And the Wisconsin Bowhunter Association rules on the issue .....

TO: WBH Members

DATE: March 17, 2004

FROM: President Wright Allen

Our last board of directors meeting was held in conjunction with our State convention on March 5, 2004. After a lengthy discussion the board voted NOT to support the 23-day gun season proposal as introduced by Jim Tiefenthaler. The vote of the directors was 10 yes, 8 no and 4 abstained. The reason being was this proposal would not lower the doe population enough and the T-Zone may have to be reinstated. Then we would have the 23-day gun season and the possibility that the T-zone may reappear, and earn-a-buck back in one or two years.

Sunday, March 6, 2004 at the annual meeting the members voted to support our recommendation. Since convention I have talked with our lobbyist in Madison and he has enlightened me on new information on the proposal. His message is attached.

Read it and make your own decision. Attend the spring hearings and vote your gut feeling.

Wright Allen

As a fellow bowhunter, member of the Association and your volunteer lobbyist in Madison, I’d like to make a recommendation. Reconsider your decision to oppose the 23 day deer gun season in 2005. Instead, I urge you to support this proposal. I’ve been lobbying and working on issues before the DNR since 1974. Based on my past experience I’m sure that support of the 23 day proposal is in the very best interests of the WB Association. If you fail to support this proposal, then I believe the WB Association, which is held in high esteem here in Madison, will lose substantial credibility with the friends it has in State government including key legislators and Secretary of the DNR, Scott Hassett, who is both a bowhunter and a past member of the WB Association.

If you support the proposal, and take the actions suggested below, and the 23 day season fails, you will still have the credibility to attempt to negotiate an end to the T-Zone hunt for the 2006 season. If, however, you oppose the 23 day season, and it fails to produce the necessary deer kill, you will have absolutely no basis for negotiating the structure of the 2006 deer season. The Association must become part of the solution to herd reduction or risk being perceived as contributing to the problem. The 23 day deer gun season may, or may not, produce the deer kill that is necessary for controlling the deer herd. But, the proposal does the one thing that virtually all bowhunters want: an end to the T-Zone hunt during the rut. That, alone, makes it worth supporting.

I understand that the WB Association’s opposition to the proposal is based on the belief that it won’t work and the dreaded T-Zone and Earn-A-Buck hunts will return in 2006. Granted, it will be challenging to make this proposal work but the WB Association should step up and say “We have our doubts, but we’re going to do everything in our power to help make the 23 day season produce the desired deer kill – because it ends the T-Zone hunt.” Some ideas:

· Get the membership involved, now, in plans to assist in producing a larger antlerless deer kill during the archery season and announce an organized effort to donate the extra venison to the numerous food shelters that accept this meat;

· Enlist archers to hunt their own season and the deer gun season. Find a way to report on how many antlerless deer were killed by archers with guns during the 23 day deer gun season;

· Do some press releases, radio shows, and letters to the editor promoting the importance of this proposal to getting control of the Wisconsin deer herd. Use these opportunities to explain the importance of being rid of the T-Zone hunt;

· Have the WB Association Board come to Madison and meet with DNR Secretary Hassett, Governor Doyle, Representatives Kreuser, Johnsrud, Gard and Senators Panzer, Erpenbach and Decker. Tell them about the contribution the WB Association members plan to make the 23 day season a success. (I’ll be happy to set up the meetings and join you in them as well.)