Outdoors Weekly News Archive

November 9, 2007

DNR urging hunters to keep dropping does
Low antlerless kill could force return to special seasons

By Joe Knight
Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) – So far deer hunters are falling short of achieving the 2-to-1 antlerless-to-buck ratio needed to avoid a return to the “zone T” or October antlerless hunts, state wildlife officials say.
This fall is the second year of a moratorium on the October seasons, but the agreement with the stakeholders’ group that led to the two-year moratorium was that hunters would shoot two antlerless deer for every buck in herd control units, not including earn-a-buck units, said Keith Warnke, deer ecologist for the Department of Natural Resources.
“If hunters didn’t meet that goal, the DNR was to go back to the October hunts in those units,” Warnke said.
Last season, in four of the five deer management regions of the state, the antlerless kill fell short of that goal. The Central Forest Region was the only area to meet the goal, and they were right on the 2-to-1 antlerless-to-buck average, he said.
In the Western Farmland Region, which includes Eau Claire County and nearby counties, the ratio was 1.8 antlerless deer for every buck. To make the two-year ration average, hunters would have to shoot 2.2 antlerless deer per buck this year around Eau Claire, he said.
Warnke said he is discussing the moratorium now partly to encourage hunters to take more antlerless deer in the bow season, which is under way, and in the gun season. He also is discussing it now so it doesn’t come as a surprise next year if DNR staff recommend going back to the October hunts in herd control units.
“I would love to be wrong and premature on this,” he said. “I just want people to be thinking about it. I want hunters and stakeholders to be aware of the situation last year, and I want them to be aware of it this year.”
The October antlerless gun hunt was unpopular with many hunters, including a number of bowhunters, who thought it affected natural deer movement well into November.
But the season also had fair participation, and wildlife officials thought the antlerless deer taken during the four-day seasons helped control deer numbers in overpopulated units.
Warnke said hunters have done a pretty good job of taking does, but they may need more hunting opportunities to kill enough antlerless deer and avoid going to earn-a-buck seasons.