Hunting in State Parks and Trails Stuns Wisconsinites!!!

I've never seen a story like this one. If you want to know just how irresponsible Republican lawmakers are about managing our state, look no further than the passage of bill allowing hunting in every state park and trail.

How could something like this happen? Well, the media hasn't explained the laws origins, but the end result pretty much stunned everyone, including hunters. I was even more surprised when I read this:

State Rep. Brett Hulsey (D), who voted for the bill, said he now believes the Legislature made a mistake.

What other Democrats didn't bother reading this atrocity? 

AP: A state board voted Tuesday to limit a new law expanding hunting rights in state parks, to one month in autumn and another in April, after Wisconsin residents said they wouldn't feel safe visiting parks where hunters might be active. Act 168, the so-called Sporting Heritage Bill that goes into effect Jan. 1 (would have) allowed hunting in virtually all state parks and state trails.

Wisconsinites hyperventilated over a law sponsored by slow thinker Rep. Scott Suder, who worried not enough people were hunting like our founding pioneers.

Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, Act 168’s main sponsor, disagrees. He say’s having public hunting grounds near where people live is a key piece of a multi-pronged strategy to get more women and young people to embrace Wisconsin’s long-standing hunting legacy, while encouraging those who have given up hunting to return to the sport.

"Having hunting grounds near where people live" is a good idea? Who knew.

Tuesday’s meeting came after residents inundated the Natural Resources Board in recent weeks with about 2,000 letters and emails, 96 percent criticizing the new law.

Jeffrey Baylis, a hunter from Cross Plains, told the board the law wouldn't fuel interest in hunting, as the law’s supporters suggested. He worried that people would blame hunters for a law that he said none of them sought. “I have friends who are hunters and not a single one thinks this is good idea,” he said. “I think this will fuel a general antipathy toward hunting.”

Other residents said they worried about keeping their families and pets safe. Several said they love parks but would never go again if it meant having to hear gunfire or worry about their pets getting maimed or killed by animal traps.

The law doesn't allow hunting and the setting of traps within 100 yards of a trail or near campgrounds. Still, many speakers said that provided little comfort. “My family is not opposed to hunting and trapping. We own guns, we hunt — just not in a state park,” said Cynthia Gagan, of Cedarburg. “It is only a matter of time before people or pets are hurt by a stray bullet.” The public meeting drew a standing-room only crowd of about 100 people, 64 of whom registered to speak.

The public’s response against the law was overwhelming. But the authoritarian overreach by these big government Republicans was on full display with this incredible comment by the DNR Secretary:

DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp said the board should remember that lawmakers passed the law with the intent that hunting be expanded. “Ours is not to debate what the elected officials decided,” she said.

Gulp! We should never question authority? Thank god the board also stopped a few other brainless changes passed by a whole bunch of elected idiots: 

It will be illegal to shoot across a state trail; All traps would have to be approved as safe for dogs; Buckhorn State Park in Necedah and Governor Nelson State Park in Waunakee are off-limits for hunting because any proposed hunting sections.