I hope that this is true so I can bow hunt during the 9-day gun hunt WOHOOO!!!
From today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by Paul Smith
Madison – Wisconsin anglers will see the musky minimum length limit increased to 40 inches and hunters will have two days added to spring turkey periods in 2012.
Those were among the rules and regulations approved by the Natural Resources Board at its Wednesday meeting in Madison.
Although a few items stimulated debate, the board approved all proposals advanced by the Department of Natural Resources. The issues were voted on by the public April 11 at the DNR Spring Wildlife and Fisheries Proposed Rules Hearings and Annual Conservation Congress Meetings.
Catch-and-release fishing for muskies has become the norm for anglers in Wisconsin and throughout North America, said Mike Staggs, DNR fisheries director, and broad public support has built in recent years for increasing the state’s musky size limit from 34 inches.
Voters at the spring hearings gave the thumbs-up for the change to a 40-inch minimum by a 2 to 1 margin. The measure was supported by a majority in all 72 counties.
As a result of the regulation, about 600 Wisconsin waters will have the 40-inch minimum for musky in 2012, while 20 special waters will have a 28-inch minimum and 20 others will have 45- or 50-inch minimums.
In other fisheries regulations, the board approved a rule that will require anglers to use a quick-strike rig or circle hooks when using 8-inch or longer minnows for bait.
The rule is designed to reduce delayed mortality in fish caught with live bait and released.
The board approved a daily bag limit of 10 for whitefish, cisco and hybrids in Wisconsin-Michigan boundary waters. There is currently no bag limit; the rule is designed to protect a growing spawning population in the area of the lower Menominee River as well as make regulations there consistent with the Wisconsin waters of Green Bay.
Although it received support from 57% of the voters, the DNR did not advance a proposal for an 18-inch minimum length and daily bag limit of three fish for walleye in southern Wisconsin.
Staggs said seven of 19 affected counties voted against the proposal and he’d prefer to keep working to find regulations that meet the walleye management objectives of southern Wisconsin and gain broader public support.
Of the 11 wildlife rules changes advanced by the DNR, a proposal to add two days to the spring turkey hunting periods generated the most discussion.
Wisconsin has traditionally had six, five-day spring turkey hunting periods that run Wednesday to Sunday. The proposal would lengthen each period to run Wednesday to Tuesday.
Board member Jane Wiley of Wausau said she hunts public land and values the current season format for the Monday and Tuesday break.
“If I want to scout on Monday and Tuesday, I don’t have to worry about ruining another hunter’s opportunity,” Wiley said. “If the seasons run into one another, I’m afraid we will be increasing hunter conflicts.”
Tom Hauge, DNR wildlife director, said since the spring season is for only bearded (mostly male) turkeys, the issue was social, not biological.
After several attempted amendments, the measure passed unanimously.
In another turkey hunting rules change, the board voted to make the extended fall turkey season permanent. The season will run from about mid-September to the end of December.
In other changes, deer hunters will have the option of hunting with their bow during the 2011 gun deer season. The board approved a rule that extends the archery deer hunting season to include and run concurrent with the traditional November nine-day gun deer season. The rule will be in effect in 2011.
Regardless of which weapon they use, hunters will be required to wear blaze orange during the firearm deer season.
Other wildlife rules changes approved will:
Repeal the requirement that elk hunters must wear blaze orange;
Establish a September elk season that would run concurrently with the first 30 days of the archery deer season;
Allow landowners to kill a cougar that is attacking a domestic animal;
Require bear hunters to provide carcass tissue samples if requested by the DNR;
Allow rifles for deer hunting in Waupaca County;
Establish firearm and muzzleloader deer hunting seasons at Copper Falls State Park.
Specifics on all new regulations will be printed in the next editions of the Wisconsin fishing and hunting handbooks.
New roles: Wednesday’s board meeting marked the first for William Bruins of Waupun, Terry Hilgenberg of Shawano and Greg Kazmierski of Mukwonago. All three were nominated last month by Gov. Scott Walker and approved by the state Senate.
Dave Clausen of Amery assumed the position of board chairman last month and Preston Cole of Milwaukee was elected Wednesday as vice chairman.
Jane Wiley of Wausau will serve as “issue coordinator” for issues related to land management, recreation, fisheries and wildlife. Cole will coordinate air, waste, water management and enforcement.
The seven-member, unpaid citizens board sets policy for the DNR. Three members are selected from the north and three from the south; one serves at large. The board meets 10 times a year, five in Madison and five in other communities around the state.
Giving time: In other action at Wednesday’s meeting, the Musky Clubs Alliance of Wisconsin, Inc., donated $20,000 to the DNR to support its fisheries programs. The alliance is comprised of 26 clubs.
The Johnson Family Foundation donated $17,000 to support the state’s trumpeter swan and piping plover programs.
And Pheasants Forever, Inc., donated 23 acres of land to the Swan Lake Wildlife Area near Portage.
