Welcome to
the September Safari Club International Quarterly Update for the Wisconsin Chapters.
As the 2010 Legislative Session starts to wind down,
there are still over 90 bills floating around the legislature that, good
or bad, will affect our hunting heritage.
Deer Season Reform
– DNR staff continue to ignore the hunting public and stick their head
in the sand of their bad science when it comes to counting deer and
revising deer season structure. Fortunately, with a big push from SCI
and our friends in the Hunters Rights Coalition, we were able to
convince key Legislators to ask for an upward revision to the deer
goals. DNR Administration has been very responsive to our calls for
reform, but everything moves very slowly as the entrenched bureaucracy
defends its “turf”.
Goals will be revised upwards, but we will continue
to push for a sustainable herd size, closer to 1 million deer. We will
continue to push for a simplified statewide 9 day season, with tags
allocated for herd management where needed. We have reviewed with DNR
leadership the proposed expenditure of Pittman Robertson (PR) dollars for
deer science studies. We have emphasized the need to study predation
together with all non-hunt deer deaths. The state experienced a bonus of
around $4 million in extra PR funds this year, as hunters and shooters
stocked up on guns and ammo. The intervention of the HRC made sure that
the spending of those dollars has become a transparent exercise. SCI
continues to make deer season reform its #1 issue and continues to lead
the debate for hunters.
Stewardship Access
– New rules to
guarantee access to stewardship purchased lands are now in the
Legislature for review and final approval. The rule was referred in
each house to the environmental committee, not the fish and wildlife
committees. This makes it very difficult for us to get a fair hearing
on our concerns.
Over the last few years, more and more of your tax
dollars are being spent to buy up private lands and close them to hunting.
This was not the intent of the Legislature, as tax dollars should only be
spent on the purchase of public lands. Hunters, best I can tell, are
members of the public! At this time, we believe that the committees
will at least give us a hearing. SCI, together with HRC and other hunting
groups, will show up to testify in favor of some major revisions to the
rules. The very future of our sport hangs in the balance. Not every
hunter has access to private lands. If we are to keep our hunter numbers
up, we need to make sure those hunters using public lands continue to have
a place to hunt. The Nature Conservancy and many in the DNR bureaucracy
are hostile to hunters and are using the gradualist approach to shut us
down. This is a big one!
Bear Bill – SCI has worked with the
Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association and our friends in the Legislature
to introduce AB 371, the 2009 Wisconsin Bear Bill. This bill passed
the State Assembly on a unanimous voice vote in January. It has had a
hearing in the Senate, and we expect that it will receive a favorable
reception in the full State Senate.
Just a reminder as to what it does:
Creates a “try it for free” weekend for bear dog
training in August
Lowers the age for fee exemptions from 16 to 12
for Class B
Allows for a back-up shooter
Allows for continued dog training during harvest
season for Class B if their harvest tag has been already used. This
would apply only when and where dogs can currently be in the woods.
Animal Rights Legislation
–
The Humane
Society of the United States (HSUS) is the number one extreme animal
rights organization in the country. They now have a Madison office and
several lobbyists working full time to attack hunters and farmers
alike. So far they are trying to keep a low profile, but we know their
agenda includes banning all hunting – calling it “animal abuse”.
SCI and HRC have taken a lead role in educating our
Legislature about this group. We recently distributed a Fact Sheet about
their radical agenda. However, we see their creeping influence already
in several pieces of ill thought out Legislation. The so called
“thrill kill” bill would have made it a felony to run over a chipmunk with
your ATV. Now there is a new bill to make it a felony to do any
practice of animal cruelty – included in the definition of animal cruelty
is not keeping your dog pen in good repair, not having a full water dish,
etc…. Felonies! And if done in front of a child, you could face up to 10
years in prison. Rest assured that SCI will remain vigilant in
opposition to this wrong-headed anti-hunting agenda.
Range Protection– We have scored a
partial victory for the shooting sports in that SB 424 has passed the
Senate on a voice vote and looks like it may pass the Assembly as
well. This bill will allow existing shooting ranges to expand or
improve their property without running into local zoning problems.
Currently, shooting ranges are protected from nuisance suits and
closure through zoning changes, only if they operate as they always
have. Any changes to the property, including something like paving a
driveway, could trigger zoning review and possible closure.
This bill will go a long way to making sure we
continue to have a place to get in some recreational shooting. Also, as
mentioned earlier, there are some new PR funds available to the DNR and we
are making a major push for making some of that money available to local
shooting clubs for expanding their public access. One of the original
intents for PR funds was to support shooting sports, but currently none of
the dollars go to local ranges.
Gun Cases - SCI is working with Senator
Decker on a bill to allow uncased, but unloaded, long guns to be set
on non-moving vehicles. The bill also allows the transport of uncased,
but unloaded, long guns during the regular hunting seasons by those
who have a valid hunting license. This bill has passed the Senate on a
voice vote and awaits action in the Assembly.
Last Word – This report is really just
the highlight of the many issues we are following on your behalf. The
Welch Group maintains an office right across the street from the
Capitol and is continuously monitoring all legislative and regulatory
actions. If you have any questions or great ideas, feel free to
contact us.
To learn more, contact Bob Welch of The Welch Group
at 608-819-0150.
This update is a
service of
Copyright 2004 Northeast Wisconsin Chapter - Safari Club International