer.
“If you hunt in a CWD, EAB, or herd control unit, do not pass an opportunity to harvest an antlerless deer. You’ll thank yourself in 2008.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Keith Warnke (608) 264-6023 or Jason Fleener (608) 261-7589
