Frederica Freyberg:
We return to the state Capitol now. That's where the DNR took fire this week at a legislative public hearing from hunters upset with the agency's deer management strategies. The DNR has used various strategies, including extra hunting seasons in the areas the agency feels has too many deer and the wildly unpopular earn-a-buck rule, meaning you have to shoot an antler-less deer before you can shoot a buck that the Wisconsin hunters prize. This year, the harvest dropped 30 percent and hunters headed to the capitol to argue the herd control strategy has worked too well.

Mike Bratz:
The attitude towards managing deer or managing the deer herd has gone from one of protecting this valuable asset to one of control and limiting deer as if they were a liability.

Ron Kulas:
We'll set goals here, but we don't know if we'll hit them with the tools we have. They appear to be broken.

Neal Kedzie:
Seventy percent of respondents feel that the DNR’s herd management policies are resulting in not only reduction of the herd but the literal crash of the sport.

Matt Frank:
I know there's frustration out there with hunters, but when the suggestion is made that we are not listening at all, I take issue with that. We made a decision in this past year to drop earn-a-buck from all units outside the CWD office. We did that listening to hunter concern. We could deliver to hunters more deer in the woods, more deer in Wisconsin, if we ignored all of the other requirements that we are bound by law to follow. As I said in my testimony, what we're trying to balance is a healthy deer herd, maintain a strong deer hunting tradition, but we also have to take into account forestry damage, ag damage, car collisions, and a host of other factors.

Frederica Freyberg:
Now, Art Hackett was at that hearing yesterday and joins us now. Art, thanks for doing so.

Art Hackett:
Hi, Fred.

Frederica Freyberg:
Did anybody there stick up for the DNR?

Art Hackett:
Only a couple of people. Several pointed out that the land is much more fragmented now, and the deer drives that hunters used to use don't work anymore. Also, a number of people talked about how they use feed gardens and other techniques to congregate deer on their property, which means that surrounding land has fewer deer.

Frederica Freyberg:
All right. Now, before you went up to that hearing, you were wondering about how Minnesota and Michigan compare with their deer harvest this year. What did you find out?

Art Hackett:
That's right, Fred. Once again, the DNR estimates that the number deer taken during the regular nine-day season was down about 29 percent from last year. Taking a look at our neighbor to the west, Minnesota, their deer kill was also down, but not as much, about 12 percent. The Minnesota DNR's big game coordinator, Lou Cornicelli, says we need to keep in mind that Minnesota's deer habitat isn't as good as Wisconsin. They don't have as many deer. Minnesota hunters usually kill half as many deer as they do in Wisconsin. This year, and this is the comparison for gun deer season, the Minnesota number was 151,000, in Wisconsin, the estimate is 195,000, so this year, we were actually closer than usual. Turning to Michigan, they saw a decrease as well. The harvest was down 10 percent to 20 percent, but in the UP, it was a 20 percent to 30 percent drop, that’s about the same as Wisconsin’s. In the lower peninsula, the drop was only 5 percent to 10 percent, but it was still down.

Frederica Freyberg:
Well, thank you for compiling all those figures, Art.

Art Hackett:
Thank you, Fred.