WI Earn a Buck iS NORE MORE!!!!

For those who didn’t know, the WI DNR got rid of EARN A BUCK yesterday. I hope they still have T-Zone though….I like shooting a bunch of doeskie’s

WOOHOOO!! GIT ER DONE!!!!!!!!!

WOOHOOO!! GIT ER DONE!!!!!!!!!

I saw that this morning… one Year to late. I could have shot that nice one last year. I know another year for it to grow right wrong it was shot the next day on the other side of the road – Which wasn’t a Earn of buck zone…

I saw that this morning… one Year to late. I could have shot that nice one last year. I know another year for it to grow right wrong it was shot the next day on the other side of the road – Which wasn’t a Earn of buck zone…

No Earn-A-Buck
March 24, 2005
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Natural Resources Board killed off the
state’s contentious earn-a-buck deer hunting zones Wednesday, bowing to pressure from hunter advocates enraged that the rule forced too many people to pass up big bucks.

The board’s action acknowledged the long-simmering animosity hunters hold for the earn-a-buck zones, where a hunter had to bag a doe or young antlerless buck before killing an adult buck, and their distrust of the state Department of Natural Resources’ deer
population estimates.

The DNR contended that by targeting females, the earn-a-buck program could help control deer populations that had grown far too
large in some areas.

The DNR designated 26 deer management units as earn-a-buck during last fall’s hunts. Agency staff asked the board Wednesday to reduce that number to eight this fall. Those zones would have run through the Fox Valley, from roughly Madison to Green Bay.

But leaders of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, a citizens advisory group representing sportsmen before the Natural Resources Board, said that wasn’t enough. They demanded the board eliminate earn-a-buck zones completely.

Steve Oestreicher, chairman of the Conservation Congress, said the DNR has grossly overestimated the deer population and there’s no need to reduce the herd in the zones. Hunters just aren’t seeing as many deer in the woods as the DNR claims are there, he told the board.

He warned the board that landowners in eastern Wisconsin planned
to refuse to let hunters on their property this fall to protest the zones.

“They don’t want to be told what to do,” Oestreicher said.

DNR wildlife administrator Tom Hauge countered that estimates putting the deer population at around 1.7 million statewide are sound. He noted that hunters killed 517,128 deer this past fall – the second highest total in state history, according to DNR figures.

The Fox Valley is a “deer factory,” Hauge said. Board members
can expect more car-deer collisions and crop damage if they end earn-a-buck there, he said.

“We’re comfortable with the biology of the situation,” Hauge said.

But board member Herb Behnke said the eight zones were earn-a-buck last year, too, and hunters hungry for large bucks shouldn’t have to suffer under earn-a-buck again this fall. Keeping the zones earn-a-buck could drive people out of the sport for good, he said.

“Perhaps we need to have a different approach in the future instead of a Gestapo approach that tells people what they have to do before they can do something,” Behnke said. “(Hunters) are saying ‘you’re taking the fun out of hunting. I’m not going to do it anymore.”‘

In the end, the board voted 7-0 to kill earn-a-buck and instead hold special, so-called Zone T hunts – four-day, antlerless hunts in October and December designed to thin the herd – in the eight zones. Hunters would be able to take bucks in the zone otherwise.

Board member John Welter said the Conservation Congress will have to pressure hunters to take antlerless deer in the eight zones, or the population will continue to grow and earn-a-buck could return next year.

“We must have a significant harvest in those eastern farmland counties,” he said.

Joe Caputo, chairman of the Conservation Congress’ big game committee, said the congress would spread the word at its spring hearings.

The congress has never been against antlerless hunts, he said. Its beef has been with the DNR telling people they must kill antlerless deer before they can take a buck, he said.

“One of the most important events of the year (the fall deer hunt) for some people, and you’re limiting people’s participation in it. That’s emotional,” Caputo said.

In another concession to the Conservation Congress, the board ended T-zone hunts in four management units in northwestern and southwestern Wisconsin. Oestreicher said fawns in northwestern Wisconsin are falling prey to black bears and timber wolves,
negating the need to control the herd in those areas. He said kills have remained constant over the last decade in those units, too.

Board chairman Gerald O’Brien said he wants an audit of the DNR’s population estimate methods.

DNR deer expert Keith Warnke said the agency expects to put out requests for bids from would-be auditors later this year.

“Get it done,” O’Brien told him sternly.

Board member Christine Thomas warned hunters won’t believe the audit because it comes from the DNR. The agency must find auditors who clearly aren’t linked to the DNR to boost the study’s credibility, she said.

No Earn-A-Buck
March 24, 2005
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Natural Resources Board killed off the
state’s contentious earn-a-buck deer hunting zones Wednesday, bowing to pressure from hunter advocates enraged that the rule forced too many people to pass up big bucks.

The board’s action acknowledged the long-simmering animosity hunters hold for the earn-a-buck zones, where a hunter had to bag a doe or young antlerless buck before killing an adult buck, and their distrust of the state Department of Natural Resources’ deer
population estimates.

The DNR contended that by targeting females, the earn-a-buck program could help control deer populations that had grown far too
large in some areas.

The DNR designated 26 deer management units as earn-a-buck during last fall’s hunts. Agency staff asked the board Wednesday to reduce that number to eight this fall. Those zones would have run through the Fox Valley, from roughly Madison to Green Bay.

But leaders of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, a citizens advisory group representing sportsmen before the Natural Resources Board, said that wasn’t enough. They demanded the board eliminate earn-a-buck zones completely.

Steve Oestreicher, chairman of the Conservation Congress, said the DNR has grossly overestimated the deer population and there’s no need to reduce the herd in the zones. Hunters just aren’t seeing as many deer in the woods as the DNR claims are there, he told the board.

He warned the board that landowners in eastern Wisconsin planned
to refuse to let hunters on their property this fall to protest the zones.

“They don’t want to be told what to do,” Oestreicher said.

DNR wildlife administrator Tom Hauge countered that estimates putting the deer population at around 1.7 million statewide are sound. He noted that hunters killed 517,128 deer this past fall – the second highest total in state history, according to DNR figures.

The Fox Valley is a “deer factory,” Hauge said. Board members
can expect more car-deer collisions and crop damage if they end earn-a-buck there, he said.

“We’re comfortable with the biology of the situation,” Hauge said.

But board member Herb Behnke said the eight zones were earn-a-buck last year, too, and hunters hungry for large bucks shouldn’t have to suffer under earn-a-buck again this fall. Keeping the zones earn-a-buck could drive people out of the sport for good, he said.

“Perhaps we need to have a different approach in the future instead of a Gestapo approach that tells people what they have to do before they can do something,” Behnke said. “(Hunters) are saying ‘you’re taking the fun out of hunting. I’m not going to do it anymore.”‘

In the end, the board voted 7-0 to kill earn-a-buck and instead hold special, so-called Zone T hunts – four-day, antlerless hunts in October and December designed to thin the herd – in the eight zones. Hunters would be able to take bucks in the zone otherwise.

Board member John Welter said the Conservation Congress will have to pressure hunters to take antlerless deer in the eight zones, or the population will continue to grow and earn-a-buck could return next year.

“We must have a significant harvest in those eastern farmland counties,” he said.

Joe Caputo, chairman of the Conservation Congress’ big game committee, said the congress would spread the word at its spring hearings.

The congress has never been against antlerless hunts, he said. Its beef has been with the DNR telling people they must kill antlerless deer before they can take a buck, he said.

“One of the most important events of the year (the fall deer hunt) for some people, and you’re limiting people’s participation in it. That’s emotional,” Caputo said.

In another concession to the Conservation Congress, the board ended T-zone hunts in four management units in northwestern and southwestern Wisconsin. Oestreicher said fawns in northwestern Wisconsin are falling prey to black bears and timber wolves,
negating the need to control the herd in those areas. He said kills have remained constant over the last decade in those units, too.

Board chairman Gerald O’Brien said he wants an audit of the DNR’s population estimate methods.

DNR deer expert Keith Warnke said the agency expects to put out requests for bids from would-be auditors later this year.

“Get it done,” O’Brien told him sternly.

Board member Christine Thomas warned hunters won’t believe the audit because it comes from the DNR. The agency must find auditors who clearly aren’t linked to the DNR to boost the study’s credibility, she said.

That’s good news! I was afraid that they were going to put that label on our zone this year. WOO HOO!!!

That’s good news! I was afraid that they were going to put that label on our zone this year. WOO HOO!!!

do you know if this is statewide or i have heard that cwd zones will be managed the same as last year

do you know if this is statewide or i have heard that cwd zones will be managed the same as last year