# WI hunt news



## Pinefarm (Sep 19, 2000)

http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/jul02/58571.asp

Deer hunt will focus on zone's boundaries
Assessing spread of disease is top priority
By JESSICA HANSEN
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: July 12, 2002
Uncertain how many deer will be snagged by hunters during a special hunt that starts today to root out chronic wasting disease, state officials said they will use the off-season shoot to determine if the eradication zone should be expanded.

Chronic Wasting Disease


For complete archived coverage of chronic wasting disease in Wisconsin, go to our SPECIAL SECTION



The state Department of Natural Resources has issued 1,060 permits to landowners for this week's Dodgeville hunt, the second of four special hunts scheduled for the summer, said Tom Howard, wildlife supervisor for the state DNR office in Dodgeville. Each permit carries 20 carcass tags.

Another 300 landowners have invited government marksmen to shoot deer on their property, with a majority of those property owners also planning to hunt on their land, Howard said.

But DNR officials are unsure how many hunters will actually participate in the hunt, which ends Friday. Two other hunts are scheduled for Aug. 10 to 16 and Sept. 7 to 13.

Anticipated high temperatures this week, some perhaps pushing 90 degrees, and the lure of other more summer-like activities - hunting not among them - could keep turnout low, Howard said.

That's why the DNR is not looking to the hunt as a means of thinning the eradication zone's white-tailed deer herd. Rather, Howard said, the hunt will be used to gauge the necessary size of the zone.

"This is a prelude to the fall hunt. We want to use this hunt to clearly define the eradication zone boundaries. We're steering our efforts toward the periphery of the currently defined eradication zone," Howard said.

The 361-square-mile zone was determined by measuring four miles out from every positive sample of chronic wasting disease found by hunters thus far, he said.

During this hunt, Howard said, "if we find a positive animal on the edge of the zone, that would automatically trigger an extension of the zone four miles out from where the animal is found."

The focused tactic is different from the first special hunt, held the week of June 8. Hunters shot 262 deer throughout the eradication zone.

Also different from the first hunt is a DNR plan to deploy a team of government hunters each evening of the shoot. The marksmen will use lights and could use vehicles to hunt deer, Howard said.

"Last time, we were still getting our act together, so to speak," Howard said, adding that government shooters didn't begin hunting until day four of the first seven-day hunt. Even then, the number of hunters fluctuated between six and 18. During this hunt, between 15 and 20 hunters are scheduled to hunt each evening.

As the DNR braced for the hunt, two Dane County supervisors tried to stop it.

Supervisors Vern Wendt of Mazomanie and Bill Hitzemann of Mount Horeb want the County Board to pass a resolution urging the state to halt the special summer hunt. They said there are too many safety concerns in the summer for the hunting to continue.

Their resolution was referred Thursday to the County Board's eight-member executive committee for a recommendation to the full 37-member board.

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., the House Appropriations Committee approved a measure Thursday that gives the U.S. Agriculture Department $16.4 million to fight chronic wasting disease. The committee also passed a separate measure that budgets $2.7 million for the U.S. Geological Survey to study the disease's impact on free-ranging wildlife, Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) said.

The House of Representatives will consider budgets later this year that contain $19.1 million to fight chronic wasting disease.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.




Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on July 13, 2002.


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