Deer hunting rules not to change for 2006 Wisconsin seasons

[AlumniClub]

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
DNR Central Office - Madison
PO Box 7921
Madison WI 53707
Phone: (608) 266-6790 Fax: (608) 264-6293

For Release: February 10, 2006

Contact(s): Tom Hauge - (608) 266-2193 or
Keith Warnke - (608) 264-6023
Deer hunting rules not to change
for 2006 Wisconsin seasons

[**Correction** Feb. 14, 2006. A quote in this news release attributed to DNR Wildlife Management Director Tom Hauge below is incorrect. Hauge’s direct quote to the board at a conference call meeting was “the clock will run out,” referring to department analyses that there was no longer time to implement any additional changes in the season framework for the 2006 fall gun deer hunt before 2006 hunting licenses go on sale March 10. Contractors who make and ground test the complex computer changes needed in the department’s automated license sales system in order to sell licenses by March 10 should already have begun working on the process, he explained to board members.
The department regrets the error.]

MADISON – Hunting rules and season options for the 2006 Wisconsin deer hunt will remain the same as 2005 as result of a second legislative request to further change a broadly supported new rule package intended to improve deer hunting in the state.

In a conference call today, the state Natural Resources Board unanimously decided not to make any additional changes to a rule package that they originally approved last December. As a result, the state Department of Natural Resources will move ahead with plans for this fall’s hunt under current rules. The hunter’s choice program will continue, the October and December antlerless deer gun hunts will be open in certain Deer Management Units (DMUs), and Earn-a-buck requirements are a possibility in some DMUs.

The original rule package approved by the board had been developed over many months by hunters, conservation groups and DNR staff and “had rare, broad support among the hunting community,” said DNR Secretary Scott Hassett. The new rule would have eliminated the October antlerless hunt, which is unpopular with some hunters, and replaced it with a statewide December antlerless hunt.

In response to a first legislative request, the board modified the rule package at a special Jan. 31 meeting, moving a two-day youth hunt and limiting the December antlerless hunt to those DMUs north of Highway 8 in which the deer population is higher than established goals.

On Feb. 8 the legislative committees met again and requested the same modification that the board had already considered -- with the exception of the youth hunt date change -- including moving the December hunt north of Highway 8 up to just three days after the regular season.

“Natural Resources Board members recognize the good work DNR staff did in close cooperation with hunting groups to develop a broadly-supported, sound rule package that would help manage the herd and improve deer hunting in Wisconsin this year,” said Board chair Gerald O’Brien. “The board already accepted an earlier DNR compromise on the rule based on the first legislative request for rule changes, and we do not feel further changes are warranted.”

Board members agreed with a department analyses that there was no longer time to implement any additional changes in time for this fall’s hunt. Deer hunting licenses go on sale March 10, and contractors and vendors who manage the license sales system should already have begun working on the process, according to Tom Hauge, director of the DNR Bureau of Wildlife Management.

“The clock has run out” on making any additional changes, Hauge told the board. DNR wildlife staff will continue to work on revisions to the deer hunting season framework and hope to have the changes in place for the 2007 deer hunting season, he said.

DNR wildlife staff are in the process of reviewing DMU population estimates and will make recommendations on which units need heard reduction and could be identified as Zone T units or be in need of Earn-A-Buck designations. The Natural Resources Board is scheduled to review those recommendations and set the season structure at its March meeting.