RE: Wisconsin Hunting Liscence Fees
 

Our DNR sucks... Sorry but its true! They have screwed up our herd with bad management and are trying to fix it with worse management. They could care less what we think, and they are caving in to auto insureance companys and legislaters. They have been taking us for every cent they can get for years, charging us for each individule deer we want to shoot instead of charging us once and setting up a limet. I strongly dissagree with raising non-resident tag fee's also. There is something wrong with chargeing anybody 10 or 20 times more than you are charging someone else for the same product. Non-residents should be charged around double what a resident pays. Heck, maybe if they attracted a few hunters they could actually control Wisconsins deer population. And how about there SAFETY plan!!! We have asked for a size limet on bucks for years, but to deaf ears. Not only would a size limet increase the number of larger more desired bucks and more nonresidents spending monie while hunting here, but it would also dramatically increase safety. Right now you can get tags in most areas to shoot multiple deer, most hunters have enough tags to shoot any deer they see, real safe.... Thats where the shooting at anything that moves crap starts, you know, IF ITS BROWN ITS DOWN!! They stopped haveing limets on how many deer you can shoot in my area, giveing you an extra buck tag every time you register a doe, so every body has pockets full of tags and there shooting everything. If that ain't bad enough, they opened rifles in a traditionally shotgun only area to kill more deer all in the name of CWD. Did they forget that rifles were banned here for safety reasons?
I read in the Milwaukee Journal how a guy last week mistook somebodys pet llama for a deer and shot it. The guy went to the landowner and appoligized and turned himself in, The DNR says he is faceing $11000 in fines, Don't get me wrong, he should be punished, but why should the DNR get that monie.... How about the victoms who lost there pet? And what about the DNR who encouraged him to shoot every deer he see's. With a size limet he would have had to wait till he seen the antlers and made sure of his target. The DNR is partly at fault for what happened, but instead of getting punished for there part of this pet getting killed, they get rewarded with huge fine monies. Check out this link about the DNR and a couple of the groups who are starting to fight this corrupt orginizeation. CLICK HERE

RE: Wisconsin Hunting Liscence Fees
 

Then tell your elected state officials to keep there hands off the DNR and give the DNR back to the people, wildlife, and environment of Wisconsin.

The State legislature took over DNR years ago under the Thompson administration. Too many guys like you are programed to think everything is the DNR's fault, and our elected officials like it that way.

A deer hunter screwed up, and made every Wisconsin deer hunter look like an idiot to the general public. The DNR is only responsible for giving the public the priviledge to hunt. Any time a hunter does not follow basic hunting safety rules, you and I, the DNR, the public, we all lose.

The only thing you've said that makes sense is having antler restrictions. It is a realistic goal that could happen some day. ..... but only in DMU's where the deer population is down at a healthy environmently healthy level.

RE: Wisconsin Hunting Liscence Fees
 

Why wait with antler restriction? If they went to a four (4) point on one side or better, in addition to earn-a-buck, you would have to take a doe or take nothing in a lot of areas. Taking the doe brings the population down, and the bucks will get bigger.

I'm all for antler restriction NOW, in every management zone, other than the CWD zone, where the goal is NO DEER left.

RE: Wisconsin Hunting Liscence Fees
 

1sag,

By the tone and content of your posts it sounds like you work for the DNR. I appreciated your response to my post , but you didn't answer my question as to where you got your information regarding hunting fees going into the state's GPR.

Thanks

Spatrat

RE: Wisconsin Hunting Liscence Fees
 

My earliest memories are of fishing and hunting. In my teenage years I had pondered a career in wildlife managemet, but that did not come to pass. Over the years I have spent many many hours in conversation with DNR personnel aging deer while I was registering deer. During the slow times I had no shortage of questions, and they had alot of good stories. Usually DNR personnel would do 1/2 day shifts aging deer in two man teams. Fish biologists, forestry biologists, small and large mammal biologists all are required to participate. This first hand insite into the working DNR has always been more accurate than the barstool rumor, and with a little logic and understanding makes more sense too.

As I understand the DNR budget, the collected license fees go into the Fish and Wildlife fund portion of the budget. The state legislature/Govenor set the ammount this budget taking estimated license fee collecions into account. So regardless of temporarily small increases or decreases in license sales, the budget is "adjusted" the following year to a compensated level. So no matter how much is collected, your elected officials reach in the pocket and take as much as they want like the playground bully. If you can expand apon this, great, I would like to know more.

Hunting and Fishing License Fees [2003-05 Buget Summary]

Yeah, you could say I'm friendly toward the DNR ... I realize the difficult job they do under the worst possible conditions. I also have studied how screwed the DNR has been by the govenors and legislatures of Wisconsin during/since the 90's. With knowledge come understanding.

RE: Wisconsin Hunting Liscence Fees
 

Ditto's turkeyhunter...totally agree. It's too high - hunting is a sport, it shouldn't require such hefty fees to enjoy a sport.

RE: Wisconsin Hunting Liscence Fees
 

The "screwing up" of the DNR began in the early 90's with the (R) Thompson adminstration. Thompson's big budget cut laid off 450 DNR employees. The DNR will be operating with only 2600 employees, 500 fewer than it had in 1995. The WDNR has fewer game wardens now than any other state per recreational user.

Currently the proposed resident deer license up 60%
Last years Non-resident deer license up only 18.5%

4 years ago Illinois increased the Non-resident deer license 80%, from $125 to $225.

RE: Wisconsin Hunting Liscence Fees
 

seems you have it all backwards, 1sag...it's BETTER to have less gov't control. That's what Gov. Thompson was about and I'm hoping he'll come back to straighten out the mess Doyle is making of this once very nice state. Did you know we now went up in state taxes from (SINCE 2002 mind you) eight to six and for overall taxation and fees we're tied for 2nd place? Check Wyoming's fees - they know how to run a state over there, and hunting matters.

RE: Wisconsin Hunting Liscence Fees
 

Sounds like you have it backward, or don't want to remember. Doyle had this mess dumped on him by 15 years of Republican profit taking. The Budget deficit, DNR problems, CWD, can all be traced back to "what Gov. Thompson was all about." The DNR wanted legislation to prevent CWD from coming to Wisconsin, Republicans said NO, "its BETTER to have less Gov't control." When politics trashes Wisconsin's resources, the intelegent sportsman need to step up to the plate.

If you think Wyoming is so cheap, move there. Then you might appreciate the quality of life you used to have.