NRB Questions for spring Hearings

The Department of Natural Resources board on Wednesday approved six questions for the Wisconsin Conservation Congress' April hearings. 

The questions ask if people would support extending the nine-day gun season to 19 days; eliminating the December antlerless-only season; prohibit hunting during the days before the nine-day season; eliminate management zones; limit the crossbow season to October and after the nine-day gun season; and invalidate bow and crossbow buck tags during the nine-day season.

I grew up hunting in Wisconsin.  I took the Hunters Safety course at 12, my patch (I wish I still had it) was topped by WCD.  Wisconsin Conservation Department.  At 12 and displaying the patch allowed me to hunt by myself.

For personal reasons I do not hunt in Wisconsin.

I follow this and other discussions with interest.  Most of the people posting  thread have valid points. 

Except the point about seeing deer and shooting a mature buck and hunter recruitment.  I am currently hunting with grandsons.  You had better believe this is a blood sport.  Kids get excited by killing a deer.  The last time I shot a buck, I checked my pulse and I got excited about killing a deer.  My 10 year old grandson has killed a doe the last two years.  He is hooked for life.  

If you want to recruit new people, forgo your need to kill and actually mentor a kid.  Whenever and wherever it is morally and legally acceptable.  Mentor as in leaving your gun, bow etc home and hunt with the newby.  And when you are mature enough to watch a good buck pass by because he couldn't get a shot off and you know you could have killed it, you are on your way to recruiting others.

Im all for it.

2nd what scrub just said

Tim

This is strictly an attempt to limit crossbow use, they have just connected it to a package of fluff questions. Why would the president of the WBH not register to speak as such. He knows that those following along, know that they have some negative credibility issues over how they have approached the crossbow issue in the past. As far as Kaz; if there is an anti crossbow issue coming up at the spring hearings, he's involved. Gotta love a business that claims to 'not be undersold on any new crossbow' or 'the midwest's crossbow authority' , to be smack dab in the middle of every attempt to limit there use. The addition of this question has nothing in the recent study to back it up. Hopefully folks get on board and send there opinions to the NRB.

I know I am in the minority on this line of thought but... being someone that just started deer hunting in this past year (in my twenties). I find the 9-Day traditional Gun Deer season to be wayyyy to daunting to hunt. I don't want to have to fight crowds, worry about idiots, and not having to access to private lands to deer hunt (Don't really have interest in hunting private lands either). Once I got the interest into deer hunting I looked forward to the December Antler-less hunt as a prime opportunity for me to hunt for the first time. I don't care about about shooting a buck. I filled one of my tags during that weekend and will look forward to hunt during that season again in the future. That's just my personal opinion... 

I'm not for less hunting, I think taking away opportunities to hunt sets a bad precedent.  But this state excels at setting bad precedence.  Such as putting the decision making of deer hunting season dates into the hands of CDACs or a deer czar. That's simply my personal opinion and it's nothing that I'm trying to argue.    I feel the same way about duck hunters that want to remove the teal hunt or youth hunt.   

I DO agree with everyone that we need to completely reshape how we set the harvest of doe numbers. We take far too many in small public areas.

We have less hunters not entirely because of a lack of deer or other game, it was proven over a decade and a half ago that we would lose hunters as our social dynamics changed, we are living up to that.  You're not going to fix that by reducing the crossbow season or eliminating gun seasons.  I forgot where the percentages were at (I'd have to look back), but once a person stops hunting the state is unlikely to gain that person back as a license holder and people like Kaz are ignoring that statistic.  When he and others get their way and reduces the crossbow season, we will lose those license holders and we will not gain back the gun hunters that are already lost.  Less license dollars equals less investment in public properties and other habitat.

Now is not the time to try to reduce the amount of hunters in the field.  We have strength in numbers and those numbers are dwindling.  I'll leave my comments at that.  

As I have been a proponent of for a decade, an easy tool to utilize is staring us in the face.  Unfortunately, too many "hunters" feel the need to shoot 2 forkhorns, or at least have the ability to do so every year.  To me if a big problem is too many bucks are shot each year, limit the buck harvest and STOP allowing party tagging.  

First tool to use: 1 buck per hunter per year.  Simply buy your buck tag, and fill it with whatever season you wish - simplifies things greatly.  Provide a free doe tag with your buck tag only in counties where overpopulation exists - again, choose your weapon.  Increase the cost of the tag to make up the difference from the loss of total license sales.  This would somewhat spread out the buck harvest to those who never would have seen a buck, and many hunters may not want to burn up their buck tag on a small buck during archery season - more bucks would be available for rifle season.  In addition, a small percentage of bucks will make it to next year that normally would have been on a buck pole - a slight increase of older bucks in the herd.

However, this goes against all WI deer management tenets.  Managers believe that adding more opportunity automatically results in more sales.  Put out a good product, and they may be surprised that people will actually pay for it.

Greenheads, the posted excerpts are a poor example of trying to act like someone is anti hunting or trying to get rid of opportunities.  So by that flawed logic, anyone who doesn't support completely unrestricted deer hunting 24 hours a day 365 days a year could be reducing someone's opportunity.  Most people I know favor the quality of the opportunity vs the quantity.  Doesn't matter how many days are available if the resource has had the snot pounded out of it.  I'd rather have a 1 day season on a woods full of deer than a 5 month season on a woods devoid of deer.  And if it takes you 100+ days to get a deer, there are either issues with abundance of the resource or the quality of the hunter's skill.  Winding back the clock on some of this stuff might help improve hunting.  It was good before a lot of this crap existed anyways, adding more special hunts and longer seasons isn't going to put deer on the landscape.

I actually like what Kaz did on your list.  Most of those limit the endless killing of does.

How do we get Kaz off of the board?

This is a stolen excerpt:

No anti-hunter rivals Kaz for cutting hunting opportunities this century, and science had nothing to do with his actions. Consider:

   -- Kaz supported snowmobiling groups at public hearings in 2001, 2005 and 2006  to oppose December antlerless-only gun seasons;

   -- Kaz led efforts in 2011 to end a 15-year run of antlerless-only gun seasons in mid-October;

   -- Kaz eliminated the 2015 holiday hunt with no DNR input;

   -- Kaz imposed antlerless-only restrictions on holiday hunts since 2016, even in CWD-infected counties where bucks should be targeted to reduce disease spread;

   -- Kaz voted the past two years to cut three weeks from the state’s ruffed grouse season. (with no scientific facts other than the eye test)

Exactly right JC.  Nobody says "wow we have a December doe hunt" or "wow, archery season now goes until February" and magically buys a tag because of that.  First of all, the majority of license sales are gun license sales for the non die hard hunters.  It's always been that way.  Second, kids grow up and hopefully some stay hunters.  We are at the stage now where kids from the mid-late 2000s when the numerous t-zones, unlimited doe tags, and earn a buck decimated the deer population would be adult hunters.  Hard to get hooked when it's a boring hunt with little sightings.  It's not about shooting deer.  It's about seeing deer.  I started hunting right at the end of the glory days.  The late 90s.  Now I still dream about how awesome it was.  This state has the habitat to be great but you can't tell me the goal has been to dramatically lower the deer herd.  This past year claiming it was the largest herd ever was ridiculous marketing.  Nobody will exterminate the deer they want exterminated if they think there are no deer.  

Ridiculous, but not surprising.  There are so many people that think adding more opportunity (more seasons, longer seasons, more weapons, etc.) is what is needed to gain back lost hunting license sales.  Completely moronic.  If you sell a bad product, people will no longer buy it - plain and simple.  People can live with few deer if there is a chance for a trophy, or they can live with seeing many deer without much of a chance at a trophy.  When we have many areas of the state practically devoid of deer AND with little chance for a trophy people quit hunting.  When the state has devoted all management efforts into "controlling deer populations" it tells you everything you need to know.

I would be all for banning hunting directly preceeding the gun hunt - I never supported extending archery season through the day before rifle season to begin with.  ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF EXTENDING SEASONS (ARCHERY).  I am for any change that saves deer right now - shortening crossbow seasons, throwing out the December and Holiday Hunts, banning archery the week before rifle season, getting rid of party tagging, stop issuing free farmland antlerless tags...anything to not completely rid the landscape of deer (especially the northern half of the state).  This doesn't even address the predator problem.

Like magic...if hunters have action (seeing deer or having a chance at a trophy) they will continue hunting.  Nobody in their right mind expects a new hunter to stick with the sport with the current conditions we have.  

Wow, Kaz COMPLETELY ignored the study that specifically states people are not quitting gun season for Xbow season.  The NRB is a joke.  

That's my plan as well. Kansas, MO, and next year I can add Iowa to the list. I'll gladly over pay for at least a chance at a mature buck elsewhere. 

FullDraw,  i'll just go spend 2 weeks in Illinois and 2 weeks in Kansas.  Who needs this state,  it's a joke and the hunting is below average at best.  I just bow hunt here now to pass time as it's where i live.  I'm to the point where I don't even want to be around any of it.  Extend the gun season so more deer can get killed.  sickening.  

The dudes at work say,  "I spend $20 and I can't even see a deer".  you're a moron!  Do you think because you spend $20,  a box of bullets and an orange coat you're entitled to kill a deer.  Put in a little effort and stop hunting the same spot 40 yards off the road.  It's not how it used to be.  40 years ago when I was a kid,  i'd see 20 deer in a day on public.  now I know guys that see 20 year on private.  Go ahead,  extend the gun season,  i'll fish all fall and bow hunt other states.  COMPLETE JOKE...and shame on the folks that think it's a great idea.