wack

First, knowing who the enemy is, is the place to start. Sure insurance companies don't want deer but they haven't done near the damage as the Dept of Agriculture has done. They are a much more powerful foe than the insurance companies. They are afraid of CWD and TB and are the ones behind the state wide goal of 700,000 deer. It didn't help that the DNR's method of counting deer was off by 40-60% and we are a lot closer to that goal than even the DNR knew. The Dept of Agriculture has also put up a road block on the DNR's plan to reintroduce elk to Wisconsin by boosting the number of elk in Clam Lake and Black River Falls. The DNR and RMEF have a good plan, have done the research, the study herd of 25 is now 150 and in need of genetics and reinforcements. The plan stopped dead in its tracks by a Dept. of Agriculture's ban on transporting elk.
Meanwhile, our other enemy, tree huggers, have managed to get the wolves relisted as Federally endangered. Wisconsin DNR has a good wolf plan. The want 350 wolves 500 max. We were near 600, when the wolves were delisted for that short period of time, the DNR killed as many wolves as they could. 37 I think. Relisted Sept. 29, 2008, Wisconsin DNR wolf managment plan is useless. They do not have control from the Feds.
Now 560 wolves hasn't really been a problem so far. The deer herd is down state wide and yes the wolves have killed a lot of deer in some areas but the real credit for numbers down is DNR hunting tags, Ag tags, and winter kill. Can't blame wolves for deer numbers in central to southern Wisconsin and numbers are down all over.
HOWEVER, 142 wolf packs the DNR says we have now, will have on average 5-6 pups per wolf pack. A good year, each wolf pack could have 2 litters per year. With one litter each next year we could have 700-850 MORE wolves by this time next year. 1400 wolves WILL KILL A LOT OF DEER! On average, Wisconsin wolves kill 18 deer per wolf per year. If you think 560 wolves did damage to the deer poplation this past year, wait till we have 1400 next year and 2200 the year after.
The wolf battle grounds are out west, it's a new problem for Wisconsin and we are just an afterthought in the war. We need to join nation orginizations who are fighting this battle. RMEF has spent over $5,000,000 in Wisconsin for elk research, habit restoration and education while also fighting this nation wolf battle. Biologists say to maintain a wolf population at the levels the feds are requiring, we are going to need elk or risk loosing the deer bear and a lot of small game and gamebirds to the predators. The bear population is only at a point where a hunter can get a tag every 9 years. Because of wolves and the decline in deer, now they want to sell more bear tags to ease the pressure on deer. Next year they plan to put out 6000 more bear tags. That nearly drops the bear population in half. That won't help the 9 year waiting list. The only way to keep deer hunting and bear hunting is to bring back elk and get control over the wolves. It's as simple as putting together a working food chain. Hunters, bears, wolves and deer does not make a good food chain. Te biologists want hunters, bears, wolves, deer, elk and bison. In stead of 1.7 million deer, they want 1.7 million big game animals with as many native species as they can return to the north woods. With the correct plan, we could be hunting all of the above within 20 years or we could have no big game to hunt in northern Wisconsin with in the next 10 years.
The first step is to get control of the wolves. I'm sending the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation my $35 membership to help them fight to get the wolves off the Ferderal endangered species list and to help them save the 150 elk we have in Clam Lake. It could be the one move we make that saves deer, bear and big game hunting for our grandchildren. If not RMEF there are 18 other hunting groups out there that are joining forces with RMEF to fight the wolves. Find one, join 1 and lets get that job done. Our short term and long term hunting future depends on it.