Wisconsin News and Sports
Contributions are down, but Wisconsin deer hunters are still helping to feed the hungry.
Numbers compiled by the DNR show donations from the November deer hunt to food pantries were down about 30-percent over 2008. The agency’s Laurie Fike says that much reflects the decrease in deer that were killed in November. [Read more...]
Baiting and feeding of deer, already restricted in Wisconsin, needs to go away altogether, in the view of DNR Secretary Matt Frank, who speaks for the agency. “We believe we should have a statewide ban on baiting and feeding of deer,” Frank told lawmakers at the state Capitol recently.
What’s the problem with baiting and feeding? Twofold, according to Frank, who says DNR wildlife staff believe it’s changing deer habits and affecting the deer hunt. “We have hunters who do bait and feed, or hunters who don’t, changing the deer movement, making deer more nocturnal, moving them onto lands that maybe other hunters can’t get to. All of these issues I think are in play here.” [Read more...]
The head of the DNR got an earful on predators this week. It was one of the secondary topics which came up, when DNR Secretary Matt Frank went before legislative committees this week. Representative Amy Sue Vruwink told Frank that wolves have started to show up in her central Wisconsin district. “Some people deny that we have wolves in central Wisconsin,” Vruwink said. “But the more and more that my constituents contact me, and have sitings, I hope the DNR is listening to these people.” [Read more...]
The Department of Natural Resources gets called to account, for a disappointing deer hunt. State Senator Neal Kedzie (R-Elkhorn) told DNR Secretary Matt Frank Thursday that his office has received over 8400 responses to a survey on the November gun deer hunt.
“We are not only seeing a decreased number of deer, forty percent of the people that took the time to respond to my census, said they’re unsure if they’re even going to buy a licence next year,” said Kedzie, to applause from hunters who turned out for the hearing at the Capitol. “I’ve never heard that kind of a threat before.” Kedzie also said that seventy percent of respondents to the survey were critical of the agency’s management of the deer herd. [Read more...]
The DNR’s deer management gets a close look at the Capitol today. Scott Craven, UW Extension wildlife specialist, says DNR deer management staff will have to make a couple of points when they testify before legislators.
“First of all, the fact that it’s very difficult to paint the entire state with a broad brush, and say that the deer herd is down, or really moving in any direction statewide,” says Craven. “There’s just too much variation.” Craven says DNR should also point out that the agency has been working hard for years to get the state’s herd at or near management levels. The state’s deer herd has been over those management goals for years, which has meant problems such as car-deer collisions and damage to state crops and woodlands. “A reduced deer herd for those people comes as very good news,” says Craven. “For the state’s deer hunters, not so much.” [Read more...]
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