NRB reverses deer permit decisions
In a special meeting Thursday, the Natural Resources Board reversed course and increased antlerless deer permits in three northern Wisconsin counties and rearranged the proportion of public and private land tags in another.
At the same time it sustained its controversial June 24 decision to reduce or eliminate doe tags in seven other counties.
“When it comes to big game, you can’t please everybody,” said board chairman Fred Prehn. “I think this is a good compromise.”
In a 6-1 vote Thursday, the NRB approved the permit levels and apportionment previously recommended by the four local County Deer Advisory Councils and the Department of Natural Resources. The affected counties are Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas and Sawyer.
It left intact its June 24 action that eliminated antlerless tags in the forest zones of Marinette and Oconto counties and reduced public land doe tags by 50% in Florence, Langlade, Lincoln, Oneida and Vilas counties.
The special meeting was prompted by a large amount of public criticism toward the board for its June action to overrule 11 of the CDAC final recommendations and for the process it used to do so.
Some also cited a lack of transparency by the board, which acted on an amendment introduced by NRB member Greg Kazmierski on the morning of the June meeting and didn’t allow for public input.
Thursday’s meeting was held via video conference. Unlike in June, it allowed public testimony and written comments on the amended deer permit levels.
Eight of the 10 people who testified Thursday urged the board to reverse its June decision and to support the original CDAC and DNR positions on the antlerless tags.
However, the board, which consists of seven citizens and oversees the DNR, didn’t go that far.
Board member Bill Smith introduced the motion to restore antlerless permits to the levels recommended by CDACs in Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas and Sawyer counties.
Smith said he had received compelling information regarding those four counties that led him to request the changes.