March 31, 2022 at 12:45 p.m.
Oneida County Deer Advisory Council makes preliminary recommendations for antlerless quota for 2022 season
875 quota from last year holds over
Oneida County Deer Advisory Council makes preliminary recommendations for antlerless quota for 2022 season
These recommendations are not always approved, however. In fact, last year the NRB reduced the number of antlerless tags the CDAC recommended in several counties. This change caused a rift in many CDACs in the Northwoods, and was not forgotten this year as the Oneida CDAC looked at setting its preliminary recommendation.
These meetings start with a biologist presentation, highlighting metrics of the deer herd in the county. The previous Oneida County deer biologist, Jeremy Holtz, took a new position with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). For that reason, DNR biologist Michelle Woodford presented deer herd information to the CDAC this year.
Woodford reminded the CDAC of its three-year objective to increase the deer herd. She said this did not necessarily mean the deer herd would have to increase every year, but that success would be determined by the population at the end of that three-year time period.
She also spoke about the county in general, stating 88% of the county could be considered deer range. Oneida County is comprised of 54% private land and 46% public land, she said. She also reminded the CDAC that land such as that enrolled in the Managed Forest Law MFL), and other industrial forests, although privately owned, are open to the public. Therefore hunters who hunt on these lands would need to hold a public land tag for an antlerless harvest.
Woodford also spoke about hunter satisfaction surveys. She said there was a decent increase in trends overall and in 2021 there was a significant increase in the number of deer seen by hunters, at least by those who took part in the survey.
It also seemed, Woodford said, that the Northwoods could be bumping up against carrying capacity for deer in many instances. Although there may be other factors contributing to the lower number of forked yearling bucks over spiked bucks, she felt the carrying capacity limitations may be a large part of that equation.
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) was also part of the conversation. This year, Woodford said, a new positive was found in the wild herd in the City of Eagle River. 2017 saw the first positive in Oneida County, with another in 2018 and two more in 2019 in the Crescent Flats area. In the last four or five years, she said, the county has averaged approximately 500 samples collected.
Woodford also gave the forestry portion of the presentation. Deer, she said, have obvious impacts on the landscape, especially in regeneration of new forests.
"If we continue to let deer persist at current populations, the risks to forest regenerations would be widespread in the entire county," she told the CDAC. "It would put us at an excessive browse risk."
In places where timber sales have taken place, she said, a reduction in the deer herd would help with forest regeneration. Woodford said the county is now getting more data on the issue, and it is showing there is quite a bit of browse on a large number of plots.
Winter severity can also be a driver of the deer herd, especially in the Northwoods, Woodford said.
The winter severity index looks at the number of days with temperatures below zero and the number of days with over 18 inches of snow on the ground. For this winter, Oneida County sits at 43 which, Woodford reminded the CDAC, could change before the May meeting. She said she would bring current numbers for the entire season to that meeting. This rating of 43 is considered mild, meaning the deer herd likely came through the winter in healthier condition than in some other recent winters. 2013 was one of the most severe winters on record, and the deer herd numbers suffered as a result. 2018, too, was another severe winter, which likely impacted deer herd numbers as well, she said. But this year, the milder winter should have helped deer survival and could attribute to more fawns being born.
From there a lengthy discussion ensued between CDAC members, who are all volunteers representing various stakeholder groups within the county. Many of the members wished to see more antlerless tags for various reasons. One of those reasons was to create more hunter opportunity, especially on public lands. Another reason was to attempt to help limit browse on young forests, which becomes expensive for regeneration. However, all agreed a higher recommendation would likely be shot down by the NRB once again. There was still some feelings of indignation among some of the CDAC members, looking back at last year.
"It took me all of my being to come back to CDAC last year," said alternate chair Krystal Westfahl. "I was so pissed off." Some members said they did not understand why the NRB would change the recommendation.
CDAC chair Ed Choinski said he questioned the board on that decision and asked why it was made. He said he was told board members felt the CDAC was not listening to the public comments made during the quota setting process, so the board decided to change the recommendation.
"That's just what I'm being told," Choinski offered. Each CDAC member, he said, had read every public comment made and he felt those comments were taken into consideration. However, the science presented by the deer biologist and data from others such as forestry and transportation representatives also needed to be taken into consideration when setting that quota.
CDAC member Denny Nitzel said he still agrees with the increase objective, but wanted to have a quota as high as possible while still achieving a small increase in the herd. He hoped for a harvest number of 1,300. He also wanted to make the split between public and private land a 2/5 to 3/5 split, respectively. In the past, it had been 1/3 to 2/3, respectively.
The success percentage used when determining the number of tags to issue was set at 25%. This was down slightly from the percentage used last year, but was based of off previous hunter success numbers.
Westfahl said she would like to see the split between private and public lands remain the same. The council ultimately agreed. She also said she would accept the same harvest number as last year, at 875. The general feeling was that this number would have a better chance of being accepted by the NRB than a higher number.
The 875 quota, Woodford said, would mean giving out 3,500 antlerless tags, given the average success rate.
In the end the Oneida County CDAC chose to go with the 875 quota. When they split the 3,500 tags, they allotted 2,500 to private land and 1,000 to public land.
In mid to late April, an online public comment period will open. The public is welcome to comment on the recommendations made by the CDAC in any county. This public comment will be taken into consideration in early May when the CDACs once again meet to finalize their recommendations to be sent to the NRB. Those recommendations will be sent to the June NRB meeting. For more information on the CDACs, the quota setting process, or to make a public comment, go to the DNR website dnr.wi.gov and enter the search term "CDAC."
Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].
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