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Here is the latest from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal.

The Natural Resources Board will, once again, consider a wide-ranging experimental deer hunting rules package, intended to be in place for this fall's hunting seasons.

The package, which has the approval of most hunting groups in the state, was the subject of a recent showdown between the board and state legislative committees.

At issue is when to schedule a four-day December antlerless-only deer hunt in northern Wisconsin.

Here's the background:
In December, faced with widespread hunter dissatisfaction with herd-control hunts, the board gave initial approval to the package which, among other things, called for a two-year trial moratorium on October Zone T hunts in 2006 and 2007, while instituting a statewide antlerless-only deer hunt in December.

Zone T hunts are antlerless-only deer hunts in deer management units where traditional hunts do not bring the herd within 20% of DNR goals. Many bow hunters oppose the October hunts because they can interfere with the rut, the white-tailed deer breeding season when mature bucks are vulnerable.

The package was forged at DNR meetings with hunting groups and had widespread support from groups including the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and the Wisconsin Bowhunters Association.

But at the December board meeting, representatives from snowmobile groups voiced opposition to holding the December hunt in the north, saying it would prevent snowmobilers from opening trails in time for the snowmobile season and would adversely affect tourism in the north. Advertisement Last month, a state Senate committee asked the DNR to move the four-day December hunt, north of Highway 8, ahead by one week, apparently to accommodate snowmobilers.

The DNR responded with a modified rules package that calls for holding the December hunt north of Highway 8 only in herd-control deer management units - those units where normal hunting has not brought the deer population to within 20% of DNR goals - but kept the hunt's start date on the second Thursday after Thanksgiving.

The board approved the modified package and sent it back to the Legislature.

Earlier this month, the Senate and Assembly committees sent the package back to the board, again asking that the start date of the December hunt in the north be moved ahead to the Thursday after Thanksgiving.

The DNR has objected to that start date, which would make the hunt overlap with part of a statewide muzzleloader season, saying it could reduce the antlerless kill and cause enforcement problems because muzzleloader hunters can shoot a buck if they have a regular gun deer tag.

In a conference call Feb. 10, the board decided not to make any more changes - meaning the hunting rules and seasons in force last year would likely be the same this fall.

Later that day, there was a flurry of press releases.

• The DNR issued one saying deer hunting rules would not change in 2006.

• Scott Gunderson (R-Waterford), chairman of the Assembly Natural
Resources Committee, and Neal Kedzie (R-Elkhorn), chairman of the Senate Natural Resources and Transportation Committee, issued one saying they were outraged by the board's decision to abandon the rules package before a Feb. 15 deadline for legislative review.

• Steve Oestreicher, Chairman of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, issued one expressing his disappointment with Gunderson and Kedzie, saying it would be their responsibility if DNR deer quotas are not met.

• George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, issued one applauding the board's refusal to make further changes and saying: "There should be no place for arbitrary, politically-driven interference by legislative committees in managing Wisconsin's critically important deer herd."

The Senate committee met in executive session Wednesday, after which Kedzie issued another statement saying the committee had voted to move the December hunt, north of Highway 8, ahead by one week.

"In the spirit of compromise, the committee twice asked the department to make this change, but the DNR chose a different path," Kedzie said. "Thus, we were left with no other option but to make the change. In the end, the DNR will get most of what it wanted in the timeframe it requested."

Keith Warnke, big game specialist with the DNR, said he has scheduled a conference call with representatives from hunter organizations and other groups on Monday, after which he will develop a recommendation for the board.

The board will take up the issue, once again, when it meets in Madison on Wednesday.
Stay tuned.