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FARMERS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DEER HERD DEBATE
Monday, December 21st, 2009 -- 2:42 pm
Posted by Riley Hebert-News Director
The state’s largest farm organization is caught in the middle of the deer herd debate.
Hunters have blasted the DNR for their approach to managing the state’s whitetail population, but the story's a little more nuanced for farmers: too big a herd leads to crop damage, too small a herd might prompt hunters to stay home, leading to bigger problems down the road.
"A lot of our members are hunters, so, they're very sensitive to both sides of this issue," says Casey Langan with the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation.
The DNR’s strategy seems to be helping farmers. According to figures from the Wildlife Damage Abatement and Claims Program, there were $2.4 million-worth of claims in ’04; that fell to around $1 million in 2007.
"Our policy generally is we want to see plenty of opportunities for people to hunt around the state. We still have pockets of the state that, historically, have large numbers of deer that cause large amounts of crop damage," he explains.
The WFB does support the unpopular Earn-a-Buck program, but only for targeted regions of the state.
"Our policy is set by grassroots members around the state. I wouldn't be surprised if next year there are resolutions that do question some of the positions," Langan predicts.
The Wisconsin Farm Bureau is the state’s largest farming organization, representing over 42,000 members.
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