Deer Population Growth Meets Hunter Decline

Deer numbers are up, hunter numbers are down, vehicle impacts are soaring, and wildlife management budgets are getting slashed as forest understory is eaten away. The Milwaukee Journal reports:

[W]ith the annual gun deer hunting season just days away, declining participation in a Wisconsin cultural tradition is threatening funding for an array of state conservation programs, a nonpartisan research group says.

A drop in deer hunters, heavily influenced by an aging hunting population, means less money for managing a burgeoning deer population and taking on challenging wildlife issues such as chronic wasting disease, a fatal deer disorder.

Deer hunting licenses are also used as a key funding source for the Department of Natural Resources to manage state properties for hunters and non-hunters alike and protect endangered and threatened resources.

Total deer hunting license sales dropped by 5.8% between 1999 and 2017, according to a new report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, a nonpartisan group with offices in Milwaukee and Madison.

That drop of 50,414 licenses to 824,475 is roughly equivalent to the entire population of La Crosse staying out of the woods.

And it means less money from license revenue to pay for conservation programs.

In the same 1999 to 2017 period, the DNR paid for 21% fewer positions out of the state’s fish and wildlife fund. That’s a decline of 144 positions to 550, the research group found.

“This is a serious long-term issue for conservation and we really need to pay attention to it,” said Tom Hauge, a retired DNR manager who was director of wildlife management for 25 years.