Deer Advisory Councils have been meeting across Wisconsin as part of a reform effort within the DNR to manage the state's deer herd. The councils will release preliminary recommendations beginning next Monday.
DNR big game ecologist Kevin Wallenfang says each county councils will make recommendations on local deer populations. Wallenfang says beginning Monday, more input on the recommendations will be sought....
"....starting November 3 and running through the first week of December (the DNR and councils) will be accepting public comment. Folks can jump on the Internet and do an online survey. They can also get hold of their council members and let them know what they think of their recommendations..."
Wallenfang says the goal is to get the right size deer herd for each portion of the state...
"....so far what we're seeing across the northern part of the state where we've had a couple of really rough winters and we've got a couple of other factors going on where the numbers are fairly low where they used to be, we've got recommendations where they would like to increase the deer population...."
Wallenfang says in central and southern regions, the councils appear to be asking for a reduced herd size to reduce damage to agricultural areas and forests.
Wallenfang says public input is open until early December with the department making recommendations for herd size sometime in mid-December. More information is on the DNR website.
