DNR will not release deer-population estimates for gun season

UNDATED (WSAU) The D-N-R will not make estimates on the size of Wisconsin's deer population in advance of the gun-hunting season.

The D-N-R was roundly criticized last year for over-estimating the population. State officials say those estimates are in part scientific observation and part educated guesses. They say many hunters become angry and frustrated when the deer estimates are up, but they don't get a deer.

Meanwhile, thousands of people let state officials know what they thought of a longer deer hunting season in Wisconsin. The D-N-R’s Keith Warnke said hunters generally don’t like starting the gun season a week earlier than normal – but there still seems to be more support if a week is added to what’s being done now.

The D-N-R says it will review the public comments, before giving a recommendation to the Natural Resources Board in time for its December meeting.

The agency held 11 public hearings to find out what people thought about extending the gun season from nine days to 16, as an alternative for keeping the state’s deer herd under control. Hunters were fed up with the old Earn-a-Buck program – which forced hunters to take antlerless deer before shooting bucks. Over 16-hundred people attended the public hearings. And more than six-thousand others wrote letters, e-mails, and on-line comments about the proposed change.

This year’s nine-day season begins Saturday. It always ends on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.