A ruling by a federal judge will block Wisconsin Ojibwe Tribal members from hunting deer at night – at least for the time being. State Department of Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp said Wednesday that Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that the DNR may “enforce state laws against any Chippewa Tribal member hunting deer at night within the Ceded Territory (roughly the northern third of the state) until the preliminary injunction hearing scheduled for December 12th and further order of the court.”
“The State is pleased that shining will be prohibited until such time as we can adequately address these issues within the appropriate court setting,” said the statement from Stepp. ” We will continue to try to work with the Tribes to resolve this issue.”
The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission had moved to authorize Tribal members to kill deer at night beginning Monday, although no permits to do so were actually issued. A GLIFWC spokeswoman said the Tribes elected to pursue night hunting after the State allowed night hunting of wolves.