TIP/Deer hunting and management hearing experts available

TO: Editors, news directors
FROM: Chris Barncard, University Communications, 608-890-0465, barncard@wisc.edu
RE: TIP/DEER HUNTING AND MANAGEMENT HEARING EXPERTS AVAILABLE

As Wisconsin’s 2009 gun deer-hunting season passed with a nearly 30 percent decline in the deer kill, it was the barbs that were flying as hunters and legislators took aim at the regulators who manage the state’s deer herd.

Hunters unhappy with their take in recent years have alleged inaccurate assessments of the deer herd’s size, overzealous management methods that left the herd perilously small, and a lack of respect for deer hunters and their traditions.

The discussion takes an official turn Thursday, Dec. 17, when the Assembly Fish and Wildlife Committee and the Senate Transportation, Tourism, Forestry and Natural Resources Committee hold a hearing on the 2009 deer hunt.

University of Wisconsin–Madison experts can provide context for 2009 harvest figures, discuss herd-management strategies and address the deer’s role in Wisconsin’s varied ecosystems:

• Scott Craven, professor of wildlife ecology and UW-Extension wildlife specialist, 608-263-6325, srcraven@wisc.edu. Craven, well known throughout Wisconsin as a wildlife educator, has done an extensive amount of research and writing on the topic of deer management, including hunting as a herd control method.
• Timothy Van Deelen, assistant professor of forest and wildlife ecology, 608-265-3280, trvandeelen@wisc.edu. Van Deelen, an expert in large-mammal population dynamics, has participated in audits of the DNR’s deer population model and serves on a citizen committee appointed by the Natural Resources Board to review deer-harvest programs in Wisconsin.
• Don Waller, professor of botany and environmental studies, 608-263-2042, dmwaller@wisc.edu. Waller’s research, which focuses on the impact deer have on plant diversity in the Great Lakes region, keeps him in close contact with deer herd size and distribution figures as well as a wide array of management schemes (and results) found in Wisconsin, neighboring states and American Indian reservations.