Terry Hilgenberg, vice chair of the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board, says changes to Wisconsin deer hunting rules unanimously approved Wednesday will streamline the process and increase the input of local hunters in the state’s deer management.
The rules package implements many of the recommendations of Texas researcher James Kroll, who was hired by Gov. Scott Walker’s administration in 2011 to review the Department of Natural Resources’ deer policies.
“This was an extensive process with a great deal of public input that started with the presentations by Dr. Kroll,” Hilgenberg said. “I myself have gone up to the one in Rhinelander. He held various input sessions around the state and he took that information and made some recommendations to the DNR.”
One of the biggest changes is the elimination of deer registration stations by 2015. Hunters instead will register their deer online and over the phone.
Hilgenberg said Wisconsin is one of only two other states in the Midwest that doesn’t provide for online and telephone registration of deer.
“The manual method of doing it has been around for a long, long time,” Hilgenberg said. “There was a very small, vocal minority that were adverse to that change, which was self-interest, and we can appreciate that. … Generally speaking, it makes it much more easier for hunters to achieve that objective. Also, it will streamline the process substantially for the department to get the statistical analysis together based on the results of the hunt.”
Bob Schowalter, sporting goods manager at Qualheim’s in Shawano, which has hosted a registration station the last eight years and was one of nine registration stations in Shawano County this year, said hunting season will be a different experience.
“It’s going to be something that’s going to be missed — people coming in and seeing what they’re getting,” he said.
Schowalter said he’s interested in seeing how the process will be regulated, but can see benefits in the changes.
“It’s going to make things a lot easier on everybody’s end, too,” Schowalter said. “They started it with the turkey registration. Overall, as long as they find a way to regulate it, it’s going to work out on both ends, for the hunter and for us as far as the time it took to do it.”
Todd Casper, a hunter from Gresham and member of the Wisconsin Bowhunters Association, also had concerns.
“It would be a way to start saving the DNR some money, but when you’re just calling it in, I think there could be a lot of violating going on and people could abuse the system,” Casper said. “Also, with the check stations, if you weren’t technologically advanced, it was nice to stop at a check station and see other people’s deer. It makes it a little bit more of a solo sport.”
Anne Boucher, owner of the Gresham Town Mart, another registration station in the county, said she’ll be sad to see the check stations go.
“It was always exciting to see the different sizes of bucks,” Boucher said. “It’ll be kind of sad, actually.”
Another major change is a complete overhaul of the state’s deer management units, consolidating the 134 units down to 72, based on existing county boundaries.
“With that, putting in place county committees to help the DNR analyze, with boots on the ground, what the status of the herd is from year to year,” Hilgenberg said. “We’re really looking forward to that local input.”
The DNR has not yet established how the local committees will be formed, but Hilgenberg said hunters will have more of a voice in the management of the deer herd in the county.
Hilgenberg said he’s excited to see the implementation of the plan and the results going forward.
“It’s an evolving process,” Hilgenberg said. “The idea here is to see how all this works and if we need to tweak it, that’s what we’ll do. We think it’s going to be a big improvement and we think it will give a lot more input to local hunters.”
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