The state Natural Resources Board has approved hearing dates and locations for proposed changes to Wisconsin’s deer hunting season. “The traditional November firearms season would be expanded from nine to sixteen days,” says Department of Natural Resources spokesman Greg Matthews.
Matthews says that’s in response to the demise of the unpopular Earn-a-Buck program. “If we have a longer sixteen day season, we’ll be able to have the same results, as far as reducing the herd or keeping it in line, as we had when we used Earn-a-Buck,” says Maththews.
The public hearings have been scheduled for ten locations around Wisconsin, between October 14 and November 3. One additional hearing may be scheduled for southeastern Wisconsin. Matthews says, if the public response is positive, the Natural Resources Board could vote for the sixteen day season to take effect in 2010.
WIBA’s Chandra Lynn contributed to this report