Thousands of written comments on longer deer hunt in WI

Wausau, Wis. (AP) – The Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources is evaluating more than 6,000 letters, e-mails and online
comments submitted on a proposal to start the fall deer hunt a week
earlier and extend it to 16 days.

Deer ecologist Keith Warnke says more than 1,600 people also
attended 11 public hearings regarding the change.

Warnke says hunters generally do not like starting the season a
week earlier but there’s more support for a longer season if a week
is tacked onto the traditional nine-day hunt, which begins the
Saturday before Thanksgiving.

The Natural Resources Board authorized hearings on a longer
season, starting in 2010, as a new way to control the growth of the
whitetail herd.

Warnke says recommendations will be presented at the board’s
December meeting in Madison.