A group of legislators this week released a statement asking the DNR to take sanctions against a group that was involved in an incident in late January near Laona. No citations were issued by law enforcement in the incident where a monitoring group and hunters were involved in a confrontation.
State Senator Tom Tiffany of Hazelhurst and Representative Mary Felzkowski of Irma were among five legislators asking the DNR to crack down on what they saw as hunter harassment.
The DNR's Chief Conservation Warden Todd Schaller gives a history of the hunter harassment law....
"....it's a law that has been around since the mid-1980's, and was modified in the 2016 legislative process. It's designed to protect the Constitutional rights to hunt, fish and trap in Wisconsin. There's components in there as to what a person cannot do who is hunting, fishing or trapping...."
The law prohibits affecting bait piles, the use of a drone or photography equipment in close proximity to hunting among several other points.
Schaller outlines what the fines could be...
"....the penalties vary, but the first offense is a citation. A civil ticket. Any subsequent violations could actually be a criminal charge..."
Schaller says they've issued about 10 citations in the last couple of years, many times it's one hunter with a complaint against another hunter.
