EDITORIAL: Bill to lower hunting age misses target | Wausau Daily Herald
June 12, 2009
June 12, 2009
State Sen. Jim Holperin of Conover wants to get more kids away from their televisions and computers and out enjoying the great outdoors.
At the same time, he wants to breathe new life into one of Wisconsin’s biggest industries: hunting. The annual nine-day rifle season alone is calculated to pump as much as $1 billion into the state’s economy every year.
Both are laudable goals. But his strategy for addressing them is off the mark.
Holperin has introduced legislation, already passed this week by the Senate, that would allow 10-year-old children to hunt in Wisconsin. That’s two years younger than current regulations allow.
Holperin says his legislation is “just replete with safety requirements,” but we’ve read the bill through several times and safety requirements are about as scarce as 30-point bucks.
True, the proposal requires a 10-year-old hunter to be accompanied by a mentor — an adult who holds a hunting license and always must be within “arm’s reach” of the student hunter. And the pair can share only one gun between them.
But that’s about it.
The bill doesn’t require the 10-year-old or the adult hunter to complete a hunter’s safety course. Nor does it restrict the type of weapon the 10-year-old can carry — a .22-caliber plinker, .30-06 high-power rifle or .44 magnum pistol all are allowed.
Under current law, a 12-year-old is allowed to hunt with adult supervision — the parent or guardian must be within visual range of the child — and the child must pass a hunter’s safety class.
The state should not allow 10-year-old learners to hunt without proof they’ve been taught proper firearm handling by a certified instructor.
Furthermore, there’s scant evidence that reducing the legal hunting age will achieve the underlying goal of the bill.
We’re an increasingly urban society, and many kids who already have the option of going outdoors to enjoy nature, get fresh air and exercise choose instead to play video games or chat with friends on the computer. Lowering the hunting age isn’t likely to change that. The Department of Natural Resources estimates that about 9,000 additional hunters will take to the woods if the bill is passed — but that’s a tiny fraction of the more than 650,000 who already hunt here every year. Click Link Below for Full Story!
via EDITORIAL: Bill to lower hunting age misses target | wausaudailyherald.com | Wausau Daily Herald.
Earn-A-Buck regulations are put on hold – JSOnline
April 14, 2009
Madison – Responding to mounting criticism and unprecedented input from hunters, the Department of Natural Resources announced Thursday a moratorium on Earn-A-Buck deer hunting regulations for most of the state in 2009.
According to DNR Secretary Matt Frank, the department will recommend a regular deer hunting framework, without even an October antlerless gun hunt, for the fall seasons in most of the state. Earn-A-Buck regulations will be offered only in Chronic Wasting Disease management zones.
“Deer hunting is a rich tradition in Wisconsin, and the DNR takes our role in protecting this important part of our heritage very seriously,” Frank said. “In light of the recommendation from the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, and the concerns of hunters expressed at meetings across the state, the DNR is recommending a break from Earn-a-Buck this year.” Click linkd below for full story
via Earn-A-Buck regulations are put on hold – JSOnline.
Outdoors: Fall turkey harvest numbers slump | Green Bay Press-Gazette
January 26, 2009
By Jim Lee • Gannett Wisconsin Media
MADISON — Wisconsin hunters harvested 10,464 turkeys during the autumn hunting period in 2008, the second-lowest fall tally in the past 10 years and a falloff of nearly 2,000 birds from 2007, according to the Department of Natural Resources
Hunter success rates fell to 13.5 percent overall, a drop from 14.9 percent in 2007 and well below the 20 percent success rates common in the 1990s.
The results reflect harsh conditions during the winter of 2007-2008 that impacted turkey survival in some areas and a lingering, cool, wet spring that led to a decline in turkey brood production, said Sharon Fandel, DNR assistant upland wildlife ecologist.
“It’s hard to pin an absolute on the decline,” she said.
Observation reports from department field personnel indicated a 12 percent decrease in the number of turkey broods spotted in the summer of 2008 and an 8 percent decline in the number of poults in each brood when compared to 2007. Click Link Below for full story!
via Outdoors: Fall turkey harvest numbers slump | greenbaypressgazette.com | Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Pat Durkin column: Pheasants Forever taps youthful energy | Green Bay Press-Gazette
January 26, 2009
By Pat Durkin
Wisconsin’s modest pheasant population might appear to make Madison an unusual host for the National Pheasant Fest, but Pheasants Forever believes the state’s passion for ringnecks and conservation will send hunters flocking to the capital Feb. 6-8 for the annual event
That’s because Wisconsin’s wildlife passion can be measured. The state consistently ranks near the top in conservation memberships in Ducks Unlimited, the National Wild Turkey Federation and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
That’s also true for its pheasant lovers. Of Wisconsin’s 70,000 pheasant hunters, more than 7,300 belong to Pheasants Forever. Those familiar with hunting organizations know a membership rate exceeding 10 percent is phenomenal. For example, one of Wisconsin’s most influential groups, the Wisconsin Bowhunters Association, has about 8,000 members among the state’s nearly 250,000 licensed bowhunters, a 3 percent rate.
Wisconsin also ranks No. 6 in Pheasants Forever’s national membership, which totals 125,000. The state has 30 chapters in Pheasants Forever, and their members account for nearly 6 percent of PF’s total membership. Click Link Below for Full Story!
Request for hunt suspension denied – JSOnline
December 12, 2008
Antlerless deer ruled not to be in danger
By Paul A. Smith of the Journal Sentinel
Madison – The Natural Resources Board has denied a state group’s request to suspend the December antlerless deer hunt.
Citing low harvest numbers from the recently completed gun deer hunt, the Wisconsin Hunters Rights Coalition asked the board to use its emergency rule authority to stop the antlerless-only hunt, planned statewide from Thursday to Sunday.
“It is the responsibility of the DNR and sportsmen to protect this cherished resource,” said Greg “Kaz” Kazmierski of Pewaukee, representing the Wisconsin Chapters of the Safari Club International. “To err on the side of caution seems prudent with the data that is in.”
Hunters registered 276,985 deer in the gun hunt, a 20% drop from 2007. The coalition said its request was on behalf of hunters statewide who are “concerned that the overstated population estimates by the DNR may have already resulted in an overharvest of antlerless deer. Click Link Below for Full Story!
Request for hunt suspension denied – JSOnline.
Deer-less hunters open up on DNR – JSOnline
December 6, 2008
Deer-less hunters open up on DNR
Paul Smith | Outdoors Editor
Posted: Dec. 3, 2008
Keith Warnke has been spending a lot of time on the phone this week. And its not just because hunters are dialing in with stories about the trophy buck they shot.
The big game ecologist for the Department of Natural Resources has heard a few of those happy tales, sure. He has also been contacted by hunters who were pleased to take an antlerless deer, and those who didnt shoot anything but had a good time.
But the largest volume of calls has been from hunters who came home with empty game racks and unfulfilled expectations from the nine-day Wisconsin gun deer season that ended Sunday.
“Were coming off several years of record deer numbers,” Warnke said Wednesday. “While many hunters would like to see a huge herd, we are charged with managing it to the established population goals.”
If you failed to tag a deer this gun season, you have plenty of company. It includes me I didnt see a deer in four days of hunting spread across Oneida and Eau Claire counties and an estimated 60% of the 642,419 hunters who bought a license this season. It also includes Warnke, who hunted in Adams County.
As you are likely aware, hunters harvested 276,985 deer in the recently completed gun season, a drop of 22% from the 2007 hunt.
The number of disgruntled hunters isnt tracked by any reliable survey agency. But it might well be at record levels.
Ive heard from dozens in the last several days. Some contend that the DNR was way off on its prehunt population estimates of 1.5 million to 1.7 million deer in Wisconsin.
“This was the worst deer hunt ever,” said Greg Thiele, a reader from Necedah. “The deer numbers are way down. None of us ever see any deer in the fields.”
On this count, the DNR has said it likely overestimated the herd size, in part because of lower than expected fawn production in the north and northeast because of the harsh winter last year. A new population estimate will be made in coming months that will no doubt be lower. Full Story Click Link Below!
Deer-less hunters open up on DNR – JSOnline.
Ice fishing: It’s really beginning – River Valley Outdoors
November 30, 2008
By BOB LAMB / blamb@lacrossetribune.com
Ice fishing? You have to be kidding.
“Not really,” according to a couple of bait shop operators in the Coulee Region.
While the majority of attention is on the Wisconsin gun-deer hunting season, which ends on Sunday, ice fishermen are beginning to dot backwater bays in search of early-season panfish.
Scott Gartner, at Bob’s Bait and Tackle on French Island, shook his head, adding that as far as he can recall, this must be the earliest “unofficial” ice fishing opener in the La Crosse area.
“It’s the earliest I’ve seen,” he said, adding that guys tiptoed onto the ice as early as last Friday.
“Guys are catching lots of fish, but not a lot of big ones,” Gartner said. “Early and late ice is always the best. They’re catching sunfish, perch, crappies and bluegills, but not a big old batch of fish yet. Click link below for full story!
Ice fishing: It’s really beginning – River Valley Outdoors.
5 shooting incidents, 1 fatality in Wisconsin deer hunt
November 26, 2008
By ROBERT IMRIE , Associated Press
WAUSAU, Wis. – Five hunters were shot, one of them fatally, during the opening weekend of Wisconsin’s gun deer season, and the deer kill was down substantially from a year ago.
A 48-year-old Appleton man, Ronald Verhagen, died after a member of his hunting party shot him in the chest during a deer drive in Outagamie County on Sunday morning, said Tim Lawhern, safety administrator for the Department of Natural Resources.
The nine-day hunt that opened Saturday attracted some 630,000 hunters.
According to preliminary counts, hunters registered 133,828 deer following the first two days of shooting, down nearly 38,000 deer, or 22 percent, from a year ago, the DNR said. Full Story!
5 shooting incidents, 1 fatality in Wisconsin deer hunt.
Hunters kill 22% fewer deer on opening weekend – JSOnline
November 25, 2008
By Lee Bergquist of the Journal Sentinel
Hunters killed 22% fewer deer during the opening weekend of the nine-day gun deer season, the Department of Natural Resources reported Monday.
The number of hunters injured in shootings increased to four, in addition to the single fatality on Sunday that had been previously reported.
A preliminary count of the first two days of the season showed that hunters killed 133,828 deer.
The buck harvest was down 25%, and antlerless harvest fell 20%.
Last year, the preliminary count totaled 171,584.
The DNR said several factors have contributed to a lower harvest.
They included a smaller deer population after several years of regulations to drive down the population, cold hunting conditions in northern Wisconsin, a late opening weekend that missed the peak of the rutting season and hard 2007-’08 winter conditions after a string of mild winters. Click Link Below for full story!
Hunters kill 22% fewer deer on opening weekend – JSOnline.
Record Buck? Archer bags notable deer Leader-Telegram Online
November 4, 2008
By Julian Emerson
Leader-Telegram staff
Bob Decker of Eau Claire shot this buck, believed to be the animal made famous this fall after a video of it was posted on the Web site of the outdoor magazine Field and Stream, while bow hunting Saturday in Buffalo County. Experts have speculated the animal may challenge the typical buck world record. Contributed photo
It had been a slow morning. Perched in his tree stand for more than three hours, Bob Decker hadn’t seen one deer in the Buffalo County woods he hunts south of Mondovi.
Growing restless despite the excitement of knowing a potential world-record buck recently had been sighted roaming the area, Decker thought of checking in with his longtime hunting buddy, Paul Olson, who was hunting these same woods between Modena and Urne Saturday morning.
Then, at 9:30 a.m., Decker heard it, the telltale “snap” of a whitetail stepping on a twig as it walked nearby.
Startled, he looked down from his tree stand and saw a large buck just 40 yards away. Decker eyed the animal’s large antlers and immediately decided it was a “shooter buck.” A few seconds later, adrenaline surging through his veins, he grabbed his bow and zeroed in on the animal’s body.
Thwap! The arrow struck its mark just 6 or 7 yards below Decker. The buck bolted for about 50 yards through the woods, then collapsed. It struggled to its feet after a few seconds, then staggered another 50 yards or so to its death. Click link below for full story!
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