QUESTION 66 – Elimination of the Class B license back tag

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Wisconsin new law proposal
QUESTION 66 – Elimination of the Class B bear license back tag

State law currently requires that all persons involved in the pursuit of bear (i.e. assisting a Class A permit
holder locate a bear, including the handling of hounds) must wear either a Class A or a Class B back tag
displayed in the middle of their back on their outermost garment. The wearing of a back tag DOES NOT
apply to hunters who are simply placing out bait for bears, or to persons under the age of 12 who may
assist a Class A bear license holder without the need for a Class B bear license. Some bear hunters feel
that the requirement that a Class B permit holder must wear a back tag is unnecessary. Temperatures
during the training season, which starts on July 1st and runs through the last day of August, can change
drastically from early morning to later in the day, let alone from the beginning of July to the end of August.
This also is true during the harvest season. It makes it very inconvenient to continually change the back tag
from one garment to another during the day or from day to day to stay legal.

According to law enforcement officials, the purpose of the back tags was and remains to help satisfy the
concerns of landowners about hunters who trespass on their lands by providing the landowners with a
means of identifying who is trespassing and allowing sheriff’s deputies to track down such trespassers.

Note: Class A back tags would still be required for those bear hunters who hold a valid class A bear
harvest license.

Would you support a legislative change to remove the requirement that all Class B permit holders
wear a back tag during the bear training and or harvest seasons?

66. YES _______ NO _______