The reason the Deer kill is down again...

Eat diseased deer, because fear mongering "individuals with political and social agendas are using this situation to their benefit"?

The Trump age of living dangerously is here! It would be oddly comical if it weren't so absurdly reckless.

The right-wing "in-your-face" fusion of defiance and fantasy world nonsense is replacing actual science and common sense with the more intangible "gut feeling."

Take a look at what we're now being told are "fake" CWD warnings that run counter to what most people think:

A Poll shows that of the people who have heard of CWD, 64% feel it represents a threat to the future of deer hunting in Wisconsin.

The poll reflects the declining deer kill and hunter participation we've seen in Wisconsin.

Scott Walker's Anecdotal policy using Hunter anger to abandon CWD control! Chronic wasting disease kills deer...or does it? If a deer dies in the woods, will anybody know? Apparently not. Maloney's Baloney meat locker wasn't going to let scary science deter the Trumpian urge to eat diseased animals:

The owners of a Durand meat locker are taking a stand against what they view as misleading hype about chronic wasting disease ... Maloney’s Baloney posted on its Facebook site recently that the shop “will NOT process your whole deer if you choose to or are FORCED by the DNR to test your deer for CWD.”

"Those benefiting from such programs," like those "wealthy" DNR scientists combating the spread of CWD? This is the same tactic right-wingers have been using against green energy supporters, claiming a global conspiracy to bankrupt big oils billionaire CEO's. Welcome the new era of stupid:

Dawn Endle, who has co-owned the processor for 21 years with her husband, Jeff, said they don’t believe the neurological disease is harming Wisconsin’s deer herd or that it has the potential to harm humans who consume venison from an infected animal.

“There’s no reason to do this hysteria thing and scare people away from eating the healthiest meat in the world,” Dawn Endle said.

That opinion runs counter to the advice espoused by health officials, even though there has never been a documented case of a human contracting CWD ... she believes all of the taxpayer money being spent on CWD testing and research is a waste because it doesn’t matter how widespread the disease is if it doesn’t threaten humans or appear to be killing wild deer.

CWD doesn't appear to be killing wild deer??? Science based warnings and the idea of eating diseased meat is unfairly "ruining a great Wisconsin tradition?"

“We are not scared of CWD whatsoever,” she said. “We are sick of bureaucrats scaring people and ruining a great Wisconsin tradition.”

The disease is now out of control thanks to Scott Walker. The video below even shows that. Here's a clip from WPT's Here and Now:

GOP's agenda rolling on...

Walker's career record Repair Campaign slaps together a quick plan to control CWD, after hunting took another hit.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; Scott Walker owns the spread of CWD and the decline of Wisconsin's deer hunting tradition statewide.

I've been covering the out-of-control spread of CWD in Wisconsin for years. I've pointed out that deer hunting isn't down because the hunting age didn't include babies or that hunting in parks and around schools was off-limits, it had more to do with Chronic Wasting Disease. We can thank Scott Walker's deregulated, voluntary, "common sense," unscientific management of the deer population.

...promote voluntary landowner surveillance testing permits, encourage the reporting of "sick deer" at the local level...

and...

...Allowed deer herd growth favored by hunters in areas with chronic wasting disease despite the advice of some scientists who say less deer density will slow the disease’s spread.

Scott Walker's Sudden "better-late-than-never" reelection Year Solution for CWD: One-by-one Walker is trying to cross off every ignored policy failure. Ain't happenin'.

Walker's critics were right about what should have been done. It turned out the Democrats weren't spewing hate and partisan attacks like he said they were.

From the governor who pulled state funding for road kill removal, we just saw this report:

Avid hunter and Oneida County Deer Advisory Committee (CDAC) Vice Chairman Roger Sabota said, "It's bad, but we're going to get through it. If we get more people concerned with it, we get some people with professional backgrounds involved with it... A lot of our businesses are dependent on hunters."

Walker might have also got a whiff of this on Feb 21, 2018:

The Tomahawk meeting (came) just a month after CWD was found in a wild deer in Lincoln County. It was killed in between Rhinelander and Tomahawk and it is the only wild one in North Central Wisconsin testing positive for CWD. "Obviously I'm concerned," said Jim Blankenhein, who lives just a few miles from where the deer was killed. "It makes me a little nervous." Blankenhein was one of about 50 people who showed up to the meeting. When it's been established in a population for any length of time, population's really drop off," said Chuck McCullough, a DNR Wildlife Supervisor. "If you have CWD in a population of wild deer it seems like it's a one-way trip downhill."

WPR came out with these two reports yesterday (Tuesday, May 2). Walker's panicky CWD plan, which doesn't exist yet, maybe finalized sometime before hunting season. But like before, Walker is calling for meetings, volunteer work and finally putting in place rules critics have been begging for the last 8 years. But it still doesn't measure up. Walker also mentioned his old plan, suggesting there was one...not really (audio):

Walker said the new rules will ... compliment a state CWD response plan initiated in 2010. "We need to protect Wisconsin’s hunting traditions and long-standing heritage by working together to contain the spread of chronic wasting disease in deer." How has that worked out so far?

Scott Loomans, policy initiatives advisor for DNR Secretary Dan Meyers, said "We’ll be working this summer to get rules in place for the hunting season this fall ... We have regulations currently but they’ve kind of become out of date." Loomans said that’s because current law allows hunters to move carcasses from places that have a high prevalence of CWD.

Increased surveillance, increased sampling, carcass movement restrictions and local community involvement are just some the goals outlined in the recently updated Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources CWD Response Plan. The plan, part of Gov. Scott Walker's Chronic Wasting Disease Initiative ... will be the guide for CWD response and management over the next five years. 

Walker's CWD Disaster Explained: I had to include Patrick Durkin's comprehensive article on how Walker has botched something so important. And yes, private business interests played a part:

Two wild deer far outside Wisconsin’s endemic zone for chronic wasting disease tested positive last week for the always-fatal disease, and yet the Department of Natural Resources downplayed the news in press releases, emphasizing instead that the discoveries renewed baiting and feeding bans for the areas.The new CWD cases were reported April 18 in Eau Claire County and April 20 in Oneida County. Both were those counties’ first CWD cases in wild deer.

Then again, downplaying CWD has been the DNR’s game-plan since Gov. Scott Walker took office in January 2011. Gov. Walker quickly entrusted Wisconsin’s deer management to Greg Kazmierski by appointing him to the Natural Resources Board, which sets DNR policy.

Kazmierski owns and operates Buck Rub Outfitters in Pewaukee, an archery/bowhunting pro shop and manufacturer. Kaz frequently fusses that publicly discussing CWD hurts tourism and makes hunters go elsewhere or quit hunting.

Case in point: When Tami Ryan, the DNR’s wildlife health section chief, spoke at the DNR Board’s Feb. 28 meeting, she reported that an Iowa County study found CWD-infected deer dying at three times the rate of healthy deer. Instead of probing such findings, Kazmierski fretted that DNR data and terminology make Wisconsin’s CWD status sound worse than necessary.

Kaz urged the agency to quit using the word “affected” for counties within 10 miles of a CWD case. He suggests labeling them “watch counties” so folks don’t confuse “affected” with “infected.” Board member Fred Prehn chimed in, saying many CWD-affected counties have never had a deer test positive.

Sigh. How can we declare any county CWD-free when the DNR hasn’t conducted widespread systematic testing in over a decade?

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.

Walker's desperate Deer Hunting revival efforts helping kill time honored sport besides changing times.

Who could blame Scott Walker for desperately trying to create a manufacturing renaissance by spending $3 billion of taxpayer money to bring Foxconn to Wisconsin?

The Walker Authority has been trying to do the same for deer hunting, but without the $3 billion handed out to deer hunters. Well, how about another hairbrained hunting gimmick no one really asked for:

Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill on Nov. 13 eliminating the minimum age for participating in a mentored hunt. According to the data, 1,454 of the mentored hunt licenses authorized children younger than nine to hunt.

So what was the end result?

Hunters killed nearly 14,000 fewer deer during opening weekend of Wisconsin’s nine-day gun deer season this year than last. Hunters registered 102,903 deer from Saturday through Sunday compared with 116,615 deer during opening weekend in 2016. That’s a decrease of 11.8 percent.

The opening weekend buck kill also was down, from 64,828 last year to 59,142 this year.

Unfortunately, our now chaotically understaffed crony filled DNR is giving the impression they're hiding something:

Hunters purchased fewer licenses (about 5,000 less) heading into the opening days of Wisconsin's traditional nine-day gun deer season than last year.  The DNR sold 582,281 licenses down slightly from 587,440 sold through the Sunday of opening weekend in 2016. The DNR ... didn’t offer a specific figure or clarify whether those licenses included archery licenses or licenses for other gun deer seasons.

I personally love the tradition myself, but seriously, when you don't even try to control Chronic Wasting Disease and then have the balls to tell people it's okay to eat venison despite recent scientific data...well, what do you expect? This is "small government" style management, and it doesn't instill a lot of confidence. Not to mention Americans having less time to get away and the competition from video games that let kids accomplish pretty much the same thing over and over without freezing to death.

They've tried every reckless dumbass idea with no success:

Crossbow hunters got an exemption "from a state law that prohibits hunting within 1,700 feet of a school or hospital." To sell his idea, Kleefisch renamed his crossbow hunting "Assembly Bill 8" to the "Deer Collision Reduction Act."

Don't laugh, that new name may have helped the bill become law. But that wasn't the only effort...

Teenagers could learn in school how to safely handle firearms under a bill introduced last week by Republican lawmakers ... as an elective.

Why? Gun indoctrination and gun industry profits...:

The bill was created with help from trap club coaches and officials overseeing state clay target programs and gun club owners.

Is this a Gun Marketing Plan Targeting Kids, or a sports hunting revival? 

Rep. Joel Kleefisch said... the elective course would teach students about the different types of firearms and how they work, how to safely carry and transport firearms and how to engage a safety lock on firearms, among other skills. “The use of a firearm comes with a massive responsibility. In a state where firearms are part of our heritage, entertainment, sustenance...The bottom line is guns are an integral part of Wisconsin society." 

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.

Good Luck Hunting...

Walker's Hunting, Fishing, Parks Tourism Mess!!!

In a way, I'm loving this. It looks like Wisconsin sportsmen may have to spend more of their hard earned money just to enjoy fishing, hunting and playing with their non-motorized watercraft such as canoes and kayaks.

State Parks: Never-mind the other growing deficit, our state parks system, a Scott Walker created disaster as well. Odder still is how Republicans brag about park attendance being up, despite higher fees. I'm just guessing, but that means the problem is even worse than we thought:

Republicans removed all state support for Wisconsin’s parks in the 2015 budget, leaving the parks to survive on fees alone. They raised admission and camping fees ... but the DNR still projects the lack of state support will leave a $1.4 million annual deficit in the agency’s parks account.

Hunting and Fishing: Now, after Scott Walker dramatically cut the size of the DNR, they're facing a $5 million budget shortfall.

A $5 million budget shortfall could be fixed temporarily through higher prices for hunting and fishing licenses, new admission charges for non-hunters using natural areas, new registration fees for paddlers, and a smaller annual boosts tied to inflation.

Yup, one of the states biggest bragging points, tourism and outdoor sports, could soon be priced out reach for your average Wisconsinite. And this is only the beginning of the problem. These shortfalls will only keep growing as the state moves from a state supported funding system to an individual user fee, which as anybody can tell you, is much more expensive.  

Scientifically conducted household surveys in 2016 found that a majority of the public would support having everyone pay something for fish and wildlife management, the report said ... others collect sales tax or lottery revenue dedicated to wildlife management, the report said. 

You may want to get your owned framed copy of the following policy statement so often reported in the media, because to tightwad Republicans its an oldie but a goodie: 

The Legislature has resisted requests from the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation for higher fees, and Walker has opposed tax or fee increases unless they are paired with decreases in other budget lines.

Walker's Deer Hunting Debacle: I've been covering this for awhile now, and ever since Walker brought in a Texas "deer czar" pushing game farms, and not science, deer hunting has hit the skids. Nothings working guys, hunting near schools, in local parks, getting rid of the minimum age to hunt, blaze pink clothing, nothing. Funnier still, the DNR blamed the "cold" and "wind" for the low turnout of our rugged outdoors-men: 

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.

What can be done?

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.

Cuts to wildlife and fish-stocking seems counter-intuitive, ya think. 

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. 

Finally, Walker's criticized by the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and Democrats.

Since I’m not a hunter, it seemed odd to me that I was one of the few bloggers writing about hunting and the irresponsible state control over wildlife. I just wanted to protect the sport my dad and so many others enjoyed here in Wisconsin.

Walker trolls liked to bash my coverage, putting all their faith and supposed rugged “individualism” into their near infallible leader, Scott Walker. My defense of hunting and criticism of the new Rube Goldberg set of hunting regulations was met with snide remarks.

  

Now that the issue if front and center, I’m hoping the state will make the necessary changes, and the trolls stop giving up their freedoms to their big government conservative leaders like Walker. WPR:

Wisconsin Wildlife Federation Asks Walker To Be Stricter With Deer Farms To Fight CWD: A prominent sportsmen's group wants Gov. Scott Walker to crack down on deer farms as he revises the state's chronic wasting disease tactics. The Wisconsin Wildlife Federation announced Thursday that it sent the governor a letter asking him to require farms to double-fence, install devices to detect open gates and kill their herds within a month if CWD is detected on their farm and it's not double-fenced.

The federation recommended more testing of wild deer for CWD and suggests returning to in-person carcass registration in disease zones. The group also demanded more transparency from the state on the disease's spread.

That sounded reasonable, right? Nope. Republicans are settling in on their now standard answer for everything; 'there’s nothing we can do.' Now that’s governing:

Whitetails of Wisconsin Association President Rick Vojtik said the captive herd isn't spreading the disease and double-fencing won't stop its spread.

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."

Republicans allow Hunters to declare Open Season on Photographers.

In another amazingly dangerous and irresponsible Republican move, hunters will have another reason to take aim and shoot to kill; unwanted lawbreaking photographers?

This will mesh well with your average stand your ground true believer. Tell me this isn't a recipe for trouble. Here's the press release by the NRA's local lobbying arm, Wisconsin FORCE:

Today, Wisconsin Firearm Owners applauded the members who voted for and unanimously advanced Senate Bill 338. The citizens of Wisconsin have protection against harassment and stalking. 

Senate Bill 338 expands current law so that a person may not interfere or attempt to interfere with an activity associated with lawful hunting, fishing, or trapping. It includes protection against disturbing a lawfully placed hunting stand, disturbing bait or other feed, using a drone to harass, and activities that are intended to harass our rich sporting heritage. 

When a law says taking pictures or a video is unlawful, what's to stop a hunter from using a gun to enforce the law as they see fit? The bill...:

...would expand the definition of interference with a hunter to include remaining in a hunter's sight and photographing or confronting a hunter more than twice with the intention to interfere.

What is wrong with these people. Wisconsin FORCE finished with this:

The individuals that photograph, record, use visual or physical proximity, confront or approach individuals during the exercise of lawful activities should be prosecuted. This bill would help to do that. It is time to help stop the harassment of activities involved with our rich sporting heritage. Wisconsin FORCE thanks Representative Jarchow and Senator Moulton for their leadership on this bill, as well as the bill’s numerous co-sponsors.

And what about pictures or recordings that show illegal activity, but were taken during or after a confrontation? This is gun madness.

Shotgun Sarah says No to Blaze Pink sop to Women.

It looks like "blaze pink" hunting gear is just another show of male condescension to women. The Republican preoccupied with getting everybody out to hunt gave way to stereotypes and girl colors: 

According to state Department of Natural Resources data, female hunters made up about 10% of the state's gun deer hunters in 2014, 2013 and 2012. They made up about a quarter of hunters between ages 10 and 12 in 2014, however.

But blaze pink isn't going over so well with Shotgun Sarah:

AP: Female hunters urge Senate panel to scrap blaze pink bill … arguing the measure is sexist and won't make anyone safer in the woods. Sarah Ingle, who goes by the nickname "Shotgun Sarah.” and Jean Tackes, president and vice president of the Women's Hunting and Sporting Association, wore green camouflage T-shirts to the Senate agriculture committee's public hearing. They said that the bill's authors' contention that it will attract more women to hunting is demeaning.

"Would you really be willing to gut (a deer) and … drag it out of the woods just because you can wear pink?" said Ingle, "

Get this, Rep. Joel Kleefisch, one of the bill's chief sponsors, claims he didn’t try to target women. He said it didn’t even occur to him. Oddly, the pictures caption says otherwise...:

He never thought of the measure as a way of attracting women into the sport. "We could have done a better job when this first came out (saying) that (wearing pink) was an option and we didn't have any delusions of grandeur that this would bring women into this.”

And I'm sure the other bills sponsor never talked about it either? 

"(Hunting's) traditionally been seen as a man's sport," Rep. Nick Milroy, told the committee Wednesday. "We hope this is something that will reverse that trend and add to the ranks of hunters in Wisconsin."

Tackes told the committee, "(The bill) is a halfhearted attempt to go to women and say, 'Hey, I can wear pink and go out and hunt. That's not what women want and not what they need."

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.

Republican take aim at tradition, and Deer Hunting Customers at Taverns & Gas Stations, telling them to register deer online.

The memories of hanging out at the tavern with my dad, who made the rounds swapping stories about the ones that got away, are fading away now. And unfortunately, the next generation won't even know what they're missing as they register their deer kill online.  

I suppose technology marches on, but our job creating Republicans didn't hesitate to plow ahead anyway and do away with the already small amount of business taverns and gas stations have in the winter months during the hunting season. Real job creators...

Hunters can register deer by phone, but not everyone pleased: For the first time, Wisconsin’s 600,000 deer hunters can register their deer by phone and Internet. The new system has some tavern and gas station owners concerned about lost business.

The new registration system has been in place for archery and bear season this fall. Cook, the owner of Uncle Mike's, noticed the change right away."Business is way down. You just don't have the influx of hunters," said Cook.

Al Bock, owner of the Cabin Bar & Grill in Coloma, said his tavern was always busy during the gun-deer season, but when it became a registration station five years ago, business doubled.

He can kiss that business goodbye. And like everything else Republican legislators and Walker appointees don't give a rats ass about, they've got their know-it-all response:

The DNR sees it differently. 

Now shut up, they won.

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.