2009 DNR Spring Rule Hearings - WCC County Meetings Votes are In

Monday nights 2009 DNR Spring Rule Hearings across the state did not disappoint and drew large crowds in several counties. The DNR has posted the votes from Mondays rule hearings and you can find all the results if you click on the DNR link at the bottom of this post.

Sitting in the Eau Claire county section meeting, I realized that there were a lot of dedicated hunters and outdoorsmen(and outdoorswomen) that have a passion for Wisconsin's great outdoors.

Since this is a Wisconsin Whitetail Blog, I will cover what I feel were the main whitetail issues that came up. Below you will see the results from proposed rules # 57 EAB Alternative, #59 Eliminate Earn-A-Buck (EAB) and October Antlerless Deer Hunts, # 63 Private Land-only, Antlerless-only Deer Season, #65 Maximum of Two Consecutive Years for a Deer Management Unit to be designated.

Note: I plan to have more information by the end of the day on the Earn-A-Buck update from Michael Best & Friedrich along with the position statement from the Hunters' Rights Coalition.


QUESTION 57 – An EAB Alternative
The use of the Earn-a-Buck deer season in Wisconsin has been controversial, unpopular, and seemingly unfair to many hunters since its inception. Yet, EAB has proven to be effective at reducing high deer populations. It accomplishes this by tying the ability, opportunity, and desire for harvesting a buck with the biological necessity of harvesting antlerless deer. Sadly, EAB does this on an individual hunter basis where one hunter may be able to hunt bucks for over 100 days, while another hunter may never have even one day’s chance.

Another way of utilizing the same “ability, opportunity, and desire for harvesting a buck” would be to implement a full-length antlerless season with a shortened buck harvest period. Season opening weekends (and perhaps a two or three week rutting period) would always be open for buck harvest so everyone in the DMU has the same chance at that time for a buck every year that the program is in effect. Antlerless harvest would be spurred on during the rest of the season by the desire to return to a full-season buck hunting opportunity again. Specific time periods and trigger points for the implementation of such a management tool could be developed cooperatively with the DNR. All hunters under this system would and should be treated equally.

• In areas or DMUs of high over-goal deer populations and in an effort to provide equal buck-hunting opportunity to all hunters in those units, would you prefer the concept of shortening buck hunting opportunity by limiting the buck harvest equally for all hunters on a seasonal basis instead of limiting individual opportunity through the use of EAB?

Results:
Votes Yes: 1126
Votes No: 5472
Majority: No
Counties Approving: 0
Counties Rejecting: 71
Counties Tie Vote: 0
Counties Not Voting: 1


#59 Eliminate Earn-A-Buck (EAB) and October Antlerless Deer Hunts

Wisconsin’s deer hunting heritage and tradition is protected by a Constitutional right to hunt. Some hunters feel the current EAB and October special antlerless hunts are unreasonable in that they negatively impact hunting traditions and deny hunters the right to hunt bucks.

• Would you support the DNR eliminating Earn-a-Buck and special October antlerless deer hunts?

Results:
Votes Yes: 5513
Votes No: 1321
Majority: Yes
Counties Approving: 72
Counties Rejecting: 0
Counties Tie Vote: 0
Counties Not Voting: 0

QUESTION 63 – Private Land-only, Antlerless-only Deer Season

In an attempt to control high deer populations in some areas of the state, the Wisconsin DNR has held special 4-day antlerless-only deer seasons, usually called T-Zone seasons, in October and/or December for the last several years. Because deer hunters with antlerless tags flow to the areas with the least resistance to access, there is a wide-spread perception in many Deer Management Units that public land in those DMU’s with antlerless hunts are being over-harvested while the privately controlled land holds the actual over-population of deer in that unit.

Creating a private land-only, antlerless-only deer season might better focus antlerless harvest efforts where the actual population problem exists and could help address the concerns of over-harvesting public land.

• Would you support the concept of some type of private land-only, antlerless-only deer season as a more focused and precise tool for deer population management?

Results:
Votes Yes: 2570
Votes No: 3933
Majority: No
Counties Approving: 12
Counties Rejecting: 58
Counties Tie Vote: 2
Counties Not Voting: 0
QUESTION 65 – Maximum of Two Consecutive Years for a Deer Management Unit to be designated as an Earn-a-Buck (EAB) unit
Earn-a-Buck regulations are very unpopular with hunters and may have led to an over harvest of antlerless deer in some areas of the state. To control deer populations in the state there needs to be a partnership between the hunters and the DNR. To build that partnership there needs to be a balance between the use of strict harvest regulations and the desires of the deer hunters.

• Would you support a rule change that would prohibit EAB seasons from being held for more than two consecutive years within the same unit, and would require a one year break from EAB, before a unit could be re-designated as an EAB unit?

Results:
Votes Yes: 5512
Votes No: 1325
Majority: Yes
Counties Approving: 72
Counties Rejecting: 0
Counties Tie Vote: 0
Counties Not Voting: 0
You can find all the results on the Wisconsin DNR website at http://dnr.wi.gov/org/nrboard/congress/spring_hearings/2009/2009_Results_Master.pdf