<font size=3>Landowners will be allowed to hunt
deer over bait in CWD eradication zone
Landowner shooting permits extended through March 31</font id=size3>

MADISON – Landowners in Wisconsin’s Chronic Wasting Disease Eradication Zone west of Madison will be allowed to hunt deer over bait under emergency rules that the state Natural Resources Board approved in a special session conference call Tuesday, Jan. 7. The board also approved extending shooting permits through March 31 in the zone.

The emergency rules is intended to help meet deer herd reduction goals in the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Eradication Zone. Without the use of this efficient management tool, Department of Natural Resources wildlife managers said herd reduction may not be sufficient to reduce the spread of CWD from the infected area.

&quot;If we get snow, shooting deer over bait in winter is a very effective deer culling method,&quot; said Tom Hauge, chief of wildlife management at DNR. &quot;The rule will allow the department to enlist landowners as cooperators in culling efforts during the winter of 2003 by exempting them from the statewide baiting prohibition enacted by the Natural Resources Board last June.&quot;

The board passed an emergency rule in June 2002 banning deer baiting and feeding across the state at the request of wildlife biologists, veterinarians and conservation organizations. The rule approved today will allow deer hunting over bait by permitted landowners, their guests, or government sharpshooters. Government sharpshooters will shoot on private property with approval of the landowner and will prepare a safety plan for each site. Wildlife officials felt the emergency rule was needed now in order to take advantage of any snowfall in the area, which would greatly improve hunting success.

&quot;Bait will be provided by the department at sites agreed upon by the biologist and the landowner,&quot; explained Hauge. &quot;A potential bait site must offer safe shooting lanes and a reasonable chance of success. We’ll also pick up the carcasses on a weekly basis so all the landowner has to do is get the animal out to where we can access it.&quot;

In a series of public meetings held late last fall, area residents developed a list of preferred tools they would like to see implemented to make the job of reducing the herd size easier. One of the most highly ranked options on that list was landowner ability to shoot over bait. Another preferred suggestion was to pay landowners to shoot deer on their properties. Payments were not part of this rule proposal but will be discussed at greater length in months to come.

This will all be explained in a letter that will be sent to Eradication Zone landowners currently holding a CWD nuisance wildlife permit, according to Hauge. The letter will also ask landowners if the landowner would consider allowing government sharpshooters to hunt over the bait sites. Also, a short survey included in the letter asks landowners if they would consider allowing volunteer hunters to shoot on their properties and asks for their preference on the best way to connect landowners with volunteer hunters while protecting property rights and privacy.

The Eradication Zone is where the CWD management goal is to sharply reduce the deer population to remove disease deer to limit or halt its spread. To date, about 8,000 deer have been killed from the area; wildlife officials estimated the prehunt population in the area at 25,000 or more. Ten to 12,000 more deer must be harvested from the area just to get deer populations in the zone to the current 20 to 25 deer per square mile population goal presently set out in state statutes for deer management units in the area.

&quot;The remaining deer in the Eradication Zone can easily produce 8,000 fawns by next summer through the annual breeding process,&quot; Hauge said. &quot;Without additional hunting, we won’t have gained any ground toward reducing the high deer populations in that area.

&quot;Regardless of one’s views on the practicality of eradicating CWD in this area, I’m encouraging landowners to take advantage of the remaining days of the hunting season. For the good of the deer herd, we need their help.&quot;

Focus if you will on the following two paragraphs:
<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote<font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>The emergency rules is intended to help meet deer herd reduction goals in the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Eradication Zone. Without the use of this efficient management tool, Department of Natural Resources wildlife managers said herd reduction may not be sufficient to reduce the spread of CWD from the infected area.

&quot;If we get snow, shooting deer over bait in winter is a very effective deer culling method,&quot; said Tom Hauge, chief of wildlife management at DNR. &quot;The rule will allow the department to enlist landowners as cooperators in culling efforts during the winter of 2003 by exempting them from the statewide baiting prohibition enacted by the Natural Resources Board last June.&quot;<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>

Let's see: &quot;efficient management tool&quot; and &quot;effective deer culling method&quot;. Really?!

Funny, but here is what the VERY SAME Wisconsin DNR said last July (From &quot;Question and Answer Sheet on Wildlife Feeding and Baiting Restrictions, July 3, 2002)
<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>WON'T A BAN ON BAITING REDUCE THE HARVEST OF DEER AND CAUSE MORE DEER POPULATION PROBLEMS AND MORE RISK OF CWD?
Current data from Department 2001 hunter surveys shows that 40 percent of bowhunters and 17 percent of gun hunters in Wisconsin use bait. The difference in success rates among gun hunters with and without bait is negligible. The difference in success rates for archers is greater, but the overall impact of hunting without bait is expected to be minor. Some argue that eliminating bait and feed may actually increase the harvest by increasing the activity of both hunters and deer. In addition, deer will be less likely to concentrate and be held on some parcels where they are unavailable for harvest by hunters on other lands.<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>

So let me get this straight: baiting does not increase success rates of hunters, and may acutally lower the chance of success. But the DNR thinks it is a great idea to get all of these infected deer together around bait piles, even though in their own words &quot;Some argue that eliminating bait and feed may actually increase the harvest by increasing the activity of both hunters and deer.&quot; So are they now saying that all that stuff they fed us last July was a bunch of bunk...or a bald-faced lie...and that baiting really does increase hunter success rates? Or are they so stupid that they don't even refer back to their own data on the subject?

Also, let me get this straight as well:
---Baiting was outlawed because supposedly CWD may be spread by deer being brought into close proximity around bait piles. Right?
---We have CWD in one area of the state currently, occuring at a rate of around 2.5% of the population.
---Baiting is outlawed all across Wisconsin, EXCEPT for now, NOT in the CWD infected area.

Man, you gotta love the logic of those Madison bureaucrats!

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Gee, using DNR logic, if we find CWD all across the state, then baiting will be allowed statewide again!

Say goodnight, Gracie....!

TJD, This is the stuff that has been going on for years. Because of this latest decision, baiting will probably return later this year. It's pathetic.

The contradictions continue ! The great ivory tower of the WI DNR surely epitomizes the essence of bureaucracy. The &quot;exhalted ones&quot; fail to listen to biologists in the western states, to the WI hunters and even within their own ranks. One year later, the panic continues !
What's next; the return of party permits ?

Nothing in this release says anything about testing these deer, just that they will be picked up once a week.
Also, it states that about 8,000 deer have been taken to date, in this area. 5 years ago, more were taken during the regular hunt, in 70a. Does anyone believe there's still 20,000 deer left in the area?

If it wasn't so sad, I'd get a good laugh out of the DNR's actions here. Basically they have contradicted themselves twice
1. &quot;We need to ban baiting because we think it can increase the spread of CWD.&quot;/Allow in in &quot;The Zone&quot; so that our 2.5% infection rate can grow.
2. &quot;You actually have a better chance of seeing and killing deer WITHOUT baiting.&quot;/Baiting is needed in &quot;the zone&quot; to increase the harvest.

Not only that, right on the heels of this brilliant move, they have now pushed for a permanent ban on baiting throughout the rest of the state. I myself never baited and was probably one of the few in that debate who was as close to neutral on the subject as you could get. I just find the timing to be rather humorous!

I never thought an entire state agency could suffer from a bipolar disorder...

Edited by - TJD on 01/17/2003 13:51:17

The timing is humorous but the stuff they continue to shove down the hunters trousers is NOT. We have attended almost every NRB and CC meeting in the last 2 years and hardly another hunter or organization has been spotted, except the snowmobilers. And there's herds of them. No wonder we get the leftovers. We as hunters need to do the same. Even if we don't agree on everything, we can agree that we have had enough leftovers.

Not sure how accurate it is, but the Ohio Hunting Regs state that although baiting is allowed for whitetails in Ohio, the Div of Wildlife research has shown that it has little effect on the harvest.


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