DEER HERD PLAN QUESTIONED
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 -- 12:08 PM
By Andrew Beckett, [/url=http://www.wrn.com]WRN[/url]A proposal to increase the size of 'Wisconsin's' deer herd doesn?t go far enough for one state lawmaker.
The Natural Resources Board approved a plan Tuesday that would increase population goals for white-tailed deer by 21-percent. State Representative Scott Gunderson (R-Waterford) says that will be of little comfort to hunters who go home empty handed. He says adding 60,000 deer really won?t make that huge of a difference.
Gunderson says the proposed solution doesn?t address what he believes is a flawed system for counting 'Wisconsin's' deer herd. He says the state needs to move back to a sex-age-kill formula for estimating the deer herd, which he believes is more accurate than the aerial counts currently used by the DNR.
The Board proposed the higher population target after lawmakers and hunters complained about a poor gun deer hunt last fall. Gunderson says he gives them credit for listening, but believes the new plan still falls short.
Lawmakers still have to approve the proposal.
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