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Posted April 23, 2006

Patrick Durkin column: Compromise is victory for hunters

As a political machine, Wisconsin's many deer-hunting groups have the efficiency and sophistication of a Red Green rattletrap, but when they share a goal, they can squeeze support from reluctant legislators.

Maybe that's the most valuable lesson learned Tuesday when the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules heard more than five hours of testimony and then spent an hour in discussions before voting to let a statewide mid-December antlerless deer hunt proceed this year. The JCRAR's decision reversed unanimous objections by the Senate and Assembly's natural resources committees, which blocked the late-season hunt at the behest of the Association of Wisconsin Snowmobile Clubs.

Chances are, many of Wisconsin's 650,000 deer hunters won't appreciate the efforts of this political slugfest. All they want to know is what, when, how and where they can hunt whitetails this fall.

Although details are being worked out by the Department of Natural Resources, JCRAR members and the hunting groups, this much seems likely: . No Zone T antlerless hunts will be held in October. . Twenty-one deer management units will have earn-a-buck requirements. . December's Zone T antlerless hunt will be held statewide Dec. 7 to 10. In deference to AWSC fears, Zone T gun-hunts were closed north of U.S. 8 from 2002 through 2005.

Although these changes probably will be in effect this autumn, their future hinges on whether December antlerless hunting controls the deer herd. The original DNR-backed plan called for a two-year experiment, but the JCRAR compromise reduced it to one year. If this year's harvest doesn't reach standards set by the DNR and the hunting groups, October Zone T hunts will resume in 2007, most likely in mid-month.

Make no mistake, this compromise was an unprecedented victory for the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, Wisconsin Deer Hunters' Association and several other groups. Few thought the Republican-controlled JCRAR would overturn objections by the Senate and Assembly's natural resources committees, chaired, respectively, by Sen. Neal Kedzie, R-Elkhorn; and Rep. Scott Gunderson, R-Waterford.

In this age of partisan politics, it's rare - even offensive - for a committee to reverse unanimous decisions from committees controlled by the same party. But for the first time in memory, hunting groups of stature stood united for the deer-regulations package they crafted with the DNR.

The hunters' united front forced the JCRAR to chance hard feelings from fellow lawmakers rather than risk warfare with constituents statewide. Then again, Gunderson and Kedzie did little to bolster their position during their 80 minutes of testimony to open the hearing. JCRAR members often looked confused, and neither Kedzie or Gunderson addressed the sole reason for the months-long dispute: the AWSC's opposition to mid-December gun hunts north of U.S. 8. Instead, Gunderson portrayed the entire clash as hunter distrust for the DNR and hatred of earn-a-buck, which requires hunters to shoot a doe or fawn before killing a buck. He repeatedly said deer
management can't work without "hunter buy-in."

Next - after 90 minutes of testimony from DNR officials, and nearly 3 hours after the hearings began - the public finally got to speak. Contrary to what Gundy told the committee, every hunter who testified, except one, supported the DNR's position. When the AWSC's legislative spokesman, Morris Nelson, was asked for specific troubles caused by deer hunters, he only said there "were problems."

The JCRAR, for its part, demanded much more from DNR witnesses and the hunting groups' representatives. But judging by their decision, JCRAR members heard enough to realize this issue wasn't worthy of further time or spite.

Assuming the Natural Resources Board approves this one-year compromise, hunting groups will test their faith in the December antlerless hunts this fall while the AWSC tries to verify the hunt's economic drain on North Woods tourism. It's doubtful either will succeed, but lessons of failure have value, too. That we needed three legislative hearings to hold such modest field tests suggests lawmakers don't have a firm grasp of their own priorities.

Patrick Durkin is a free-lance writer who covers outdoor recreation for the Press-Gazette. E-mail him at patrickdurkin@ charter.net

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Modifications approved for fall deer season

Wide-ranging rules changes include trial moratorium on Zone-T, limiting December hunt

By BOB RIEPENHOFF [email protected] Posted: April 29, 2006
It looks as if Wisconsin deer hunters will see wide-ranging rule changes this fall that include a two-year trial moratorium on October antlerless-only Zone T hunts, plus a one-year trial of a four-day statewide antlerless deer hunt in December.

The Natural Resources Board, meeting in Stevens Point last week, unanimously approved a modification to the rules package requested by the Legislature's Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules that limits the four-day statewide antlerless deer hunt, to be held Dec. 7-10, to a one-year trial this fall.

The committee has 10 days to review the board's action. But Steve Oestreicher, Chairman of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, believes the rules package will be implemented.
"This was a motion that came directly from the JCRAR," Oestreicher said. "I would anticipate that they will go along with the board's approval and the season structure will be in place for this fall. It's certainly what the majority of the outdoor groups were in agreement with."

Tom Hauge, director of the Department of Natural Resources bureau of wildlife management, said: "We're hoping that the committee will not take the full 10 days. We certainly would like to have the rule go forward and go ahead with the experiment."
Hauge continued: "We appreciate the action that the JCRAR took in listening to the concerns of the deer hunting community and allowing the opportunity for a one-year experiment to take place."

Zone T hunts are held in deer management units where traditional hunting does not bring the deer population within 20% of DNR goals. Many bow hunters oppose October Zone T hunts because they can interfere with the rut, or whitetail deer breeding season, when mature bucks are vulnerable.

Other changes in the rules package include:
• Unlimited antlerless tags would be available in herd control deer management units, the Zone T and Earn-A-Buck units. The first antlerless tag would be free with the purchase of a gun or archery license. Additional tags would be available for a $2 handling fee.
• The Hunter's Choice program would be replaced by the sale of bonus antlerless tags valid for specific deer management units not designated as herd control units at a cost of $12 for state residents and $20 for non-residents.
• A two-day either-sex youth gun deer hunt, held Oct. 7-8, would replace the current one-day antlerless-only youth hunt Oct. 28.
• The close of the late archery season would be moved to the Saturday nearest Jan. 6 (Jan. 7 this year, instead of Jan. 3) to ensure hunting during the New Year's holiday.
• Archery licenses would come with two tags valid statewide, one for a buck and one for an antlerless deer, plus another tag good for an antlerless deer in herd control units. Currently, they get one either-sex tag, plus the antlerless tag for herd control units.

"We have decided that we need to print and mail an additional antlerless tag valid statewide to those bowhunters who purchase their license prior to the final review by the JCRAR," said Keith Warnke, big game specialist with the DNR. The cost is estimated at $38,000 to $53,000, he said.
The rules package was forged by the DNR, the Conservation Congress, hunting groups and others at meetings last summer after many hunters expressed dissatisfaction with Zone T and Earn-A-Buck hunts in 2004.

Earn-A-Buck - which requires hunters to shoot an antlerless deer before they can shoot a buck - will remain in place under the rules package. The board has approved Earn-A-Buck for 21 deer management units across the state this year.

"We were well aware when we started discussions that there would still be some Earn-A-Buck," Oestreicher said of the hunting groups. "It just simply was not possible for the department to totally dismiss it."
Under the trail, October Zone T hunts would resume if hunters failed to register 1.4 antlerless deer for each buck killed in herd control units in 2006, and the ratio must climb to 2-to-1 by the end of the two-year trial.
Oestreicher believes those ratios can be met.
"We're anticipating that with the free tags that are being given out to hunters that we'll make up the antlerless harvest loss from the October hunt," he said.

In other action, the board approved a deer hunting rules package for 2006 in the state's chronic wasting disease zones that, among other things, establishes either-sex deer hunting in the zones instead of Earn-A-Buck.

In response to hunters concerns, the board also:
• Moved a four-day gun hunt in the Herd Reduction Zone a week earlier, from Oct. 26-29 to Oct. 19-22.
• Moved a nine-day gun hunt in the Disease Eradication Zone a week earlier, from Oct. 21-29 to Oct.14-22.
"It was an attempt by the board to address some of the concerns of the archery community that the later dates of the October hunts interfered with the rut and diminished the quality of their hunt," Hauge said of the changes.