Every year the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources holds a public hearing in every county to gather feedback on proposed regulations. My goals as a land and deer steward, hunter, and blogger are to help make hunting information and strategies easy to understand for new hunters and to share information with experienced hunters to improve their hunting opportunities. This year, I believe there are a number of unfavorable regulations being proposed that I wanted to raise awareness about. The proposals I outline below are not inclusive of all the proposals but are the ones I feel go against my beliefs as a hunter and what I expect out of the DNR, while appearing to favor specific groups of hunters instead of hunting as a whole.
For Wisconsin, the public hearings are scheduled for April 13th at 7:00PM. If you can’t make it in person, you can submit your feedback online up to 72 hours after the hearings. For more detailed information on the hearings, check out the Conservation Meeting agenda and details by following this link. Again, in my opinion, the goals of the DNR when it comes to managing deer should be to increase the number of hunters (which drives up profits and funding) and to do it in such a way that our wildlife and natural resource can sustain for as long as possible and in as healthy of a manner as possible. The following proposed regulations are the ones I feel need the most attention given their potential impact on the whitetail deer hunting season.
October season for hunting with crossbows
I don’t want to get into a debate on crossbows vs vertical bows. What I would debate, though, is how important it is to continue to allow crossbow hunting. Not only do crossbows allow for hunting recruitment, they also allow for hunters to stay with the sport longer than they could if they were no longer able to draw a vertical bow. This type of regulation seems to be written specifically for a certain type of hunter. From the proposal:
While the report found no biological impacts to the deer herd from use of crossbows it did show a disproportionate harvest of bucks by crossbow hunters. It is possible to again meet the expectations for firearm hunters by reducing the disproportionate buck harvest.
If there is no biological impact, and crossbows can help increase the number of hunters, why would we need this type of regulation for any reason other than placating vertical bow hunters who see crossbow hunting as encroaching on their preferred way of hunting? If a crossbow can lead to more hunter recruitment, how can that be a bad thing? I recently heard an interview where Kip Adams said something that never really registered with me until I heard him say it. Crossbows are a great way to get youth and women into hunting who might otherwise be hesitant or afraid of the kickback of a gun or are unable to draw a vertical bow to a lethal draw weight. When half of the deer taken during archery season was done with a crossbow, why would we want to risk decreasing our harvest numbers and the number of hunters while these things are already on the decline?
Invalidate archery and crossbow buck tags during the firearm season
This one makes very little sense to me and I can’t help but wonder what this regulation would do to help the overall goals of deer management other than placating gun hunters. If gun hunting is all you do, wouldn’t you want to invite as many archery hunters as possible to partake in the same season you are gun hunting?
Extend the current nine-day firearm season by adding ten days
Statistically, most hunters get their deer on opening weekend. Gun season introduces a lot of hunting pressure to the woods so if you don’t fill your tag on opening weekend, your chances drastically decrease the further into the season you go. This would also extend the gun season into a time period where bucks are more likely to be on lockdown or just simply not as active as they recover from the rut. The intent behind this proposal seems to be aimed at increasing the deer harvest specifically during the gun season. In Wisconsin, 42% of bucks are taken before the gun season by hunters that partake in archery season. Everyone is welcome to take part in the archery season. There is no rule requiring you to only gun hunt. Additionally, if we look at the decline in the deer harvest, it seems much easier to draw a more direct correlation to the harvest numbers declining and the number of licenses being sold declining by 16% since the early 90s.
Establish a no-hunting period before the first day of the firearm deer season with the exception of waterfowl hunting
Again, I’m not sure what the intent is behind this proposal. In Wisconsin, the timing of the gun season changes every year based on when Thanksgiving lands. That means the gun season could start right at the tail end of the rut, or a week or more after most rut activity has stopped. Why would we want to introduce a no-hunting period during one of the most exciting times in the woods if for no other reason than directly appealing to gun-only hunters. Imagine taking someone on their first hunt during the rut. What better way to get someone hooked on the thrill of hunting than showing them how exciting the woods can get during the rut. If the gun season happens to land at a time the rut is still going or beginning to wind down, why would we want to have a no-hunting period during the time of greatest opportunity for life long memories?
Pay Attention To Your Local Hunting Regulations
Yes this blog post is targeted at Wisconsin residents, but I hope this provides some insight into why it’s important to pay attention to these types of proposals. Regardless of where you stand on the proposals that impact you, it’s important to understand that you do have an opportunity to influence hunting today and for future generations. I hope you share the same passion and ideals towards hunting as I do and that should include getting as many hunters enjoying the outdoors as possible regardless of their preferences on weapon type. We should avoid rules and regulations based off money or jealousy and instead focus on the ones that are backed by science and sound deer management goals.
As a final reminder, public hearings are taking place on April 13th at 7PM. If you can’t make it in person, feedback will be accepted online for up to 72 hours after the public hearings. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with all the proposals and let your voice be heard. For anyone not living in Wisconsin, let this be a plea to reach out to your local DNR and let your voice be heard on any proposals that affect the future of hunting.
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