MONROE - More areas are open to rifle hunting for the 2008 Wisconsin deer hunting season.
All of Green, Lafayette, Rock, Walworth, Jefferson and Dane counties (except metro deer management units) have been opened for rifle use this year.
That's a new Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) regulation that most Green County residents haven't seen in at least two generations.
Don Amacher, rural Monroe, has been a deer hunter for 40 years and said the new regulation is a surprise to him and many of the county residents he's talking to.
"They (DNR) are creating a definite safety factor for residents of this county," Amacher said.
Amacher said rifles were restricted in Green County 40 years ago, because of the high density of residents in the county.
"Rifles were considered too dangerous, because of the proximity of people and the terrain," he said. "Now there are a lot more people living, driving, walking and bicycling in the county."
A MEANS TO AN END
Amacher said the main reason the DNR has allowed rifles this year is to kill more deer.
The extended rifle use boundaries follow the new Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) management zone. The DNR combined the CWD eradication zones and herd reduction zones into one zone for 2008.
The new areas allowing rifle use were "to open up more hunting opportunities to more people. DNR felt people would go up north to rifle hunt, and this gives them an opportunity closer to home," Steve Johnston, Green County parks manager said.
RIFLES NOT SAFE?
Amacher said some Green County landowners are "closing their farms down because of the danger rifle use creates."
"There was never a clear reason not to allow rifles," Johnston said.
The DNR found shotguns were no safer than rifles, given the statistics between counties that have had rifle or shotgun use in the past. And in shotgun-only counties, handguns have always been legal for hunting deer. Many handgun calibers are the same as rifle calibers.
"We have a saying, an irresponsible person with a sling-shot is more dangerous than a responsible person with a gun," Johnston said.
Most of the accidents are a result of "glaring safety errors and carelessness," he said, and "almost 100 percent happen between members within a single hunting party. Innocent people not hunting are not the victims most times."
Johnston also said, "lines were becoming blurred" between shotgun, muzzleloaders and handguns and the ammo they use. He noted, for example, some hunters use a "sabot," a 50-caliber rifle round fired from a shotgun, which gives a flatter projection and longer distance.
"There is no way a shotgun slug travels as far as a rifle," Amacher said. "I use both; don't tell me."
He also said a rifle bullet will ricochet more than a shotgun.
ACCIDENTS UNCOMMON IN COUNTY
Amacher said what accounts for more hunting accidents with shotguns than with rifles is that (shotgun) hunters have less land and are more concentrated. The flat terrain also allows the shotgun slug and rifle bullet to travel farther.
"We don't have the hills and valleys (to stop a slug)," he said.
The Green County Sheriff's Department had no reports of people being shot, but did have three reports of residences being hit last year by stray shotgun slugs.
"Every year we have some, but they have been shotgun rounds, not rifle bullets," Chief Deputy Jeff Skatrud said.
"I recall two years ago (around Thanksgiving time) in New Glarus township, a high-powered pistol round hit a residence" in a northeast rural subdivision, Skatrud said. "But a big, big, big major part are stray shotgun slugs."
Skatrud said the department investigates most reports of bullets hitting homes. Copies of reports are shared with other law enforcement agencies and the DNR.
BEHIND THE NUMBERS
Skatrud said rifles have been allowed in the northwest part of the county, north of County H and west of Wisconsin 69. There have been no reports of buildings or people hit. The corner was in a CWD zone.
The DNR statewide hunting accidents summary reported a rise of incidents of houses shot: 19 in 2007, 15 in 2006 and 7 in 2005.
"The changing landscape in the form of increasing rural residential development brings with it safety concerns," the report says. Two cars were struck by bullets during the same season.
Green County is sandwiched on the northwest and southeast between two areas with high deer populations testing positive for CWD.
The percentage of deer (killed) in Green County testing positive for CWD reached a high (0.71 percent) in 2003 before tapering off and remaining at 0 since 2005.
But CWD has risen in four Wisconsin counties surrounding Green since 2005: Lafayette (1.41 in 2007, up from 1.20 in 2005), Iowa (2.70, up from 2.30), Dane (2.20, up from 1.08), and Rock (2.42. up from .37).
In Illinois, CWD cases have been found along the state line, from one in Stephenson County to many in McHenry County.
HOW DID THE CHANGE HAPPEN?
CWD Stakeholders Advisory Group (SAG), (July 2007-January 2008) summary report explains that "sociological research data suggests that there is an inverse relationship between increasing prevalence (of CWD) and willingness to hunt."
Strategic recommendations in the report, unanimously approved by the SAG, include continuing to promote increases in hunter numbers and hunter enthusiasm, and to continue to promote interest in multiple weapons to increase hunter activity.
Members of the SAG approved by a 13-2 vote the recommendation for rifles to be used in all CWD zones, except metro units.
Amacher said the SAG committee meetings and the DNR public hearings were focused on reducing CWD, and public safety was not raised.
"People in Green County had no idea it was going to be voted on to use rifles in this county," Amacher said.
None of the 15 members of SAG are from Green County.
All of Green, Lafayette, Rock, Walworth, Jefferson and Dane counties (except metro deer management units) have been opened for rifle use this year.
That's a new Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) regulation that most Green County residents haven't seen in at least two generations.
Don Amacher, rural Monroe, has been a deer hunter for 40 years and said the new regulation is a surprise to him and many of the county residents he's talking to.
"They (DNR) are creating a definite safety factor for residents of this county," Amacher said.
Amacher said rifles were restricted in Green County 40 years ago, because of the high density of residents in the county.
"Rifles were considered too dangerous, because of the proximity of people and the terrain," he said. "Now there are a lot more people living, driving, walking and bicycling in the county."
A MEANS TO AN END
Amacher said the main reason the DNR has allowed rifles this year is to kill more deer.
The extended rifle use boundaries follow the new Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) management zone. The DNR combined the CWD eradication zones and herd reduction zones into one zone for 2008.
The new areas allowing rifle use were "to open up more hunting opportunities to more people. DNR felt people would go up north to rifle hunt, and this gives them an opportunity closer to home," Steve Johnston, Green County parks manager said.
RIFLES NOT SAFE?
Amacher said some Green County landowners are "closing their farms down because of the danger rifle use creates."
"There was never a clear reason not to allow rifles," Johnston said.
The DNR found shotguns were no safer than rifles, given the statistics between counties that have had rifle or shotgun use in the past. And in shotgun-only counties, handguns have always been legal for hunting deer. Many handgun calibers are the same as rifle calibers.
"We have a saying, an irresponsible person with a sling-shot is more dangerous than a responsible person with a gun," Johnston said.
Most of the accidents are a result of "glaring safety errors and carelessness," he said, and "almost 100 percent happen between members within a single hunting party. Innocent people not hunting are not the victims most times."
Johnston also said, "lines were becoming blurred" between shotgun, muzzleloaders and handguns and the ammo they use. He noted, for example, some hunters use a "sabot," a 50-caliber rifle round fired from a shotgun, which gives a flatter projection and longer distance.
"There is no way a shotgun slug travels as far as a rifle," Amacher said. "I use both; don't tell me."
He also said a rifle bullet will ricochet more than a shotgun.
ACCIDENTS UNCOMMON IN COUNTY
Amacher said what accounts for more hunting accidents with shotguns than with rifles is that (shotgun) hunters have less land and are more concentrated. The flat terrain also allows the shotgun slug and rifle bullet to travel farther.
"We don't have the hills and valleys (to stop a slug)," he said.
The Green County Sheriff's Department had no reports of people being shot, but did have three reports of residences being hit last year by stray shotgun slugs.
"Every year we have some, but they have been shotgun rounds, not rifle bullets," Chief Deputy Jeff Skatrud said.
"I recall two years ago (around Thanksgiving time) in New Glarus township, a high-powered pistol round hit a residence" in a northeast rural subdivision, Skatrud said. "But a big, big, big major part are stray shotgun slugs."
Skatrud said the department investigates most reports of bullets hitting homes. Copies of reports are shared with other law enforcement agencies and the DNR.
BEHIND THE NUMBERS
Skatrud said rifles have been allowed in the northwest part of the county, north of County H and west of Wisconsin 69. There have been no reports of buildings or people hit. The corner was in a CWD zone.
The DNR statewide hunting accidents summary reported a rise of incidents of houses shot: 19 in 2007, 15 in 2006 and 7 in 2005.
"The changing landscape in the form of increasing rural residential development brings with it safety concerns," the report says. Two cars were struck by bullets during the same season.
Green County is sandwiched on the northwest and southeast between two areas with high deer populations testing positive for CWD.
The percentage of deer (killed) in Green County testing positive for CWD reached a high (0.71 percent) in 2003 before tapering off and remaining at 0 since 2005.
But CWD has risen in four Wisconsin counties surrounding Green since 2005: Lafayette (1.41 in 2007, up from 1.20 in 2005), Iowa (2.70, up from 2.30), Dane (2.20, up from 1.08), and Rock (2.42. up from .37).
In Illinois, CWD cases have been found along the state line, from one in Stephenson County to many in McHenry County.
HOW DID THE CHANGE HAPPEN?
CWD Stakeholders Advisory Group (SAG), (July 2007-January 2008) summary report explains that "sociological research data suggests that there is an inverse relationship between increasing prevalence (of CWD) and willingness to hunt."
Strategic recommendations in the report, unanimously approved by the SAG, include continuing to promote increases in hunter numbers and hunter enthusiasm, and to continue to promote interest in multiple weapons to increase hunter activity.
Members of the SAG approved by a 13-2 vote the recommendation for rifles to be used in all CWD zones, except metro units.
Amacher said the SAG committee meetings and the DNR public hearings were focused on reducing CWD, and public safety was not raised.
"People in Green County had no idea it was going to be voted on to use rifles in this county," Amacher said.
None of the 15 members of SAG are from Green County.