spectr17
06-27-2003, 06:40 PM
Lawmaker predicts compromise on deer bait
But resources board backs ban spurred by chronic wasting disease
By LEE BERGQUIST, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
lbergquist@journalsentinel.com
June 25, 2003
Waupaca - Wisconsin residents probably will be able to feed and bait deer during the 2003 hunting season, even though the Natural Resources Board continued Wednesday to oppose the practice.
The board agreed again to back a recommendation from Department of Natural Resources staffers who oppose baiting and feeding for fear of spreading chronic wasting disease between deer.
Last June, the Natural Resources Board approved an emergency ban on the practices. That stopped baiting during the 2002 hunting season and halted the practice of feeding deer by property owners, who put out feed so they can watch deer.
But the Legislature, which has the authority to review regulations, opposed the ban when permanent rules came before it and instead asked the DNR to modify its stand to allow small amounts of feed in the wild.
Now legislators, who are under pressure to let people feed and bait, will take steps to ensure that baiting and feeding are permitted this year, said Rep. DuWayne Johnsrud (R-Eastman).
Johnsrud, chairman of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee, has opposed baiting and feeding. But he said opponents of a ban are well-organized and lawmakers are listening to them.
"By objecting to a compromise, the DNR loses everything," Johnsrud said.
The ban on baiting and feeding emerged as the most contentious issue after chronic wasting disease was discovered in Wisconsin in February 2002. The discovery prompted the DNR to write an array of rules to fight the disease, including a plan to wipe out all the wild deer in a 411-square-mile region of Dane, Iowa and Sauk counties.
DNR staff members insist that the artificial use of feed, such as shelled corn, encourages deer to congregate more closely. That close, mouth-to-mouth contact at feeding sites, many scientists believe, can spread the disease.
"This is strictly a social issue, and a lot of people don't believe the science that supports it," said board member Herb Behnke of Shawano, who supports the DNR staff on the issue.
Opponents also have argued the ban has taken away a benign entertainment for people who like to watch deer and has brought financial hardship on feed mills.
Many hunters, especially bow hunters, have said that bait has allowed them to get a cleaner shot at the deer.
In another matter Wednesday, DNR officials said that Wisconsin residents might be able to trap and shoot gray wolves by 2005 as a regulatory process continues to remove wolves from federal and state protection.
But regardless of efforts to remove protections of the wolf in Wisconsin, federal authorities have the upper hand, according to Signe Holtz, director of the DNR's Bureau of Endangered Resources. Wisconsin cannot write rules that would allow trapping or hunting of wolves until the federal government removes it from its list of protected species.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in April downgraded federal protections for the wolf from endangered to threatened. That's allowed the DNR to trap and kill four problem wolves in Barron and Burnett counties since then. Before the status was downgraded, problem wolves could only be moved.
But resources board backs ban spurred by chronic wasting disease
By LEE BERGQUIST, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
lbergquist@journalsentinel.com
June 25, 2003
Waupaca - Wisconsin residents probably will be able to feed and bait deer during the 2003 hunting season, even though the Natural Resources Board continued Wednesday to oppose the practice.
The board agreed again to back a recommendation from Department of Natural Resources staffers who oppose baiting and feeding for fear of spreading chronic wasting disease between deer.
Last June, the Natural Resources Board approved an emergency ban on the practices. That stopped baiting during the 2002 hunting season and halted the practice of feeding deer by property owners, who put out feed so they can watch deer.
But the Legislature, which has the authority to review regulations, opposed the ban when permanent rules came before it and instead asked the DNR to modify its stand to allow small amounts of feed in the wild.
Now legislators, who are under pressure to let people feed and bait, will take steps to ensure that baiting and feeding are permitted this year, said Rep. DuWayne Johnsrud (R-Eastman).
Johnsrud, chairman of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee, has opposed baiting and feeding. But he said opponents of a ban are well-organized and lawmakers are listening to them.
"By objecting to a compromise, the DNR loses everything," Johnsrud said.
The ban on baiting and feeding emerged as the most contentious issue after chronic wasting disease was discovered in Wisconsin in February 2002. The discovery prompted the DNR to write an array of rules to fight the disease, including a plan to wipe out all the wild deer in a 411-square-mile region of Dane, Iowa and Sauk counties.
DNR staff members insist that the artificial use of feed, such as shelled corn, encourages deer to congregate more closely. That close, mouth-to-mouth contact at feeding sites, many scientists believe, can spread the disease.
"This is strictly a social issue, and a lot of people don't believe the science that supports it," said board member Herb Behnke of Shawano, who supports the DNR staff on the issue.
Opponents also have argued the ban has taken away a benign entertainment for people who like to watch deer and has brought financial hardship on feed mills.
Many hunters, especially bow hunters, have said that bait has allowed them to get a cleaner shot at the deer.
In another matter Wednesday, DNR officials said that Wisconsin residents might be able to trap and shoot gray wolves by 2005 as a regulatory process continues to remove wolves from federal and state protection.
But regardless of efforts to remove protections of the wolf in Wisconsin, federal authorities have the upper hand, according to Signe Holtz, director of the DNR's Bureau of Endangered Resources. Wisconsin cannot write rules that would allow trapping or hunting of wolves until the federal government removes it from its list of protected species.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in April downgraded federal protections for the wolf from endangered to threatened. That's allowed the DNR to trap and kill four problem wolves in Barron and Burnett counties since then. Before the status was downgraded, problem wolves could only be moved.