wis_rifle_hunter

theres not going to be much change this year. personally i think EAB is a load of crap. what good is doing for wisconsin? our deer numbers are down no matter what and i think there going to get worse next year

TJD

Again, I am hoping you are right. Though...again...the DNR knew going in to last season what the '07/'08 winter had been like, and for whatever reason was actually looking at expanding the list of EAB units in '09 as demonstrated by the map at the start of the thread.

From what I have heard, the legislature has been catching an earful over the past season's results. As I have stated before: it is one thing to have a harvest come in lower than the previous year, it is another to have that happen after the DNR kept telling hunters how the population for the '08 seasonwould be equal or greater than last year.

I'm guessing that EAB goes away for the northern part of the state and is significantly curtailed in the middle and southern regions. Actually, EAB is more tolerable to me than the October antlerless hunts.

lrhuntr

I have lost all my faith and respect for the DNR.

They are a bunch of bureaucratic a-holes who don't give a damn about us or wildlife. As long asthey get a paycheck every week their happy, andthey continueback to their job, managing wildlife from their cozy, warm offices.

We pay how much in licenses and taxes and this is what we get!

You have got to be kidding me, right?

Not like that money could have been spent on public hunting and fishing lands or funding more hunter education classes or getting more wardens out in the field instead off limiting the number of patroling officers because gas is too expensive orgiving some of that money to butchers across the state instead of asking you when you buy your license if you would like to donate money to butchers to help for the Hunters for the-Hungry program. What the hell did I just pay a license for! The list could go on and on.

Oh thats right, to fund more useless research of CWD. A disease thats been in this state longer than 2002. The bureaupunks decided to tell everyone we got the best biologists and scientists money can buy working on it. Have no fear, we'll get it taken care of. Give us your money to help fight it, and we did.

Well now its 2008, 6 years after the "discovery" of CWD and it still isn't gone. 6 seasons of giving our money to these dumbasses. Doing what they told us to do and CWD is still here. Why? Because it will always be here, they need to get that threw their head. Stop wasting our money on this and put it togood use.

Hunter numbers are going down, and if crap like this continues they'll keep going that way. If the DNR had any smarts in them at all, that use some of that money to promote the outdoors to more kids.

Im done ranting. Have a nice day.[:'(]

mr.mc54

Irhunter;

We aren't dealing with a rational branch of government!
That is the problem. The people in charge were not voted in to their positions and most don't know an ass from a deer. When you have a fox in charge of the chickens this is what you can expect!

A MAJOR OVER HAUL IS NEEDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TJD

I think you have just summed up how a lot of folks feel.I would only disagree slightly. I do think the people who work for the DNR are, by and large, serious about what they do and also are acting out of what they believe to be the best of intentions.

That, by the way, is part of the problem.

Anyone else remember the saying about the road to perdition being paved with good intentions? Government bureaucracies, by their very nature, take on a life of their own that is often in direct contradiction with what they were intended to do. The way I see it, the DNR is now inflicting hunters with what I will call "Friendly Fire Syndrome". (Before I go on let me be clear: I am not in any way minimizing the harm suffered by soldiers who have been victimized by "friendly fire", nor am I suggesting thatthe harmhunters are suffering is equivalent that of our military.) Basically, in much the same way that troops are often injured or killed by their own artillery or air support, we as hunters are suffering a similar fate in that we also are getting hit with unintended consequences. Vehicle/deer collisions are up,...or crop damage claims, or suburbanites are having their shrubs eaten...take your pick...so let's lower the deer population targets. The zeal to "control" the deer herd then takes on a life of its own. Why, the DNR cannot simply trust landowners to control their own deer, it is up to the benevolence and superior intelligence of the DNR to tell them how much to control the deer population. After all, the lord of the manor needs to instruct the lowly serf, right? More funding heads the DNR's way (or in the case of our current governor, that is less money he will raid to "balance" the state budget), more people are hired to assist in "deer management", and a self-sustaining bureacracy is born. Now, how do we keep it going? Well, we never tell the Conservation Congress, or the legislature anything like the following, even if true:"The deer herd is lower than in past years and is at or below the carrying capacity of the land in many parts of the state.". Instead,they use terms like "excessive", or "crisis" to describe the state of the deer herd in the state. If that does not work, then try to dust off the image of CWD running wild and wiping out the herd statewide ( forget the fact that it has been a fact of life in western states since the early 1970's and there are now more whitetails than before the outbreak was discovered). And the justification for such a shrill tone? Why it's for the hunters' own good! (Besides, we at the DNR like the idea of more funding being kept at our agency so that we can continue to do other "good works".

mr.mc54...as stated above...isn't your statement somewhat of a contradiction in terms?

mr.mc54

TJD

Need I say more? You summed it up perfectly!!!!!!!!

Are you familiar with the Kettle Moraine Forest? I hunted in the kettle Moraine Forest for many years.
I was born and raised in Eagle WI. We hunted off Hwy 67 for 10 years. There were some monster bucks shot there. We hunted down there before all the sub divisions took over all the land in Waukesha County.