Boundaries of Wisconsin's Deer Management Units are Under Review

Tuesday, September 24th, 2024 -- 10:00 AM

(Paul Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) The boundaries of Wisconsin's deer management units are under review and at least some are likely to be modified before the 2025 hunting seasons, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

According to Paul Smith with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the work is part of a process undertaken by the department every few years. The current effort is focused on DMUs in the northern and central forest zones, the metropolitan subunits and the boundary lines between the forest and farmland zones, said Jeff Pritzl, DNR deer program specialist.

Farmland zone units are not part of this year's review. The DMUs have greatest importance for antlerless deer hunting rules and quotas. Hunting regulations for antlered deer are far less controversial and a Wisconsin buck license can be used anywhere hunting is legal in the state.

But the number of antlerless tags available in the state's forest zones is frequently a source of disagreement among hunters and wildlife managers. Modifying DMU boundaries is one way to address the issue. Pritzl described the review process and led a discussion of proposed DMU changes at a Sept. 16 meeting of the DNR's Deer Advisory Committee.

The committee includes DNR wildlife, law enforcement and research staff as well as members of conservation organizations, the U.S. Forest Service and the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission. Wisconsin's wildlife managers have used various strategies to divide the state into DMUs for decades.

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