Hunters and anglers don’t mind getting up before dawn to pursue deer or walleyes. They’ll sit for hours in the rain, snow or frigid temperatures for a shot at a big buck or some slab crappies.
When it comes to voting, they tend to stay home, according to Hunter Nation.
This Kansas-based activist group for sportsmen, credited with the legal action that helped get Wisconsin a wolf season in 2021, is sounding the alarm before the November elections to help right some of the perceived wrongs that have been occurring in our state and elsewhere in America.
“We’re losing our rights quicker than anything,” said Ken Sikora, of Oconto, speaking for Hunter Nation last month at a political rally in Manawa. “We need a voice.”
According to Hunter Nation, about 300,000 hunters and anglers did not vote in the last presidential election. Sikora noted that about 20,000 sportsmen in Waupaca County alone didn’t vote last time.
With a margin of victory measured at about 20,000 votes statewide, it’s clear that these sportsmen’s votes can be critical on issues important to those who value hunting, fishing and gun ownership.
Rather than relying on state or federal game biologists for wildlife management, certain game animals (notably wolves) are being managed in the courts through lawsuits and judicial rulings.
While the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources currently estimates the state’s wolf population at 1,200 animals, Sikora told the rally that the number is closer to 5,000. The increased wolf population in northern counties is reducing the deer herd, and hunters are selling their cabins to largely non-hunters who may be from out of state and not as likely to support sportsmen’s views.
As evidence of the discrepancy in wolf numbers, HN points to the past few wolf seasons.
In the 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons, it took 69, 70 and 52 days, respectively, for hunters and trappers to harvest 117, 257 and 154 wolves, respectively. A season brought about by a HN lawsuit in February 2021 saw 218 wolves harvested in just 60 hours. The wolf population of 660 animals in 2014 had more than doubled to 1,340 animals in 2021, according to DNR estimates. Many northern residents believe the actual number is much higher.
“When a season that used to take 50-70 days is effectively over in 60 hours with similar license participation, responsible predator management requires a full re-evaluation of the population estimate and its margin of error,” according to the HN website.
The DNR had planned to hold a hunt in November 2021, but a judge ruled the DNR was violating state law by not holding a hunt immediately after gray wolves were removed from the Endangered Species list.
Chris Vaughan, Hunter Nation’s Wisconsin state director, said the group is not partisan but encourages sportsmen to vote for candidates who share their values and supports the Second Amendment and hunting.
Sportsmen are not voting in large numbers because “they just don’t feel represented,” he said.
HN’s Wisconsin chapter was the first state chapter started in 2023 and already takes credit for stopping an anti-hunting effort to end organized coyote hunting contests earlier this year. Although outnumbered, HN made it clear that such contests were not violating any laws and convinced the Natural Resources Board to stop the push for a contest ban.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany was a sponsor of HR 845, the Pet and Livestock Safety Act, that was approved in the U.S. House. The act would delist the wolf from the Endangered Species list and restore state control of wolf hunting. Although stalled in the Senate, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Sept. 4 to remove federal protection of wolves, which Interior Secretary Doug Burgum must decide on by Dec. 3.
The state DNR could work on details of a hunt, but the Wolf Advisory Committee has just three pro-hunting members of the 24-member committee, Vaughan said.
HN is trying to simplify hunting, fishing and trapping laws nationwide. He noted that a 1956 copy of the state’s game laws was three pages, and one of them was a table of hunting hours. Today’s booklet is 31 pages. HN recently helped removed a restriction in Pennsylvania that prohibited all hunting on Sunday.
National spokesman and rock legend Ted Nugent will be on hand from 6-8 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Epic Event Center in Green Bay during a Sportsmen’s Rally. Tiffany and Hunter Nation founder and CEO Keith Mark also will appear.
The other prong of sportsmen’s political voting organization is the Wisconsin Outdoor Alliance. This group’s website unites hunters, anglers, boaters, trappers, shooters, archers, powersports lovers and wildlife watchers to help them learn the issues affecting their sports.
One of the alliance’s tools is a podcast. Sikora discusses a confirmed wolf attack in southern Oconto County and also the spread of chronic wasting disease on one episode at https://wisconsinoutdooralliance.com/podcast.
Ross Bielema is a freelance writer from New London and owner of Wolf River Concealed Carry LLC. Contact him at Ross@wolfriverccw.com.
Chris Vaughan
