Representative Chris Danou of Trempealeau was the chief sponsor of an approved special gun deer hunt for Wisconsin soldiers who missed the regular hunting season due to being overseas.
State lawmakers approved this special hunt which combines returning soldiers and landowners that are having crop damage due to nuisance deer.
According to the Wisconsin State Journal, the original legislation would only allow the hunting season to run from February 4th to February 7th but lawmakers expanded the season substantially. Vets can now hunt any day between now and September which allows for the convenience to the soldier and landowners.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Not Enough Rack: Sheboygan Monster Buck Comes up Short
According to the Sheboygan Press article, the monster buck shot by Michael Gregoire on November 5th, 2009, fell well short of the mark. Below is the rest of the Sheboygan Press news release.
The much-talked-about buck Michael Gregoire shot with a bow and arrow on Nov. 5 on his brother's farm in Sheboygan Falls was judged non-typical and given a score of 175 3/8 inches at a measuring Thursday night in Fond du Lac.
"Especially on these extraordinarily large deer, we have a system in place to make sure everything is exact on them," Miller said. "Sometimes there are really unique configurations of antlers, in which case you have to look at the manual. Ninety-nine percent of the deer are straightforward and take about an hour to measure."
Miller, of Fond du Lac, is the same judge who spent three hours this fall measuring the Wayne Schumacher Buck, the state's largest non-typical shot with bow and arrow at 243 6/8 inches.
"It's not in the same class as the Schumacher Buck, by any stretch," Steve Ashley, head of the Wisconsin Buck and Bear Club, said of the Gregoire Buck. "Any experienced measurer can look at the pictures and know that."
Gregoire's 12-point buck on Nov. 5 taped out at 217 5/8 inches, a gross measurement of the rack done by an official green scorer. If judged typical, and with minimum deductions, that measurement would have topped the world-record, Milo Hanson Buck, which measured 213 5/8 and was taken with a rifle in Saskatchewan in 1993, according to Boone and Crockett
Article Source: http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20100107/SHE0101/301070121/1062/SHE01
Author: Brian Gaynor
Monster buck shot by Michael Gregoire near Sheboygan Falls comes up short of world-record Milo Hanson Buck
The much-talked-about buck Michael Gregoire shot with a bow and arrow on Nov. 5 on his brother's farm in Sheboygan Falls was judged non-typical and given a score of 175 3/8 inches at a measuring Thursday night in Fond du Lac.
Mark Miller, an official measurer for the national Pope and Young Club and for the Wisconsin Buck and Bear Club, and another unnamed volunteer scored the Sheboygan Falls man's whitetail, which fell well short of the state record. The mandatory 60-day drying period, during which most antlers shrink, had expired this week.
Image from Sheboygan Press.com
Michael Gregoire of Sheboygan Falls poses with the buck
he shot Thursday November 5, 2009.
Photo courtesy Michael Gregoire
(COURTESY MICHAEL GREGOIRE)
"Especially on these extraordinarily large deer, we have a system in place to make sure everything is exact on them," Miller said. "Sometimes there are really unique configurations of antlers, in which case you have to look at the manual. Ninety-nine percent of the deer are straightforward and take about an hour to measure."
Miller, of Fond du Lac, is the same judge who spent three hours this fall measuring the Wayne Schumacher Buck, the state's largest non-typical shot with bow and arrow at 243 6/8 inches.
"It's not in the same class as the Schumacher Buck, by any stretch," Steve Ashley, head of the Wisconsin Buck and Bear Club, said of the Gregoire Buck. "Any experienced measurer can look at the pictures and know that."
Gregoire's 12-point buck on Nov. 5 taped out at 217 5/8 inches, a gross measurement of the rack done by an official green scorer. If judged typical, and with minimum deductions, that measurement would have topped the world-record, Milo Hanson Buck, which measured 213 5/8 and was taken with a rifle in Saskatchewan in 1993, according to Boone and Crockett
Article Source: http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20100107/SHE0101/301070121/1062/SHE01
Author: Brian Gaynor
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
When It Comes to the Wisconsin Deer Herd: Its a Numbers Game
As the deer population number debate goes on, its time to become educated on how numbers are derived when determining population counts. Obviously, the numbers arent going to be exact, but numbers should be close....or closer. Here is a good article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the numbers game that is being played from hunters in Wisconsin, state officials and the Wisconsin DNR.
"DNR's numbers don't add up
Hunters are taking fewer deer, and that could be because there are fewer deer out there than the DNR says. That's a problem.
The state Department of Natural Resources says it is listening to deer hunters' complaints about the agency's management of the state's deer herd. If so, it needs to do a better job of convincing hunters because many of them aren't buying the explanation.
Hunters' complaints need to be more seriously addressed, especially on management issues and on how the agency estimates the size of the herd. A thorough review of both is in order.
The dissatisfaction has only increased in the wake of the last gun deer season, in which hunters registered 195,647 deer, the fewest in 27 years and 29% fewer than in 2008. Journal Sentinel business reporter Joe Taschler reported that the effect of the low numbers is being felt across a number of businesses, including body shops, butchers, farmers, taxidermists and auto insurance companies.
"If you've lost the hunters, you've lost the program," state Sen. Neal Kedzie (R-Elkhorn) said at a public hearing last month, waving a packet of 8,400 comments from hunters.
Kedzie's right. The DNR - and Wisconsin - can't afford to lose the hunters.
Ron Kulas, a representative of the Wisconsin Bowhunters Association, presented data at last month's public hearing showing car-deer collisions have fallen to the same level as 1983, when the DNR post-hunt population was 586,000 deer.
And Greg Kazmierski, representing the Wisconsin Hunters Rights Coalition, said the 2009 gun deer harvest of bucks was the lowest since 1980, when the DNR estimated 565,000 deer overwinter.
The current overwinter goal is 737,000 deer, but there is reason to question the DNR's numbers given the claims of hunters. The DNR cannot manage the herd or set reasonable population goals if its numbers are off. The state is slated to receive an estimated $14.4 million this year from a wildlife restoration fund. It should use that to improve herd estimates and to get a better handle on such factors as the effect of natural predators and the loss of some previous hunting areas to development and private purchases. The state also needs to look at its regulations on hunting antlerless deer.
Hunters aren't the only ones putting pressure on the DNR. In a unanimous vote, the Assembly Committee on Fish and Wildlife and the Senate Committee on Transportation, Tourism, Forestry and Natural Resources refused last week to approve the DNR's proposal for its deer population goals for this winter, sending the proposal back to the DNR for revision.
As Journal Sentinel outdoors writer Paul Smith has pointed out, deer management is a tough job. And it certainly gets tougher when state officials have to also deal with mitigating factors such as chronic wasting disease, a deadly and not fully understood wildlife disease that has the potential to devastate the deer's herd.
It's also true that, as DNR Secretary Matt Frank has argued, that the agency has to balance a number of complex factors when setting deer population goals, including hunting, forestry, agriculture, public safety and animal disease. And it's entirely possible that some hunters have become spoiled by the large size of deer herds in previous years.
But even with all that, something is still not right. State officials need to do a better job of responding to the concerns of hunters and legislators."
Source :http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/81039082.html
Date: Posted: Jan. 9, 2010
"DNR's numbers don't add up
Hunters are taking fewer deer, and that could be because there are fewer deer out there than the DNR says. That's a problem.
The state Department of Natural Resources says it is listening to deer hunters' complaints about the agency's management of the state's deer herd. If so, it needs to do a better job of convincing hunters because many of them aren't buying the explanation.
Hunters' complaints need to be more seriously addressed, especially on management issues and on how the agency estimates the size of the herd. A thorough review of both is in order.
The dissatisfaction has only increased in the wake of the last gun deer season, in which hunters registered 195,647 deer, the fewest in 27 years and 29% fewer than in 2008. Journal Sentinel business reporter Joe Taschler reported that the effect of the low numbers is being felt across a number of businesses, including body shops, butchers, farmers, taxidermists and auto insurance companies.
"If you've lost the hunters, you've lost the program," state Sen. Neal Kedzie (R-Elkhorn) said at a public hearing last month, waving a packet of 8,400 comments from hunters.
Kedzie's right. The DNR - and Wisconsin - can't afford to lose the hunters.
Ron Kulas, a representative of the Wisconsin Bowhunters Association, presented data at last month's public hearing showing car-deer collisions have fallen to the same level as 1983, when the DNR post-hunt population was 586,000 deer.
And Greg Kazmierski, representing the Wisconsin Hunters Rights Coalition, said the 2009 gun deer harvest of bucks was the lowest since 1980, when the DNR estimated 565,000 deer overwinter.
The current overwinter goal is 737,000 deer, but there is reason to question the DNR's numbers given the claims of hunters. The DNR cannot manage the herd or set reasonable population goals if its numbers are off. The state is slated to receive an estimated $14.4 million this year from a wildlife restoration fund. It should use that to improve herd estimates and to get a better handle on such factors as the effect of natural predators and the loss of some previous hunting areas to development and private purchases. The state also needs to look at its regulations on hunting antlerless deer.
Hunters aren't the only ones putting pressure on the DNR. In a unanimous vote, the Assembly Committee on Fish and Wildlife and the Senate Committee on Transportation, Tourism, Forestry and Natural Resources refused last week to approve the DNR's proposal for its deer population goals for this winter, sending the proposal back to the DNR for revision.
As Journal Sentinel outdoors writer Paul Smith has pointed out, deer management is a tough job. And it certainly gets tougher when state officials have to also deal with mitigating factors such as chronic wasting disease, a deadly and not fully understood wildlife disease that has the potential to devastate the deer's herd.
It's also true that, as DNR Secretary Matt Frank has argued, that the agency has to balance a number of complex factors when setting deer population goals, including hunting, forestry, agriculture, public safety and animal disease. And it's entirely possible that some hunters have become spoiled by the large size of deer herds in previous years.
But even with all that, something is still not right. State officials need to do a better job of responding to the concerns of hunters and legislators."
Source :http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/81039082.html
Date: Posted: Jan. 9, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Record number of baiting violations in Wisconsin
According to a report by the Department of Natural Resources, wardens responded to a record high number of baiting violations during the last hunting season.
DNR report states that wardens found 334 baiting violations during the nine day gun deer season along with 42 feeding violations - down 22 percent from last year.
The DNR warns that baiting and feeding deer increases the potential for spreading disease among Wisconsin's deer herd.
Source: WKOW
http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11794691
DNR report states that wardens found 334 baiting violations during the nine day gun deer season along with 42 feeding violations - down 22 percent from last year.
The DNR warns that baiting and feeding deer increases the potential for spreading disease among Wisconsin's deer herd.
Source: WKOW
http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11794691
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