Who's going to save Deer Hunting from Scott Walker?

Let's see, "registered deer down about 1% from 2016, the second-lowest total in 35 years, Hunter participation also was down, the lowest in 41 years." 

The Walker administration hopes the following denials and weak excuses will make sense to their diehard true believers. Like saying deer hunting itself is not declining in popularity...or that hunting is more spread out now. Ah, show us the numbers? WPR:



How did we get here? A short history:

Democratic Sen. Kathleen Vinehout-Nov. 2014: "The Texan ‘Deer Czar’ James Kroll the DNR’s the new rules change the “season framework, management units, and antlerless deer hunting permits.' Gone are “management zones” setting deer overwinter population goals, gone are free tags & $2 tags in highly populated or CWD areas; gone are landowner deer tags, gone is registering your deer at the local bar or convenience store.

Hunters tell me: change the rules, make it hard to get public tags, expensive to hunt in private land and leave folks on their own to register a deer? Isn’t this asking for trouble?"

The response to the comment above?

Anon: Mark Bye nailed it. All those rural white male voters that voted for Walker are getting what they voted for. They just never cared to understand what they were voting for. Time to let the chickens come home to roost.

Mark Bye: Hell, I don't hunt and even *I* get it.

Steve Hanson: I'm not a hunter, but I own property on which others hunt. I have to admit to being TOTALLY bamboozled by how complex the new rules are. And the folks hunting here are just as bewildered. 

Deer hunters left the sport in droves after chronic wasting disease spread through Wisconsin like a California wildfire. Wisconsin State Journal Nov, 2015:

Fear of eating CWD-tainted venison initially scared many hunters and made owners of hunting land in southern Wisconsin concerned that their property would lose value if the hunt died off, said Jeff Schinkten, national president of Whitetails Unlimited.

But instead of fighting the disease like neighboring states, Scott Walker hired a Deer Czar who couldn’t wait to play down the threat with massive defunding and anti-science opinions.
________________________________________________________________________________

Fast forward to now. Guess what?

JS: Hunters registered 195,738 deer for the 2017 Wisconsin gun deer season, down about 1% from 2016 and the second-lowest total in 35 years, according to preliminary data released Tuesday by the Department of Natural Resources.

Hunter participation also was down. The agency sold 588,387 gun licenses, a drop of 10,420 from 2016 and the lowest in 41 years.

It was just the second time since 1976 that fewer than 600,000 licenses were sold for the nine-day season.

Here's the latest on the problem with CWD, from WPT's Here and Now:

With deer hunting season underway, Ron Seely, a freelance journalist and lecturer at UW-Madison, discusses the issues arising from Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). According to Seely, new research shows that the diseased can linger in soil. Over the years, DNR-led efforts to monitor and manage CWD have seen a dramatic decline in testing, and have yet to provide a clear picture of how prevalent the disease is overall. Yet even limited data points to a growing problem — as the state tests fewer deer over time, it finds more and more animals infected with this always fatal disease. At the same time, evidence is mounting that CWD, caused by infectious proteins called prions, could jump the species barrier to humans.

Gaming the System? You bet, and it looks like a few deer hunting mentors attributed deer kills to babies and kids under 5:

On the heels of a law change that eliminated the state's minimum hunting age, 10 Wisconsin hunting licenses were sold this month to children under the age of 1, according to data released Tuesday (Nov. 28) by the Department of Natural Resources.

It's not known whether any of the infants actually participated in any way in the hunt ... they could have been used to register a deer killed by another hunter. The low-priced, first-time mentored hunting licenses carry all the harvest authorizations of a similar adult license. One deer was registered to a 4-year-old hunter, and seven deer were registered to 5-year-olds, according to DNR records The harvest records don't indicate who killed the deer.

In all, 52 hunting licenses were purchased this month for hunters ages 5 and under, according to the DNR.

CWD Deer Hunting Season off to a Great Start...eat up.

Hunter beware, buyer beware...hell, beware of life in general because public safety is no longer the intrusive governments responsibility. Man-up!

Deer hunting season is here, as hunters march out into our endangered wilderness with CWD infected deer. Don't worry, we don't think human ingestion of CWD infected venison will kill you.

Hunter Beware: What you don't know will Kill You: In the "bad is good" Bizarro World of Republican politics, who cares about the spread of brain killing prions:

The country's prion disease surveillance center that looks for new brain disorders potentially caused by eating meat from infected animals, would lose all of its federal funding and cease operations under President Donald Trump's proposed fiscal 2018 budget.

The disease is in the same family as chronic wasting disease (CWD), which is endemic in Wisconsin's deer herd. The loss in funding would come at a time of heightened concern over whether chronic wasting disease can infect people. Recent research showed that it could infect monkeys that were fed venison from infected deer. At the same time, the number of Creutzfeldt-Jakob cases has jumped substantially nationally and especially in Wisconsin, where chronic wasting disease has now been identified in wild deer in 18 counties. 

Seriously, Republicans are counting on their surreal efforts to popularize hunting by distracting hunters away from the dangers of feeding CWD infected venison to their entire family. Anyone aware of the warnings...nope. If they really wanted to bring deer hunting back, get rid of CWD? Doh! Now even kids can hunt sick deer:

The disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, a family that includes scrapie as well as mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob (both of which are fatal to humans) … health experts, including at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, have long issued strong advice against eating venison from CWD-positive animals. "Venison from deer harvested inside the CWD Management Zone should not be consumed or distributed to others until CWD test results on the sources deer are known to be negative."

Scott Walker again, Missing in Action: Like the prisons and veterans home debacle, Walker won't participate in, or allow a photo op, tying him to the real festering problems eating away at our state that only government can improve. 

Chronic wasting disease has arrived in Wisconsin's deer factory. State officials announced two CWD-positive white-tailed deer were found at a Waupaca County shooting preserve. The two CWD-positive bucks represented the first findings of the fatal deer disease in the central Wisconsin deer hunting hotbed.

Worse yet, the state agency with authority over captive cervid facilities - the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection - isn't doing anything to snuff it out ... it appears the DNR has lost its will to combat CWD. And the state's agriculture and consumer protection agency has clearly sided with the business interests in the deer farming industry.

"I've been dreading this day," said Todd Schill, 55, of Waupaca who has deer hunted in the county for 40 years. "I didn't buy hunting land here to be next to CWD."

Welcome to "small government" deregulation. Again, maybe stopping CWD will bring hunting back: 

Jan. 4th, 2017: Notably, hunter participation also was down. The agency sold 598,867 gun licenses, a 40-year low and the first time the number has dipped below 600,000 since 1976. Hunters registered 196,785 deer during the 2016 Wisconsin gun deer season, the lowest total in 34 years. A longer term solution may involve looking beyond user fees ... (fees have the) potential to harm state efforts aimed at reversing a decline in hunting ... The DNR outlined other alternatives that include cuts to wildlife and fish-stocking programs and new efforts to attract more people to hunting and fishing.

Voluntary testing is available...voluntary, what could go wrong there?

Guys with Guns, what could go Wrong? While Republicans remove any kind of firearm training, responsible gun owners are rising to the challenge, it's just going to take going through a few growing pains first.

Good responsible gun owners don't need no training, they're the real Americans, carrying on the hunting tradition...let's see now, day 1...

Three hunters shot and wounded themselves Saturday. A 49-year-old man shot himself in the right ankle. A 51-year-old man in Shawano County shot himself in the leg when he bent over and his holstered handgun fired. And in Forest County, a 49-year-old Crandon man was sitting in the cab of his truck when he saw a deer around 9 a.m. When he attempted to move his rifle, it went off, sending a bullet through his legs and the truck’s seat and door.

Citified Madison Republican Politicians Mismanage, Destroy Wisconsin's Hunting Tradition.

I don’t hunt, so it’s kind of odd that I continue to cover the Republican mess created around Wisconsin’s deer hunting tradition. Here's a link to all my coverage.

Our throwback Republicans seem to think we’re on the cusp of a deer hunting renaissance. These are the same guys who feel that way about coal, which should put things in perspective for you.

Registering deer online was inevitable, you can’t fight progress. But Republican voters with businesses directly affected, small town bars and convenience stores that continue to manually register deer, got the shaft again by their own party. Business is down again. Pair that with Wisconsin’s fading hunting tradition, and you’ve got another reason to resent the government, but still reelect the same bumbling losers.

1. “We’ve lost thousands of dollars in food and liquor sales,” said Lisa Wynn, a cook at Harryz Boondocks in the Jefferson County hamlet of Hubbleton, just off of Highway 19 midway between Waterloo and Watertown. “We don’t have as many hunters coming in or people coming in to just look at the deer. Now, they shoot a deer and go home and mow the lawn or something.”

2. At the Schellter Bar & Grill in Leland, a farming community near Natural Bridge State Park and about 14 miles west of Prairie du Sac, LeRoy and Connie Schell (saw it this way), “I don’t like the fact that they messed with the tradition of the nine-day hunt and the registration but we still have people coming in and showing their deers off, even if they’re not in the contest.”

3. Mike Meixelsperger of Plain who works in information technology, said he understands why the registration change was made but says the system is still more difficult than in-person registration. “It was easy just to come in and the guys here would come out, check everything out for you and you were done,” Meixelsperger said. “It has totally wrecked the experience.”

4. Emil Diehl, who has owned the bar for 38 years, said “I’d say our business is down 40 percent.”

It also didn’t help downplaying science and playing up those anecdotal wish lists by the zaniest of avid hunters. Is the move to game farming just around the corner? Throw in the updated list of convoluted regulations from our small government Republicans, is anyone surprised to see our hunting tradition fade from the landscape? DNR Sec. Cathy Stepp tried to sell hunting reform in 2014 while everyone wore game farm vests, hats and stuff. The game farm ad is oddly included. Hint, hint:

In the DNR’s words, the new rules change the “season framework, management units and antlerless deer hunting permits.” Gone are “management zones” setting deer overwinter population goals. Gone are free tags & $2 tags in highly populated or CWD areas; gone are landowner deer tags ... gone is registering your deer at the local bar or convenience store. Tags are more expensive (6 times more expensive), limited, and depend on whether you hunt a private or public area.

Steve Hanson: "I'm not a hunter, but I own property on which others hunt. I have to admit to being TOTALLY bamboozled by how complex the new rules are. And the folks hunting here are just as bewildered."

With CWD on the rise and scientists now thinking it’s possible for human infection, Republicans have decided to go back and “study” the problem. In other words, see ya later suckers. 

Scott Walker serving up the Deer Hunter treat: Diseased Venison

Long before Scott Walker destroyed and basically dismantled the DNR, he went out and hired a game farm advocate to break Wisconsin away from our traditional deer management practices to hunter driven policy based on demand and pet peeves. 

This can be a serious problem when you're trying to control the spread of chronic wasting disease. Anyone want to eat venison contaminated with it?

I've been blogging about this for some time (search CWD in the upper left corner). We're now faced with a nearly out-of-control problem.WPR:

More Wisconsin deer are testing positive for chronic wasting disease ... more than 9

percent, according to state figures. But the number of deer being tested is down from years past ... 3,138 deer, down from 5,465 in 2014. The situation has some lawmakers arguing that the governor and DNR should be more active in fighting the problem.

DNR Wildlife Management Bureau director Tom Hauge (said) hunters didn’t have to visit a deer registration station last hunting season ... (do to) electronic registration system ... funding for testing has also decreased since the disease was first discovered in 2002.

Would you Eat CWD infected Deer? Sure, why not...

A team of researchers from universities in the United States and France say they’ve found new evidence that it’s possible for humans to contract the agents that cause CWD. They injected mice, whose DNA had been modified to resemble humans, with mutated proteins called prions. Testing showed two out of 20 mice tested positive for prion infection.

But former Wisconsin Natural Resources Board Member Dave Clausen advised the results are not cause for alarm. "This study does not mean that human infection is a foregone conclusion," Clausen said. "All it does is demonstrate that it is possible."

That's all it does. Feel better?

Democratic criticism Politics, or actual Criticism? And while Democrats want to deal with this and other problems, they're not being taken seriously, because well they're...the "left." Scott Walker said as much, when he lied about the states commitment, and redefined the Democrats honest fact based criticism as gotcha politics:

Walker said science will drive future deer management decisions – not politics. Walker said the state is committed to a healthy deer herd: "We’re ready and willing to hear their recommendations. They made a call to be more aggressive, but they didn’t give us specifics. If they’ve got specific ideas, we’d be more than happy to work with them or anybody else."

No specifics? Oh god where do we start unpacking that load of BS? First let's see what Walker has done "specifically," besides propose leaving road kill to rot on the side our state highways:

1. The DNR has half the CWD testing budget it had last year.

2. Last year the DNR stopped using the term “CWD management zone” … “In the absence of having any management strategies or tools to deal with it, it is basically an endemic area … endemic means: It’s here to stay.”

3. George Meyer, a former DNR secretary said, “It is going to spread further and further out and eventually ... biologists in the department ... are not allowed to talk about it and not allowed to bring forth proactive measures to deal with it.”

4. The agency will solicit samples at only two locations in southern Wisconsin ... down from between 15 and 20 locations in recent years.

5. Janesville Gazette Xtra: Wisconsin deer farmers can opt out of the state's chronic wasting disease monitoring program without upgrading their fences under an emergency rule the state DNR adopted Wednesday despite concerns the move could spread the disease ... spare deer farmers extra expenses. The DNR recorded 29 escapes this year (2015) alone ... "The DNR fencing requirement is the last safeguard to prevent further CWD contamination of the wild deer herd," Meyer said.

6. Walker says Gov. Jim Doyle and the DNR have engaged in "political games" and "put bureaucrats in Madison ahead of hunters of the state."

7. Trustee Dr. James Kroll said people who call for more public hunting opportunities are “pining for socialism.” He further states, “(Public) Game management is the last bastion of communism.”

8. AP: A state board voted to limit a new law ... The Sporting Heritage Bill ... expanding hunting rights in state parks ... after Wisconsin residents said they wouldn't feel safe ... 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.

As for the Democrats offering specific ways to deal with CWD? Well, other state's are doing just the opposite of Scott Walker:

1. DNR Is Unlikely To Act As Deer Herd Faces Possible Starvation: Minnesota Starts Emergency Deer Feeding Fund, But Wisconsin's DNR Can't Follow Suit Without Legislative Approval.

2. In Illinois, where officials continued to reduce the herd in diseased areas, there has been no increase, University of Illinois researchers found in a 2014 study. The prevalence of the disease is much lower in northern Illinois, where targeted sharpshooting has been used by Illinois wildlife officials since 2002. The prevalence rate is under 1% in Illinois' 12-county CWD area. In 2007, the DNR defended the use of sharpshooters as an "efficient and effective tool in reducing deer numbers and removing diseased deer," because the shooters were killing more antlerless deer than hunters were.

Walker Justice candidate Bradley features fake "hunter" picture for single issue gun vote.

Scott Walker's shopping mall for hunters who don't have a lot of time, game farms, is another administration effort to privatize a very popular public sport.

To the left is DNR Sec. Cathy Stepp in a Wern Valley game farm vest prominently featured in the state's "Deer Hunt 2014" video. That's not all, the shows host...

...and a number of presenters chose to wear Safari Club International hats. This seemed a bit odd for a DNR-produced program. Safari Club International is a lobbying organization, and a pretty radical one at that-- they promote trophy hunting, canned hunts, hounding bears/wolves, and oppose endangered species protections.

But there's not just money to be made by the game farm industry, its also a great place for would-be politicians and Supreme Court Justices who don't have a hunting license to get a gun toting campaign picture, like the photo here of Justice candidate Rebecca Bradley. JS-Marley:

The photo was taken in November at a Waukesha game farm, where hunting licenses aren't required. Rebecca Bradley made an implicit appeal to hunters … baseball cap emblazoned with the initials of the National Rifle Association. State Department of Natural Resources spokesman George Althoff said there is no record of Bradley having a hunting, fishing or boating license in the past five years. 

Bradley for some reason wouldn't say where she stands on the now decided 2nd Amendment decision by Justice Scalia, which in Republican world means she's all for it, but Justice candidate JoAnne Kloppenburg offered a more insightful detailed view:

"What I can say is that Heller does demonstrate that a judicial philosophy that claims to hew to the original intents of the men who wrote the constitution 250 years ago does not by itself resolve complex legal questions. Both Justice Scalia in his majority opinion and Justice (John Paul) Stevens in his dissent reviewed the text and history of the disputed Second Amendment language. Justice Scalia chose to place less weight on some of the words in the Second Amendment as compared to others and so reached a decision that some legal scholars contend was consistent with Scalia's own ideology rather than with an originalist reading of the constitution."

State DNR loosen reins on Diseased Deer, spreading CWD everywhere....

While other states crack down on the spread of chronic wasting disease, infected deer in Wisconsin are being allowed to spread everywhere. I know, it doesn't make sense.

And now, the DNR is letting things slide even further. Janesville Gazette Xtra: 

AP: Wisconsin deer farmers can opt out of the state's chronic wasting disease monitoring program without upgrading their fences under an emergency rule the state DNR adopted Wednesday despite concerns the move could spread the disease.

That’s sadly laughable, because the state has already given up on controlling the spread of CWD infected deer.

Wisconsin is taking steps this year to continue at least some testing to keep tabs on a deadly disease that is spreading through the state’s deer herd, even though hunters no longer need to bring carcasses in for registration. But the number of tests is dwindling while prevalence of chronic wasting disease in Wisconsin grows and neighboring states fight to control it, the DNR has half the CWD testing budget it had last year and enough resources to analyze tissue from 4,000 carcasses, down from 7,500 last year, said Tami Ryan, the agency’s wildlife health section chief.

This is all part of Scott Walker's plan to talk up the positive, ignore the negative...as you can see by the quote here. Yet the possible dangers are real:

Fear of eating CWD-tainted venison initially scared many hunters and made owners of hunting land in southern Wisconsin concerned that their property would lose value if the hunt died off, said Jeff Schinkten, national president of Whitetails Unlimited.

But regulation is making it harder for deer farms to exist, so goodbye regulation. Oh, and we want to have a good relationship with these farmers, our buddies:

Federal agriculture officials imposed new standards on state monitoring programs in 2012. DNR officials say they're worried that deer farmers might not be able to afford to comply with the federal regulations, be thrown out of the monitoring program and have to shell out money they don't have to upgrade to double or solid fencing.

The rule is designed to spare farmers extra expenses and help maintain a good relationship with farmers. The DNR inspects each farm's fence at least once a decade, he added. That gave some board members pause. William Bruins said the DNR should pay more attention to farm fences more often, noting storms and weather can destroy them ... the department pledged (they) would address inspections in a permanent version of the rule. The board ultimately adopted the emergency regulations on a unanimous vote.

We can't say we weren't warned:

George Meyer, a former DNR secretary who now leads the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, urged the board to reject the rule. Relaxing the fencing mandate for farms outside the monitoring program could lead to more escaped deer that could spread CWD. The DNR recorded 29 escapes this year alone ... "The DNR fencing requirement is the last safeguard to prevent further CWD contamination of the wild deer herd," Meyer said.

Wisconsin anti-science DNR and Republicans let Chronic Wasting Disease Spread through Midwest.

Deer hunters left the sport in droves after chronic wasting disease spread through Wisconsin like a California wild fire. Wisconsin State Journal:

Fear of eating CWD-tainted venison initially scared many hunters and made owners of hunting land in southern Wisconsin concerned that their property would lose value if the hunt died off, said Jeff Schinkten, national president of Whitetails Unlimited.

But instead of fighting the disease like neighboring states, Scott Walker hired a Deer Czar who couldn’t wait to play down the threat with massive defunding and anti-science opinions.

Hoping people would forget about CWD and deer hunt again, Walker hopes hunting enthusiasts will soon be placing diseased meat on the tables of unsuspecting Wisconsinites. And it could be working. Republicans are now doing “at least some testing,” you know, going through the motions. And without in-person registration and testing, they’re thinking the problem will just go away:

Wisconsin is taking steps this year to continue at least some testing to keep tabs on a deadly disease that is spreading through the state’s deer herd, even though hunters no longer need to bring carcasses in for registration. But the number of tests is dwindling while prevalence of chronic wasting disease in Wisconsin grows and neighboring states fight to control it, the DNR has half the CWD testing budget it had last year and enough resources to analyze tissue from 4,000 carcasses, down from 7,500 last year, said Tami Ryan, the agency’s wildlife health section chief.

Scott Walker's anti-science movement within the DNR resulted from feedback by "unhappy" hunters who never got deer. Of course the disease might have killed a few of them...

The state is following wishes expressed by the public in dozens of forums since the disease was discovered near Mount Horeb in 2002 ... "then monitoring and now not monitoring but doing surveillance to give the information to hunters who want it,” Ryan said.

 And like everything else reeling out of control in Republican states, the best solution is no solution:

The warning signs are there... 

Last year the DNR stopped using the term “CWD management zone” for the southern Wisconsin region encompassing the worst infestations. “In the absence of having any management strategies or tools to deal with it, it is basically an endemic area,” Ryan said. “We know it’s there and it’s not likely to go away. That’s what endemic means: It’s here to stay.”

How does that sound hunters? Real hands on American know how at work. 

“It is going to spread further and further out and eventually have an impact on the number of deer in the state,” said George Meyer, a former DNR secretary “What is really troubling to me is that the biologists in the department know this is the case but they are not allowed to talk about it and not allowed to bring forth proactive measures to deal with it.”

Read the following and weep sports men and women, this is how Republicans manage a state's tourism and sporting economy:

Czar James Kroll

CWD prevalence in the Wisconsin has doubled since the state became less aggressive in 2007, while in Illinois, where officials continued to reduce the herd in diseased areas, there has been no increase.

The agency will solicit samples at only two locations in southern Wisconsin ... down from between 15 and 20 locations in recent years ... Plans also call for staff members to collect samples from about 10 venison processors ... Current budgeting is in line with the simpler and more passive stance recommended by James Kroll, a Texas wildlife biologist chosen by Gov. Scott Walker in 2011 to find ways the state could mollify hunters who blamed the DNR when they didn’t bag a deer. 

The number of samples testing positive for CWD ballooned from 219 in 2010 to 331 last year even though fewer samples are being analyzed. Near the boundary between Dane and Iowa counties the prevalence of CWD in male deer has increased to over 25 percent from about 9 percent in 2002, the DNR estimates.

Hunting Reserves and Game Farms in Wisconsin's Future? Yes.

I noticed this odd item inserted into the new budget that should concern deer hunters everywhere in the state.

Exempting sales taxes for deer sold to Wisconsin hunting reserves and game farms totaling $300,000 over two years.

This fits right in with what our deer czar Dr. James Kroll wants for Wisconsin; private deer ranching. Funny thing, he's been pretty much off the radar:

According to Wisconsin’s White-Tailed Deer Trustee Dr. James Kroll, people who call for more public hunting opportunities are “pining for socialism.” “Game Management is the last bastion of communism.”
 Kroll is the leading light in the field of private deer management as a means to add value to the land. His belief is so absolute that some detractors refer to him as Dr. Dough, implying that his eye is on the bottom line more than on the natural world.

Kroll, who has been the foremost proponent of deer ranching in Texas for more than thirty years … People who call for more public lands are “cocktail conservationists,” he says, who are really pining for socialism. He calls national parks “wildlife ghettos” and flatly accuses the government of gross mismanagement. He argues that his relatively tiny acreage, marked by eight-foot fences and posted signs warning off would-be poachers, is a better model for keeping what’s natural natural while making money off the land.

In a post way back when, November 2012, I had this great comment:

lufthase: I just happened to catch the DNR's "Deer Hunt 2014" program because it came on right after the Milwaukee Bucks game (ironic programming choice), and I noticed that the host and a number of presenters chose to wear Safari Club International hats. This seemed a bit odd for a DNR-produced program. Safari Club International is a lobbying organization, and a pretty radical one at that-- they promote trophy hunting, canned hunts, hounding bears/wolves, and oppose endangered species protections. Stranger still, DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp appeared on the program wearing a vest that prominently featured the logo of Wern Valley game farm - offering canned hunts for which no hunting license is required (but a $1,195 annual membership is), according to their website.

Here's an edited clip of the show promoting the Safari Club International and the Wern Valley game farm (their ad too). Special thanks to lufthase for the help. This is where we're really headed:

Walker's attack on DNR endangers Hunting, outdoor recreation and forestry...that's a jobs plan?

All the pieces are fitting neatly together now, with this plan:

jsonline: Walker is calling for a thirteen-year suspension of Wisconsin's popular, bi-partisan program to acquire important habitat, wetlands, trails, and forests for public recreation.

This piles on what Walker put in place his first year in office:

A law Walker has signed ordering the DNR to sell 10,000 acres of public lands (by 2017).

So we should have seen this coming. Welcome to my epiphany:

LODI WI INFO Apr. 2012: According to Wisconsin’s White-Tailed Deer Trustee Dr. James Kroll, people who call for more public hunting opportunities are “pining for socialism.” He further states, “(Public) Game management is the last bastion of communism.” These are just two insights into the man who has been asked to provide analysis and recommended changes to Wisconsin’s deer management program.
 People who call for more public lands are “cocktail conservationists,” he says, who are really pining for socialism. He calls national parks “wildlife ghettos” and flatly accuses the government of gross mismanagement. 

So to fight socialism, it makes sense to call for a moratorium on the states Stewardship Program. Walker doesn't want these commie, cocktail conservationists wildlife ghettos all over the state.

And for those tweeting trolls who've blasted me for my heavy criticism of Walker's anti-science, do
what feels good public opinion driven deer management disaster, he just took the "public" out too. Serves them right:

The budget calls for ending the department's oversight by its long-standing public body, the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board. his budget ends as well the authority of two DNR-related panels of citizens and local officials.

Yesterday, Sen. Tom Tiffany deferred to the expectations of his "constituents" desires, not those pesky scientists. Tiffany seems to think his constituents aren't that smart:

Tiffany: "If you talk to my constituents here in northern Wisconsin, there's probably not one in a thousand that know what the Bureau of Science Services does, and doesn't bring value to the taxpayers."

So get rid of it? For those conservative trolls who thought Walker was doing a great job, Tiffany's got bad news for you, going back two years; "In northern Wisconsin, the deer hunt has been a disaster." Thanks for making my point.

In one of the most jaw dropping interview disasters ever, Tiffany let's it all hang out. WPT's Here and Now:



I liked this insightful comment left on my YouTube page:

You know, there is probably not one in 100,000 of your constituents who know what the hell a heart surgeon "actually does" either. I say let's get rid of them too. Tom you dumb bastard, this is what is called a "race to the bottom." Just breathtakingly stupid. 

And could we do away with this "unelected bureaucrats" BS? Those bureaucrats are approved by ELECTED politicians and the governor, so in fact, someone is accountable.

Walker's lack of action last year was evident:

WPR news: DNR Is Unlikely To Act As Deer Herd Faces Possible Starvation: Minnesota Starts Emergency Deer Feeding Fund, But Wisconsin's DNR Can't Follow Suit Without Legislative Approval.

Or this brilliant irresponsible unnecessary move:

The state Department of Natural Resources proposes moving to online and telephone reporting as soon as this fall.  DNR officials warn they could lose detailed biological data on the state’s herd and tissue samples used to test for chronic wasting disease.

Even against overwhelming opposition, hunting in some parks was allowed, based on this Walker lackey, Cathy Stepp:

AP: A state board voted to limit a new law expanding hunting rights in state parks ... after Wisconsin residents said they wouldn't feel safe visiting parks where hunters might be active. The Sporting Heritage Bill (would have) allowed hunting in virtually all state parks and state trails. 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.

Or this post:

Sen. K. Vinehout-Uppity Wisconsin: Deer hunters taking to the woods in Wisconsin are facing a slew of new hunting rules … the new rules change the “season framework, management units and antlerless deer hunting permits.”

Gone are “management zones,” setting deer overwinter population goals. Gone are free tags & $2 tags in highly populated or CWD areas; gone are landowner deer tags. Soon-to-be gone is registering your deer at the local bar or convenience store. Next year all registration will be on-line. Tags are more expensive (6 times more expensive), limited, and depend on whether you hunt a private or public area.

Hunters whom I've spoken with wonder if all we’ll have years from now is the fond memory of what used to be Wisconsin’s very equal deer hunting tradition. Hunters tell me: change the rules, make it hard to get public tags, expensive to hunt in private land and leave folks on their own to register a deer? Isn’t this asking for trouble?

This comment:

Steve Hanson: I'm not a hunter, but I own property on which others hunt. I have to admit to being TOTALLY bamboozled by how complex the new rules are. And the folks hunting here are just as bewildered. 

Deer Hunting “Rebuilding Year?” Oh, that’s what it was.

Excuses, excuses! Have you ever heard so many excuses from the party of accountability and responsibility when it comes to the recent deer hunt disaster?

So why did fewer avid Wisconsin hunters buy licenses? It wasn't because of last year’s weather
related deer kill. Perhaps it was GOP over-regulation? The convoluted maze of rules that made sportsmen’s eyes glaze over resulted in a 24,891 (4%) drop in license sales, the lowest number since 1976. Really, I'm not kidding. 

   

Welcome in the new Scott Walker government model; exude confidence and infallibility, while never quite taking the blame for failure. And according to my conservative friend in Milwaukee, total GOP dominance won’t show any results until Republicans stop the liberal destruction of our country.

jsonline: "To invoke sports terminology, I think we'd probably call it a rebuilding year," said Tom Hauge, director of wildlife management for the Department of Natural Resources, speaking to the Natural Resources Board. This year was notable for declines in deer harvest and license sales.

Deer Doctor James Kroll’s new “simplified” hunting rules are about to become even more simplified, with a list of additional clarifications and adjustments that could fill a library shelf:

Next on the agenda: A request to hold public hearings on proposed changes to deer management regulations.  "These CDACs, County Deer Advisory Councils, have to know they have skin in the game or this whole system falls apart," said Greg Kazmierski, a board member from Pewaukee.

Yes, it could fall apart...here it comes…

In addition to bonus buck, the councils could vote hold a four-day December antlerless deer hunt; allowing the harvest of bucks during the Holiday Hunt; holding an antlerless-only deer season; instituting antler point restrictions (four points on a side or wider than the ears) in a selected season; or limiting buck harvest to the first two days of a season … the proposal would require two-thirds of the CDACs in a zone to approve a change. However, the DNR is likely to seek input on whether the public prefers "county only" or "zone wide" votes to influence such changes.

I hope you’re taking notes folks. 

Walker Deer Czar Failure!!! Tough luck hunters...

Pretty much says it all....

Those fearless deer hunting trolls kept telling me they knew so much more than me, trashing my posts for criticizing the DNR's disastrous new maze of rules and unscientific approach to hunting.

Welcome to anther Republican policy failure. It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of low information "stand with Walker" backers. It's about time they felt the devastating effects of their own incompetence.  

Deer count down 20,000!!! DNR blames Fog, Rain, and maybe earlier start of Christmas Season too?

Gone are the rugged hunters heading out to conquer the elements so they can enjoy another traditional deer hunt. A little rain, a little morning fog...right up there with bitter cold temps and 6 feet of snow. Why can't it be just right?

I'm enjoying the mismanagement of recreational hunting by our Republican administration and right wing DNR. It couldn't happen to finer bunch of conservative "stand with Walker" gun toting believers. They now have a chance to ignore science, develop policy based on public opinion, and eventually move the state to a system of game farms with a plentiful stock of deer etc. for frustrated hunters.

They deserve it, after trashing everything else for you and me, with their one party know-it-all scorched earth approach to government. Here's the report from WISC and WKOW:

Hunting Licenses take Plunge in reaction to DNR's new "simplified" maze of Regulations.

I documented all of this before...here, about "Dr. Deer's" disastrous takeover of our hunting rules and regulations. James Kroll said one of his recommendations was to "simplify regulations," to "put the fun back into deer hunting." Here's the DNR video of him actually saying that, with the caveat that sometime these things take a while...:

Special interest money from the Safari Club International, and the ultimate plan to bring in hunting game farms like Wern Valley, isn't sitting well with sportsmen statewide. The truth is, "small" government Republicans love regulation. And it's not exactly encouraging young hunters to take up the sport:

Wisconsin's gun deer license sales are down about 11,175, lagging behind last year's pace.

Ready for the list of whiny excuses no rough and ready hunter would ever think of giving? Would you believe deep snow?

DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp told reporters … the gun deer season that deep snow in northern Wisconsin may be discouraging hunters in that region from getting out this year.

And many hunters are just fine with leaving their rifles at home? Yikes, crossbows anyone?

Hunters may have decided to participate in the state's new crossbow season and forgo the traditional gun season. She also pointed out that many hunters wait until the last few days before the season opens…

…blah blah blah. Stepp wants you to know that the maze of convoluted regulations, licenses and invisible boundaries aren't the real reasons after all.  

Walker's DNR turns Deer Hunting into regulatory nightmare of borders and tags.

Sorry to say, but my bleeding heart liberalism no longer extends to areas negatively affecting conservative strongholds and issues. It will be hard to sit on the sidelines watching rural schools die and hunters participate in destroying their own recreational sport, but it’s what conservative voters wanted and I we have to respect that.

And for a party that convulses at the thought of over-regulation, from assistance to recreational hunting, they’ve got no problem with the Rube Goldberg mishmash of hoops and rules to do the simplest things. 

  

Case in point, the following editorial by State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout about the DNR’s new hunting guidelines:

Sen. K. Vinehout-Uppity Wisconsin: Deer hunters taking to the woods in Wisconsin are facing a slew of new hunting rules. Hunters will experience the long-talked-about rules of the Texan ‘Deer Czar’ James Kroll. In the DNR’s words, the new rules change the “season framework, management units and antlerless deer hunting permits.”

Gone are “management zones” setting deer overwinter population goals. Gone are free tags & $2 tags in highly populated or CWD areas; gone are landowner deer tags. Soon-to-be gone is registering your deer at the local bar or convenience store. Next year all registration will be on-line. Tags are more expensive (6 times more expensive), limited, and depend on whether you hunt a private or public area.

Many times Secretary Cathy Stepp repeated, “The rules have changed, but the tradition remains.”

Hunters whom I've spoken with wonder if all we’ll have years from now is the fond memory of what used to be Wisconsin’s very equal deer hunting tradition. Store owners are worried folks won’t stop for coffee and a doughnut if they register deer on-line.

Hunters tell me: change the rules, make it hard to get public tags, expensive to hunt in private land and leave folks on their own to register a deer? Isn’t this asking for trouble?

Here are a few responses to the guy who commented with the picture below, who by the way, said he wasn't a hunter. Brilliant:

Anon: Mark Bye nailed it. All those rural white male voters that voted for Walker are getting what they voted for. They just never cared to understand what they were voting for. Time to let the chickens come home to roost.

Mark Bye: Hell, I don't hunt and even *I* get it.

Steve Hanson: I'm not a hunter, but I own property on which others hunt. I have to admit to being TOTALLY bamboozled by how complex the new rules are. And the folks hunting here are just as bewildered. 

The most revealing was this comment showing the DNR's real influence:

lufthase: I just happened to catch the DNR's "Deer Hunt 2014" program because it came on right after the Milwaukee Bucks game (ironic programming choice), and I noticed that the host and a number of presenters chose to wear Safari Club International hats. This seemed a bit odd for a DNR-produced program. Safari Club International is a lobbying organization, and a pretty radical one at that-- they promote trophy hunting, canned hunts, hounding bears/wolves, and oppose endangered species protections. Stranger still, DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp appeared on the program wearing a vest that prominently featured the logo of Wern Valley game farm - offering canned hunts for which no hunting license is required (but a $1,195 annual membership is), according to their website.

Here's an edited clip of the show promoting the Safari Club International and the Wern Valley game farm (their ad too). Special thanks to lufthase for the help:



The DNR "doesn't expect you to remember all these changes," you know, making the hunting experience supposedly so much easier. But bigger problems should be addressed, as lufthase suggests in the comments:

Now, the question is will Sec. Stepp be held accountable? She was performing an official function as a state employee and promoting an interest group and a private corporation. And there's also the question of whether Stepp paid for the vest herself or received it as a gift, which would be a(nother) no-no.

Another Walker Broken Promise: "Put more deer in the forest." Walker can't blame Doyle....

What, deer numbers are declining? Yes, we saw low deer numbers going into the 2013 hunting season, a hot issue for Scott Walker, candidate. That can't help bring in tourism dollars.

Rewind to Sept. 2, 2010 jsonline:

Remember the outrage...?

Walker called for an independent auditor to monitor the health and population of deer, saying a third party is needed because many hunters had lost faith in how the Department of Natural Resources manages the herd. Barrett and Neumann said it was needless expense … Walker said as governor he would take politics out of deer management with a so-called "whitetail deer trustee." DNR wildlife staff said a "gag" order exists in the department regarding the position.

Walker also pledged to "put more deer in the forest" … Like many hunters, Walker said he got tired of standing in a tree stand last season and not seeing deer. Walker said he has been hunting for three or four years and has not killed a deer.

Mark Toso, president of the Wisconsin Deer Hunters Association said Walker is "trying to feed off of anti-DNR sentiment" and frustration among hunters.

Declining deer numbers Under Walker…oops! Looks like that's a BROKEN PROMISE. Blame the harsh winter … for the last 3 years?

The Wisconsin DNR is asking people to report any dead deer they see as the agency works to track the harsh winter's toll on the state herd.

Scott Walker is getting a big pass on an issue he blamed Gov. Jim Doyle for during his campaign for governor:

Walker says Gov. Jim Doyle and the state Department of Natural Resources have engaged in "political games" and "put bureaucrats in Madison ahead of hunters of the state." Walker claimed that the "deer population has dwindled" as a result of "mismanagement" by Doyle and the DNR.

Excuses excuses? 

Last year's significant snow and cold that persisted into May resulted in lower deer numbers going into the 2013 fall seasons … antlerless permit numbers at their lowest levels since the 1990s.

Can’t blame former Gov. Jim Doyle for this DNR failure and deer herd management disaster:

…in northern Wisconsin, where deer numbers have been declining. DNR officials anticipate no antlerless permits or extremely limited numbers of antlerless permits in many northern counties this fall to help the herd recover.

You can thank our “deer whisperer” from Texas, privateer and "white tail deer trustee" James Kroll. 

Republicans, the party so closely tied to guns, hunting and promoting the great outdoors, exposed as city folk fakes.

Another phony marketing image exposed.

And who can forget the United Sportsmen’s debacle, where a Koch front group of political lobbyists tried to sell themselves off as hunting and fishing enthusiast? Since when is the Republican Party of elites, big money, big corporate donors, billionaires, the NRA, and Wall Street wimps concerned about hunting?

Exposed: What else could explain the jaw dropping disconnect between Wisconsin’s hunting tradition and the clueless recommendation by Scott Walker’s deer czar from Texas; register deer kills via the internet; smart phones and home computers.
  

Hunters Outraged:

WSJ: Wisconsin deer hunters have for decades hauled their kills to roadside taverns or gas stations to be counted, hanging around after the work was done to slug beers, swap stories and show off their trophies … the state Department of Natural Resources proposes moving to online and telephone reporting as soon as this fall.

Gov. Scott Walker’s deer adviser, Texas researcher James Kroll, proposed the switch as a way to tally kills faster, save money and make registration more convenient for hunters. But tavern and convenience store owners who for 70 years have relied on registration to draw in hunters worry about the loss of business, and DNR officials warn they could lose detailed biological data on the state’s herd and tissue samples used to test for chronic wasting disease.

Republican legislators see hunters as just voting guys with guns, who should be their lifelong friends because of a concealed carry law, which had nothing to do with hunting.

“It affects the culture. It affects the local economy,” said Lee Fahrney, a deer hunter and spokesman for the Conservation Congress, a group of sportsmen that advises the DNR on policy. “It just affects the whole social underpinnings of the annual deer hunt.” Currently, there are 626 places hunters can go to register their kills, including DNR-run stations, taverns and convenience stores. DNR workers staff 100 or so stations during the popular nine-day November gun hunt to collect age and gender data from deer, and tissue samples for chronic wasting disease testing. The agency uses data from that hunt and others to tally kills, track buck mortality and gender ratios, and assess deer health and antler characteristics. The new rules would eliminate in-person registration across all deer seasons in an effort to maximize savings.

The $182,000 Hunting tradition to costly for state?

Wanda Dogs, who has been registering deer for 15 years at Dog House Tavern in Elroy, predicted the switch would hurt business. “Deer hunting’s a national holiday around here,” she said. “Lot of money you could stand to lose. It helps the whole community, not only our station, but it helps everybody when you have these hunters about. They run to the stores, they run to get gas.”

The incredible insult:

The DNR report suggested business owners could still attract hunters by offering them the use of a computer to complete online registration.

Goodbye Tradition:

“Sometimes when you pull into a registration station and you see a crowd around a vehicle you can bet there is something special,” Stan Brownell, a Sparta deer hunter and Conservation Congress executive council member, wrote in an email to Fahrney. “Maybe a neighbor or someone you know hunts in the same area and they get something special and you see that and hopes arise for future deer hunts for your kids.”

The board’s chairman, Preston Cole, said, “There’s a whole culture that has evolved around showing up around the deer-check station.”

Deer Czar Complete Phony...or am I the only one who noticed?

After watching con man "Dr." James Kroll make P.T. Barnum look like an amateur, I'm stunned Democratic legislators and fellow DNR employee's aren't completely outraged.

Deer czar Kroll is basically saying, 'let's get hunters involved,' they can do it for me. Science is too much work, and keeping track of chronic wasting disease...forget it. Draw dropping stuff. Kroll has that same dumb George W. look in his eyes. Maybe it's just me, but he seems to be just making it up as he's being interviewed. Kroll's report does its best to trash the biological scientific approach, for a more simplified back to nature solution...doing nothing. He calls it social science. Come on, this guy is a hack.

This is almost too hard to watch without throwing something at the monitor. From Here and Now:



Just as bad, the DNR will allow this crap to become policy, instead of screaming bloody murder. Here comes privatization and deregulated: