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COMING SOON, Elk hunting in Wisconsin!

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COMING SOON, Elk hunting in Wisconsin!

Old 05-19-2009, 05:30 PM
  #21  
Fork Horn
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Default RE: COMING SOON, Elk hunting in Wisconsin!

ORIGINAL: mr.mc54

ORIGINAL: wack
As the biologists were seeing the first bears and wolves return to Wisconsin years ago, we are now seeing the mountain lions trickling into our state. Another reason to get the elk reintroduction plan back on track and reason enough for me to want to reintroduce bison also. If we are to set another place at the table for mountain lions, we need more food for the table. In 1995, when choosing elk for reintroduction, they studied all of the possibilities and bison came up #2 after elk. I think we should dust off that research, take the DNR's fenced in Bison herd, put GPS collars on them, turn them loose and see what happens. Cougars or not, now we are talking a real food chain and and awesome hunting future. The DNR wasn't meant to farm bison, DNR land shouldn't be fenced in, the DNR shouldn't be in the business of selling wild bison to domestic farmers. Those are our bison, sell the damn fence to the farmers and turn the bison loose where they can take care of themselves. At worst, they all die and we no longer have to spend money on them. We can go to a private farm and go see bison behind fences. At best, they multiply and contribute to the food chain and economy as a major renewable natural resource. Think about it, how awesome would that be? Give me a good excuse why not. Car crashes? We've got airbags. We need jobs. Cars need fixing, roads need work to be more wildlife friendly, meat needs butchering, hides need tanning, I know lots of taxidermists, gun and bow shops, hotels and campgrounds that could all use a boost that elk and bison could provide. The only way to find out for sure, is to go ahead and do it. We've got a lot more to gain than loose. I'm sick of loosing and it's time to do something about it.

You want Bison in WI????????? Now you're dreamin. I'd like some, of what you're on!Maybe we can come up with a mastadon or perhaps a wooly mamoth. Back to reality now-If the DNR would manage what we have, most sportsmen would be happy. I can see a herd of Elk to look at, but for there to be enough numbers to hunt, that is far fetched at best. We can manage the wolves as many do now, shoot,shovel,and shut up! As for the big kitty's,The three S'SSS will work also. The DNR should allow the hunters to control the bear population and know what the numbers reallyare.

"We got airbags, creation of jobs through car crashes??" You should run for President!!!
LMAO.

Yes, I'd love to see Bison in Wisconsin. It's the 2nd best choice for Wisconsin after elk but I'm not crazy or on anything. The WI DNR has a herd of Bison at the Sandhill Wildlife Area in Central WI. The keep them in a pasture and sell off the extra to farmers when they get too many. What sense does that make? Is the DNR in the livestock business? Seems like a waist of a natural resource to me and a pointless waist of money, time and land.

I'd never say get a 1000 bison and turn them loose, there is no research to say what damage that would do. The DNR has done research on what native missing species would most likely be able to return, they looked at everything from human interaction, disease, habitat ect and basically came up with elk, then bison, after that moose was unlikely and caribou most unlikely.

I'd say pick a few locations, continue the studies, pick one and turn these 20 loose. Whether it's way up north, a national or state park, where ever it would be best and turn the loose with GPS collars and see what happens. If things get out of hand and it doesn't work out, how hard would it be to track down a few bison and wipe them out?

As far a car crashes, not much difference between hitting an elk or a bison or another car. I don't see Alaska or Canada killing off all the big game animals because you might hit one with a car. They created a more big game friendly highway system and learn to deal with them. I remember a past president who brought us out of the great depression by setting land aside for wildlife, building parks and our highway system. If there is a species in Wisconsin that needs the herd trimmed down, it's the human species. If you know big game animals are in an area, slow down, pay attention or meet your airbag. I don't deny that this is a problem, elk and bison will not work for the whole state, but in the north woods there is a place for them in moderation and that isn't behind fences.

As far a the 3 S's go? Might as well shoot everything and get it over with, put hunting out of it's misery and let the Anti's win. It's bad for hunting, it's the lowest form of poaching. It hasn't worked in Wyoming, just kept the wolves on the endangered species list and draws more negative responses from the anti hunters. The Fed's aren't asking a lot from Wisconsin, 350- 500 wolves isn't a problem. We start shooting them illegally, we go below 350, the fed's take over again and we are screwed like Wyoming is right now. Our deer population can not take another year of wolves on the endangered list red tape. Play by the rules or we risk loosing everything. In return for the 350 wolves we get elk and if we're smart, bison too. If the elk we were supposed to get weren't 7 years and counting behind schedule, our deer herd wouldn't be in quite as bad of shape as it is right now.

Elk hunting at first will not produce a lot of hunting opportunities, no doubt the odds are slim for awhile. Making an effort to get elk back in Wisconsin is the right thing to do. If not for us, for our children and there children. How much effort and support we put into it now will determine just how much of a chance we will get in the future. If we add 50 elk soon, our chances get much much better to draw a tag in our life time. Once the first 50 are here, the next 50 will be that much easier and get us that much closer again. This is a bank account that grows at about 12% per year, the trick is getting enough money in the bank to make the interest profitable.

And yea, the DNR will make money on the elk lottery. Money that's needed for the elk. The whole idea behind these first 5 token season's is to generate interest and funds to continue. Research, management and education all takes money. With out the token hunts, the elk program would solely depend on RMEF and other conservation money such as deer hunting, that's needed for deer hunting. The state of Wisconsin has paid a lot for the existing elk herd over the years, it's time the elk herd starts paying for itself so better progress can be made. People piss away billions on loto tickets, this lotto's payoff will be elk hunting for our future. Good deal in my book, because everybody wins.
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Old 05-19-2009, 05:54 PM
  #22  
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Default RE: COMING SOON, Elk hunting in Wisconsin!

"We got airbags, creation of jobs through car crashes??" You should run for President!!!

I don't know about president, but I don't think I could do a worse job running this state than Gov. Doyle. If I were Gov of WI. this would be a big game state, not just a deer hunting state that's in trouble and I'd get a much bigger return on our natural resources then paper we can't sell and no longer need, and a dwindling deer herd.
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Old 05-20-2009, 06:20 AM
  #23  
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Default RE: COMING SOON, Elk hunting in Wisconsin!

ORIGINAL: wack

"We got airbags, creation of jobs through car crashes??" You should run for President!!!

I don't know about president, but I don't think I could do a worse job running this state than Gov. Doyle. If I were Gov of WI. this would be a big game state, not just a deer hunting state that's in trouble and I'd get a much bigger return on our natural resources then paper we can't sell and no longer need, and a dwindling deer herd.
You got that right! Doyl is a Dandy and our DNR ranks right up there with him.

I would like to see Bison and Elk to look at however, a hunting population is going to be a problem.
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Old 05-20-2009, 07:50 AM
  #24  
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Default RE: COMING SOON, Elk hunting in Wisconsin!

I would like to see Bison and Elk to look at however, a hunting population is going to be a problem.
A much better problem to have than no big game animals at all. Both the DNR and hunters must depend on biologists and scientists to help manage our wildlife instead of politicians.

The info I just got says that the fee for the elk drawing was going to be $3 that has now been raised to $10. The extra $7 will go directly to the elk fund. Politicians tried to direct this money to the General DNR fund, then even tried to direct this money toward Agricultural damage funds. Unbelievable, but true, RMEF fought hard and all of the money from the elk drawing will go back into the elk program as the bill is going to the legislature right now, with much credit given to Rep. Ann Hraychuck for her efforts. She's been a great asset for hunters in Wisconsin. We need more reps like her in Madison.

If you don't like what's going on in the woods, use your votes, use you tax dollars, use your voice. We'll never hunt elk or bison if we don't try, even if we only get to look at them, it's better than showing pictures or taking the grandkids to the zoo to see them. We planted rows and rows of trees for paper and lumber, now that investment doesn't quite look so good since rows and rows of trees have no defense against diseases bug infestations and fire. It's time to start slowly converting the dieing tree farms back into natural habitat that can sustain a variety of natural renewable resources that this land was made to support. Mother nature has the blueprints for the most economical use of the land. We had the wolves forced down our throats by the feds, if they're going to protect the wolves, the only way to do that is to bring back the rest of the food chain. If all the predators are here, then they need to bring back all of the prey. We're no different from Minn. Mich. Canada Alaska, it's all the same land. Just some areas managed the wildlife better in the past, didn't kill off everything in sight like we did here in Wisconsin. What's crazy is not having elk bison moose and caribou here in Wisconsin and it makes sense that we'll loose the deer too if we don't put at least some of them back.
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Old 05-20-2009, 03:47 PM
  #25  
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Default RE: COMING SOON, Elk hunting in Wisconsin!

I just saw this on the 6 pm WBAY Green Bay news, Wisconsin talking about a new wolf season. See the story here. The more the wheel squeaks, the sooner it gets greased. http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=10397807&nav=menu24_2_1 The more e
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Old 05-21-2009, 11:31 AM
  #26  
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Default RE: COMING SOON, Elk hunting in Wisconsin!

Wack, I am familar with Adrian Wydeven (don't know personnally) as we come from the same town, Adrian is the head wolf biologist for Wi. an no way is he going to allow a regular hunting season. That is why the DNR no.s are so low.
They only count the wolves that are in packs. The wolf no.s are really above a thousand. I personnally have seen 2 wolves in northern Wi. and 2 down here in central wi. Now with Wi. being that large how can there only be 680 wolves.
Deer hunting in Northern Wi. is going to be pretty sad for a long time.
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Old 05-21-2009, 02:46 PM
  #27  
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Default RE: COMING SOON, Elk hunting in Wisconsin!

Redclub, I really can not argue with you over wolf numbers, I saw my first Wisconsin wolf back in 1990 and that was in S.W.Wisconsin near Lone Rock, in Richland county. They found a Wisconsin radio collared wolf in Indiana. With out deer up north, the wolves and bears have little choice but to spread out, meaning east and south as they can not swim the great lakes.

As far as the wolf biologist, he'd better start killing wolves one way or another soon. Mr Warnke said months ago that the DNR would never give up EAB also, hunters went over his head April 15th and all of a sudden the DNR is paying attention to what hunters are saying. The legislature threaten the DNR with taking over wildlife management if they couldn't make hunters happy because the DNR works for us. The more hunters that speak up, the more the DNR has to listen. The wolf biologist was correct in protecting the wolves for many years but if he's any kind of biologist, he should be able to see that we are at the point where it's going to take more than a few sharp shooters to correct the problem. The facts are the wolf management plan is pretty clear that the goal number is 350 with a max of 500. BTW it is now legal to protect yourself against wolves but you'd better be able to prove it was being a problem.

Last count I saw of wolf pack was about 150. According to DNR biologists, each WI. wolf pack averages 5-6 puppies per year. That's 750-900 puppies. Add that to the existing 660 you get 1410-1560 total wolves by this fall, 3 times past the habitat carrying capacity, I don't see how Mr biologist is going to keep up with out the help of hunters with and a wolf season. It would be costly when a controlled wolf hunt would be profitable. We don't need a degree to figure that out.

I'm not anti or pro DNR, I see what's going on out in the woods, I hear what others are saying, I hear you, and can only come up with the conclusion that if we don't speak up for what is right, we can only blame ourselves when things don't change for the better. What we have to do is get control of the wolf population as in the wolf management plan, reduce the bear population, and let the deer recover by limiting hunting and at the same time, make a serious effort to reintroduce more elk into the picture.

I heard something on the radio today, not sure who said it, but I thought it was funny and can kind of be applied here, it was," They say that there's a hundred million rats in the sewer system of New York. Why didn't they kill them while they were counting them?" If it were only that easy. lol

How long it takes for the north woods to recover is up to us. Northern towns that depended on deer hunting are suffering, adding a new elk herd to Black River falls would create instant tourism to that area, every dollar helps. Wolf and bear hunts could make up a fraction of lost deer hunting revenue and a elk lottery will chip in $3 of $10 from lotto sales to the general DNR fund, this is our bail out plan, bring the deer back, the elk back, the bears back, and keep the wolves down, all through hunting, for hunting. My idea of bringing bison back isn't any more crazy than letting the wolves come back and letting them get out of control. Bison are one of the wolves favorite food. Much like elk, try some, you'll know why. Yummy. Bringing back dinosaurs? Now that's crazy. So I'm a dreamer, which puts me in a pretty good group of people, my dream is to leave this land better than we found it. Well, we found it pretty screwed up, I'm doing my best to fix it, how about giving me a hand?




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Old 05-23-2009, 06:24 AM
  #28  
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Default RE: COMING SOON, Elk hunting in Wisconsin!

Wack
I sure know what elk tastes like, I hunt them every year ,sometimes even get lucky. According to Mr. wolf biologist if the deer get down to a certain number (about 8 per sq.mile) they will never recover, the predators will keep them that low. its happening in Alaska. Here in Northern Wi. some places are at that low or lower now. I live and own land in Waupaca Co. there are a lot of deer here and some huge bucks. Last year the 3rd largest buck ever to come out of Wi. was shot right across the road from me. I might have to gun hunt here in the future but I really love the vast Northwoods been doing it since "52". Last season was the worst I ever saw it (I did shoot a buck tho) no trails or sign at all. There were other years when we harvested fewer deer but there was always deer sign? Good to talk with you.
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Old 05-23-2009, 07:37 AM
  #29  
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Default RE: COMING SOON, Elk hunting in Wisconsin!

Again, I agree with most of what you are saying, BUT we can not except the word never as in "the deer herd will never recover." It's up to us to learn from other parts of the world, from Alaska to Southern Africa, England to Australia, learn both from past success and failures. We know what's got to be done, we must pull together and make sure it gets done. We wiped out a lot of species in Wisconsin over the past 200 years, the elk have been missing for a long time. Yet 7 elk in Mich. lead to 25 in Wisconsin, lead to 150+ today. The herd has kept growing even in these past few years when wolves, bears and extreme weather has peaked. That's got to tell you something. The race is on, lower the predators including hunters now, or we start over from zero after the bears and wolves all starve to death.

Personally, we should get out and for every wolf we see, we should call the DNR and report it. The goal is 350 wolves, the DNR is spread pretty thin, the more phone calls they get with sitings, the better. Landowners, call the DNR and tell them what's going on on your land. If you have too many wolves or bears, not enough deer, speak up. Get the biologists out there, show them you need to turn your 2009 deer tags into bear or wolf tags. Every area will have a demand and role for hunters to play and it's more important than ever that ever hunter and landowner plays the right role.
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Old 05-23-2009, 10:21 AM
  #30  
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Default RE: COMING SOON, Elk hunting in Wisconsin!

Wack
I don't know if you or others ever read this it will tell you what we are up against.
http://dmureview.editme.com/Topic-1234893815148
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