April 13, 2023 at 11:26 a.m.
Public comment period open for 2023 deer season
This link went live on April 8 and will be available until April 16. Those interested can give their input at any time during this week.
In addition to the online public comment survey, local County Deer Advisory Councils (CDACs) will be meeting in each county from April 24 to May 4. These meetings will be hybrid meetings, with in-person and Zoom options.
CDACs are volunteer members of various stakeholder groups in each county. They are charged with providing recommendations to the department and to the Natural Resources Board (NRB) on deer management strategies within each county.
While they have limited tools available to them, they do make recommendations regarding how many antlerless permits to allow for each county. They are also able to send other recommendations to the NRB and DNR.
CDAC seats consist of various stakeholder groups, each allowed one representative on each CDAC. These groups include agriculture, forestry, tourism, transportation, local government, hunting organizations and the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMP).
Each CDAC also has a chair and an alternate chair, both of whom are members of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress (WCC).
The Role of CDACs
CDAC recommendations fall under two categories. First, every three years, each CDAC is charged with setting a deer herd population goal for their county.
This is not a numeric goal, but rather in the form of "increase, decrease or maintain." This is the overarching goal for that three-year period.
Second, each CDAC meets every year to create recommendations on the season based on the overarching goal at the time. Whether a county chooses to increase, decrease or maintain the deer herd at the current level may influence decisions such as how many antlerless tags to allow for the county in that year.
Private land tags and public land tags are divided, and CDACs make recommendations on how many tags should be given for each land type.
The number of tags is based on past hunter success and the number of antlerless deer the CDAC believes should be taken off the landscape in order to meet the overall three-year objective.
The Charter
The CDACs are governed by a charter with three main objectives.
The first is to gather public opinions regarding deer populations and what goals should be set for those populations. This is done through antlerless quotas and other deer management strategies.
The second objective on the charter concerns metrics.
The CDACs are charged with reviewing and considering the deer herd trend metrics, which can be found on the DNR website for each county. These metrics are provided by the wildlife biologist in the county.
The metrics include data such as deer harvest and population trends, which looks at harvest statistics and issuance and success rates for hunters. Another metric is the health of the overall deer herd in the county. This includes data such as the winter severity index and information about diseases such as Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).
The winter severity index, as the name implies, is a measure of how severe the previous winter was in terms of impact on deer.
For each day with over 18 inches of snow pack on the ground and for each day with a below zero high temperature, the index increases by one point. If both conditions are met on the same day, the index increases by two points. The higher the number, the more severe the winter is said to be.
The Winter Severity Index is one of the main drivers of deer herd health in the Northwoods.
Another metric measured is deer impacts. This includes data on things such as forest regeneration, agriculture damage and numbers of vehicle collisions.
Hunter dynamics are also listed in the deer metrics system. Information is collected through hunter surveys and deer observation surveys. All of these metrics are taken into account when CDACs are setting goals and creating their season structure for their county.
The third objective included in the charter is to take all of the information from the public as well as the deer metrics system and create a recommendation to send to the department regarding antlerless quotas and any other available herd management strategies in the county.
These recommendations are presented to the NRB, which works in an advisory capacity to the DNR. The NRB will review this year's recommendations during their June 21 meeting.
All are welcome to attend the in-person meeting in their county of choice or to choose the virtual/Zoom option for each meeting.
Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].
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