Wisconsin sportsmen spend 8.6 million per day for hunting and fishing
Wisconsin sportsmen support 56,600 jobs in the state.
Annual spending by Wisconsin sportsmen is 3.1 billion dollars. This equals all the income from the state’s dairy industry.
Wisconsin hunters and fishermen equal the combined attendance of the Green Bay Packers and the Milwaukee Bucks.
Wisconsin sportsmen outnumber the population of Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha, Racine, and Appleton. (1.2 million vs. 1.1 million)
Wisconsin hunters spend 1.4 billion per year. (Ranked third in the nation)
If all sportsmen voted in the 2004 presidential election, they would have equaled 66% of the entire vote.
We do have political power, get involved and vote!
Deer Hunt 2007
What is next?
This year, the forecast of a deer herd of close to 1.8 million animals should have had a record kill. This did not happen. The doe kill should have been much higher if we wanted to get away from earn-a-buck. This did not happen. More hunters should have been in the woods with this predicted large herd. This did not happen.
If there is not a winter kill, earn-a-buck will be in many of the counties of the state. This might result in less sales and lower kill in 2008. This could have a very bad impact on hunting. The doe kill would be down and we could be in a vicious circle that we might not be able to stop.
Even now, there are some hunting groups that if there is earn-a-buck in 2008, they will not buy licenses. They are frustrated with the numbers of predicted deer. They do not see them in their hunting area.
Deer rifle licenses sales were down 11,000 licenses from last year. This is a significant loss. The largest age bracket was 46 to 47. This also means that as this group ages, that bracket, 46-47 will buy fewer licenses when they reach age 65. This is going to happen. This means the older hunters are buying more licenses than the 25 to 30 age group bracket.
Connie Pribnow, in her presentation at last year’s annual meeting of Wisconsin Deerhunters, Inc. predicted this decline. She also predicted that the number of license sales from the age bracket 32 to 12 years old will drop to around 7,000 licenses per year. If this happens, the DNR will lose around 30% of their income from license sales. This is like a snowball rolling downhill, it continues to grow. Less license sales, also means a lower deer kill. One of this year’s lessons is that Wisconsin deer hunters will not shoot more deer than they can use. This is what has been taught in Hunter Education and this lesson is remembered.
What is the worst thing that can happen in the 2008 deer hunt?
If there is no winter kill and the deer herd increases tremendously, we could have a herd that is way beyond control. It is possible that licenses sales can go down, less people would shoot less deer.
Every young person who is going to hunt must take hunter education. The number of youth taking Hunter Education is falling rapidly. From over 30,000 taking Hunter Ed., the number has dropped to around 20,000. This would not be a problem except, less than 7,000 are buying licenses. The low of kids buying licenses was reached in 2006 when only 4,000 bought licenses. Another question that should be answered is why are these high numbers of youth taking and graduating Hunter Ed., but only 30% buying licenses. What is wrong? Other states are raising the number of hunters. Can Wisconsin raise the numbers of hunters, or will hunters gradually decline? Do you have the answers?
Breaking news-
The obvious weakness in the SAK formula, (next article) is the observations of the fawn crop estimation each year. The Wisconsin Wildlife Federation has been working to improve the use of SAK. One of the results was that the DNR is not going to spend any money on hunters on education of deer biology. There should be a final report on the SAK committee in January, at this time it has not been published. Connie Pribnow will speak about the results at the annual meeting of Deerhunters.
SAK (Sex-Age-Kill) This formula determines the size of the herd for next year
One of the most misunderstood tools that the DNR uses is the formula for predicting the size of the deer herd and what next years season will be. Whether we like it of not, this formula will remain the best way of predicting herd size. A recent audit, at a meeting of experts from throughout the country, confirmed the SAK formula as being very accurate. In this article, a general explanation of the theory, and more detailed worksheet of SAK of Unit 70A will be used.
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Some terms that are used in deer management are:
Biological carrying capacity – the maximum number of deer a given unit can support over a long time. This could be over 100 per square mile or more in the southern part of the state.
Social carrying capacity – This is the number of deer that people, which includes hunters and non-hunters, will tolerate. Obviously, this depends on your interest of the landowner or farmer or hunter. Everyone has a different idea what the herd should be.
Deer per square mile of deer range – Deer range varies from unit to unit. Northern Wisconsin is over 90% deer range; some units in the central part of the state are 40 to 60% deer range. The other portions of the unit are farm land or housing development. The key word is deer range. The number of deer per square mile is calculated by the number of deer X the square miles per deer range (habitat).
Unit over-winter goals – are set at:
- 65-70% of the biological capacity for the northern forest
- 50-60% of the biological capacity for the central forest
- 50% of the biological capacity. Social carrying capacity limits the deer herd in farmland.
At present, the over-winter population goals range from 10 to 30 deer per square mile of deer range.
Example:
Deer management unit 70A, 204 square miles of deer range, over-winter goal is 25 deer per square mile of deer range. (5100 deer is over-winter goal)
For Year 1, 77% (numbers come from deer registration and kill in previous years) of the bucks were harvested or 1888 out of 2452 that were alive before the season. This number, 2452 X 4.9 equals a deer herd of 12105; this is a herd of 58.9 deer per square mile.
Bow season harvested 503, leaving 11512 for gun season or 56.4 deer per square mile.
Gun season harvested 4951 deer, leaving 6561 (A) alive in the spring. There were a total of 6561 after gun season, so the herd will be 32.2 deer per square mile. There were a total of 5451 deer killed, 1888 bucks and 3565 does and fawns killed in Year 1.
This herd will increase by a factor of 1.7(B) (fawns being born). Using the SAK formula, there should be a deer herd of 11154 by September 1st of Year 2. Observations by DNR employees in the summer, does and fawns usually show that one fawn or more is born to each doe. It is predicted that 1 deer out of 5 will have legal antlers. In this unit, 77% of the bucks were harvested last year, before the season, 2452 bucks were alive.
If each buck represents 4.9 deer, there are 2276 bucks available for Year 2. If 77% (past years’ figures and history) are killed, 1752 bucks will be killed in Year 2.
This is a very basic explanation of the SAK formula. It is, and will be the system Wisconsin will use now. The complete formula is more complex and does consider road kill, poaching, and other causes of death in the herd.
The SAK formula was audited in 2007 by experts from outside Wisconsin. The Audit Committee concluded it is quite accurate. There were recommendations, if there is interest, I can report on these changes. There will always be conflicts on numbers, but we have to use some system and right now this works as well as anything we have.
Just for fun, change the numbers in your example in the previous column. Using (A) 6561 X (B) Factor 1.7- change this number to 2.5 fawns being born to each doe. This will create a herd of 16402 on September 1st or 9841 more than the end of the rifle season of Year 1. Our historical kill is roughly 5500 deer, what are we going to do with an extra 4400 deer?
Change the factor to (B) to a factor of 1.2; this will result in a herd on September 1st of 7873. Try it yourself.
Letter to Wisconsin Deerhunters, Inc.
Enclosed are several photos of the Eau Claire Rifle Team at Bowling Green, Kentucky.
The team had a very good time and did shoot much above what they had done in previous matches. We placed 8th in the nation in the Sporter Class. This is nothing but a positive experience for them and our shooting program. As you well know, working with the Shooting Youth is very rewarding for the Coach and all others involved.
The Team and I wish to thank the Wisconsin Deerhunters, Inc. for the support and donation.
Sincerely and Good Hunting to All
Joseph E. Vig
Coach and Instructor
Note: Wisconsin Deerhunters is the only state organization that has continuously supported Shooting Sports in Wisconsin. |
