Patrick Durkin: Wisconsin DNR keeps ignoring CWD elephant in the room

One can’t help but smirk each autumn when the DNR issues its reminders and suggestions to hunters preparing for Wisconsin’s deer seasons.

A DNR press release on Sept. 12 advised: “Help Maintain a Healthy Herd: Avoid Baiting and Feeding Deer.”

Avoid?

Perhaps the Wisconsin State Patrol should take the DNR’s lead and issue press releases that advise: “Help Reduce Motor-Vehicle Fatalities: Avoid driving 90 mph on two-lane highways, especially if you haven’t avoided heavy drinking the past three hours.”

Sheesh. Just say, “Don’t!”

After all, it’s illegal to bait or feed deer in 64 (88%) of Wisconsin’s 72 counties. As of Sept. 13, baiting and feeding deer is legal only in Ashland, Bayfield, Brown, Door, Douglas, Iron, Kewaunee, and Price counties.

At least that DNR press release explained why we should “avoid” being scofflaws. Baiting and feeding congregate deer unnaturally at small sites, creating situations where infected deer can quickly spread CWD.

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That’s no small matter, given that CWD has now been found in at least one wild deer in 46 (64%) of Wisconsin’s 72 counties. As the press release notes, CWD kills every deer it infects. Sick deer can spread CWD through their saliva, urine, feces or blood. Further, the agent that causes CWD – prions – can stay infective in soils a long time.

A day earlier, a DNR press release previewing the state’s four-month deer season for crossbows, compound bows, and traditional archery gear didn’t even mention the disease. How can the agency discuss deer or deer hunting without spotlighting CWD, given Wisconsin’s notoriety as the world leader for infected whitetails?

Sigh. Not only does the DNR ignore the elephant in the room, but it also ignores the one raiding the snack bar and the other one spitting tobacco juice into the punch bowl.

Granted, Wisconsin’s arrow-slinging seasons offer great opportunities for hunters to bag antlerless deer. Deer soon change their activity patterns as summer fades and more bowhunters and, eventually, gun hunters go afield.

We also appreciate the agency’s gentle reminders to stay safe by always wearing a full-body safety harness when hunting from treestands, and to always keep three points of contact when climbing ladders or tree steps.

And yes, we acknowledge the joint forces who effectively killed CWD-control efforts with bad laws and misguided plans from 2011 to 2014. To specify, the culprits are former State Sen. Tom Tiffany, former DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp, former Natural Resource Board member Greg Kazmierski, and our former deer czar, Dr. James Kroll.

Yes, they handcrafted this mess, but Gov. Tony Evers and former DNR Secretary Preston Cole made no effort to shed those shackles after Evers’ election in 2018. Who thought it was possible to twiddle your thumbs for six years? Further, Evers apparently can’t find anyone to run the agency since Adam Payne resigned from the job Nov. 1, 2023.

We’ve also seen little or no thoughts or prodding about CWD from the Conservation Congress’s leadership team, those guiding the citizen-input process.

Maybe that’s why the DNR’s Sept. 11 press release about the 2024 archery/crossbow season said nothing about a modest new rule – NR 10.104 (12) (c) – to boost CWD testing and deer kills in CWD-infected counties. Starting this year, hunters will receive a free either-sex replacement tag if they register an antlerless deer of any age that tests positive for CWD. The tag is good for the 2024 and 2025 deer seasons in the same unit and land type as the registered deer.

The agency already issues a replacement statewide buck tag if a hunter registers an antlered deer that tests positive for CWD. Neither of these tags is hunting tool-specific.

As with the state’s deer-carcass dumpster program, the either-sex replacement tag for CWD-positive antlerless deer didn’t originate with the DNR, NRB, governor, legislature or congress. The primary guy behind both efforts was Richland County’s Doug Duren, a member of the county deer advisory council, or CDAC. Ever since Tiffany, Stepp, and Kazmierski colluded to eliminate the earn-a-buck program in 2011 despite 15 years of strong performance, the DNR has had no aggressive option to curb deer herds and control disease spread.

Still, the agency didn’t aggressively use the tools it had, and it later let Kazmierski talk the NRB into eliminating buck hunting during the holiday hunts. Yes, the DNR dumps free antlerless-only tags onto our hunting population, but most hunters won’t shoot more than one deer annually unless forced to.

Therefore, given the DNR’s scant deer-control options, you’d think the agency would regularly remind hunters to test each deer they shoot and use their replacement tags if their deer tests positive. Those are the only incentives possible to encourage more hunting and shooting.

That’s especially true for bowhunters, the one group of hunters whose numbers haven’t crashed this century. With the growing popularity of crossbows, Wisconsin is selling nearly 40,000 more bowhunting licenses now (297,675 in 2023) than in 2000 (258,002). In contrast, it’s selling 150,000 fewer gun licenses, with 694,712 sold in 2000, and 541,582 in 2023.

That trend has continued so far this year. As of Aug. 31, license sales are up from the same date in 2023 for conservation patrons, 0.09%; and crossbows, 0.01%; and down slightly for archery, 0.02%; a combined increase of 0.04%.

You’d also think the DNR would urge “learn-to-hunt” participants to shoot extra antlerless deer. Yes, many beginning hunters might want only one deer, but if they get a rare opportunity to shoot two quickly, encourage them to do so.

After all, herds in broad regions of southwestern Wisconsin offer a 30% to 50% chance that one of those deer will be dying from CWD. The more deer beginners shoot, the better their odds of getting one that’s healthy.

No doubt, the DNR and Evers’ administration inherited a passive, irresponsible deer program that ignores science and emphasizes recreation. Still, Evers and his team could do more to leverage hunting to maximize harvests and test more deer.

Contact Patrick Durkin at patrickdurkin56@gmail.com.