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Dean Bortz: Wisconsin’s Vilas County showcases strong DNR team during spring hearings

Vilas County delegate Fred Besasie passed the hat to collect ballots during the delegate vote. (Photo by Dean Bortz)

It was almost like the good old days on Monday, April 13, in Vilas County when 103 citizens poured into the St. Germain Elementary School for Wisconsin’s annual spring fish and game hearings proctored by local Conservation Congress delegates and local Department of Natural Resources fish biologists, wildlife biologists and game wardens.
That turnout reminded me of spring hearings back in the late 1980s and early 1990s when more than 100 sportsmen would pile into the Plum Lake town hall in Sayner when guys like Tony Rizzo and Neal Long would raise a skeptical eyebrow at some proposed DNR rule changes, while standing up to champion other proposals.

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