Dr. Deer's final WI deer report and recommendations

[Dewey]

Now we can see what the DNR does with this or if they will just keep repeating the same mistakes.

http://www.doa.state.wi.us/section.asp? ... 39&locid=0

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[rizzo999]

That's funny....I was just going to post that same info. They have some good suggestions/recommendations such as eliminating the October anterless gun hunt in the CWD zone. Also, limiting total tags to a set number. There is a guy who hunts the same property as I who shot 11 deer during the Oct gun hunt last year on 2 separate properties. At least he earned 11 buck tags

I did think it was comical that the e-mail I received from the DNR stated that it will take them "several weeks" to "roll up their sleeves" and process the report. OK.....I just did it during my lunch break.

[dan]

1. We believe it is time to consider a more passive approach to CWD in the DMZ. As
noted by the 2003 Audit Committee, “Severe deer population reduction in affected areas
is not a benign treatment, and like the disease, the deer depopulation process will have
long-term negative effects on the hunting culture and tradition. Because of this, efforts to
depopulate free-ranging deer should not be continued any longer than there is reasonable
hope that they will be effective.” We feel that time is NOW!

[ozzz]

It will be really interesting to see what changes come of this in future years.

Hopefully the DNR finally gets the picture that hunters have had enough of the slaughter in the name of trying to control CWD

[Kodiakman]

Great, my computer won't let me open any of that from the link. I neeed a computure guy bad.

Good to see that he recognizes the failure of the Kill'm all policy.

[Brad]

I hope this CWD nonsense comes to an end soon, it has done nothing but decimate the deer herd (how is that better than a few deer dying of CWD here and there), and spend a fortune in the process. The state is broke and we continue to pay like $60 bucks per deer for testing? They said the first year it wouldn't show up in fawns, but they tested a boat load of them. I think CWD was here WAY before it was discovered, and it hasn't ruined the deer herd. They always said CWD would take 4 or 5 years to kill a deer, and I am pretty confident in thinking that most deer (especially bucks) never live to see 4 or 5 years old, so it becomes a non issue, because most will die from hunters, predators, or cars long before CWD gets them.

[kenn1320]

It will be really interesting to see what changes come of this in future years.

Hopefully the DNR finally gets the picture that hunters have had enough of the slaughter in the name of trying to control CWD

Apparently not all hunters have a problem with it, or they wouldnt keep shooting everything that moves. I hope for your guys sake they make changes, cause this isnt the only situation where it has been proven, some people think if the permits are there, its ok to keep blasting. No self control, so laws are needed.

[fredhill]

I did think it was comical that the e-mail I received from the DNR stated that it will take them "several weeks" to "roll up their sleeves" and process the report. OK.....I just did it during my lunch break.

haha. that's the difference between private enterprise and gov't

[evangorp]

I feel the biggest part of the problem is uneducated hunters. You can relate it to CWD in WI, the same way I relate to anterless tags in Iowa. I hear of many people who turn it into a game amongst themselves of how many deer they can shoot during the season. They run out and buy as many anterless tags as they can, and go out Rambo style and shoot anything with four legs. Then they take the deer and donate them to HUSH, now don't get me wrong I feel HUSH is a good program, but killing in the sake of gamesmanship amongst friends is not what hunting is about. In WI people go out and shoot to many deer because the DNR tells them they have to because of CWD, the same way they shoot excessive does in Iowa because the DNR says the population is too high. While we may have plenty of deer here now, if things keep going the way they are I feel we will be in a very similar position in the next few years of having a low population. Occasionaly I get on a Iowa whitetail site, and many on that site are starting to encourage responsible hunters to consider by anterless tags and making tag soup out of them to try to help the population the only other way we can.

[Dewey]

I feel the biggest part of the problem is uneducated hunters. You can relate it to CWD in WI, the same way I relate to anterless tags in Iowa. I hear of many people who turn it into a game amongst themselves of how many deer they can shoot during the season. They run out and buy as many anterless tags as they can, and go out Rambo style and shoot anything with four legs. Then they take the deer and donate them to HUSH, now don't get me wrong I feel HUSH is a good program, but killing in the sake of gamesmanship amongst friends is not what hunting is about. In WI people go out and shoot to many deer because the DNR tells them they have to because of CWD, the same way they shoot excessive does in Iowa because the DNR says the population is too high. While we may have plenty of deer here now, if things keep going the way they are I feel we will be in a very similar position in the next few years of having a low population. Occasionaly I get on a Iowa whitetail site, and many on that site are starting to encourage responsible hunters to consider by anterless tags and making tag soup out of them to try to help the population the only other way we can.

Good post. I agree completely with everything you said. Over the years I know of quite a few guys that shot 10+ deer in a season and even a couple that shot 20+. Sad thing is these are the same guys that are mad at the DNR because there are no deer around. Common sense is a very rare thing nowadays!

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[kenn1320]

Wow a huge report, Im still reading it. I find it repetative sometimes, but a good read thus far. Interesting Dr Kroll thinks EAB is a good thing for reducing doe populations and even says it could be part of the reason the buck age structure has increased. He seems to be encouraging them to continue it, despite the state listening to the public and revoking it.

11) Maintain the Bonus Buck Regulation in CWD Zone. The EAB regulation was repealed by the
Wisconsin Legislature in 2011 prior to the beginning of this evaluation. The regulation was highly
effective in increasing antlerless harvest (Van Deelen et al. 2006), but was unpopular with hunters
because of the requirement that an antlerless deer be harvested prior to taking a buck. Beginning in
the 2011 hunting season, hunters in the CWD Zone were able to harvest either an antlered buck or
an antlerless deer as their first deer. Hunters wishing to pursue additional deer including antlered
bucks were able to do so under a Bonus Buck permit. Virginia uses a similar strategy on private
lands by allowing hunters to first harvest a buck, but then requires the hunter to harvest at least one
antlerless deer before a second buck can be taken. This strategy has been effective in increasing
antlerless harvest and popular with hunters (http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/deer/eab/). The
original EAB concept could be applied on private DMAP lands and even enhanced by requiring the
harvest of two or more antlerless deer prior to taking a buck if the property owner so chooses. This
is a common practice used on private lands in the southeastern United States.

[Jackson Marsh]

Thanks Dewey for posting this. Hopefully some good will come out of this report.

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[FRH]

I'm really interested in the dmap program. Not sure how it would work around here with everyone having the mentality that those are "my" deer. I think if you could get past that and be more open with your neighbors you will have a better opportunity to harvest deer that everyone is happy with.

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[magicman54494]

1. We believe it is time to consider a more passive approach to CWD in the DMZ. As
noted by the 2003 Audit Committee, “Severe deer population reduction in affected areas
is not a benign treatment, and like the disease, the deer depopulation process will have
long-term negative effects on the hunting culture and tradition. Because of this, efforts to
depopulate free-ranging deer should not be continued any longer than there is reasonable
hope that they will be effective.” We feel that time is NOW!

I could have told you this and I wouldn't have charged you 6 figures eithor.

[Black Squirrel]

Interesting Dr Kroll thinks EAB is a good thing for reducing doe populations and even says it could be part of the reason the buck age structure has increased. He seems to be encouraging them to continue it, despite the state listening to the public and revoking it.

I agree with Dr. Kroll on this, EAB is an effective tool to reduce the doe population, and it does increase the buck age structure. I had some of the best hunting for bigger bucks the following 2 years after they implemented it in 2002. Back then we probably did have a few too many does as well. I think the problem came when the DNR just kept continuing to use it every year. I don't hunt in a CWD area, and I know there it is really bad as for as deer numbers. I also know there are other non CWD areas that have been slaughtered and the population has been reduced too low. Where I hunt it is just about right, hunters here have not went out an slaughtered does, just because they could. I also realize I am probably in the minority here, but the eastern WI farmland area I hunt, has a healthy population right now, just not a lot of big bucks.
My point is, used correctly EAB, is not necessarily a bad thing. Abuse it like the WDNR has, and we all see what happened!