Wisconsin legislature votes to repeal earn a buck program
MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin law requiring hunters in certain areas to kill an antlerless deer before they bag a buck would be repealed under a bill passed by the state Assembly on Tuesday.
The bill also generally prohibits any gun seasons ahead of the traditional November hunt, with some exceptions for youth, mentored and disabled hunts and in chronic wasting disease zones.
The bill passed on a bipartisan 64-33 vote. It previously passed the Senate and now heads to Gov. Scott Walker for his consideration. He supported doing away with the so-called earn a buck program during the campaign last year and was expected to sign the bill into law.
Hunters have long complained about early gun hunting seasons and earn a buck, which they said forces them to pass up trophy kills.
Frustration boiled over in 2009 after two years of anemic November hunts. Hunters complained that the Department of Natural Resources overestimated the deer population for years, leading to restrictions like earn a buck that they say have devastated the herd and put the future of their sport in jeopardy.
The bill passed despite objections from some Democrats, foresters and conservation groups that had testified in support of earn a buck saying it’s needed to help to control the herd and protect trees and other wildlife.
“This bill will almost certainly will hurt the forest industry,” said Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, a Kenosha Democrat. “It almost certainly will hurt agriculture.”
He and other Democratic opponents argued for delaying doing away with earn a buck to give a recently hired expert on deer more time to assess the situation in Wisconsin and report back to the governor.
Bill sponsor Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Hazelhurst Republican, argued for passage of the proposal, saying hunters detested earn a buck. The department can use other methods to control the deer population, he said, like issuing more permits to hunt them.
The Conservation Congress, a group of influential sportsmen that advises the DNR, has been calling for the elimination of earn-a-buck and other antlerless hunts for years.
Kurt Thiede, administrator for the DNR’s Division of Lands, said at the public hearing on the bill in April that the agency was sensitive to concerns of hunters, but it was worried about losing the ability to control the deer population by permanently doing away with the earn a buck program.
The agency said in a fiscal estimate when the bill was introduced that doing away with earn a buck could lead to “potentially significant” economic losses for vehicle insurance, agriculture and the forest products industries.
The DNR has been struggling for years with what it says is a deer herd across Wisconsin.
The agency has been conducting four-day antlerless hunts in management zones where the herd is above the agency’s goal. The hunts usually take place in mid-October. In zones that remain above goal, the DNR can impose the earn-a-buck restrictions.
The bill would still allow the state to require that an antlerless deer be killed before a second buck is bagged.